Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell

by R. L. Mathewson

  She snorted at that. “That’s easy for you to say.”

  He chuckled as he leaned his head back against the seat. “What worried you more, the diapers or the delivery?”

  There was a slight pause before she admitted, “The diapers.”

  “We would have survived,” he teased, even as he had to admit that the idea of changing a diaper terrified him.

  “Okay then. That’s all I wanted to know,” she said with a relieved sigh and a firm nod as she sat up and reached for the door handle only to end up shooting him a questioning look. “Umm, where are we exactly?”

  “Hell,” he said, reaching over to turn off the truck, “we’re in hell.”

  Chapter 46

  “Maybe we could do this some other time?” she suggested somewhat hysterically as she tried to dig her heals in and stop Lucifer from dragging her inside to face his family.

  “You’ve already met them,” he said, clearly not understanding her current moral dilemma.

  “Yeah, so then I don’t need to come tonight,” she said, trying to push his hand off hers so that she could turn around and make a run for it.

  “And pass up a chance to help my father torment me?” he said dryly, making her pause, because there was that…

  God, she loved tormenting him.

  Giving herself a mental shake, she renewed her efforts to break free, but the large bastard kept walking, taking her with him.

  “I have things to do!” she said, giving up on trying to fight it and decided to try reasoning with him.

  “Like?” he asked in a tone that said it all.

  The bastard didn’t think that she had a life!

  How dare he?

  “I have a lot of stuff to do!”

  “Like what?” he asked, throwing her a knowing look that was just not appreciated!

  “Like stuff. Now would you let me go?” she demanded, absolutely refusing to go inside and-

  “Life what?” he asked teasingly as he stopped walking so that he could interrogate her on his parent’s walkway.

  “If you must know, I had a very busy night planned,” she snapped, yanking her arm free so that she could cross her arms over her chest as she explained exactly how busy she was.

  “A romantic night by the television with Mojo drooling everywhere?” he teased, causing her eyes to narrow.

  “No, I had plans to attend an orgy tonight and thanks to you, I’m going to be late,” she said with a huff as she turned around, giving him her back and started to walk away.

  “Well,” he said with a sigh as he easily caught up to her and took her hand so that he could lead her back to the front door, “I’m afraid that they’re going to have to get along without you.”

  “That might be difficult,” she said with a groan as she found herself once again being led towards the house.

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because I was the only woman attending,” she said, loving the way he chuckled.

  “Yeah, that might make things difficult,” he said with that smile that did funny things to her.

  “I was also supposed to bring the lube,” she admitted with a forlorn sigh.

  “Ouch,” he said, shooting her a wink.

  “Are you going to let me go?” she asked, feeling hopeful.

  “Not a chance,” he said, making her shoulders sag as he continued leading her to the front stairs and to what promised to be a really uncomfortable evening.

  “Does it not matter to you that I don’t want to go?” she asked even as she tried to resign herself to a night of hiding in the bathroom and avoiding making eye contact.

  “No, but it does piss me off,” he said, sighing when they reached the front door.

  “Which is why I’ll be waiting in the car,” she said brightly, hoping that he’d go for it.

  “Nice try,” he said, using his hold on her hand to bring her closer so that he could kiss her.

  Desperate, and realizing that she was seconds away from being forced to go inside and face his mother, who probably knew about the pregnancy test and the knowledge that she’d been having her way with her son, Rebecca did what she had to do.

  “I’m sorry!” she said, wincing as she picked up her foot, slammed it down on his instep and took off running the second that he let go.

  “Forgive me!” she yelled over her shoulder as she ran as fast as her legs would take her, praying that she’d managed to hobble him for as long as it would take her to make it to Main Street and flag down a taxi.

  *-*-*-*

  “I,” gasp, “hate,” another gasp, “you,” Rebecca finally managed to get out as he carried her back to his truck.

  “Stop. You’re making me blush,” he said dryly as he carefully loaded the violent woman into his truck.

  He considered using the child safety lock to stop her from running away again, but there really was no need since she’d barely made it two hundred yards before she’d fallen to her knees, gasping for air and begging him to put her out of her misery to save her from the leg cramp that had brought her escape to a swift end.

  When she fell over onto her side, still panting like she’d run a marathon instead of less than half a block, he gave her a patronizing slap on the ass and shut the door. Shaking his head, he walked around his truck and climbed in, careful of Rebecca’s head. After pushing a strand of hair out of her face, he started the short ride back to his parents’ house where his parents, Aidan and the two annoying bastards that he couldn’t seem to shake were waiting for them.

  “Dying,” the little bully gasped from where she lay beside him.

  “Uh huh,” he said absently as he put the truck in park and shook off the slight throbbing in his leg.

  The tap at his window let him know that his short reprieve was over and that it was time to face what promised to be a very long and painful night, but that was to be expected the first time you brought a woman home to meet the family, especially his family. Biting back a groan, he rolled down his window.

  Smiling, his father focused on Rebecca, who was currently trying to lower herself to the floor where she probably planned on hiding for the rest of the night, but it seemed that she didn’t have enough energy at the moment to complete the final roll needed to achieve this sad goal of hers.

  “How was your run, sweetheart?” his father asked when Rebecca gave up with a pathetic groan and a muttered, “Stupid cramp.”

  There was a slight pause before she said, “Fine. Um, how are you?”

  “Good, good,” his father said as he leaned against the truck door before he shifted his attention to Lucifer. “Listen, your mother wants to go out tonight since the rest of kids weren’t able to make it. Do you think the two of you are up for that?”

  A night out with his family?

  Not at all, but he couldn’t disappoint his mother, mostly because his father would beat the shit out of him.

  Since he didn’t seem to have much of a choice, he opened his mouth to reluctantly accept when Rebecca cut him off and asked, “Is it okay if I pick the restaurant?” suddenly perking up and making the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

  But, before he could warn his father that it was a trap, the bastard was telling her yes and walking away, leaving him with the woman who was suddenly sitting up and looking happier than he’d ever seen her before.

  Chapter 47

  “After tonight,” Lucifer bit out furiously as he glared at her, “we’re through.”

  Blinking innocently, she asked, “Is something wrong, pookie?”

  “Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” his mother said with a huge smile as she joined them at the large table that the waitress had selected just for them, which just happened to be right in front of the section the restaurant had deemed as the stage.

  “So much fun,” Aidan seconded bitterly as he sat down across from her, his scowl never wavering.

  Ethan didn’t say anything as he sat down next to his wife, but the scowl on his face really said it
all.

  “I’m so glad I came tonight,” Jason said, sounding genuinely happy to be there as he sat down next to Trevor, who looked equally amused.

  God, it was going to be the best night ever!

  It might even make up for the depressing, chaotic day that she’d just had. At the very least it would distract her from the fact that she still didn’t have a job, the balls to ask for her old job back and thanks to today’s near-miss, she’d realized something very important.

  She was an absolute failure.

  She was twenty-nine years old with absolutely nothing to show for it. By now she should have her own place, a lot more money in the bank, a career, but most of all, she should be prepared to handle an emergency on her own without panicking. Seeing that false positive today had put a lot of things in perspective.

  Before today she could have honestly said that she saw absolutely nothing wrong with being a waitress for the rest of her life, but now she realized that had been a little shortsighted. While she still saw nothing wrong with working in a restaurant for the rest of her life, she realized that working as a waitress who was completely dependent on tips was not going to give her the stability that she needed or the future that she wanted.

  She needed more and if working in a restaurant was really what she wanted to do, and she was absolutely positive that it was, then it was time to get serious about it. She needed to learn how to run a restaurant and the best way to do that was to finally get off her ass and go back to school. She could enroll in an online program and work towards her degree. It would take some time, but at least by the time that she had her degree she would have options, which was honestly more than she had right now.

  “I’ve never been to a karaoke bar before!” his mother said with a huge smile, which was probably the only reason that Lucifer, his father and brother weren’t dragging them out of there right now.

  “It’s a lot of fun,” Rebecca promised her with a huge smile just to irritate the man sitting next to her, glaring…just glaring.

  She had to admit that it was a little unsettling.

  When Aidan mouthed the words, I hate you, she wasn’t sure whether he was talking to her or Lucifer. Not that she really cared since she’d found the perfect way to get mind off of things for a while. She just wished that Melanie had been able to join them, but she had too much work to catch up on.

  At least, that was the bullshit excuse that Melanie had given her when she’d called to invite her to join them. Since this was normally the type of thing that Melanie would drop everything for, screwing people over and not the karaoke part, she knew that Melanie probably needed some time to herself to figure things out. Since they still had plenty of time to talk about everything going on, she picked up her menu and wondered what the odds were of getting all the Bradford men up on the “stage” to sing a Katy Perry song were.

  Probably not that good, but she was going to damn well try.

  Thankfully the very limited and incredibly disappointing menu helped take her mind off that depressing realization and onto something else equally as depressing. As she glanced through the menu, searching for the small gluten-free sign that would let her know what was safe to eat, she realized something very important.

  She was going to starve.

  “Oh, everything looks so good,” Mrs. Bradford said while Rebecca sat there trying to decide between…

  Well, there really was nothing to decide since the only thing that was gluten free on the menu was a hamburger, minus the bun, with a side salad, minus the croutons and salad dressing. Since that really didn’t sound appetizing, she decided that she’d fill up on Coke and make something to eat when she got home later.

  If she had known that her food choices were going to be limited coming here…

  She still would have come, she decided with a sigh as she closed the menu and focused back on her intended victims. This was going to be so much fun, she mused, barely managing to keep a smile off her face. For five years she’d entertained herself by finding new and interesting ways to torture Lucifer, but even she had to admit that things had become a little stale there at the end.

  Finding new and exciting ways to torture him while working under some serious limitations had been something of a challenge. Since she’d been limited to only torturing him at work and through run-ins in the hall she’d had with him under the capacity of the landlord/tenant relationship, she really hadn’t had much to work with. But now that they spent time outside of work together the possibilities had become endless. It also didn’t hurt that her relationship with Lucifer had brought her new victims to torture.

  Speaking of her new victims…

  “What song are you going to sing?” she asked Aidan, deciding to focus on him first as a favor to Melanie, who’d made her promise to make his life a living hell since she wasn’t able to be here to do it for herself.

  Aidan blinked and when she kept looking at him expectantly, he blinked again. “I, um,” he licked his lips nervously as he shot a pleading glance to Lucifer, probably hoping that he’d come up with something to get them all out of there before it was too late, “I don’t sing.”

  “I see,” she murmured, making sure to look disappointed as she added another, “I see,” with a forlorn sigh and let her shoulders sag.

  “I don’t sing,” he bit out through clenched teeth, making her up her game.

  Fighting back a smile, she let her gaze drop to the menu and her shoulders sag even further. “I just thought this would be a nice way to get to know everyone better, but if you don’t want to…” she said, letting her words trail off with a weak shrug as she kept her gaze firmly locked on the table as she released another pathetic sigh.

  “I-”

  “You’re not going to sing?” Jason asked and she didn’t need to look up to know that he was shaking his head in disgust since it was a move that she would have used to further manipulate someone.

  “But, I-”

  “Your brother’s girlfriend is making an effort to get to know you and this is how you treat her?” Trevor asked in disgust, making her lips twitch.

  Not because they’d joined her in torturing Aidan, but because they hadn’t realized that they were next.

  *-*-*-*

  They were all fucking morons, he thought as he searched through the menu, trying to find something that she could eat, but so far he’d only come up with a hamburger patty and some lettuce.

  “We need to leave,” he said with a sigh as he tossed the menu back on the table.

  “What? No, we just got here,” Rebecca said, apparently forgetting that she was supposed to be pouting to manipulate his weak brother into doing something incredibly stupid.

  “We’re going,” he said, getting up and pushing his chair in.

  “What’s wrong?” his mother asked even as Aidan released a sigh of relief.

  “There’s nothing that she can eat here,” he explained, holding his hand out to Rebecca, but the stubborn woman refused to give up her plans to torture them.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said somewhat desperately, obviously willing to say or do whatever it took to keep them from leaving.

  “Oh,” his mother said, looking embarrassed that she hadn’t thought about Rebecca’s dietary restrictions, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I should have realized. We’ll go home and I can whip something up,” she said with a firm nod as she stood up.

  “I’m fine, really!” Rebecca argued as she grabbed the menu. “There’s plenty to eat!”

  “Sure there is,” he said firmly, giving her that look that let her know that he wasn’t going to change his mind.

  *-*-*-*

  “I think we’re going to call it a night,” Lucifer said, betraying her and destroying her plans for what had promised to be a night to remember in a matter of seconds.

  “We understand, sweetheart,” she said, not looking like she blamed Rebecca, but she did look disappointed, which was probably why Rebecca did what she did and not because she
was innately evil or anything.

  At least that’s what she told herself, but she knew the truth…

  “There’s no reason why you have to leave,” she said, catching the murderous glare that Aidan shot her.

  “She’s right. You should stay,” Lucifer said, somewhat appeasing her as he took her hand and stepped out the way just as his father, with an expression that could only be described as homicidal, reached for him.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” his mother asked, already sitting back down with a huge smile and an expression that made her wonder if she also enjoyed the fine art of torture.

  “This is going to be the best night ever,” Jason said, grinning and sounding so damn giddy that she nearly cried.

  This was supposed to be her night of enjoyment!

  She considered rebelling and telling him that she wasn’t hungry and was damn well going to stay, but that was right around the time that her stomach betrayed her, making an argument pointless, because there was no way that anyone was going to let her stay now.

  Stupid gluten, she thought miserably as she allowed him to lead her out of the restaurant and away from all of her dreams coming true.

  Chapter 48

  “Are you still pouting?” he asked the small woman sprawled out on his bed, watching yet another horror movie as he tossed his towel aside and pulled on a pair of boxers.

  “I think we should see other people,” she mumbled, sounding absolutely miserable for a woman snuggling a five-pound bag of Hershey Kisses.

  “Because I ruined your evil plans?” he asked, joining her on the bed, careful not to come between her and the chocolate that was apparently stopping her from killing him.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find other creative ways to torture my family in the future,” he promised her, reaching for a Hershey Kiss only to think better of it.

  “Not like tonight,” she mumbled, looking truly miserable as she grabbed a Hershey Kiss, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth, all while staring blankly at the television.