The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(68)

“No,” Kristen said firmly because it wasn’t happening.

“You promised,” she said evenly as she struggled not to look at him again because she knew that if she did that it would break her.

“You always do this,” she said, tapping her pink bunny slipper on the street, more determined than ever to put an end to this, because she wasn’t doing this again.

She didn’t care if he pouted or kissed her, she wasn’t getting up at the crack of dawn for him again. From now on, he was on his own, she told herself even as she felt herself soften and-

“I’m not doing it,” she told herself when she felt herself weaken because it just wasn’t going to happen.

It wasn’t.

It really wasn’t.

It-

“Fine! But this is the last time!” Kristen said, as she turned around and found the dog that she should have named Satan lying on his back with his paws up in the air and giving her that pathetic look that shouldn’t have this much power over her.

But it did.

Maybe she should look into those assertive classes again, she thought as she leaned over and tried to pick him up only to decide that it would probably be for the best if she stopped feeding him table scraps.

“You need to get up,” Kristen said, shaking her head with a heavy sigh as she stood up and gestured back toward the house that was barely twenty feet away.

When he only wagged his tail, she narrowed her eyes on him and pointed toward the house. “You told me that you wanted to go for a walk so if you don’t get off your furry butt and get inside then I swear on everything that is holy that we will go for that goddamn walk!”

When his only answer was another wag of his tail and a whimper, she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “No.”

A whimper.

“Damn it!” she said, sighing, because she was really was pathetic, as she reached back down to pick him up and-

“Oh, god, no,” she managed to get out when she saw the man that she never wanted to see again glaring down at her. Before she could figure out how he’d found her, he was kneeling down next to her and whispering in her ear, “Playtime’s over.”





Chapter 40

“You’re dead to me,” Uncle Jared bit out with a glare aimed at Trevor that was matched by everyone else at the table as he grabbed the platter piled high with pancakes and helped himself to a stack. Everyone except for Joey that is since she was curled up in a chair lost in another book, completely oblivious to everything going on around her.

Again, Reed thought, feeling his lips twitch as he studied the small woman that he had no idea what he was going to do about. He didn’t want her to leave, but at the moment the only thing that he had to offer her was a low paying job with questionable benefits, and something told him that wasn’t going to be enough. His only hope was that she decided to finish her sabbatical here, but once her grandparents’ house sold there was really nothing holding her here.

He already had the school board’s approval to let her finish out the rest of the year while he searched for a permanent replacement for Miss Dawson, but once summer came, she wouldn’t have anything to do for the last nine months of her sabbatical. Knowing Joey, she’d go crazy with nothing to do, which meant that he was going to have to figure something out and fast because he wasn’t ready to lose her yet.

“How much is it going to cost to fix the house?” Reed asked, glancing at Reese.

“With that historical designation restricting what we can do, it looks like it’s going to cost around three hundred grand,” Reese said, making Trevor groan with a muttered, “Shit!” because he was out.

“How much if you deduct labor from the equation?” he asked, watching Joey, who hadn’t said anything since Jackson told her that he had to get going over an hour ago. She’d wished him a safe trip, gave him a hug and a warm smile that turned sad, making him wonder about a few things.

“That was without labor,” Reese said, taking away his last hope because there was no way that she was going to be able to afford that even with his help.

“I can do it,” Matt said with a glance at Joey’s untouched plate and-

“Ow!”

“This family is really violent,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head as she helped herself to a piece of bacon off Sebastian’s plate, who was busy reading a book that he’d helped himself to from one of the many stacks that Joey left around the house.

“What’s the property worth?” Sean asked, helping himself to the bowl of home fries as he glanced at Conner.

“Five acres and access to a private lake, it’s valued at four hundred thousand,” Conner said, which meant that they weren’t going to make much flipping the house once they were done. But that didn’t matter, not to them. They weren’t here to make a profit. They were here because they all wanted a chance to get their hands on one of their great-grandfather Noah’s houses and put it to rights.

“I’ll give you two hundred for the property,” Uncle Jared said, sighing heavily as he helped himself to the bowl of scrambled eggs.

“Two-fifty,” Rory said as she took a sip of her hot cocoa.

“Two-seventy-five,” Uncle Jared said with a glare.

“Two-ninety,” Connor said.