The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

“Oh, god,” a girl sitting in the back whimpered.

&n

bsp; Frowning, Joey looked back at the movie and asked, “You got the last one, right?”

“No,” came the hesitant reply.

Shaking her head, she returned her attention to her chips with a sigh, “That’s a shame.”

“Dr. Lawson?” Reed said from the doorway, drawing every hopeful gaze in the room and-

She found herself looking at Reed, taking in the way his green eyes lit up when he smiled down at Shawn and realized that he had kind eyes. He’d always been handsome, but those eyes…

Were probably something that she was better off not noticing, she decided when he glanced back at her and glared.

Great.

“Yes, Mr. Bradford?” Joey asked, popping one last chip in her mouth as she glanced past him. “Good morning, Shawn,” she said with a warm smile as she dropped her feet off the edge of the desk and reached for her bag.

He gave her a shy smile as he risked a glance at her before returning his attention back to the floor. “Look what I made for you yesterday, Shawn,” Joey said, pulling the large bag of peanut butter cup cookies that she’d made for him along with the bottle of juice that she’d picked up for him this morning and placed it on the desk.

Reed’s eyes narrowed on the cookies as Shawn looked back up, tried to bite back a pleased smile and shuffled his feet as Joey reached for another chair and pulled it closer even as she said, “You missed another one.”

“Oh, come on!”

Ignoring the devastated groans, Joey gestured toward the seat. “Are you with me right now?”

Shrugging, Shawn walked toward her, keeping his gaze averted from the students who looked like they were on the verge on a mental breakdown and quickly sat down next to her as he handed her the piece of paper in his hand.

Smiling, Joey said, “Thank you,” as she took the slip, noting that she also had him for World History and study hall later.

“When did you get a chance to make cookies?” Reed asked as he leaned back against her desk and helped himself to her soda as several students mouthed, “Help us.”

“After lunch yesterday,” she said, watching as Shawn sent her a questioning look as he reached over and picked up the bag of cookies. “I put the other bag of cookies in my roommate’s bag,” she added, hoping that would be enough to make up for whatever it was that she did to piss him off.

“I see,” Reed murmured absently as he gestured for Shawn to give him one.

Nodding, Shawn pulled a cookie out of the large Ziploc bag and handed it to Reed, who was glancing around the room, taking note of the empty walls and bookshelves before moving onto the students sending him pleading looks. “What’s going on?”

“My accelerated class, who doesn’t require textbooks, finished mastering United States history weeks ago and is killing some time by watching a movie loosely based on the War for Independence and looking for historical errors in exchange for a grade that will most likely result in all of them failing this class,” Joey said as she plucked her iPad out of her bag and handed it to Shawn.

“Is that right?” Reed murmured with a thoughtful look at the students now sitting there, staring back at them in horror.

“Mmmhmm,” Joey said, grabbing another soda from her bag, opened it and took a sip.

“Then again…” she said, letting her words trail off as she noted the hopeful expressions on some of their faces. “They could simply put the room back together and get all the books they hid in the closet and I’d probably be willing to-”

“Oh, thank god!” several of them said, cutting her off as they jumped out of their seats and raced toward the back closet while others started pulling textbooks out of their bags and shoving them back onto the shelves as fast as they could while she returned her attention to what Shawn was doing only to sigh.

“Did we not discuss the need for a larger moat?”

“Told you she was a bloodthirsty little thing,” Reed said as he plucked the soda out of her hand, grabbed the bag of junk food, and headed for the door, leaving her sitting there once again noting that he had a really nice ass.

Chapter 19

“I just wanted to thank you for my early Christmas present,” the little bastard that he should have smothered in his sleep a long time ago said with a heartfelt sigh as he sat there, staring dreamily at Joey as he absently scooped another spoonful of the creamiest mashed potatoes that he’d ever had onto his plate while Reed sat there, fighting the urge to reach over and grab the little bastard by the back of the neck and slam his face into-

“Thank you for inviting me,” Julie said with a heartfelt sigh of her own and a pleased smile as she shifted her glance from him to the reason that he was in a bad mood and then back again.

“You’re welcome,” the little bastard said with another one of those heartfelt sighs that had Reed’s hand twitching as he shifted his attention back to the small woman curled up in the chair next to him, devouring another book on Jack the Ripper and completely fucking oblivious to everything going on around her.

That’s how it had been all day.

All. Fucking. Day.

It started last night when she’d stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of soft cotton panties and a large tee shirt that pulled up every fucking time she went to check on the psychotic kitten that had it out for him before she climbed in bed with him. While he’d laid there trying not to think about the fact that she was half-naked in his bed, she’d sat there completely oblivious to all the things that he was trying not to imagine while she’d read another book on the plague. When he woke up to find her curled up in his arms with that same fucking shirt riding up, her smooth legs gliding against his, and his hand only inches from her ass, he’d realized something very important.

She was going to be the death of him.

It was then that he’d realized that he had his work cut out for him, which was only confirmed when he’d walked into the kitchen thirty minutes later to find her leaning over to look for something in the fridge and giving his brother one hell of a view of her jean-clad ass as the little bastard stood there, mouthing the words, “I love you,” with a heartfelt sigh. As soon as she’d left he’d had another word with his brother, which had ended with the little bastard calling their mother and tattling on him. Once he’d reassured his mother that he hadn’t hurt her precious baby boy, he’d shoved Matt into a closet, headed to work, deciding to stop on the way to get breakfast only to find every asshole in the bakery openly staring at her breasts while she’d stood there, absently humming to herself as she took in the large selection of baked goods, completely fucking oblivious to everyone and everything around her.

The same could be said for the morning meeting.

While he’d been trying to get everything set up for the day, she’d been sitting there, taking notes, and nibbling on the pastry that he’d been eying since he saw her buy it and was completely oblivious to every asshole in the room looking her way while he’d been forced to sit there, trying to resist the urge to beat the-

“So, how was your first day, Joey?” Julie asked, reaching for a piece of cornbread only to rethink it when Matt leveled a glare on her.

“It was good,” Joey said, briefly looking up to shoot Julie a smile before her attention was right back on that book.

“Did you have any problems?” Julie asked while he took in the way that she sat there, leaning against the chair that his great grandfather made, completely lost in her book even as she reached over and plucked a piece of cornbread off the plate, ignoring Matt’s gasp of outrage, and looked so fucking adorable doing it.

“No, it was fine,” Joey said, breaking off a piece of cornbread and popped it in her mouth.

“Did you meet John?” Julie asked as she reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes only to sigh when Matt reached over with a glare and pulled the bowl away.

“Yeah, he was really nice,” Joey said, making him shake his head in disgust and seriously wonder how she’d survived this long without him.

“He’s married,” Reed pointed out as he stole the mashed potatoes back from the little prick who was back to staring dreamily at Joey.

“Thank you,” Julie said for some reason only to sigh heavily and mumble something about getting something to eat later.

“Which is probably why he showed me pictures of his wife and kids,” Joey said, turning another page.

“I heard Miss Dawson’s students are a nightmare. I’m surprised they didn’t try anything with you,” Julie said as she reached for the plate of pot roast only to sigh when Matt grabbed it and helped himself to a huge piece and then with a glare, he helped himself to two more pieces before shoving the plate back to the middle of the table.

“They did, but I’ve had worse,” Joey mumbled absently as he sat there, wondering about that when Matt said, “That reminds me. I fixed your phone.”

“How does that remind you about her phone?” Julie asked, frowning as she reached for the baked macaroni and cheese only to grumble, “I give up,” when Matt reached past her and grabbed the bowl.

“Because Jackson sounded kind of pissed when I told him that she was staying here,” Matt said, and just like that, he had Joey’s full attention.

*-*-*-*

“This probably isn’t going to end well,” Joey mumbled against her pillow. She followed that up with a forlorn sigh as she shifted to get more comfortable on the small couch only to give up and settle for lying there on her stomach, staring at her phone as it continued to slowly vibrate its way across the coffee table that had probably been in the Bradford family for generations.

Maybe she should just get this over with, she thought only to quickly dismiss the idea since it was in her best interest to put this off for as long as humanly possible. At least, until she had a better explanation for what she was doing here since the truth would only lead to another lecture that she really wasn’t in the mood to listen to right now.

Then again, was she ever really in the mood for one of her brother’s lectures, she couldn’t help but wonder as she rolled over with a sigh and-

“That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” she managed to get out a few seconds later only to follow that up with a groan as she resigned herself to sleeping on the floor.