Playing for Keeps (Neighbor from Hell #1)(4)

“You’re being a jerk! I just want my bulbs!” she said, trying to not to cry. These were her Grandmother’s bulbs. Her Grandfather bought them for her after the war to celebrate the success of their first business.

“No, you’re not going to plant them here! They can’t stay!” he said, digging faster.

“Why?” she demanded, coming closer and closer to frustrated tears. “I don’t understand you! You do nothing with your property at all. Why do you care if there’s a flower bed here or a few inches over? They’re not hurting you!”
“The hell they’re not!” he snapped, thinking of all the spots on his back and neck that still throbbed.

She scoffed. “They’re just flowers. What could they possibly do to aggravate you to this level?” She heard a buzzing pass her ear and absently waved it off.

“Bees!” he said, trying to back up, but couldn’t. His large frame was trapped between their houses.

“Yes, it’s a bee,” she said slowly as if she were talking to a child.

He groaned as he tried to twist his large frame loose. When that didn't work he tried to shove backwards. His arm snaked around her waist, trying to pull her along with him.

“Hey, get your hands-“

“It’s a f**king nest and we just disturbed it!” he yelled.

Haley’s eyes shot forward and then widened. Sure enough, two feet in front of her the end of what appeared to be a very large ground nest was now poking out of the ground thanks to the flowers they yanked up. Yellow jackets began swarming just above the nest. It wouldn’t be long before they descended on them.

“Move!”

“I can’t!”

Haley clenched her teeth as she slammed back as hard as she could against him. He groaned low in her ear, but didn’t stop trying to move back. She moved forward and slammed back again, and again. Each time was met by a groan and a gain of a few inches.

“One more time!” he grated out.

She moved forward and this time when she slammed back into him she pushed up with her shoulders, dislodging him. Jason used the momentum to pull them both back several feet. He kept his arm snaked around her waist as he dragged her away from the nest.

“They’re swarming!” Haley cried.

“Shit!” Jason looked frantically around for a safe place.

“My house!” she said, gesturing wildly towards her front door.

“Good idea,” he said as he ran towards the house, dragging her along. The buzzing sound became louder and louder as the swarm began circling them. Once they reached the front door he opened it, relieved that she'd left it unlocked, and they ran inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

“Bees!” Haley cried, gesturing to the bees that had followed them inside.

He quickly released her and grabbed two magazines from a small pile on a coffee table and threw one to her. Without a word they rolled the magazines up and began to attack the dozen or so bees that managed to follow them inside. Neither spoke until the last bee was squashed.

“Five nights….in….a….row…..stung…,” Jason bit out while he tried to catch his breath.

“You knew there were yellow jackets and you still tore up the flowers?” she asked in disbelief. Her grandmother had taught her well. A ground nest was not something to mess with. It could be as small as a stack or quarters or several feet long.

Jason gestured in the direction of his house. “I was trying to kill them.”

She shook her head in disbelief. He knew there was a nest and he didn’t tell her?

“Why didn’t you tell me there was a nest? You know I work in that flowerbed,” she said, working hard on keeping her tone even. They could have been killed!

“I did!”

“No, you didn’t!”

He threw his hands up. “I’ve been trying to tell you for last few weeks, but each time I approached you, you ran off!”

She opened her mouth to argue, but shut it as quickly and winced. Yeah, that really did sound like something she would do where he was concerned. “Oh,” she finally said.

“Yeah, oh,” he snapped. He peeked out the window and groaned. “They’re still swarming.”
Haley sighed. “They’re going to be a problem for a few hours. We need to call an exterminator.”

************

Man he was freezing. He was soaked to the bone and it didn’t look like he was going to be able to go to his house anytime soon to change. Normally he’d strip down to his boxers, but his neighbor was already skittish around him. He didn’t want to give the poor thing a stroke. He looked down at her very clean and obviously well cared for wood floor and cringed.

“Shit, maybe I should step out the back and dry off,” he said as he raised his eyes to look into her adjoining kitchen. His brows flew up as he watched the windows darken.

“I don’t think that will be happening for a while,” Haley said softly as she rubbed her forehead. “Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll see if I can find you something to wear. While you’re taking your shower I’ll call for an exterminator.”

“If you’re sure,” he said, hoping she wouldn’t change her mind. He was freezing his balls off. Hell, at this point he’d squeeze his ass into a dress to get warm.