Nodding, Lucifer punched him, knocking him to the ground. “What did you say to her?” he asked, his tone never changing as he grabbed Adam by the shirt and yanked him back to his feet. As soon as he was back on his feet, Lucifer shoved him back again.
“What’s going on?” Jason asked as his family walked over to see what was going on, but Lucifer ignored him and focused on the asshole shifting nervously in front of him.
“What did you say to her?”
“She wasn’t doing her job so I had a word with her. That’s it!” Adam said, holding his hands up in front of him as he stumbled to get out of the way of Lucifer’s next punch, but he didn’t move fast enough.
Grabbing Adam by the shirt, he calmly picked him back up and shoved him before giving him another chance to tell him why Rebecca was upset.
“What did you say to her?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Adam yelled, wiping the blood off his chin with the back of his hand as he stumbled back.
“What did you say to her?” he asked, moving to go after him when Rebecca jumped between them and pushed him back.
“It’s fine! I quit! He was an asshole. It’s over now,” she said, placing her hand on his chest as though that was going to stop him.
“What did you say to her?” he asked, gently pushing her hand away so that he could step around her and go after the little prick.
“I-” Adam choked out, shooting a desperate look at the crowd that was now gathering around them.
“He called me a whore. Happy now?” Rebecca said, shaking her head in disgust as she pushed past him and stormed off past the onlookers glaring at Adam.
“I’m sorry!” Adam shouted, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry!”
Grinding his teeth together, Lucifer nodded as he glanced back in time to see Rebecca push past Jon and head back inside. As much as he wanted to tear Adam apart with his bare hands, he couldn’t, not with Rebecca this upset. So, it was with real regret that he followed after her.
“What did you call her?” he heard Jason drawl as he stepped inside, letting him know that the problem was being handled.
“I never liked him,” the little old woman that had kicked the shit out of Adam’s arm said with a huff as she shuffled past him slowly with her walker.
“Me neither,” he absently agreed as he searched for the short, pissed off woman and when he didn’t find her, he swore and took off across the dinning area.
He checked his office, hoping to find her in there, ranting about Adam, but she wasn’t there. Cursing, he quickly checked the back parking lot and made sure that her car was still in its parking spot before he ran upstairs. When he didn’t find her in her apartment, he sighed with relief because that meant that she was in his apartment, which he was taking as a good sign.
Already knowing where he was going to find her, he shut the door behind him and headed towards the bathroom, taking his clothes off as he went. When he opened the bathroom door, he nearly smiled when he spotted her standing in his shower with her arms folded over her chest and glaring at the wall.
Stepping in the shower, he tried to figure out what to say to make this right, but since he had no fucking clue how he’d screwed this one up, he settled for stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. He didn’t say anything and neither did she, but he knew that wouldn’t last long.
Sooner or later they were going to have to talk, but until that time came, he was going to hold her. They stood there for a long time before Rebecca reached over and shut the water off. Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around herself and walked out of the bathroom, leaving him standing there trying to decide how he was supposed to handle this. He didn’t know if he should approach her as her boss or her boyfriend, making him finally realize why Rebecca had been so dead set against working together.
Fucking hell.
He should have listened to her. Not that he thought that she was right, because she wasn’t, but because he shouldn’t have been so fucking naïve to think that things weren’t going to change for her. He also should have fired that prick a long time ago, but he’d never really pissed him off until today.
“Rebecca,” he said, not one to put this off and deciding that he would play it by ear.
If she wanted to have this handled as her boss then he would do that, figure out how to fix this and make sure that it never happened again. But, if she wanted him to handle this like her boyfriend, then he would go find that little prick and beat the shit out of him. Then again, knowing his family he would probably have to wait until Adam was released from the hospital before he got another chance.
“Do you mind if I pick the movie?” she asked when he stepped into the living room to find her laying on the couch beneath the blanket he kept there for her and her towel discarded ten feet away.
“I think we should talk,” he said, walking over to the couch.
Sighing softly, she rolled over onto her stomach and folded her arms beneath her head so that she could lay on her stomach comfortably as she scrolled through the movie guide. “I don’t think there’s really much to talk about, do you? I told you that continuing to work for you was a bad idea and I was right. Your supervisor thought that I was screwing you for special treatment, got pissed and tried to make an example out of me. I quit. You beat the shit out of him and now we have one less complication,” she said with a shrug. “There’s really nothing to talk about.”
“You’re not quitting,” he said, pulling his towel free and tossing it aside.
“I just did,” she pointed out as she flicked through a list of zombie movies that were guaranteed to make him fall asleep.
“No,” he said, lifting the blanket to reveal her beautiful body to his greedy eyes, “you really didn’t.”
Chapter 40
“I quit,” she said, wondering why he was having such a hard time accepting her decision to move on and find a new job. It wasn’t like she was breaking up with him or anything. She was just going to start spending eight to twelve hours a day doing something other than drive him crazy from now on. They’d still see each other, but not as much and maybe that was for the best.
That was actually one of the reasons that she’d decided to quit in the first place. She didn’t want to destroy whatever was happening between them because they were spending too much time together. She wanted to give him his space and if that meant finding a new job, then that was exactly what she was going to do. Instead of doing what she’d wanted, she’d foolishly let his killer smile and the way he touched her body convince her to stay.
Then again, in his defense she really hadn’t thought that it was going to turn out this badly. She’d thought she’d have to deal with constantly being asked if she’d lost her goddamn mind or people watching what they said around her. What she hadn’t expected was all the bullshit that had gone down today.
People sucked, she decided as she lay there, scrolling through a list of titles and not really caring what she watched as long as it got her mind off of things for a while. When she felt Lucifer lift the blanket off her, she sighed, because she really wasn’t in the mood for company.
Okay, granted this was his apartment, but she figured with Adam being fired and all that the Fire & Brimstone would keep him busy for a few hours. To be honest, she was actually looking forward to having a small reprieve from the argument that she knew was coming.
“Shouldn’t you be downstairs?” she asked, hoping that it would be enough to buy her a few hours of peace.
“I’m sure Jon has it all under control,” he murmured as he placed the blanket on the couch next to her, taking her by surprise because the Fire & Brimstone was his baby.
“There’s probably a lot angry customers,” she pointed out as Lucifer kneeled beside the couch.
“I’m sure that Jon can handle them.”
She opened her mouth to..to…okay, she had absolutely no idea what she was going to say, not when Lucifer was giving her the most incred
ible body massage that she’d ever experienced. Not that she’d experienced many, but she was sure that even with her limited knowledge of body massages that the massage that he was giving her was incredible.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he ran his hands down to the small of her back.
“I’m fine,” she said, because really, what else could she say?
She was pissed and embarrassed over what just happened, but she was also depressed about her decision to find a new job, but that was just a given. There was nothing that she could do to change what just happened and she wasn’t willing to give Lucifer up to keep her job so she kept it to herself, closed her eyes and lost herself to Lucifer’s touch.
“Are you still determined to quit?” he asked conversationally as his hands moved over her bottom.
“Are you going to start an argument if I say yes?” she asked as he continued to rub her bottom.
“No,” he said, taking his time to gently massage both cheeks, “but, I thought that we could negotiate the terms of your quitting.”
“Why exactly are there conditions to me quitting?” she asked as he continued to-
“Seriously, what is with your obsession with my ass?” she demanded, because it was really starting to concern her.
“It soothes me,” he said seconds before she felt his lips brush against her left cheek.
“My ass soothes you?” she asked, rolling her eyes, because this was just too much.
“Yes,” he said, pressing a kiss to her other cheek.
“Your conditions?” she asked, hoping to distract him from his obsession, but not from the body massage because she’d probably kill him if he stopped that.
“Just one really,” he said, returning to his duties as her own personal masseuse.
“And that is?”
“That if you don’t find a job within two weeks that you come back to work at the Fire & Brimstone,” he said, sounding completely reasonable as he moved onto her legs.
“I’ll find a job,” she said, shifting her legs apart to grant him better access when his hands slid down to her thighs and began focusing his attention on rubbing the tension out of her legs.
“But if you don’t…” he said, letting his words trail off as his hands skimmed over her inner thighs, up to her bottom and down again, sending a delicious shiver through her body.
“I will,” she said, trying to focus, but it was a tad bit difficult with Lucifer running his very talented hands all over her.
“But,” he began, only to pause so that he lean down and press a kiss against the small of her back, “if you don’t find a job within two weeks then you’ll come back.”
She sighed.
Well, she tried to sigh, but what came out was something between a mutilated groan and a moan as Lucifer lightly ran his hands down over her bottom, between her legs and back over her thighs. For several minutes, she laid there, trying to remember what he’d just said, but the way he ran his hands over her body made it impossible to focus.
“So, we have a deal?” he asked just as his fingertips skimmed between her legs while they made their way back down her thighs, further distracting her.
A deal?
What the hell were they talking about? she wondered, further spreading her legs apart in an effort to help him and not because she was some big slut or anything.
“Two weeks?” he asked, kissing the small of her back as his fingertips traced her slit.
Biting her lip, she forced herself to focus, because this was important. Very important, she told herself as he continued to brush his lips against the small of her back. He was a sneaky bastard, she realized with a smile. Fortunately for him, she rather liked that about him, but then again, so was she.
Sneaky that is, and not the bastard part.
Biting her lip to hide her smile, she turned over, forcing him to lean back and take his hand away. Once she was on her back, she said, “Three weeks,” deciding that the best way to handle him was to make a counteroffer.
“Two,” he said, not missing a beat as one of his hands returned to massaging her inner thigh.
“Four,” she said, comforted in the knowledge that she would most likely have a job by then.
“Two,” he said, leaning down to kiss her.
“Four,” she said against his lips, smiling when she felt his hand press down against her mound.
“Fine. Three,” he said, kissing her bottom lip as she felt one of his long, thick fingers slide between her slit.
“Four,” she said, standing her ground, because that was the only way to deal with a man like Lucifer.
“Fine. Four,” he conceded, kissing her chin as he slid that finger deep inside her.
“And then you’ll accept my decision to quit?” she asked as she reached down and wrapped her hand around the large erection that needed her attention.
“Absolutely,” he promised with a smile that she didn’t quite trust, but as long as he kept his word and gave her four weeks to find another job she was willing to pretend to negotiate anything he wanted.
Chapter 41
One somewhat depressing week later…
“Time to get up,” Lucifer, the surprisingly chipper bastard, said as he gave her bottom a playful slap.
“Ow,” she said hollowly as she lay there trying to find the willpower to get out of bed and go through the hell that was now her life.
“Where are you going today?” he asked, pressing a kiss against her shoulder as he curled his body around hers and pulled her closer until that monstrous cock of his was pressed against her bottom.
Normally that would have been enough to make her smile, but after the depressing week that she’d had, she wasn’t sure that she could manage a smile this early in the morning without drugs being involved. Thankfully, he couldn’t see her face so she didn’t bother trying to fake a smile this morning.
“Around,” she said, shrugging as she lay there, trying to find the willpower to get up and face another day of filling out applications, dropping her resume off anywhere that had a “Help Wanted” sign and staring at her phone, waiting for calls that never came.
“Have you applied with my uncle or sister-in-law?”
“I’m doing that today,” she said, still a little unnerved by how helpful he was being in all this. He still wanted her to come back, which comforted her, but he was also going out of his way to support her in finding a new job, which was actually starting to terrify her.
When he’d suggested his two-week proposal she’d expected him to do everything within his power to ensure that she didn’t find another job. She’d expected pouting, a possible offer of a raise and sex, a lot of sex, to get her to change her mind. Well, she still got plenty of sex, but he hadn’t offered her a raise, pouted or even tried talking her into coming back.
Instead, he went through the want ads every morning, circling the jobs that he thought that she might like, helped her with her resume and even made her a large breakfast to give her the energy that she was going to need to face another day of rejections. Every day when she came home to stare at her phone, he would check on her, bring her a snack and make sure that she had plenty of Coke and Hershey Kisses to get her through the night. When it became clear that no one was going to call her, he would take her for a walk, make her dinner or just hold her in the shower before ending the night making love to her and making her forget about everything around her.
He really was being so sweet about this, which made her feel like the heartless bitch that she was. It was also making her second guess her decision to quit. He was doing everything he could to make this work and here she was having a pity party for herself and putting in applications for jobs that she didn’t want. She didn’t want a new job with new people and a new boss that wouldn’t be as much fun to annoy as Lucifer had been. She wanted to go back to the Fire & Brimstone and get her old job back with the judgmental bitches that she missed so much.
As much as she wanted her job back, she couldn�
�t seem to find the willpower to suck up her pride and ask for it back. She couldn’t remember ever being this miserable. Her and her stupid pride, she thought with a pout as she felt Lucifer’s large, warm hand mold itself to her breast.
“Have I told you how much I like waking up with you in my bed?” he asked, kissing her shoulder and adding to her misery.
“Yes,” she said, close to crying, because he really was so sweet and she…she…
Oh, let’s face it, compared to him she was a heartless bitch!
“Are you pouting again?” he asked, chuckling.
“Yes,” she mumbled even as she raised her leg to give him better access when she felt that large cock of his push against her slit.
She was mildly depressed, not dead after all so when the incredibly hot man that she loved offered her the use of his large cock she did the polite thing and graciously accepted his offer. Moaning, she closed her eyes and lost herself to his touch, the feel of his hand on her breast, his lips on her neck and the way that he felt as he slid inside her. There really was no better way to wake up, she thought as she reached back and placed her hand on his hip, hoping that he would never stop.
“You feel so good,” he whispered as he continued to slowly take her.
Smiling, she turned her head and waited for him to take the hint and kiss her. When his lips touched hers, she decided that maybe things would be better today. At the very least, it was off to a great start.
*-*-*-*
“But-”
“But, what?” Lucifer asked the waitress trying to bullshit her way out of covering section one, the slowest section in the dinning room.
Licking her lips nervously, she shifted anxiously in her chair as the rest of his employees did their best not to draw his attention. He kept his glare leveled on her, waiting for her to keep trying to bullshit her way out of working section one while trying to simultaneously take section eight, the best section, which was coincidentally Rebecca’s section.
When he’d first opened the Fire & Brimstone the roles had been reversed and section eight had been the section that everyone hated to get stuck with until the day that he’d hired Rebecca. He’d assigned her that section, figuring that she couldn’t do much damage with it and over time she’d surprised him. Within a few months the regulars started asking to be seated in her section. They all knew her, loved her and missed her.
Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell Page 20
