The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

The kid hugging his knees didn’t say a word as he continued sitting there, staring down at his feet as he absently rocked back and forth, periodically reaching up to dry his eyes with the backs of his hands and looking completely lost. It was a scene that she was painfully familiar with, she thought as she pulled her legs closer and got comfortable. Once she was settled, she reached into the bag next to her and pulled two sodas out, placing one by her side and the other one next to him. She did the same with the sandwiches and chips, all without saying a word.

When she was done, she pulled her iPad out of her bag, plugged her headphones in and placed one earphone in her ear and left the other one hanging. She grabbed her sandwich, took a bite, and absently noted that he’d briefly glanced over at her. By the time she’d picked out a movie, he’d tentatively reached over and picked up his soda and took a sip. A few minutes later, he was eating his sandwich and scooting a little bit closer so that he could see the iPad. With a glance at her, he cautiously picked up the other earphone and placed it in his ear.

They were halfway through their food when she found him sitting next to her, the iPad in his lap, and a small smile on his face and that’s when Reed found them. He didn’t say anything as he crawled beneath the table and sat next to whoever this cute little kid was, shifting lower to avoid slamming his head into the table as he went. When he was done, he shot her a curious look as he reached over and plucked the bag of chips out of her hand.

“What are you doing?” Reed asked as he turned his attention to the movie.

“Having lunch and trying to figure out why you asked me to come down here,” she said, grabbing the brownie out of the bag only to sigh when it was plucked out of her hand. Grumbling, she pulled the second one out only to have this one taken away by a much smaller hand.

Biting back a smile, she handed the other earphone over to the best lunch date that she’d had in years and asked, “How about you?”

“I’m hanging out with Shawn,” Reed said, devouring his brownie as he turned his attention to Shawn. “Do you want me to call your mom?”

Shaking his head, Shawn decided to see what else was on the iPad and closed the movie app so that he could explore. When he found the Minecraft app, he handed her his empty soda can and quickly forgot about the two of them.

“You’re late,” Reed said, helping himself to her soda.

“Had to remind your brother that short people are to be feared,” Joey said, digging into the bags and found another sandwich, which was promptly plucked out of her hands.

Sighing, she grabbed a slice of apple pie and couldn’t help but smile when a small tan hand plucked that out of her hands. A second later that hand was back out, waiting expectantly for a fork. She’d barely managed to hand over a plastic fork to Shawn when a much larger hand reached over and plucked the bag out of her hands. A second later, the second bag was gone, and she was left sitting there, resigning herself to grabbing a burger on the way home.

“Any permanent damage?” Reed asked, not really sounding like he cared all that much as he dug through the bags.

“Only emotional,” Joey said, watching in amazement as Shawn built a complex world out of nothing.

“What happened?” he asked, helping himself to the second slice of apple pie that she’d really been looking forward to.

“He destroyed all of my hopes and dreams,” she said on a wistful sigh as she pointed to the corner of the screen. “I’m going to need a castle with a view.” With a nod, Shawn abandoned the road system that he was developing and began building her castle.

“I meant about your job,” Reed said as he pointed toward the screen and added, “Don’t forget the moat. She’s a bloodthirsty little thing.”

“I really am,” she said, nodding as they sat back and watched Shawn work. “You mean, how did I end up on sabbatical halfway through spring semester without putting in for one?”

“For starters,” he said, searching through the rest of the bag and grabbed another sandwich.

“I was asked to read a book that another professor wrote and endorse it only something about the book didn’t feel right. Instead of letting it go, I did my own research, which unfortunately had the undesired effect of ruining another professor’s career,” she said, really wishing that she’d kept her mouth shut and told them what they wanted to hear.

“I see,” Reed murmured after a slight pause before saying, “And I’m guessing that upset a few people.”

“It usually does,” Joey said with a shrug because there was nothing that she could do about it now but wait.

Maybe she should take up a hobby? she wondered while she sat there, watching as Shawn continued to build her dream castle. At least a hobby would keep her out of trouble, she mused only to feel her shoulders slump in defeat because she didn’t want a hobby. She wanted to-

“You can start tomorrow,” Reed said, finishing off the last bite of his sandwich.

“Start what?” Joey asked even as she couldn’t help but nod in approval at the castle that Shawn was building for her.

“The favor you owe me.”

Chapter 16

“I have some follow up questions,” the little demon that he was stuck with said when he made the mistake of opening his bedroom door.

“What are they?” he asked, sighing heavily as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall while he waited for the latest round of questions to begin.

“Have you talked to Jackson?” she asked, shifting the large stack of books that she’d helped herself to in her arms as he reached over and plucked the small Tupperware bowl off the top.

“No,” he said, pulling the lid off and taking a peek to find the bowl filled with-

“Are you planning on telling him that I’m here?” Joey asked as she plucked the bowl back out of his hands and placed it back on top of the stack of books that she would most likely devour before morning.

When they were kids, it used to amaze him to see how many books she could go through in a day. Every day at lunch she used to grab the bagged lunch that he’d had his eye on and head to the library where she would find a new stack of books to bring home only to haul them back the next morning, grumbling that she didn’t have anything to read. She used to read everything that she could get her hands on, history books, textbooks, comics, novels, magazines, brochures, manuals, absolutely fucking anything and it seemed that hadn’t changed, he thought, biting back a smile as he took in the stack of books in her arms.

“It depends,” Reed said, reaching out to take back the Tupperware bowl only to find her stepping back out of reach.

“On what?” she asked, with a curious tilt of her chin as he leaned back against the doorframe with a sigh as he took in the little pain in the ass, noting just how cute she looked in that oversized tee-shirt and baggy flannel pajama pants that were too big for her with her cute little toes just barely sticking out from beneath the folded pant cuffs.

“On whether or not you’re going to take the job,” Reed said, running his gaze back up to find her eating one of his brownies.

“I thought it was a favor,” Joey said, shifting her bundle to one arm so that she could take another bite.

“So is letting you live,” Reed pointed out.

“True,” she murmured, nodding in agreement before asking, “Isn’t having me stay here going to cause problems for you?”

“Probably,” he murmured absently as he took in those oversized pants that were practically hanging off her, the crease lines running down the middle, and couldn’t help but wonder who they belonged to.

“Is Julie okay with this?” Joey asked as she finished off the brownie while he stood there, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

“Okay with what?” Reed asked, shifting his gaze to that oversized black tee shirt and wondered if she’d borrowed the clothes from Matt.

“With me living here,” Joey said, making him frown even as he decided that it would probably

be for the best if he let her borrow his clothes from now on.

“What does she have to do with anything?”

“Everything?” Joey said, blinking up at him as she reached into the bowl and helped herself to another brownie.

“She’s just a friend,” he said absently as he wondered if those clothes belonged to another man only to immediately dismiss the idea since Jackson would have called him to bitch about another asshole that better keep his fucking hands off his baby sister. Since that hadn’t happened in a while, Reed was going to have to assume that the clothes belonged to Matt.

Which reminded him, where was the little bastard?

“He’s out back working,” Joey said, correctly reading the glare that he was shooting his brother’s closed bedroom door.

Nodding, Reed returned his attention to the little pain in the ass who was now walking past him and heading toward his bed. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked as he watched her walk around his bed, stumbling along the way thanks to the pants that were way too big for her.