The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(32)

“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.

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 Matt 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,” Matt 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.