Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell (15 page)

Chapter 27

              “What the hell were you thinking sneaking around like that?” Rebecca demanded on a pained gasp as he carefully took a left turn onto Maple Street.

              “I wasn’t sneaking around,” he said, trying not to panic as he kept his hand on her back to stop her from rolling off the seat and slamming into the dashboard before dropping to the floor and scaring the shit out of him,
again
.

              If he had known that she’d bounce like that he never would have hit the brakes so damn hard. He really hoped that unfortunate incident hadn’t further damaged her beautiful ass, but the way that she’d suddenly gone pale and stopped talking had actually scared the shit out of him.

              “Are we there yet?” came the muffled question against his leg as she tightened her grip on his pants.

              “Almost,” he said absently as he risked a glance down to find her still lying on her stomach with her face pressed up against his leg as she held on for dear life. “How are you feeling?”

              There was a slight pause before she admitted, “My ass kind of hurts.”

              “Kind of?” he asked, trying to sound hopeful, because maybe she hadn’t broken her ass after all?

              He could hope at least, and he was really fucking hoping that he hadn’t broken her beautiful ass.

              He raised his hand to provide some comfort to the damaged area, but thought better of it since she’d screamed the last time that he’d done that. Not knowing what else to do, he placed his hand on her back and ground his jaw when she let out a pathetic little whimper.

              “Lucifer?”

              “Yes?”

              “I think I broke my ass,” she whispered softly, making him roll his eyes.

              Little smart ass, he thought, fighting back a smile as he carefully took another turn.

              “Do you think they’ll have to take an x-ray?” she asked with a little sigh as she shifted to get comfortable, but since she was stuck lying on her stomach like this in the front of his truck, it most likely didn’t help.

              “Probably,” he said, hoping that his brother was already at the office waiting for them.

              “It’s just your brother, right? No one else is going to be there?” she asked, sounding anxious as shifted again, accidentally kicking him in the process.

              “I told him to come alone,” his said as he pulled into the parking lot of his family’s medical practice and saw all the cars and trucks filling up the parking lot, realizing too late that he’d just been fucked over.

              He was going to fucking kill the little bastard, he thought as he reluctantly threw his truck in park and watched as his brothers and several of his cousins ascended on them.

              “What’s going on?” Rebecca asked as she tried to sit up, but of course she couldn’t move, which was the only reason why he wasn’t turning his truck around and getting the hell out of there.

              “I’m going to fucking kill my brother,” he said, deciding that yes, killing the little bastard would be worth going to prison for the rest of his life and becoming intimately acquainted with the showering practices of inmates.

*-*-*-*

              “Do you want to tell me what happened?” the handsome doctor that was apparently Lucifer’s father asked.

              Doing her best to appear sweet and innocent, something she’d actually practiced in high school, she looked up, allowed her bottom lip just the slightest of trembles and said, “I forgot the safe word again.”

              “Oh, my fucking God! Stop saying that!” Lucifer shouted from the hallway where his mother, who actually turned out to be a very sweet woman, had banished him so that she could be examined in peace.

              Dr. Bradford’s lips twitched with amusement. “You like torturing my son, don’t you?”

              Sighing heavily, because there was no point in lying, she nodded. “I really do.”

              He chuckled as he pulled out his pen and made another note on her paperwork. “Well, the good news is that you didn’t break anything.”

              “Really?” she asked, instantly perking up at the news.

              “The bad news is that you bruised your tailbone,” he said with a look of pity that she didn’t quite understand.

              Bruised was better than fractured, right?

              “How exactly is that a bad thing?” she asked, wondering if she’d missed something.

              “You’ll see,” was all he said before he gave her a reassuring smile that actually frightened her a bit and left the examination room, leaving her to panic as she struggled to get dressed. When sharp pain shot through her ass when she tried to undo the thin cloth ties holding her examination gown closed she decided that it was time to call for help.

              “Lucifer?” she said, hoping that he was close by, because she really didn’t feel like trying to shuffle after him while clinging to her gown as she tried to make her way through throngs of Bradfords, who apparently hadn’t been able to pass up the chance to come mock him for breaking his girlfriend’s ass.

              She would fit in so well with this family, she thought with a heavy sigh as she gave up on trying to hold up her gown. She let the gown slip down her arms as she held onto the examination table, trying not to fall on her ass. God, her ass hurt. Maybe she should try to climb back on the table and lay down on her side? After moving her leg to try just that, she decided to give up on that plan and just stand there and wait for Lucifer, who didn’t appear to be coming anytime soon.

*-*-*-*

              He really fucking hated his family.

              “So, what’s the safe word?” Arik, the little shit that should have been drowned at birth, asked to the amusement of all his fucking brothers, cousins and uncles.

              “Fuck. Off,” Lucifer said, wondering why he’d allowed his mother to herd him out of the room like that.

              “Fuck off?” Jason, the reason that everyone in their fucking family was here tonight, said in a thoughtful tone that was going to get the shit kicked out of him. “That could be a little confusing, don’t you think?”

              “You do realize that I’m going to kill you one day, don’t you?” he asked as he glared at the little prick, making sure to include Trevor, his accomplice in every fucked up thing that he did, in that glare.

              Jason shrugged it off like it was a given.

              “So, how long have you been dating?” Darrin asked as he lounged in the waiting room chair across from him, officially starting the interrogation that he’d been trying to avoid for weeks now.

              “How’d you break her ass?”

              “Does she realize that you’re an asshole?”

              “Can I have her number after she dumps you?”

              “What’s wrong with her? Because there has to be something wrong with her.”

              “I’m still waiting to hear how he broke her ass.”

              “Fuck that. I want to know why he wont let us in his restaurant.”

              “That’s a good question,” someone seconded, which started them on a whole new line of questioning that ended with him putting Jason in a chokehold.

              “Seriously, what did he do to her ass?”

              “Umm, since you’re busy rolling around on the floor with another guy, I’m going to go ahead and get a ride with your brother,” the soft voice that used to make his right eye twitch, said ripping his attention away from the little bastard trying to tag team his way out of this and onto the brother that had waited until he was distracted so that he could swoop in and steal Rebecca out from under him.

              Aidan.

              When his eyes narrowed accusingly on his brother, the little prick swallowed nervously, took a step back, turned around and made a run for it and if it hadn’t been for the small woman rolling her eyes as she shuffled towards the door, he would have gone after the little bastard. As it was, he had some major damage control to do and he couldn’t do it with an audience.

Chapter 28

              “How’s that?”

              Squeezing her eyes shut, she shook her head, trying not to cry as Lucifer reached into the tub and helped her onto her other side only to end with the same results.

              “Do you want to try laying on your stomach again?” he suggested, already helping her move back onto her stomach, which in theory should work, but since she was short and didn’t want to drown, that position required her to get on her hands and knees with her ass in the air.

              “I just want to call it a night,” she said, trying to sit up so that she could climb out of the tub and curl up in bed so that she could lose herself in a marathon of horror movies. Instead, she was suddenly forced to grab hold of the side of the tub and hold on for dear life when Lucifer suddenly let her go.

              “Hold on,” he said as though she actually had a choice in the matter.

              “Umm, could really use a hand here,” she said, trying to draw her knees closer so that she could sit up, but she quickly gave up on that idea when her ass screamed in agony.

              “Just hold on,” he said, sighing heavily, which at the moment she really didn’t appreciate.

              “What do you think I’m doing?” she snapped, tightening her hold on the side of the tub as she tried to figure out a way that she could possibly crawl out of the tub without causing further injury to her ass.

              “Being a pain in the ass,” he said dryly as he once again grabbed her and shifted her around the bathtub full of water.

              “Ha, ha, ha,” she said dryly as she allowed him to move her aside so that he could step into the tub.

              “What? Too soon?” he asked, chuckling as he carefully sat down and once he did, he rearranged her so that she was sprawled out on top of him.

              “Better?” he asked when she was able to relax.

              She nodded as she savored the feel of the hot water covering her backside, which was actually starting to provide some relief. Closing her eyes, she decided to let him live and forget all the manhandling that he’d done tonight.

              “We’re having a hell of a time figuring this thing out, aren’t we?” Lucifer asked as he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head as she closed her eyes.

              “We’re not doing so bad,” she said, drawing wet circles on his chest as she laid there, trying not to think about how many people had seen her bare ass tonight.

              “You really think so?” he asked as he traced her spine with his fingertips, careful to avoid the bruise marking her tailbone.

              “Yeah,” she said, a little surprised at how easily she could say that, because Lucifer really wasn’t what she would have called “Relationship material.”

              Then again, could she honestly say that she knew him that well before?  She’d teased and tormented him over the past five years, but before he’d decided to take an interest in her medical mystery, she really hadn’t known him well enough to assume anything. Maybe this was the norm for him, asshole to the world but an incredibly sweet, understanding and funny guy to whichever woman was lucky enough to be with him?

              No, that wasn’t it, she decided as she thought back on all the women over the last five years that had taken his indifference as a challenge and went a little nuts. So, maybe it was her? She liked to think it was at least. Not that she was one of those women that was going to lose her mind if he ever started ignoring her, again, because she wasn’t. If he ever pulled another stunt like that again she’d walk away, no matter how much it hurt and something told her that it was really going to hurt.

              “Your parents are assholes,” he suddenly said, surprising a laugh out of her, because she could honestly say that she hadn’t expected that.

              Most of the guys that she’d dated would have either asked her what happened or pretended that he didn’t know what was going on so that he wouldn’t have to deal with her crap. Not Lucifer it seemed. He liked to cut to the chase and get to the point. Her parents were in fact assholes and it was really nice to hear it from someone besides Melanie for a change.

              “You want to talk about it?” he asked, making her smile, because she seriously doubted that he wanted to hear another “Poor Rebecca,” story. He was probably sick of hearing about all the things in her life that sucked.

              God knew that she was.

              She’d rather the focus be on someone else for once and she had a feeling that after tonight’s events that Lucifer would most likely be that someone else. Poor, hot bastard, she thought, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing, but she couldn’t fight it. The look on his face when his mother had dragged him out of that room had been priceless.

              She tried to stop laughing, tried to hold it in, but trying to hold it in only made it worse. It also hurt her ass, which effectively stopped the giggles.

              For now.

              But, she knew that years from now when she needed a good laugh that all she would need to do was close her eyes and think back on this day and picture the look on his face when his mother had dragged him out of the room by his ear.

              Bruising her ass had been worth that memory alone, she decided with a pleased little sigh as she settled more comfortably on top of him. He really did make a great mattress, she thought sleepily as the warmth of the bath and his arms around her made it impossible to stay awake.

              “Are you done laughing at my expense?” he asked, rewarding her with another one of those kisses that she liked and letting her know that he wasn’t mad.

              “For now,” she admitted, turning her head so that she could press a kiss against his shoulder in apology.

              “Are the pills kicking in yet?”

              “Some of us are trying to sleep here!” Melanie, their constant companion, yelled from the other room before she could answer.

              “We’re trying to soak in here!” Lucifer shouted back as all the warm fuzzy feelings that were making her fall asleep instantly evaporated.

              “The two of you are going to drive me to drink,” she said, shaking her head in disgust, because really, the two of them never seemed to stop bickering.

              Even when the two of them were hanging out, and yes, they did that now. Lucifer would walk in with his laptop, sit down on the couch, forcing Melanie to move over and steal her baked goods while she glared, stole them back and explained in minute detail what would happen if he kept touching them. Then there were the times when Lucifer would be downstairs sitting in the dinning area, doing paperwork while he ate lunch and Melanie would sit down next to him and start talking his ear off while he would occasionally glare at her, but other than all that glaring, he really didn’t seem to mind.

              It was actually nice not having to worry about her best friend and boyfriend getting along for once, she thought with a disgusted shake of her head as she shifted to climb out of the tub.

              “Where are you going?” Lucifer asked with a frown as she carefully, oh, so damn carefully, climbed over the side of the tub.

              “To get away from you bickering hens so that I can get some peace and quiet,” she said with a wince as she tried to straighten, failed and settled for grabbing a towel.

              “We’re not bickering!” Melanie yelled from the other room, sounding highly offended.

              “No, no of course you’re not,” she murmured with a pained gasp as she struggled to wrap a towel around herself.

              “Rebecca, wait,” Lucifer said, getting out of the tub and grabbed a towel. “Where are you going?”

              “I just need to lay down,” she said, stepping out into the hallway to find Mojo, who’d been pouting since Lucifer had started coming around more, lying in front of her door.

              Since there was no way in hell that she was going to be able to step over him with a bruised ass, she stopped shuffling in that direction, sighed heavily, turned around and began to shuffle in the direction of her front door when she realized that her new meds that were supposed to make her happy were not in fact working yet.

              So, instead of trying to shuffle her way to the door and probably do more damage to her poor, abused bottom that would require another disturbing trip to his family’s medical practice, she waited for Lucifer to step out into the hallway. Once he was beside her, she sighed heavily as she regally gestured to him. “You may commence with the manhandling.”