They wanted her back and made sure that he knew it each and every single day. The only reason that they hadn’t tried to drag her back themselves was because he’d promised them that he was on top of things. He’d asked them to give him a month, but he knew that it wouldn’t be too much longer before Rebecca came back with that mischievous little smile of hers and took up the reins once again.
“I miss Rebecca,” one of the waitresses mumbled, which normally would have pissed him off, but since it let him know just how miserable his staff was without her, he let it pass.
Well, he let it pass without making her cry.
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have treated her like shit,” he drawled as he glanced down at the clipboard in his hands.
When she didn’t say anything, he took that as a win. They knew they’d fucked up by treating her like shit and now they were paying for it. Then again, they were also seriously contemplating quitting because Rebecca wasn’t here to act as a buffer between him and the staff any longer. For the first time in five years they were on the receiving end of his full temper.
A few days ago they’d realized just how important Rebecca had been in keeping his control issues in check, and so had he. Rebecca had annoyed him, teased him and driven him out of his fucking mind while taking the brunt of his attention so that he didn’t drive his staff insane. Now that she was gone, temporarily, they realized just how important she was.
They also missed her and regretted their bullshit treatment of her. He knew that much from overhearing them talk anytime he walked past the break room. They’d made as assumption about their relationship and not only had it bitten them in the ass, but it had almost cost them a valuable friendship. He said almost because he knew that over the past couple of days they’d all taken turns sneaking off to apologize to her and begged her to return.
Since it helped with his end game, he allowed it, but once she came back he was going to have to make sure that they understand that he didn’t give second chances.
“Mr. Bradford?” Jon, his newly promoted supervisor, said, getting his attention. “There’s another one on hold for you.”
Nodding, he held the clipboard out to Jon and ignored the collective sigh of relief. “Can you take over?” he asked, shooting a glare at his staff that looked a little too happy to see him go.
“Yes,” Jon said, stepping into the room to take over.
Promoting Jon had been a good idea, he decided as he walked to his office. He was well respected among the staff and was a fair man. He was also more liked than Adam had been.
Closing the door behind him, he sat down behind his desk and picked up the phone. “Can I help you?”
“Is this Mr. Bradford?” the woman on the other line asked.
“Yes, it is. How can I help you?” he said, sighing as he leaned back in his chair.
“I’m calling for a reference for one of your employees, a Miss Rebecca Shaw. Do you have a moment to answer some questions?”
Smiling, he answered, “Yes, yes I do.”
Chapter 42
“Mind moving your fat ass off my notebook?” Melanie asked around a bite of Hostess chocolate pie.
Sighing heavily, Rebecca shifted to the side, grabbed the notebook and threw it at the insensitive bitch.
“Thanks!” Melanie said cheerfully as she leaned over and picked the notebook off the floor where it had landed after hitting her in the arm.
“You’re welcome,” she muttered moodily, knowing that she was being a bitch and not really caring.
“No luck today?” Melanie asked, finishing off the last bite of her delicious looking pie and making Rebecca hate her to the very core of her soul.
She really missed being able to binge on junk food during times like this.
“No,” she said, still wondering what she was doing wrong.
She knew that her resume wasn’t going to land her a position as a CEO, but it should have been enough to land her a few interviews. So far, she hadn’t received one single call and she doubted that today would be any different.
“You could always work for me,” Melanie said, offering her a pity job, which was sweet.
“You don’t need me,” she reminded her annoyingly helpful best friend as she picked up the remote and selected an oldie but goodie.
“Nightmare on Elm Street? Really?” Melanie asked, shaking her head in disgust as she grabbed another Hostess pie and took a bite.
“I need it,” Rebecca muttered pathetically as she sat back and settled in for a long night of pretending that she wasn’t staring at her phone and waiting for it to ring.
“Why don’t you just go back to work for Lucifer? We both know that’s what you want,” the know-it-all-bitch said as she devoured her pie.
“Because…”
“Because, why?” Melanie asked a bit distractedly as she searched the empty wrappers on the coffee table for another pie.
“Just because,” she said, in no mood to get into this argument again.
“Because you’re a stubborn bitch with too much pride and not enough common sense to realize that you’ll never be happy anywhere else?” Melanie said, earning a furious glare.
“I really hate you,” she said, deciding that if Melanie managed to find another pie that she was going to take it from her and stomp the shit out of it.
“You love me and you know it,” Melanie said with a sigh and a shrug as she gave up on her search for more junk food and returned her attention to her laptop.
“You’re lucky that I do,” she said as she glanced down at her phone and felt her stomach sink when she saw that she didn’t have any missed calls.
“That’s what I tell myself everyday,” Melanie said with a smile and a wink for the sole purpose of trying to make her forget that no one was calling.
Feeling even more depressed than she had this morning, she tossed her phone aside and forced her lazy ass to get up. “I’m going to the bathroom. Let me know if anyone calls.”
“Will do,” Melanie mumbled, already lost in whatever code she was working on.
Deciding that tonight’s theme was going to be self-pity, she stepped over Mojo, who had fallen asleep by her feet in the hopes that Melanie would share her junk food with him, and walked to the bathroom, replaying all the conversations that she’d had today in her head. She’d been polite, smiled and had taken her time filling out all the applications. So, why wasn’t anyone calling her?
Shutting the bathroom door behind her, she walked over to the sink, looked at her reflection in the mirror and-
Screamed somewhat hysterically.
*-*-*-*
“Could I ask you a few questions about Rebecca Shaw?”
He sighed heavily for effect. “I don’t think my wife would like me talking about her. Not with the trial around the corner.”
“I’m sorry?” came the confused response after a heavy pause.
“So am I, but if you’re calling about getting me to drop the charges I’m afraid that you’re out of luck. My wife is determined to see this thing through.”
“I-I’m just calling for a reference.”
“That’s how it starts. She comes in with this adorable little smile, neatly typed resume and then before you know it you’re trying to remember the safe word and hoping that your wife doesn’t figure out where all the olive oil is going,” he said as he scrolled through next week’s schedule, seeing if any changes needed to be made.
“I think I’m going to hang up now,” Rebecca’s latest interested job prospect whispered nervously.
“It’s probably for the best,” he agreed, clicking Save.
Satisfied that he’d saved Rebecca from making a terrible mistake, he pushed his chair back and left his office. It was time to check on the stubborn woman and make sure that she hadn’t been offered any jobs on the spot, because if she had then he was going to have to figure out a way to get her fired before her first day.
So far today he’d helped her dodge five-perspect
ive jobs. He wasn’t counting the jobs that he’d threatened his relatives not to give her. They knew better then to do something that would encourage him to focus his attention on them. While Uncle Jared would normally take any threat of revenge as a challenge, he knew exactly what Lucifer was capable of. While most of his brothers and cousins would try to annoy the shit out their uncle, he usually took the more subtle route and found a way to turn someone’s life upside down to the point where his intended victim would start to wonder if they were going insane.
He didn’t take shortcuts, not like his cousins. When he did something, he gave it his all and his uncle knew that. Which was why…
Was that screaming?
“Shit!” he snapped as he hurried up the stairs and ran straight for her apartment door. He didn’t bother knocking since it was never locked these days. He swore if that fucking dog knocked Rebecca on her adorable ass one more time that he was going to-
“Stop screaming!” Melanie screamed.
“What the hell do you mean stop screaming?” Rebecca screamed back.
“Because you’re freaking me out!”
“Freaking you out? Are you insane, woman? What the hell do you expect me to do?” Rebecca shouted, hysterically.
“I don’t know!” Melanie shouted back right around the time that he stepped up behind her in the bathroom doorway.
“You don’t know?” Rebecca demanded, waving around a thick white stick. “Of course I’m going to freak out!”
“What the hell is going on?” he heard himself asking, barely noticing that both women had gone completely still or that Mojo had joined them. The only thing that he knew was that he was looking at a pregnancy test.
Swallowing hard, he said the only thing that he could think of, “Rebecca?”
“Hmm?” she said, still holding that stick up in the air.
“Is that positive?” he managed to get out as he was forced to reach out and grab onto the doorway when black spots began dancing along his vision.
“What’s this now?” she asked with a frown.
“Oh, god,” came Melanie’s muffled response as she buried her face in her hands and leaned back against the door.
“The test…,” he said, wondering when breathing had become so difficult, “is it positive?”
“Oh,” she said, blinking as she glanced at the test that she was holding in her hand. “Umm, no?” she said, lowering her hand and trying to discretely toss it in the trash, but she had terrible aim.
“Damn it!”
It hit the rim of the trashcan, bounced back and landed on the floor between them. Swallowing hard, he looked down at the test and clenched his jaw tightly shut.
Positive.
Chapter 43
“What’s he doing now?” Melanie whispered, hiding behind her as Rebecca cracked open the bathroom door a little wider and stuck her head out the door.
“Still ransacking my room,” she whispered back.
“Why is he ransacking your room?” Melanie asked, making her roll her eyes.
“How the hell would I know?” she asked, seconds before she was forced to shove Melanie back when Lucifer suddenly stormed out of her room, so that she could shut the bathroom door shut and lock it.
“This is bad,” Melanie mumbled, stating the obvious.
Sometime in the last twenty minutes of so, her boyfriend had lost his damn mind. As soon as he saw the positive test result he’d nodded to himself several times, went pale, kind of wavered on his feet a bit there, mumbled something about New Hampshire and stormed off, kind of freaking them out a bit. Since that special moment that terrified them to their very being, he’d gone a little…nuts. When he wasn’t tearing apart her room, he was raiding their kitchen, and mumbling something about needing “sustenance,” with the help of Mojo, the little traitor that she’d once considered her sweet little baby.
Speaking of baby…
She folded her arms over her chest, turned around to face the woman that had started it all, cocked a brow and said, “Explain.”
Melanie worried her bottom lip as she said, “I can’t.”
“Yeah, you really can.”
“I really can’t,” Melanie said, leaning back against the counter.
“Oh, I really think you can,” she said, narrowing her eyes on the woman that had broken her boyfriend, a job that was rightfully hers.
Looking down at her feet, Melanie shook her head. “I really can’t.”
“He thinks I’m pregnant, Melanie,” she reminded her.
“I know,” Melanie said, sounding absolutely miserable.
“So, start talking,” Rebecca said, guessing that they had ten minutes before Lucifer broke this door down and took his mental breakdown to the next level.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Melanie said, and as much as she hated pushing her best friend to talk about something before she was ready, right now she didn’t have a choice.
“That pregnancy test says otherwise,” she said, leaning back against the door. “Who’s the father?”
“I’m not ready to talk about that.”
“I didn’t even know that you were dating someone,” Rebecca said, listening as Lucifer stormed past the bathroom and headed back to her room. The sounds of Mojo following after him followed a few seconds later.
“I’m not,” Melanie said, shaking her head. “It was a one time thing. I haven’t even spoken to him since it happened.”
She digested that for a minute before asking, “Are you going to tell him?”
“When I’m ready,” Melanie said, and she didn’t have to ask if she was going to keep the baby. There were just some things that you didn’t have to talk about when it came to your best friend.
“I’m going to have to tell Lucifer,” she said, sighing when she heard what sounded like him tearing through her bureau. She had absolutely no clue what he was looking for, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“I know,” Melanie said, quietly.
“You know I’m here when you’re ready to talk, right?” she said, reminding Melanie that she was always going to be there for her even though it was a given.
Melanie looked up at her and blinked. “Is this our Hallmark moment?”
“It is,” Rebecca said, sighing heavily.
“Should we get a cup of tea, hold each other and cry with Michael Bolton playing in the background?”
“We should,” Rebecca said, solemnly.
Laughing, Melanie pushed away from the sink and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you.”
“You should be,” she said, returning the hug. “Are you happy?”
“Terrified,” Melanie admitted with a nervous chuckle, “but yeah, I’m excited about this even though it doesn’t feel real yet.”
“Well, it’s not going to until you’re the size of a whale,” Rebecca pointed out, because she was just that helpful.
“Bitch,” Melanie said, laughing as she playfully pushed her away.
“Whore,” Rebecca said, sighing heavily as they returned their attention to the locked door.
“Takes one to know one,” Melanie said, grabbing her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Will you go with me when I visit him in the insane asylum?” she asked.
“No,” Melanie said, shaking her head slowly as she released her hand so that she could push Rebecca towards the door.
“Bitch,” she said, sighing as she reluctantly unlocked the door, knowing that it was for the best if she explained everything to Lucifer before it was too late.
Opening the door, she took a deep breath and-
“Who’s the father?” Lucifer demanded, looking incredibly pissed.
*-*-*-*
“I’m sorry. What’s this now?” Rebecca asked, shifting a nervous glance to her partner in crime.
Glaring at Melanie, he repeated himself, “Who’s the father?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rebecca, always the faithful frien
d, asked as she came to Melanie’s defense.
He gestured to the walls and reminded them, “Paper thin walls.”
Rebecca shrugged as she pushed past him, or at least tried to, but he wasn’t quite done. “Congratulations,” he said to Melanie, but his eyes were locked on Rebecca.
“Um, thank you?” Melanie said, shifting nervously. “Is there any chance that I can leave?”
“Are you going to tell me who the father is so that I can beat the shit out of him?” he asked, never taking his eyes off Rebecca, who was now glaring at him.
“That’s sweet, but no. I can handle this one on my own,” Melanie said, sighing with relief when he nodded and moved aside so that she could leave. Once she was gone, he stepped inside the bathroom, giving Rebecca no other choice but to step back so that he could close the door behind him and lock it.
“Is there a reason that you’re keeping me hostage in my bathroom or is this part of your nervous breakdown?” she asked with a glare that most likely matched his own.
“It’s most likely part of my nervous breakdown,” he admitted, shifting his attention to the medicine cabinet.
“What exactly are you looking for?” she asked as he searched for the one thing that would return his sanity.
“I’ll let you know when I find it,” he said, shutting the medicine cabinet and shifted his attention to the drawers beneath the sink.
“If you’re looking for antipsychotic medication, you’re out of luck. I crushed the last pill up this morning and sprinkled it on my gluten free Cheerios,” she said, dryly while he struggled to keep it together.
“Smartass,” he said absently as he pushed aside a box of tampons and-
Sighed when he found what he was looking for. Grabbing the pink box, he shut the drawer and forced himself to breathe. Licking his lips, he turned around and held the box out to her.
Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell Page 21
