Finally (Neighbor from Hell 12)

“Go upstairs and put in for the convention. You shouldn’t have to pay for something that helps you do your job,” Devin said firmly as he gestured for her to move her ass.

She opened her mouth to argue only to close it with a sigh when he said, “Go,” with a look that told her that she better move her ass.

Grumbling, Charlie reluctantly headed upstairs and made her way into the break-room, deciding that she’d kill some time in here before she headed back downstairs since she had absolutely no intention of trying to get reimbursed for this. She needed to tell Devin and she needed to tell him soon, Charlie realized as she tried to figure out how she was going to do that without making this awkward. Then again, maybe she should be more concerned with how pissed he was going to be when he found out that she was quitting. Maybe if she-

“There are better ways to do your job, you know,” Kelly said with a pitying look as she walked past her and helped herself to the pot of coffee that Charlie was sure had been there since she started working here five years ago.

“What’s that?” Charlie asked even as she couldn’t help but wonder if she would be better off leaving her lunch in here from now on to throw Devin off.

“Sleeping with the boss,” Kelly said with a pointed look just as T.J. strolled into the room along with Scott and about half the upstairs staff, who were probably looking for their morning donut fix.

When Kelly’s words sank in, there was an awkward silence and then…

“There are?” Charlie asked, slowly blinking.

“Mmmhmm,” Kelly said around a sip of the acidic coffee that she was using an as excuse to try to humiliate Charlie only to add in a conspiratorial whisper, “It’s kind of pathetic.”

“Dating the hottest guy in town is pathetic?” Charlie said, earning a few chuckles and an outraged, “Hey!” from T.J.

“No, thinking that he’s interested in more than a free babysitter is,” Kelly said with a pointed look at Charlie as she went to take another sip of coffee only to choke on it when Charlie said, “Whores don’t work for free.”

“W-what?”

“I mean, not that I’ve really put much thought into it or anything, but I’d like to think that if I was a whore that I’d be a high-classed one,” Charlie mumbled thoughtfully.

“Wait. I didn’t say-”

“I’d like to think so at least,” Charlie said, nodding solemnly as she struggled to remember that bizarre conversation that she’d had with Ben on her twenty-first birthday when they’d argued over who would make more money as a whore. She didn’t care what he said, she’d definitely make more money than him.

“But I didn’t say-”

“That I was a whore?” Charlie said, beating her to it with a sad shake of her head. “No, it’s okay. I need to learn to accept my new station in life. It will make things easier so that I don’t get my hopes up when Devin grows tired of me and it’s time for me to find someone else willing to pay for my services.”

“This is so painful to watch,” T.J. mumbled as everyone nodded in agreement, watching as Kelly’s face turned an interesting shade of red.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about, Kelly,” Charlie said with a sad shake of her head as she headed towards the door only to pause long enough to grab T.J.’s arm and drag him behind her as she threw over her shoulder, “He’s my ten o’clock.”

Chapter 32

“She called Charlie a whore?” Devin demanded, dropping his hammer as he turned around to-

“No,” T.J. said around a bite of coffee roll as he stopped him with his free hand, “she tried to get into a battle of wits with Charlie and lost. What I really need you to focus on is the fact that your girlfriend dragged me to Dixon’s afterwards and made me buy her a dozen jelly donuts.”

“Why didn’t you come get me?” Devin snapped, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced back at his office to find Charlie working at her desk as she nibbled on a donut.

“Did you not just hear me? She dragged me downstairs and then tightened her hold on my arm when I tried to escape and dragged me all the way down the street to Dixon’s. I feared for my life every step of the way!”

“What’s everyone saying about me dating Charlie?” Devin asked as he struggled against the urge to put his fist through something.

He should have thought about this and kept their relationship a secret for Charlie’s sake so that-

“Not much other than they’re pissed that Scott won the pool,” T.J. said, shrugging it off as he finished off the last bite of coffee roll before reaching for the white bakery bag that Devin decided was rightfully his.

“What pool?” Devin snapped, snatching the bag off the table before T.J. could grab it.

“The pool we’ve had going since Charlie started five years ago,” T.J. said with a “duh” look as he gestured for Devin to hand the bag back over. When Devin only glared, T.J. dropped his hand with a sigh and walked over to his locker and grabbed an identical bakery bag and helped himself to another coffee roll. Narrowing his eyes on the move, Devin grabbed the last coffee roll out of the bag he’d stolen even as he couldn’t help but stare at the other bag, wondering what else was in there.

“Why would you have a pool on Charlie?” Devin asked, taking another bite as he found himself glancing back in time to watch Charlie grab her camera off her desk and head for the office door.

“Because we all have a set of working eyes,” T.J. said with a pointed look as Charlie walked into the shop, ignoring the red line marking the floor, plucked the coffee roll out of Devin’s hands and gestured for him to get back to work as she said, “I need pictures.”

When Devin continued to stand there, she locked eyes with him and finished off his coffee roll, making yummy sounds while she did it as he narrowed his eyes on her. “That was so good.”

Nodding slowly, Devin said, “I want to see other people.”

“And you can do that just as soon as I get my pictures,” Charlie said, gesturing for him to get on with it.

“No,” Devin said evenly as he glared down at the evil woman who’d stolen his precious baked good.

“You promised,” she pointed out, once again gesturing for him to get on with it.

“Looks like I’m breaking my promise.”

“Are you sure that you really want to do that?” she asked with a pitying look that had him grinding his teeth.

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Devin said, glaring down at the small woman as he waited for her to tell him what happened with Kelly.

“Fine. I’ll get them later when the kids are here,” Charlie said, shrugging it off as she turned around and headed back to the office only to stop with a heavy sigh when he said, “Do you have something that you want to tell me?”

“My ten o’clock has a big mouth?” Charlie offered as she turned around to face him.

“You manhandled me, woman!” T.J. snapped in outrage.

Blinking, she said, “And you should be thankful that I didn’t charge extra for that.”

Sighing heavily, Devin ran his hands roughly down his face as he muttered, “You’re not a whore.”

“Please don’t try to limit me,” the woman that was driving him crazy, said.

“Don’t make me spank you,” he said, dropping his hands away.

“That’ll cost extra,” Charlie pointed out with a nod, making hi

s lips twitch.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” he asked, reaching over and cupped her face in his hands.

“And ruin my street cred? I don’t think so,” Charlie said, sighing heavily as she stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss before once again heading back to their office.

Devin watched her walk away as he asked, “Should I fire her?”

“Who?” T.J. asked, walking over to check out the designs for the kitchen cart that Devin had been working on since he saw that she’d bookmarked a page on kitchen cats in one of his magazines.

He was building this one for Charlie, but it had given him an idea. He was curious to see what he could do with kitchen furniture, something that he’d been toying with doing for a few years now. His cousin Reese was coming in next week to show him a few of his designs so that Devin could see what he could do with them. It should be interesting, he thought as he said, “Kelly.”

“I wouldn’t. Charlie handled herself and she doesn’t really seem all that upset about it,” T.J. pointed out.

True, but…

He really wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to let this go.

*-*-*-*

“Your father’s going to kill me,” Charlie said hollowly, wondering if it had always been this difficult to breathe.

“We’ll miss you,” Abbi said with the biggest smile that Charlie had ever seen as she carefully cuddled the rabbit that Devin was going to kill her for.

She still wasn’t sure how it happened.

One minute, she was telling the kids that she had to stop by the post office to drop something off and the next…

“Your father’s going to kill me,” Charlie mumbled again, hoping that one of the kids would tell her that she was worrying over nothing.

They didn’t.

No, what they did was continue snuggling and pet the bunny that was going to get her killed. This was bad. This was very bad, Charlie thought even as she glanced around her apartment, looking for somewhere to hide the large cage that the pet store owner had managed to talk her into buying and-