The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(72)

“Because I won’t be able to function on less than nine hours of sleep,” the reason that he was starting to lose faith in humanity said.

“We start at seven,” Reed said, seriously tempted to let the school board handle the interviews only with his luck they’d end up hiring someone like the woman gawking at him.

“Seven?” she asked, only to snort in disgust as she furiously texted something on her phone.

“We start the morning meeting at seven,” he said as he shoved his bag aside and sat back in his chair with a sigh.

“Is this negotiable?” she said, shaking her head in disgust as she continued texting.

“No.”

“Then maybe we could talk about this salary?” she mumbled distractedly as she stopped texting to read something only to shake her head with a sigh and started texting again.

“It’s non-negotiable,” he said, drumming his fingertips against his desk as he glanced at the pile of work that he still needed to get through before he could call it a night only to smile when his gaze landed on the framed picture that he’d taken of Joey last week. She’d looked so fucking adorable curled up in his office, lost in another book, that he hadn’t been able to help himself.

“Well, it’s just that I have a bachelor’s degree in education and an associate’s in history. So, I just feel that with my qualifications that I should be earning more than what you’re offering,” she said, not bothering to look up from her phone.

“How much more were you thinking?” he asked absently, thinking about last week and just how much he’d needed it. It had been too damn long since he’d taken a day off and relaxed. It had probably been the best week of his life and it had everything to do with the woman that he’d realized that he couldn’t live without.

“At least ten thousand dollars,” she said, making his eyebrows arch.

“The woman currently filling this position has two Ph.D.’s, is published, and is a world-renowned professor at an ivy league university,” he said, wishing that he could offer the job to Joey since it would make things easier. But he’d never be able to offer her anything close to what she was worth, which meant that he was going to have to settle for one of the unqualified applicants making his life a living hell.

“What about five?” she asked, barely looking up from her phone to frown at him only to find himself drawn to the window to his left just in time to see Joey rush over to the table, yank up the tablecloth and-

“Get out.”

“What?” the woman that was never coming near his school again, said, barely looking up from her phone to frown at him.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, pushing away from his desk.

“Wait, the interview’s over? But we didn’t discuss my work history,” she said, sighing heavily as he headed for the door.

“Do you have any?” he asked absently as he opened the door and realized that Joey was already gone.

“Well, no, but-”

“Then it was nice meeting you,” he threw over his shoulder as he walked past his secretary trying to get his attention and the unqualified applicants filling the waiting area and decided to find out why Joey was bleeding.

---

“This can’t be happening,” Joey said, worrying her bottom lip as she did her best not to panic, but given the situation she actually felt that panicking was an acceptable response.

What the hell was she going to do? she couldn’t help but wonder as she pushed the door open and stepped outside. One thing was clear, Reed was going to kill her when he found out, she thought as she absently wiped the blood off her eyebrow. Not that this was her fault, she reminded herself as she headed towards the teachers’ parking lot. She should have-

“He’s over here!” Jen yelled, waving her hands in the air to draw Joey’s attention to the old oak tree that she’d hid in a time or two when she’d needed a few extra minutes to prepare herself for the bus ride home with angry hormonal teenagers.

“Oh, thank god,” Joey said, sighing with relief as she quickly made her way through the small parking lot and headed in their direction.

“Look, I’m really sorry, but it was an accident. I never would have done it if I’d known that Shawn was going to open the door,” Jen said, licking her lips nervously as she wrung her hands together. “But he’s fine and I already called my uncle to get him down.”

“Then why’s he in a tree?” Joey asked as she handed the mask that had sent poor Shawn running, back to Jen before she reached up and grabbed hold of a branch and pulled herself up.

It took a lot longer than she’d expected, but she eventually made her way to Shawn and realized that the tree was a lot bigger than she remembered. Trying not to think about how high up they were, she settled herself on the branch next to Shawn and-

“Why can’t I be like everyone else?” he asked, glancing at her.

“What do you mean?” she asked as she glanced down, wondering how she was going to get him down from here without breaking their necks.

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t,” Joey said, shaking her head as she leaned back against the trunk with a sigh because Reed was definitely going to kill her.

“I ran,” he said, shaking his head as he reached up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.