The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

“What are you doing here?” she couldn’t help but ask since he was supposed to be spending some time with her brother.

“I took one for the team,” he said with a sad shake of his head.

“Took one for the team?” she asked, her eyes narrowing on the big jerk that she’d missed.

Sighing, he nodded. “Someone had to.”

“And why exactly did you have to take one for the team?” she asked, deciding that she would take advantage of his presence and venture out of the tent so that she could grab a few items that she’d been forced to abandon when she’d heard that first twig break.

“Because the tent was too small for all three of us,” he said, reaching around her to grab the large pack that she was trying to drag inside.

“So, you drew the short straw?” she asked, closing the tent and sat back so that she could search through her bag for the essentials.

“You could say that,” Reed murmured as he laid down and closed his eyes.

“Where’s Jackson and Matt?” she asked as she grabbed her kindle and-

“I’m going to kill your brother,” Jackson announced as she found herself being picked up and moved over only to find herself picked up again and placed on Reed’s other side when Matt crawled into the tent and dropped down next to Reed with a grumbled, “Ungrateful bastards.”

“Just remember to make it look like an accident,” Reed said, sighing heavily as the flashlight was turned off and she found herself sitting in the pitch-black tent, wondering what she was supposed to do now only to smile when Reed wrapped his arm around her and pulled her down next to him.

Chapter 36

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine here by myself,” Joey said, and if she hadn’t said that while she was trying to break free from his hold so that she could dive back into her sleeping bag, he probably would have considered listening to her.

“You’re going!” Reed said, tightening his hold around her and moved to pull her out of the tent only to have the little demon start wiggling again.

“Never!” she snapped, trying to push her way out of his hold. “I’m never leaving!”

“Joey,” he said, only to sigh when she gave up trying to wiggle her way to freedom and tried to grab hold of the flimsy tent.

“No! I’m never-wait! Please, don’t do this!” Joey gasped when he easily managed to break her hold and throw her over his shoulder.

“You’re going,” he bit out, shifting her over his shoulder as he shot a glare at the little bastard responsible.

“What? How was I supposed to know that she was afraid of snakes? It’s not like I planned on dropping it on her,” Matt said, shaking his head sadly with a sigh.

“I will end you, you little-Reed!” she bit out coldly only to scream his name when he made the mistake of trying to put her down on her feet.

“Would you feel better if I carried you?” Reed asked the small woman that had wrapped herself around him.

“Yes, yes I would,” she mumbled against his neck even as she tightened her legs around his waist on the off-chance that he decided to try to put her down again.

“Fine,” he said, making sure to sound putout as he wrapped one arm around her so that he could lean over and grab her bag, knowing that she would want it.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, rewarding him with a kiss against his neck that the little bastard helping himself to another granola bar wouldn’t be able to see.

“You’re welcome,” Reed said, tempted to kiss her, but the large man waiting by the lake watching their every move, had him throwing her bag over his shoulder and doing his best to ignore just how good she felt in his arms. Hoping that Jackson hadn’t noticed that kiss, he carefully carried her down the small slope and joined Jackson on the dock.

“What happened?” Jackson asked, moving to take her out of his arms only to drop his arms away with a sigh when she shook her head.

“Your sister is afraid of snakes,” Matt said with a shrug as he walked past them and hopped down into the large rowboat that Jackson had managed to rent for them this morning.

“I hate him,” she mumbled with a little sniffle.

“I know you do,” Reed said, giving her a comforting squeeze before he moved to put her down only to sigh when she shook her head and tightened her hold around him.

“You love me,” Matt said, grabbing one of the fishing poles that Jackson had managed to find and sat down on the small bench near the front of the boat.

“I really hate him,” Joey assured him as she raised her head long enough to look down at the small boat and shook her head. “Not going to happen.”

“You said that you wanted to go camping,” Reed reminded her as he tossed her bag to Jackson.

“And it’s a memory that I will cherish forever, but now I’m ready to go home,” she said, nodding solemnly.

“But you’ve never been fishing,” he pointed out.

“And I’m okay with that at the moment,” she said, worrying her bottom lip as she glanced down at the boat and shook her head. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“It’s safe, Joey. I rowed it over here without any problems,” Jackson assured her once again reaching for her only to drop his hands away with a sigh and followed that up with, “It’s safe.”

“There’s rust,” she pointed out.

“Just a little bit,” Reed said as he watched as she took in every dent, scratch, and rusted bolt.

“I really don’t think that I can do this,” she whispered.

“What if I promised that nothing bad was going to happen?” he asked, somehow resisting the urge to lean in and kiss that worried frown away.

“I’d like that in writing,” she said, swallowing nervously.

“What will it take to get you on that boat?” he asked because he didn’t want her leaving here with one more regret.

“An act of God,” she said, shaking her head.

Leaning in closer, he whispered, “What if I promised to tell you that backstory?”

“About my pretties?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip as she thought it over.

“And I’ll let the little furry bastard sleep with us,” he said, tempted to turn his head and kiss her throat. It was only the reminder that she didn’t want her brother knowing about them that kept him from doing it, but he was tempted…really fucking tempted.

“He does anyway,” she said, making his lips twitch.

“Well, I guess if you don’t want to go fishing then we could go for a hike and you could finally have that talk with your brother,” he said, noting the way that she suddenly went still.

Then, with a, “Very well,” Joey gestured for him to p

roceed.

“Everything okay?” Jackson asked, reaching down to hold the boat still as Reed stepped in and sat down on the back bench with Joey on his lap.

“Everything’s fine,” Joey said with a reassuring smile even as she frantically climbed off his lap so that she could sit down on the bottom of the boat between his legs, grab a life vest, yank it on, grab her bag, pull out a brown paper bag, and finally settle back with her Kindle in her lap.

Chuckling, Jackson untied the boat and stepped in, sitting next to Matt, who Reed realized was glaring down at Joey. Frowning, he followed that glare to find Joey absently taking a bite out of what appeared to be a roast beef sandwich.

“You said there was no more food,” Matt said accusingly.

“I lied,” she said, looking up from her Kindle and narrowed her eyes on the little bastard as she made a show of taking another bite. “Mmmm, that’s really good.”

Eyes narrowing, Matt pointed to a spot next to her and said the one thing that was going to get him killed, “Snake.”

Chapter 37

“Can I have my clothes back?”

There was the sound of someone clearing his throat from the other side of the tent they’d shoved her inside of and, “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” her brother said, making her shoulders slump in defeat.

“Would it help if I said I was sorry?” Joey asked as she pulled another blanket around her.

“Probably not since we’d both know that you’d be lying,” Jackson said, chuckling.

“What if I promised not to do it again?” she asked, sending the closed tent door a hopeful look.

“That’s what you said the last time.”

“I was justifiably pissed,” she pointed out even as she reluctantly accepted the fact that she wouldn’t be leaving this tent for a while. With that in mind, she laid down on her side and watched her brother’s silhouette as he tossed another log onto the fire with a sigh before he sat down next to her tent.

“And no one blames you, but did you really need to make him eat mud?” he asked, making her wince because that might have been overkill.

“Is he okay?”