Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell (14 page)

Chapter 25

              “Mr. Bradford?”

              “What is it, Patrick?” Lucifer asked as he tossed another folder on the stack of folders currently taking over a corner of his desk.

              “I can take care of that if you want,” Patrick offered, letting him know that it was that time of night again when he normally settled in to catch up with work before going upstairs and trying to sneak in an hour or two of sleep before he had to get up in the morning, but not tonight.

              “That would be great, Patrick. Thank you,” he said, already heading for the door and barely registering the look of shock on Patrick’s face.

              He considered going over what needed to be done, but he had somewhere to be. Besides, this was Patrick’s job and he should know what needed to be done by this point. Telling himself that everything was in good hands, he headed to the back door, punched in his security code and went upstairs, hoping that he hadn’t already fucked this up again.

              He should have never left her side, but the stubborn woman had insisted that they call it a night. She’d been embarrassed about what happened at the movie theatre. Not that he could really blame her, because he couldn’t. He only wished that she’d given him a head’s up that she was going to be sick so that he could have warned her that she was running into the men’s bathroom.

              Live and learn, he thought with a sigh as he let himself into her apartment, not exactly surprised when he spotted Melanie curled up on the couch, wrapped in a pile of blankets and playing on her computer while she nibbled on some kind of baked good.

              “The men’s room, huh?” she said without bothering to look up from whatever she was doing on her computer.

              “Hell of a good time,” he said dryly, grabbing two glasses and filling them both with ice before helping himself to a six-pack of Coke.

              “I bet,” she murmured absently while he was forced to step over Mojo, who at some point in the last thirty seconds had dropped down behind him and started snoring.

              Without another word to Melanie, or an explanation of what he was doing in her apartment, he headed towards the back bedroom, making note of the sounds of a shower running. He stepped into Rebecca’s semi-chaotic bedroom and closed the door behind him so that he could strip down to his boxers since comfort was important.

              By the time that he was stripped down to his boxers and climbing into the small bed, Rebecca was walking into her room, looking absolutely miserable in her oversized
The Walking Dead
tee shirt. When she saw him waiting for her, her lips pulled up into a shy little smile that made him feel like a fucking king.

              “What are you doing here?” she asked, not quite able to meet his gaze and letting him know that she was still embarrassed about earlier, but she would have to get over that, because he wasn’t going anywhere.

              “Finishing our date.”

*-*-*-*

              “You didn’t have to do this,” she said as she lay down beside him and desperately tried not to think about what happened two hours ago.

              One thing was for certain, she decided as she accepted a glass of Coke from him and took a small sip to settle her stomach, she was never going to that movie theatre again. Not because she’d been banned or anything, but simply because self-preservation demanded that she never set foot in that place again out of the fear that she would die of mortification.

              “Yes, I did,” he said as he took the glass from her and placed it on the nightstand and then before she could ask, he was placing his hand gently on her stomach.

              She groaned with relief because one touch from him did what a hot shower, three Advils and a Coke hadn’t been able to do. Her stomach didn’t stop hurting, but at least she wasn’t on the verge of crying anymore.

              “What do you want to watch?” he asked as he pressed a kiss against her temple, making her stupidly want to smile.

              He really was a sweetheart, she thought as she settled in closer to him so that she could swipe the remote from out of his reach. Definitely a sweetheart, she thought as she turned on the television and went to Netflix, making sure that she didn’t get stuck watching sports or something sports related.

              “Horror movie?” he asked with a heavy sigh that said it all.

              “Yup,” she said with a nod as she found a particularly gruesome movie and hit
Play
.

              “Of course you’d pick another zombie movie,” he murmured as he settled in next to her and closed his eyes, taking the coward’s way out.

              At least that’s what she thought until she took a good look at him. He looked exhausted, but that wasn’t anything new. He always looked tired…and grumpy, but tonight he looked like he’d finally reached his limit. He really needed to cut himself some slack and let someone else help him, she thought as she lowered the volume on the television and cuddled up next to him, wondering why he was so hard on himself.

              Fire & Brimstone was a huge success. In her opinion, it was the best restaurant in town. It had taken some time, but it now had the highest reviews online, was constantly packed and had the best food and staff in town. It was also packed every night of the week and in her opinion, could probably use an edition or a new location to help manage the demand. She liked the fact that he was always trying to change it up to stop it from becoming boring, but at some point he needed to realize that he’d struck gold with the Fire & Brimstone and stop being so damn hard on himself.

              As she lay there next to him, she couldn’t help but smile as she looked at his handsome face. She wondered if anyone would believe her if she told them that he was actually kind and funny. They probably wouldn’t believe a single word out of her mouth and that was actually okay with her.

              She liked being the only one who knew that he wasn’t an asshole, but a seriously sleep deprived man with a possible problem with OCD. It made her feel special as well as entertained her when she watched as everyone paled whenever they heard his name.

              It really was the little things in life that made her happy, she thought as she leaned closer so that she could kiss him goodnight. She brushed her lips against his as gently as she could so that she didn’t wake him. As she pulled back she couldn’t help but smile as Lucifer followed her, keeping his lips on hers.

              “What are you doing?” he whispered against her lips, sounding half-asleep.

              “Saying goodnight,” she whispered back as her head touched the pillow and Lucifer shifted so that his lips never had to leave hers.

              “What if I’m not ready to say goodnight?” he asked, teasing her bottom lip.

              “You’re exhausted,” she reluctantly reminded him since there was nothing that she wanted more at this moment than to repeat what they did last week in his truck.

              Christ, she couldn’t even think about his truck without trembling. She’d never been with a man like that, needing him inside her so badly that she seriously thought that she would die without him. One minute she’ been standing next to him in the bakery and the next they’d been in his truck making out as she cupped him through his pants and nearly screamed in frustration when she realized exactly what he’d had waiting for her.

              She’d never been like that with anyone else, wild, desperate and reckless. She wasn’t a saint when it came to men and sex, but she’d never had sex with a man in his truck in broad daylight right outside a busy restaurant without a condom. Even though she still couldn’t believe that she’d lost control like that, she knew that she would do it again in a heartbeat if she got the chance.

              There was just something about the way that he touched her that set her body on fire. When he touched her, she couldn’t think about anything but him and how badly she needed him and right now was no exception. Her stomach was still angry with her for the popcorn, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to touch her, taste her and slide back inside her all while she ran her hands over him as he fucked her, but apparently he had other plans tonight.

              Plans that were most likely going to get him killed.

              Sighing heavily, he pressed one last kiss against her lips before he pulled back. “We shouldn’t be doing this when you’re not feeling good.”

              She opened her mouth to explain that him touching her would make her feel really good, but one look at the stubborn bastard’s face told her that she’d be wasting her time. As he grabbed the remote and raised the volume so that they wouldn’t miss a single growl and scream as zombies tore humans apart, she couldn’t help but wonder if he knew just how close she was to beating him to death with a pillow for leaving her this frustrated.

              Maybe he really was an asshole?

Chapter 26

              Maybe she had a life insurance policy on him and she was trying to collect? he absently wondered as he watched that generous ass of hers sway back and forth…back and forth…as she wiped down another table.

              Or maybe she was trying to get back at him for all those times that he’d tried to fire her?

              Whatever it was, it was fucking killing him.

              It had been almost two weeks since he’d last touched her and he wasn’t sure that he was going to survive one more day without gripping that beautiful ass of hers as he slid inside her. For the past week he’d somehow found the willpower to keep his hands to himself, but that all ended today.

              Or at least, it should have.

              She was feeling better today, which meant that he could touch her without feeling like a complete asshole, but there was a problem. One that he would happily get out of if he could, but he knew that if he even tried to get out of going tonight that his mother would kill him since he’d skipped the last three family dinners.

              Four times a month his mother made a huge family dinner and unless you were dying or had a really good fucking reason, you were expected to be there. She usually checked in with everyone before she planned a family dinner so that she could pick a day and time that worked for everyone. Thanks to some of his employees quitting, he’d been forced to find and train their replacements he’d been able to get out of going, but not tonight.

              Tonight his mother expected him there and to start answering some questions courtesy of his fucking cousins and their big fucking mouths. Now everyone in his family wanted to know about Rebecca. They were probably expecting him to bring her tonight, but he wouldn’t do that to her until it was absolutely necessary and right now, it wasn’t necessary.

              “Are you aware that you’re drooling?” Melanie, his newly self-appointed sidekick, whispered conspiratorially as she sat down on the stool next to him.

              “Go away,” he said, forcing himself to look around the busy dinning area to make sure that everything was going smoothly when all he wanted to do was watch Rebecca as she moved, bent over and scrubbed her little heart out.

              Actually, what he
really
wanted to do was-

              “I can’t believe they did this to her,” Melanie said, looking seriously pissed off while she sat there, looking at Rebecca with something close to pity.

              He didn’t like that look, especially since it was directed at Rebecca.

              “What’s going on?” he asked, trying to go for casual, but he was an asshole so casual really didn’t work for him.

              Just like that, the pissed expression was wiped clean from her face and in its place was a mixture of pure shock and curiosity, which he also really didn’t appreciate.

              “She didn’t tell you?” she asked with a calculating expression on her face that was going to get her killed.

              “No,” he bit out with a glare that should have told her that he wasn’t in the mood for any bullshit today, but this was Melanie that he was dealing with here and she didn’t seem to have any sense of self-preservation when it came to pissing him off.

              “Really?”

              “
Melanie
.”

              “Fine!” she snapped with an over-the-top sigh, reminding him why she was Rebecca’s best friend. “Her parents are having a huge thirtieth anniversary party tonight and they didn’t invite Rebecca.”

              “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, glancing at Rebecca to find her smiling at Mr. Jenkins, one of their favorite lunchtime regulars.

              If she was upset, she wasn’t showing it, but then again…

              “Does she know?” he asked, immediately realizing it was a stupid question. Of course she knew. If his annoying sidekick that wouldn’t leave him alone knew about it, then she did as well since the two of them didn’t appear to keep secrets from each other.

              “Yeah, she knows,” Melanie sighed as she gestured to the bartender for a drink while he sat there, trying to make sense out of what she’d just told him.

              One thing became clear as he glanced back at Rebecca to find her shooting him a cute little wink, bringing her with him had just become necessary.

*-*-*-*

              Maybe she shouldn’t be doing this, she thought, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she stood there, contemplating the pros and cons of breaking into Lucifer’s apartment and using his shower. Not that she was having a moral dilemma about breaking into his apartment, because she wasn’t.

              The reason that she hadn’t broken into his apartment,
yet,
was simply because she wasn’t sure if he’d left the night yet. Before she broke into his apartment and rightfully used that large, luxurious shower of his, she wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to suddenly show up and start asking questions that she had absolutely no plans on answering.

              “You’ll pay for this, you bitch!” Melanie yelled from the safety of their apartment where she was currently tearing the place apart looking for her stash of sweets that Rebecca may have hidden in retaliation for betraying her.

              “Maybe you’ll learn to keep your big fat mouth shut, biatch!” she yelled back, still furious that Melanie had opened her big fat mouth and told Lucifer about her parents.

              “And maybe if you didn’t have trust issues then I wouldn’t have to tell your boyfriend so that he could be there when you break down and cry like a bitch, biatch!” the traitorous bitch yelled back.

              “I’m not going to cry!” she yelled back, because she wasn’t.

              She was over it now.

              She was.

              She’d spent the last few days claiming that her stomach still hurt so that everyone would leave her alone so that she could feel bad for herself while watching horror movies and binging on Hershey Kisses. It was something that she needed to do and now that it was out of her system, she was fine with it.

              Absolutely fine!

              “Bitch!” she snapped back a little late, deciding that she needed to add the insult to emphasize just how fine she was.

              “You’re the bitch!”

              “Says the bitch!” Rebecca yelled back with a glare.

              “I hate you!”

              “I hate you!” she said, just as their apartment door opened and Melanie stuck her head out.

              “Hey, I was thinking about going out later and picking up some Chinese food from that place down the street that has a gluten free menu. Do you want me to pick you up anything?” Melanie asked with that warm smile of hers that made it nearly impossible to stay mad at her.

              “Yeah, that would be great. Thank you, sweetie,” she said, returning Melanie’s smile as she reached down and jimmied Lucifer’s door open.

              “You breaking in?” Melanie asked, nodding towards Lucifer’s apartment.

              “Yeah,” she said with a sigh as she opened the door. “Figured that I’d put that shower to good use while he was out.”

              Melanie nodded as though this made perfect sense. “I’ll put your food in the fridge then.”

              “Thanks,” she said as she walked into Lucifer’s apartment.

              “You’re welcome, sweetie,” Melanie said as Rebecca shut the door behind her and sighed with relief when she didn’t see the large brooding man that she’d been avoiding for the last couple of days.

              Not that he’d done anything wrong, because he actually hadn’t. He’d been sweet, kind and considerate even though it made her want to wring his damn neck. She missed being with him, touching him and losing herself in his arms, but she’d had too much on her mind the last couple of days and hadn’t wanted to chance doing something stupid like breaking down and venting all her crap to him.

              She wasn’t one of those women that cried and complained about absolutely everything to their boyfriends, hoping that he’d fix it for her or tell her that she had every right to be mad. She didn’t need that and she honestly liked Lucifer too much to chance turning him off with all that drama. He’d already accepted all her medical baggage and the fact that dating her came with limitations. She didn’t want to add this on top of everything else.

              She also didn’t want to dwell on this all night. So, she pushed it out of her mind and focused on what she came here to do, take a long, hot shower in her new home away from home, because of course she’d been sneaking in here all week and helping herself to his bathroom. She knew that if she’d asked to use his shower that he would have said yes, but she didn’t want to bother him at work. So, she’d taken it upon herself to break into his apartment every day for the past week, once or twice a day, and enjoy a long, luxurious shower in peace.

              That’s just what good girlfriends did…

              He really was so lucky to have her, she decided as she grabbed two large, neatly folded towels from his linen closet and headed towards that shower that had helped her get through the crap that her parents put her through. She opened the bathroom and didn’t waste any time in stripping out of her clothes and stepping into the shower.

              If she hadn’t been so focused on the shower and those triple jets, she probably would have noticed the large man leaning back against the wall with his large arms crossed over his chest, waiting for her. It definitely would have saved her from screaming like an idiot when she finally spotted him…and an unnecessary ass injury.