The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(30)

Unfortunately, Reed had the same idea. When he’d spotted her in line, he’d glared and kept on glaring until she had her order and left only to end up-

“Except he’s glaring at me now,” John said, sounding amused.

Frowning, Joey picked up her blueberry danish and took a bite as she looked up and noted, that yes, Reed was now glaring at John. When Reed shifted that murderous glare back on her, she bit back a sigh and resigned herself to taking Matt up on his offer to use his old sleeping bag. For a moment, she considered trying to sleep on the couch again, but in the end, she felt that it would probably be for the best if she slept behind a locked door tonight.

“Good luck,” John said, chuckling as he grabbed his coffee and left just as Reed headed in their direction.

Thankfully, she had somewhere else to be.

With that in mind, she shoved the rest of her blueberry pastry in her bag, grabbed her backpack and her drink, and made a hasty retreat, deciding that this would be the perfect time to check out her new classroom. Unfortunately for her, that was the same time that Reed decided to call the morning meeting to an end. Before she managed to reach the double doors, he was by her side and-Glaring at her as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. With a muttered curse and one last glare, he bit out, “I’ll be right back,” before he answered his phone and headed in the opposite direction, leaving her to find her classroom on her own.

---

“So, I can’t help but wonder why you’re running a background check on my sister,” Jackson drawled as soon as Reed answered his phone.

“And I can’t help but wonder why it took you so long to call,” Reed said, watching as the first wave of students made their way inside.

Chuckling, Jackson said, “I didn’t find out until last night.”

“You’re losing your touch,” Reed said absently, watching as Shawn started walking toward the front door only to pause and watch as his mother drove off before he moved off to the side and found a spot away from everyone and everything and sat down.

“I know,” he said, sighing heavily before asking, “How’s she doing?”

“She’s fine,” Reed said, making his way through the throngs of students staring down at their cellphones as they struggled to wake up with the help of eight-dollar lattes, energy shots, and twenty-ounce bottles of Coke.

“I see,” Jackson murmured as Reed sat down next to Shawn. “And what exactly is she doing there?”

Driving him out of his fucking mind, but since he couldn’t exactly tell his best friend that he’d held his sister in his arms last night, trying to ignore just how good it felt to hold her, he went with, “She’s on sabbatical.”

“Still doesn’t explain what she’s doing there,” Jackson pointed out.

“You okay, buddy?” Reed asked Shawn as he shifted the phone away from his mouth. Nodding, Shawn continued to sit there staring down at his feet.

“She came home to fix up the old house,” Reed said, gesturing for the small group forming near them to get to class.

“Shit,” Jackson said, sighing heavily.

“Exactly,” Reed said, watching as the last of the stragglers headed toward the front doors. Without a word, Shawn stood up, adjusted his backpack, licked his lips nervously and after a slight hesitation, headed toward the front doors with Reed by his side.

“She’ll go bankrupt trying to fix that old place.”

“Which is why she’s decided to see if Uncle Jared will buy it,” Reed said, gesturing for Shawn to follow him to the front office.

“That might be for the best,” Jackson said before asking, “Where is she staying?”

“In town,” Reed said, deciding that it was probably for the best if he kept that information to himself until after Jackson had a chance to talk to Joey.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jackson said as Reed stopped by the front desk so that he could pull up Shawn’s schedule just as the first bell rang.

“Probably not, but she has nowhere else to go,” Reed said absently as he pulled up Joey’s schedule and compared it with Shawn’s.

“What is she doing to stay busy?”

“She’s filling in for me at the school,” Reed promised him as he made a few adjustments to Shawn’s schedule before he sent it to the printer.

“You don’t have to do this, Reed,” Jackson said, sighing heavily when they both knew that he didn’t have a choice.

It was either watch over the little brat or let her…

“Where the hell did she go?” he asked, looking around the empty lobby.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll call you back later,” he said absently as he ended the call and slid his phone back in his pocket.

“Who?” Shawn asked, reaching up to run his hands over his messy short blonde hair as he followed Reed’s gaze.

“Your new case manager,” Reed said, handing Shawn a copy of his new schedule as he glanced around the front lobby one last time before biting back a curse because he should have known better than to turn his back on the little brat.





Chapter 18

“So, you don’t use books?” Joey asked, worrying her bottom lip as she looked around the large barren classroom, noting the bare walls, empty bookshelves, the empty table in the back, and the sad desk that looked older than her in the corner.