The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

“Is that what you call it?” Matt asked, chuckling.

“What the hell would you know about it? You were seven when she left,” he said, starting to feel a headache coming on.

“Eight,” Matt said, shrugging it off. “But I remember enough to know that you were probably the reason why she left in the first place.”

“And you’re basing that on what exactly?” Reed asked, grabbing next quarter’s budget to see if there was any wiggle room to make this work only to toss the folder back on the coffee table with a sigh when he saw the mess that was waiting for him next quarter.

“Many things,” Matt said, tossing his magazine aside and sat back in the mismatched leather chair that looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than the small couch that he was sitting on.

“That’s really helpful,” he said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face as he wondered what the little bastard was talking about, because he’d always looked out for Joey, making sure that she was safe and-

“You used to make her cry all the time,” Matt said, shrugging it off as he grabbed the remote and turned the game on while Reed sat there frowning because if there was one thing that he knew about Joey, it was that she never cried.

She’d never cried when the other kids made fun of her, when the teachers yelled at her, or when she broke her arm trying to put a telescope on the roof. She didn’t even cry when the asshole showed up on her eighth birthday to tell her that he was moving and couldn’t take her with him, which was why he knew that Matt was wrong.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“She used to cry in her room a lot. Not that you could blame her,” Matt said, sighing heavily as he tossed the remote aside and settled back in his chair.

“How do you know that?” Reed asked, feeling his stomach drop at the thought of Joey crying because of something he did.

“I used to hide in her room so that I could scare her,” Matt said, shrugging it off with a yawn.

“Why do you think it was my fault?” he asked, thinking back to when they were kids and unable to help but wonder if Matt was right.

“Are you kidding me? Who else could it be? You used to go out of your way to make her miserable. She couldn’t do anything or go anywhere without you on her ass.”

“I was looking out for her,” he bit out evenly with a glare at the little bastard when he laughed.

“And I’m sure that she appreciated it,” Matt said dryly.

“It was for her own good,” Reed bit out evenly.

“I’m sure it was,” Matt mumbled absently.

“It was.”

“Is that what you tell yourself so that you can sleep at night?” Matt asked, blinking innocently.

“Joey was a handful when she was little,” he bit out even as he had to wonder why he was defending himself to the little bastard.

“And I’m sure she deserved whatever it was that you did to make her cry,” the little bastard that he was going to kill said with a heartfelt sigh that had his eyes narrowing on the little prick.

“I didn’t make her cry.”

“No, no, I’m sure it was just a coincidence that she was up in her room crying whenever you were around,” Matt said with a pitying shake of his head.

“I’m going upstairs,” Reed said as he grabbed the stack of folders waiting for him and stood up.

“So that you can make her cry again?” Matt asked, blinking innocently.

“I didn’t make her cry,” he said, starting to feel like a broken record.

“Really? Then why did your name keep coming up when she told her grandparents that she wanted to leave?” Matt asked with a pointed look that had him wondering the same damn thing.

“I think there’s something you forgot to tell me,” came the softly spoken words from the foyer that had him sighing heavily because he should have known this would happen.

Chapter 31

“This just isn’t going to do,” Joey said, unable to help but sigh as she sprayed Matt’s old sleeping bag one last time with Febreze before she gave up and tossed the half-empty bottle aside before crossing it off her list.

That, of course, led her to wonder if it was too late to get another sleeping bag. Probably, she mused with a sigh, which meant that she was going to have to settle for the two sleeping bags, sleeping pad, camping pillow, and the extra blankets that had been delivered earlier because she was a big fan of warmth. A very big fan, she thought as she walked over to her bed and picked up her iPad so that she could compare the list that she’d created last night to the suggested list on this camping website only to realize that she wasn’t alone.

Really hoping that she was imagining things, she looked up to find her brother, who she hadn’t spoken to in a month, handsome as ever with his honey blonde hair cut short and the turquoise eyes that matched their father’s locked on her as he lounged back on her bed with his large arms crossed over his chest and that look in his eye that told her that this wasn’t a social visit. Just once, she wished that he looked happy to see her instead of looking like he was seriously considering putting her over his knee and-

Now might be the best time for her to check on her kitten and while she was in there, perhaps she should test the lock to make sure that it worked?

“I’ll just pick the lock,” Jackson said, correctly guessing her next move as he leaned forward and plucked the iPad out of her hands. “So, are you ready to talk about what happened?”

“Not really,” she said, noting that Reed was standing by the bathroom door and was already back to glaring at her.

Great.

“Then would you mind telling me why you’re looking at camping websites?” he asked, scrolling down the page.

“Because I’m going camping,” she said, more than happy to talk about camping, because talking about camping meant that they weren’t talking about things that she’d rather not think about at the moment like the man currently glaring at her.

“You’re going camping?” Jackson asked slowly, looking up from her iPad with a frown.

“Who’s going camping?” Matt asked, devouring a large bowl of chocolate ice cream as he walked into her room.

“I am,” she said because she’d realized something important.

She was done waiting.

She was done waiting for the right time to finally do all those things that she’d always wanted to do. She’d put her life on hold, making one excuse after another when the simple truth of the matter was that she was afraid. For the first time in her life she didn’t know what she was supposed to do and that terrified her, because she always had a plan. She always knew what she wanted and how she was going to make it happen, but now…

Now she wasn’t sure what she wanted other than for Reed to stop glaring at her, because he was actually starting to make her nervous. Not that she had anything to be nervous about, because she didn’t. They were two consenting adults who weren’t hurting anyone. They weren’t, she told herself, not quite able to look her brother in the eye at the moment.

“When?” Matt

asked around a mouthful of ice cream as he hopped up onto the bed and sat down next to Jackson, who mumbled, “I need a fucking drink,” as he looked back down at her iPad.

“Tomorrow. I figured this would be the best time since it was a three-day weekend,” she said, even as she couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been in her best interest to keep that information to herself, especially when she couldn’t help but notice that Reed had narrowed his eyes on her sometime in the last thirty seconds.

“Who’s going to take care of your cat?” Matt asked, glancing down at the iPad.

“Julie said she’d take him for the weekend.”

“You’ve never been camping before,” Jackson pointed out, sighing heavily as he reached over and helped himself to her list.

“Which is why I’m going,” she said, licking her lips nervously as she struggled not to panic, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult with every passing second.

“I see,” he murmured, sounding thoughtful as he read her list. “And you were planning on going alone?”

“Yes,” she said, doing her best not to squirm under the glare of the man that she’d briefly considered asking to go with her. But perhaps, it was for the best if she went alone, she told herself even as she couldn’t help but wonder if he was planning on stopping anytime soon.

“I’ll take care of everything,” Matt said with a nod, shoving a large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth as he climbed off the bed and headed for the door, pausing long enough to pick up his discarded sleeping bag along the way and headed for the door while she stood there, wringing her hands together nervously as she did her best to ignore the man glaring at her even as she resigned herself to the lecture that she knew was-

“Sounds like a plan,” her brother said, taking her by surprise as he tossed her list aside, climbed off the bed, and left without another word.

Maybe she was worrying over nothing? she hoped, licking her lips nervously. For all she knew this weekend would end up being like old times and they’d forget about her, she told herself only to frown when she felt a large arm wrap around her and pull her back until she could feel Reed’s lips brush against her ear as he destroyed all her hopes that they’d forget about her with four whispered words.