The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(52)

“Besides everything?” Matt said, sighing heavily as he leaned back in his chair. “How about your promise?”

“What about it?” he asked as he reluctantly shifted his attention back to the financial reports that he was hoping to get through tonight so that he had the weekend free to spend with Joey.

“At some point, you’re going to have to give up your obsession with glaring at her,” Matt said with a sad shake of his head.

“I’m not obsessed,” Reed said although he had a bad feeling that he was.

“You really are,” Matt said, sighing heavily.

“I’m really not,” he said, rubbing his hands down his face as he tried to figure out how he was going to swing twenty new computers for the library with less than five hundred dollars in the budget.

“Really? Then how would you explain the murderous glares that you’re always shooting her?”

“She’s only been here for a month,” he pointed out, deciding that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t share the reason that he couldn’t keep his eyes off Joey.

He couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

Every night for the past month he’d fallen asleep with her in his arms and started most mornings by making her moan his name. During the day, when he wasn’t with her, he found himself thinking about her and when he was near her all he could think about was touching her again. But it wasn’t just the incredible sex that drew him. He liked her, which still amazed him. But then again, maybe that was because he was finally able to spend time with her without worrying if she was about to blow something up. She was smart, funny as hell, kind, and-

“She probably hates you,” Matt said, sounding bored as he added, “Not that you could really blame her.”

“She doesn’t hate me,” Reed said, only to glare at the asshole when he snorted in disbelief.

“You made her life a living hell,” Matt said, turning another page.

“I looked out for her,” he bit out, wondering why he was having this conversation again.

“Is that what you call it?” Matt asked, chuckling.

“What the hell would you know about it? You were seven when she left,” he said, starting to feel a headache coming on.

“Eight,” Matt said, shrugging it off. “But I remember enough to know that you were probably the reason why she left in the first place.”

“And you’re basing that on what exactly?” Reed asked, grabbing next quarter’s budget to see if there was any wiggle room to make this work only to toss the folder back on the coffee table with a sigh when he saw the mess that was waiting for him next quarter.

“Many things,” Matt said, tossing his magazine aside and sat back in the mismatched leather chair that looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than the small couch that he was sitting on.

“That’s really helpful,” he said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face as he wondered what his brother was talking about, because he’d always looked out for Joey, making sure that she was safe and-

“You used to make her cry all the time,” Matt said, shrugging it off as he grabbed the remote and turned the game on while Reed sat there frowning because if there was one thing that he knew about Joey, it was that she never cried.

She’d never cried when the other kids made fun of her, when the teachers yelled at her, or when she broke her arm trying to put a telescope on the roof. She didn’t even cry when the asshole showed up on her eighth birthday to tell her that he was moving and couldn’t take her with him, which was why he knew that Matt was wrong.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“She used to cry in her room a lot. Not that you could blame her,” Matt said, sighing heavily as he tossed the remote aside and settled back in his chair.

“How do you know that?” Reed asked, feeling his stomach drop at the thought of Joey crying because of something he did.

“I used to hide in her room so that I could scare her,” Matt said, shrugging it off with a yawn.

“Why do you think it was my fault?” he asked, thinking back to when they were kids and unable to help but wonder if Matt was right.

“Are you kidding me? Who else could it be? You used to go out of your way to make her miserable. She couldn’t do anything or go anywhere without you on her ass.”

“I was looking out for her,” he bit out evenly with a glare at the little asshole when he laughed.

“And I’m sure that she appreciated it,” Matt said dryly.

“It was for her own good,” Reed bit out evenly.

“I’m sure it was,” Matt mumbled absently.

“It was.”

“Is that what you tell yourself so that you can sleep at night?” Matt asked, blinking innocently.

“Joey was a handful when she was little,” he bit out even as he had to wonder why he was defending himself.

“And I’m sure she deserved whatever it was that you did to make her cry,” the little prick that he was going to kill said with a heartfelt sigh that had his eyes narrowing on the little prick.

“I didn’t make her cry.”

“No, no, I’m sure it was just a coincidence that she was up in her room crying whenever you were around,” Matt said with a pitying shake of his head.