The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(53)

“Who’s going camping?” Matt asked, devouring a large bowl of chocolate ice cream as he walked into her room.

“I am,” she said because she’d realized something important.

She was done waiting.

She was done waiting for the right time to finally do all those things that she’d always wanted to do. She’d put her life on hold, making one excuse after another when the simple truth of the matter was that she was afraid. For the first time in her life she didn’t know what she was supposed to do and that terrified her, because she always had a plan. She always knew what she wanted and how she was going to make it happen, but now…

Now she wasn’t sure what she wanted other than for Reed to stop glaring at her, because he was actually starting to make her nervous. Not that she had anything to be nervous about, because she didn’t. They were two consenting adults who weren’t hurting anyone. They weren’t, she told herself, not quite able to look her brother in the eye at the moment.

“When?” Matt asked around a mouthful of ice cream as he hopped up onto the bed and sat down next to Jackson, who mumbled, “I need a fucking drink,” as he looked back down at her iPad.

“Tomorrow. I figured this would be the best time since it was a three-day weekend,” she said, even as she couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been in her best interest to keep that information to herself, especially when she couldn’t help but notice that Reed had narrowed his eyes on her sometime in the last thirty seconds.

“Who’s going to take care of your cat?” Matt asked, glancing down at the iPad.

“Julie said she’d take him for the weekend.”

“You’ve never been camping before,” Jackson pointed out, sighing heavily as he reached over and helped himself to her list.

“Which is why I’m going,” she said, licking her lips nervously as she struggled not to panic, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult with every passing second.

“I see,” he murmured, sounding thoughtful as he read her list. “And you were planning on going alone?”

“Yes,” she said, doing her best not to squirm under the glare of the man that she’d briefly considered asking to go with her. But perhaps, it was for the best if she went alone, she told herself even as she couldn’t help but wonder if he was planning on stopping anytime soon.

“I’ll take care of everything,” Matt said with a nod, shoving a large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth as he climbed off the bed and headed for the door, pausing long enough to pick up his discarded sleeping bag along the way and headed for the door while she stood there, wringing her hands together nervously as she did her best to ignore the man glaring at her even as she resigned herself to the lecture that she knew was-

“Sounds like a plan,” her brother said, taking her by surprise as he tossed her list aside, climbed off the bed, and left without another word.

Maybe she was worrying over nothing? she hoped, licking her lips nervously. For all she knew this weekend would end up being like old times and they’d forget about her, she told herself only to frown when she felt a large arm wrap around her and pull her back until she could feel Reed’s lips brush against her ear as he destroyed all her hopes that they’d forget about her with four whispered words.

“We need to talk.”

---

“Don’t you want to catch up with Jackson?” the small woman in his arms asked, sounding hopeful as he tightened his hold around her and picked her up.

“And why would I do that?” he asked as he threw her over his shoulder and carried her into the bathroom.

“Because he missed you?” she offered as she shifted to get more comfortable as he continued walking to his bedroom.

“But I’d rather talk to you,” Reed said as he glanced back at his closed bedroom door and realized this wouldn’t do.

“Are you mad?” Joey murmured. “You seem mad.”

“Furious,” he said absently as he considered taking her to his office only to quickly dismiss the idea since he didn’t want any interruptions. It also meant that they couldn’t leave, not unless he wanted to risk Jackson and Matt tagging along.

That left him with only one choice.

“Where are we going?” Joey asked as he headed for the fireplace.

Telling himself every step of the way that he had no choice, he pushed the third brick to the right until he heard a click like his father showed him.

“What was that?” Joey asked, going still.

Ignoring her, he pulled the built-in bookshelf that his great grandfather built away from the wall, revealing the cold dark passage that he hadn’t known existed until four years ago. He wasn’t supposed to be doing this, but at the moment, he really didn’t care. He needed to talk to her and he didn’t want to have to worry about being interrupted.

Right now, he wanted answers.

With that in mind, he reached inside the stairwell and flicked on the light switch that his father installed years ago for his mother. It was the only thing that had changed since his great-great-great-great-great grandfather built the room and his father only did that because of what happened when Jessie, his best friend and tomboy that grew up across the street, stumbled across the secret passage by accident seconds before she fell down the stairs.