The Promise (Neighbor from Hell Book 10)

by R. L. Mathewson

  “She’s fine,” Reed said, making his way through the throngs of students staring down at their cellphones as they struggled to wake up with the help of eight-dollar lattes, energy shots, and twenty-ounce bottles of Coke.

  “I see,” Jackson murmured as Reed sat down next to Shawn. “And what exactly is she doing there?”

  Driving him out of his fucking mind, but since he couldn’t exactly tell his best friend that he’d held his sister in his arms last night, trying to ignore just how good it felt to hold her, he went with, “She’s on sabbatical.”

  “Still doesn’t explain what she’s doing there,” Jackson pointed out.

  “You okay, buddy?” Reed asked Shawn as he shifted the phone away from his mouth. Nodding, Shawn continued to sit there staring down at his feet.

  “She came home to fix up the old house,” Reed said, gesturing for the small group forming near them to get to class.

  “Shit,” Jackson said, sighing heavily.

  “Exactly,” Reed said, watching as the last of the stragglers headed toward the front doors. Without a word, Shawn stood up, adjusted his backpack, licked his lips nervously and after a slight hesitation, headed toward the front doors with Reed by his side.

  “She’ll go bankrupt trying to fix that old place.”

  “Which is why she’s decided to see if Uncle Jared will buy it,” Reed said, gesturing for Shawn to follow him to the front office.

  “That might be for the best,” Jackson said before asking, “Where is she staying?”

  “In town,” Reed said, deciding that it was probably for the best if he kept that information to himself until after Jackson had a chance to talk to Joey.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jackson said as Reed stopped by the front desk so that he could pull up Shawn’s schedule just as the first bell rang.

  “Probably not, but she has nowhere else to go,” Reed said absently as he pulled up Joey’s schedule and compared it with Shawn’s.

  “What is she doing to stay busy?”

  “She’s filling in for me at the school,” Reed promised him as he made a few adjustments to Shawn’s schedule before he sent it to the printer.

  “You don’t have to do this, Reed,” Jackson said, sighing heavily when they both knew that he didn’t have a choice.

  It was either watch over the little brat or let her…

  “Where the hell did she go?” he asked, looking around the empty lobby.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll call you back later,” he said absently as he ended the call and slid his phone back in his pocket.

  “Who?” Shawn asked, reaching up to run his hands over his messy short blonde hair as he followed Reed’s gaze.

  “Your new case manager,” Reed said, handing Shawn a copy of his new schedule as he glanced around the front lobby one last time before biting back a curse because he should have known better than to turn his back on the little brat.

  Chapter 18

  “So, you don’t use books?” Joey asked, worrying her bottom lip as she looked around the large barren classroom, noting the bare walls, empty bookshelves, the empty table in the back, and the sad desk that looked older than her in the corner.

  There was a heartfelt sigh, bringing her attention back to the girl sitting on top of the small desk in front of her, idly swinging her legs back and forth as she slowly shook her head. “Sadly, no.”

  “I see,” Joey said, nodding as she considered the rest of the class, noting the way they all sat there, nodding in agreement.

  “It’s okay because we don’t actually need them,” a boy said from the back row.

  “You don’t?” Joey asked, carrying her bag over to the large desk that she was going to be calling home for the next three months and placed it on the floor.

  “We finished weeks ago,” Jen, she believed her name was based on what she’d overheard during the morning meeting, said nodding solemnly along with the rest of the class.

  “You finished U.S. History weeks ago?” Joey asked as she reluctantly hopped up onto her desk.

  “Unfortunately,” Jen said, following that up with a shrug. “We’re the accelerated class.”

  “Oh,” Joey said, frowning down at the syllabus that John handed her before the morning meeting. “They didn’t tell me that you were the accelerated class.”

  There was a sad, drawn-out sigh followed with, “They always forget to tell the substitute teachers.”

  “I was planning on going over the American Revolution, but since you already covered it…” Joey said with a helpless shrug.

  “We already did,” another boy said, nodding.

  “I guess we could watch a movie?” Joey suggested with a sigh and a lazy gesture toward the flat screen television mounted on the wall.

  “You know,” Jen said as the rest of the class nodded in agreement, “that would probably be for the best.”

  “Since we’re supposed to study United States history, why don’t we watch ‘The Patriot?’” she suggested as she slid off her desk and picked up her bag.

  “I suppose we could do that,” Jen said as she sat down at her desk while the rest of the students nodded eagerly.

  “Okay,” Joey said as she put her bag on the desk and searched for her copy of The Patriot. “I was really hoping that we wouldn’t have to do this.”

  “We could do what we normally do and just hang out?” someone suggested even as they started pulling out their phones.

  “True,” Joey murmured as she pulled the movie out before reluctantly grabbing a soda and the bag of junk food that she’d picked up this morning on the off-chance that it came to this.

  “Should I get the lights?” a boy asked, already getting up to shut the lights off.

  Turning around, Joey couldn’t help but frown. “But then how would you be able to see what you’re writing?”

  “Wait, writing?” he asked, shooting a nervous glance back at Jen who simply shrugged it off.

  “I usually wait until the end of the semester to do this with my students, but since you’ve already finished I guess we’ll do it today,” Joey said with a shrug as she walked over to the DVD player resting on a shelf near the television.

  “Do what?”

  “Normally, I have my grad students look for thirty mistakes and my undergrads look for twenty, but since you’re the accelerated class we should probably stick with thirty,” Joey said with a heartfelt sigh as she took the DVD out of its case and popped it into the DVD player.

  “Thirty what?” the leader of the pack asked, shifting nervously in her seat as she glanced back at the rest of the class for help.

  “Historical inaccuracies in this movie. Since you’re the accelerated class you should have no problem finding them,” Joey said with a smile and a satisfied sigh as she turned around and faced the horrified group of students behind her.

  Jen opened his mouth, but Joey cut her off, “Did I mention that this was going to be counted as a test?” she asked brightly, noting that more than half the students looked like they were about to be sick as she pressed Play.

  “Let’s get started, shall we?”

  “Wait! You can’t do this!”

  “I really can though,” Joey said, nodding solemnly as she walked back over to her desk, sat down, leaned back, propped her feet up on the desk and grabbed the bag of chips with a satisfied sigh as every last student sat there, staring back at her in horror.

  With a chip, she gestured toward the movie, “You already missed one,” Joey pointed out as she popped the chip in her mouth.

  “But…” Jen said, looking completely lost as she sat there while the rest of the class tore their bags apart, desperately looking for something to write with.

  “Missed another one,” Joey said, taking another sip of her soda even as she couldn’t help but notice that a mini-fridge would go very nicely in the corner by the closet.

  “Oh, god,” a girl sitting in the back whimpered.

&n
bsp; Frowning, Joey looked back at the movie and asked, “You got the last one, right?”

  “No,” came the hesitant reply.

  Shaking her head, she returned her attention to her chips with a sigh, “That’s a shame.”

  “Dr. Lawson?” Reed said from the doorway, drawing every hopeful gaze in the room and-

  She found herself looking at Reed, taking in the way his green eyes lit up when he smiled down at Shawn and realized that he had kind eyes. He’d always been handsome, but those eyes…

  Were probably something that she was better off not noticing, she decided when he glanced back at her and glared.

  Great.

  “Yes, Mr. Bradford?” Joey asked, popping one last chip in her mouth as she glanced past him. “Good morning, Shawn,” she said with a warm smile as she dropped her feet off the edge of the desk and reached for her bag.

  He gave her a shy smile as he risked a glance at her before returning his attention back to the floor. “Look what I made for you yesterday, Shawn,” Joey said, pulling the large bag of peanut butter cup cookies that she’d made for him along with the bottle of juice that she’d picked up for him this morning and placed it on the desk.

  Reed’s eyes narrowed on the cookies as Shawn looked back up, tried to bite back a pleased smile and shuffled his feet as Joey reached for another chair and pulled it closer even as she said, “You missed another one.”

  “Oh, come on!”

  Ignoring the devastated groans, Joey gestured toward the seat. “Are you with me right now?”

  Shrugging, Shawn walked toward her, keeping his gaze averted from the students who looked like they were on the verge on a mental breakdown and quickly sat down next to her as he handed her the piece of paper in his hand.

  Smiling, Joey said, “Thank you,” as she took the slip, noting that she also had him for World History and study hall later.

  “When did you get a chance to make cookies?” Reed asked as he leaned back against her desk and helped himself to her soda as several students mouthed, “Help us.”

  “After lunch yesterday,” she said, watching as Shawn sent her a questioning look as he reached over and picked up the bag of cookies. “I put the other bag of cookies in my roommate’s bag,” she added, hoping that would be enough to make up for whatever it was that she did to piss him off.

  “I see,” Reed murmured absently as he gestured for Shawn to give him one.

  Nodding, Shawn pulled a cookie out of the large Ziploc bag and handed it to Reed, who was glancing around the room, taking note of the empty walls and bookshelves before moving onto the students sending him pleading looks. “What’s going on?”

  “My accelerated class, who doesn’t require textbooks, finished mastering United States history weeks ago and is killing some time by watching a movie loosely based on the War for Independence and looking for historical errors in exchange for a grade that will most likely result in all of them failing this class,” Joey said as she plucked her iPad out of her bag and handed it to Shawn.

  “Is that right?” Reed murmured with a thoughtful look at the students now sitting there, staring back at them in horror.

  “Mmmhmm,” Joey said, grabbing another soda from her bag, opened it and took a sip.

  “Then again…” she said, letting her words trail off as she noted the hopeful expressions on some of their faces. “They could simply put the room back together and get all the books they hid in the closet and I’d probably be willing to-”

  “Oh, thank god!” several of them said, cutting her off as they jumped out of their seats and raced toward the back closet while others started pulling textbooks out of their bags and shoving them back onto the shelves as fast as they could while she returned her attention to what Shawn was doing only to sigh.

  “Did we not discuss the need for a larger moat?”

  “Told you she was a bloodthirsty little thing,” Reed said as he plucked the soda out of her hand, grabbed the bag of junk food, and headed for the door, leaving her sitting there once again noting that he had a really nice ass.

  Chapter 19

  “I just wanted to thank you for my early Christmas present,” the little bastard that he should have smothered in his sleep a long time ago said with a heartfelt sigh as he sat there, staring dreamily at Joey as he absently scooped another spoonful of the creamiest mashed potatoes that he’d ever had onto his plate while Reed sat there, fighting the urge to reach over and grab the little bastard by the back of the neck and slam his face into-

  “Thank you for inviting me,” Julie said with a heartfelt sigh of her own and a pleased smile as she shifted her glance from him to the reason that he was in a bad mood and then back again.

  “You’re welcome,” the little bastard said with another one of those heartfelt sighs that had Reed’s hand twitching as he shifted his attention back to the small woman curled up in the chair next to him, devouring another book on Jack the Ripper and completely fucking oblivious to everything going on around her.

  That’s how it had been all day.

  All. Fucking. Day.

  It started last night when she’d stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of soft cotton panties and a large tee shirt that pulled up every fucking time she went to check on the psychotic kitten that had it out for him before she climbed in bed with him. While he’d laid there trying not to think about the fact that she was half-naked in his bed, she’d sat there completely oblivious to all the things that he was trying not to imagine while she’d read another book on the plague. When he woke up to find her curled up in his arms with that same fucking shirt riding up, her smooth legs gliding against his, and his hand only inches from her ass, he’d realized something very important.

  She was going to be the death of him.

  It was then that he’d realized that he had his work cut out for him, which was only confirmed when he’d walked into the kitchen thirty minutes later to find her leaning over to look for something in the fridge and giving his brother one hell of a view of her jean-clad ass as the little bastard stood there, mouthing the words, “I love you,” with a heartfelt sigh. As soon as she’d left he’d had another word with his brother, which had ended with the little bastard calling their mother and tattling on him. Once he’d reassured his mother that he hadn’t hurt her precious baby boy, he’d shoved Matt into a closet, headed to work, deciding to stop on the way to get breakfast only to find every asshole in the bakery openly staring at her breasts while she’d stood there, absently humming to herself as she took in the large selection of baked goods, completely fucking oblivious to everyone and everything around her.

  The same could be said for the morning meeting.

  While he’d been trying to get everything set up for the day, she’d been sitting there, taking notes, and nibbling on the pastry that he’d been eying since he saw her buy it and was completely oblivious to every asshole in the room looking her way while he’d been forced to sit there, trying to resist the urge to beat the-

  “So, how was your first day, Joey?” Julie asked, reaching for a piece of cornbread only to rethink it when Matt leveled a glare on her.

  “It was good,” Joey said, briefly looking up to shoot Julie a smile before her attention was right back on that book.

  “Did you have any problems?” Julie asked while he took in the way that she sat there, leaning against the chair that his great grandfather made, completely lost in her book even as she reached over and plucked a piece of cornbread off the plate, ignoring Matt’s gasp of outrage, and looked so fucking adorable doing it.

  “No, it was fine,” Joey said, breaking off a piece of cornbread and popped it in her mouth.

  “Did you meet John?” Julie asked as she reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes only to sigh when Matt reached over with a glare and pulled the bowl away.

  “Yeah, he was really nice,” Joey said, making him shake his head in disgust and seriously wonder how she’d survived this long without him.


  “He’s married,” Reed pointed out as he stole the mashed potatoes back from the little prick who was back to staring dreamily at Joey.

  “Thank you,” Julie said for some reason only to sigh heavily and mumble something about getting something to eat later.

  “Which is probably why he showed me pictures of his wife and kids,” Joey said, turning another page.

  “I heard Miss Dawson’s students are a nightmare. I’m surprised they didn’t try anything with you,” Julie said as she reached for the plate of pot roast only to sigh when Matt grabbed it and helped himself to a huge piece and then with a glare, he helped himself to two more pieces before shoving the plate back to the middle of the table.

  “They did, but I’ve had worse,” Joey mumbled absently as he sat there, wondering about that when Matt said, “That reminds me. I fixed your phone.”

  “How does that remind you about her phone?” Julie asked, frowning as she reached for the baked macaroni and cheese only to grumble, “I give up,” when Matt reached past her and grabbed the bowl.

  “Because Jackson sounded kind of pissed when I told him that she was staying here,” Matt said, and just like that, he had Joey’s full attention.

  *-*-*-*

  “This probably isn’t going to end well,” Joey mumbled against her pillow. She followed that up with a forlorn sigh as she shifted to get more comfortable on the small couch only to give up and settle for lying there on her stomach, staring at her phone as it continued to slowly vibrate its way across the coffee table that had probably been in the Bradford family for generations.

  Maybe she should just get this over with, she thought only to quickly dismiss the idea since it was in her best interest to put this off for as long as humanly possible. At least, until she had a better explanation for what she was doing here since the truth would only lead to another lecture that she really wasn’t in the mood to listen to right now.

  Then again, was she ever really in the mood for one of her brother’s lectures, she couldn’t help but wonder as she rolled over with a sigh and-

  “That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” she managed to get out a few seconds later only to follow that up with a groan as she resigned herself to sleeping on the floor.