Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell (21 page)

Chapter 39

              “Oh, shit!” was his first clue that something wasn’t quite right at the Fire & Brimstone this morning. The sound of several people running past his door and someone screaming, “She’s going to kill him!” told him that he might want to see what was going on.

              “Eat it, bitch!” he heard Rebecca, and why was he not surprised, yell.

              That of course was followed by, “Get her off me! Please, someone get her off me!”

              Sighing heavily, because this really was the last thing that he needed today, he walked into the dinning room and found his girlfriend trying to shove a saltshaker down his supervisor’s throat while two old women, an old man, three waitresses and Jon were either trying to join in and beat the shit out of Adam.

              Okay, so he was pretty sure that Jon was the only one trying to put an end to this since everyone else seemed determined to get their hands on Adam. When the old woman shifted her walker so that she could kick Adam in his side while yelling, “You horrid man!” he decided that it was time to put an end to this.

              Sighing, he walked over, grabbed Rebecca and threw her over his shoulder, but of course, she wasn’t done.

              “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again, you prick!” she yelled, making everything in him go still, because Rebecca didn’t waste her time or energy in getting mad like this, not when she could get even.

              “What did he say to you?” he asked softly.

              “Nothing. It doesn’t matter. Just let me down,” she said, trying to push off him, which also wasn’t something that she normally did.

              Nodding, because that’s really all he needed to know. He carefully placed Rebecca down on her feet, turned around and helped Adam to his feet. When Adam opened his mouth, either to bitch him out about Rebecca or thank him for helping him up, he shoved him towards the door.

              “What the hell?” Adam asked, stumbling back and before he could right himself, Lucifer was there, giving him another shove and then another until Adam was stumbling back into the parking lot where several of his cousins and brothers were standing around, having a cup of coffee and looking genuinely surprised to see him shoving one of his employees around.

              “You get one chance to tell me what you said to her,” Lucifer said, giving Adam another shove.

              “She’s fucking insane!” Adam yelled, gesturing angrily towards the building where Rebecca was probably being restrained.

              Nodding, Lucifer punched him, knocking him to the ground. “What did you say to her?” he asked, his tone never changing as he grabbed Adam by the shirt and yanked him back to his feet. As soon as he was back on his feet, Lucifer shoved him back again.

              “What’s going on?” Jason asked as his family walked over to see what was going on, but Lucifer ignored him and focused on the asshole shifting nervously in front of him.

              “What did you say to her?”

              “She wasn’t doing her job so I had a word with her. That’s it!” Adam said, holding his hands up in front of him as he stumbled to get out of the way of Lucifer’s next punch, but he didn’t move fast enough.

              Grabbing Adam by the shirt, he calmly picked him back up and shoved him before giving him another chance to tell him why Rebecca was upset.

              “What did you say to her?”

              “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Adam yelled, wiping the blood off his chin with the back of his hand as he stumbled back.

              “What did you say to her?” he asked, moving to go after him when Rebecca jumped between them and pushed him back.

              “It’s fine! I quit! He was an asshole. It’s over now,” she said, placing her hand on his chest as though that was going to stop him.

              “What did you say to her?” he asked, gently pushing her hand away so that he could step around her and go after the little prick.

              “I-” Adam choked out, shooting a desperate look at the crowd that was now gathering around them.

              “He called me a whore. Happy now?” Rebecca said, shaking her head in disgust as she pushed past him and stormed off past the onlookers glaring at Adam.

              “I’m sorry!” Adam shouted, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry!”

              Grinding his teeth together, Lucifer nodded as he glanced back in time to see Rebecca push past Jon and head back inside. As much as he wanted to tear Adam apart with his bare hands, he couldn’t, not with Rebecca this upset. So, it was with real regret that he followed after her.

              “What did you call her?” he heard Jason drawl as he stepped inside, letting him know that the problem was being handled.

              “I never liked him,” the little old woman that had kicked the shit out of Adam’s arm said with a huff as she shuffled past him slowly with her walker.

              “Me neither,” he absently agreed as he searched for the short, pissed off woman and when he didn’t find her, he swore and took off across the dinning area.

              He checked his office, hoping to find her in there, ranting about Adam, but she wasn’t there.  Cursing, he quickly checked the back parking lot and made sure that her car was still in its parking spot before he ran upstairs. When he didn’t find her in her apartment, he sighed with relief because that meant that she was in his apartment, which he was taking as a good sign.

              Already knowing where he was going to find her, he shut the door behind him and headed towards the bathroom, taking his clothes off as he went. When he opened the bathroom door, he nearly smiled when he spotted her standing in his shower with her arms folded over her chest and glaring at the wall.

              Stepping in the shower, he tried to figure out what to say to make this right, but since he had no fucking clue how he’d screwed this one up, he settled for stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. He didn’t say anything and neither did she, but he knew that wouldn’t last long.

              Sooner or later they were going to have to talk, but until that time came, he was going to hold her. They stood there for a long time before Rebecca reached over and shut the water off. Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around herself and walked out of the bathroom, leaving him standing there trying to decide how he was supposed to handle this. He didn’t know if he should approach her as her boss or her boyfriend, making him finally realize why Rebecca had been so dead set against working together.

              Fucking hell.

              He should have listened to her. Not that he thought that she was right, because she wasn’t, but because he shouldn’t have been so fucking naïve to think that things weren’t going to change for her. He also should have fired that prick a long time ago, but he’d never really pissed him off until today.

              “Rebecca,” he said, not one to put this off and deciding that he would play it by ear.

              If she wanted to have this handled as her boss then he would do that, figure out how to fix this and make sure that it never happened again. But, if she wanted him to handle this like her boyfriend, then he would go find that little prick and beat the shit out of him. Then again, knowing his family he would probably have to wait until Adam was released from the hospital before he got another chance.

              “Do you mind if I pick the movie?” she asked when he stepped into the living room to find her laying on the couch beneath the blanket he kept there for her and her towel discarded ten feet away.

              “I think we should talk,” he said, walking over to the couch.

              Sighing softly, she rolled over onto her stomach and folded her arms beneath her head so that she could lay on her stomach comfortably as she scrolled through the movie guide. “I don’t think there’s really much to talk about, do you? I told you that continuing to work for you was a bad idea and I was right. Your supervisor thought that I was screwing you for special treatment, got pissed and tried to make an example out of me. I quit. You beat the shit out of him and now we have one less complication,” she said with a shrug. “There’s really nothing to talk about.”

              “You’re not quitting,” he said, pulling his towel free and tossing it aside.

              “I just did,” she pointed out as she flicked through a list of zombie movies that were guaranteed to make him fall asleep.

              “No,” he said, lifting the blanket to reveal her beautiful body to his greedy eyes, “you really didn’t.”

Chapter 40

              “I quit,” she said, wondering why he was having such a hard time accepting her decision to move on and find a new job. It wasn’t like she was breaking up with him or anything. She was just going to start spending eight to twelve hours a day doing something other than drive him crazy from now on. They’d still see each other, but not as much and maybe that was for the best.

              That was actually one of the reasons that she’d decided to quit in the first place. She didn’t want to destroy whatever was happening between them because they were spending too much time together. She wanted to give him his space and if that meant finding a new job, then that was exactly what she was going to do. Instead of doing what she’d wanted, she’d foolishly let his killer smile and the way he touched her body convince her to stay.

              Then again, in his defense she really hadn’t thought that it was going to turn out this badly. She’d thought she’d have to deal with constantly being asked if she’d lost her goddamn mind or people watching what they said around her. What she hadn’t expected was all the bullshit that had gone down today.

              People sucked, she decided as she lay there, scrolling through a list of titles and not really caring what she watched as long as it got her mind off of things for a while. When she felt Lucifer lift the blanket off her, she sighed, because she really wasn’t in the mood for company.

              Okay, granted this was his apartment, but she figured with Adam being fired and all that the Fire & Brimstone would keep him busy for a few hours. To be honest, she was actually looking forward to having a small reprieve from the argument that she knew was coming.

              “Shouldn’t you be downstairs?” she asked, hoping that it would be enough to buy her a few hours of peace.

              “I’m sure Jon has it all under control,” he murmured as he placed the blanket on the couch next to her, taking her by surprise because the Fire & Brimstone was his baby.

              “There’s probably a lot angry customers,” she pointed out as Lucifer kneeled beside the couch.

              “I’m sure that Jon can handle them.”

              She opened her mouth to..to…okay, she had absolutely no idea what she was going to say, not when Lucifer was giving her the most incredible body massage that she’d ever experienced. Not that she’d experienced many, but she was sure that even with her limited knowledge of body massages that the massage that he was giving her was incredible.

              “Are you okay?” he asked as he ran his hands down to the small of her back.

              “I’m fine,” she said, because really, what else could she say?

              She was pissed and embarrassed over what just happened, but she was also depressed about her decision to find a new job, but that was just a given. There was nothing that she could do to change what just happened and she wasn’t willing to give Lucifer up to keep her job so she kept it to herself, closed her eyes and lost herself to Lucifer’s touch.

              “Are you still determined to quit?” he asked conversationally as his hands moved over her bottom.

              “Are you going to start an argument if I say yes?” she asked as he continued to rub her bottom.

              “No,” he said, taking his time to gently massage both cheeks, “but, I thought that we could negotiate the terms of your quitting.”

              “Why exactly are there conditions to me quitting?” she asked as he continued to-

              “Seriously, what is with your obsession with my ass?” she demanded, because it was really starting to concern her.

              “It soothes me,” he said seconds before she felt his lips brush against her left cheek.

              “My ass soothes you?” she asked, rolling her eyes, because this was just too much.

              “Yes,” he said, pressing a kiss to her other cheek.

              “Your conditions?” she asked, hoping to distract him from his obsession, but not from the body massage because she’d probably kill him if he stopped that.

              “Just one really,” he said, returning to his duties as her own personal masseuse.

              “And that is?”

              “That if you don’t find a job within two weeks that you come back to work at the Fire & Brimstone,” he said, sounding completely reasonable as he moved onto her legs.

              “I’ll find a job,” she said, shifting her legs apart to grant him better access when his hands slid down to her thighs and began focusing his attention on rubbing the tension out of her legs.

              “But if you don’t…” he said, letting his words trail off as his hands skimmed over her inner thighs, up to her bottom and down again, sending a delicious shiver through her body.

              “I will,” she said, trying to focus, but it was a tad bit difficult with Lucifer running his very talented hands all over her.

              “But,” he began, only to pause so that he lean down and press a kiss against the small of her back, “if you don’t find a job within two weeks then you’ll come back.”

              She sighed.

              Well, she
tried
to sigh, but what came out was something between a mutilated groan and a moan as Lucifer lightly ran his hands down over her bottom, between her legs and back over her thighs. For several minutes, she laid there, trying to remember what he’d just said, but the way he ran his hands over her body made it impossible to focus.

              “So, we have a deal?” he asked just as his fingertips skimmed between her legs while they made their way back down her thighs, further distracting her.

              A deal?

              What the hell were they talking about? she wondered, further spreading her legs apart in an effort to help him and not because she was some big slut or anything.

              “Two weeks?” he asked, kissing the small of her back as his fingertips traced her slit.

              Biting her lip, she forced herself to focus, because this was important. Very important, she told herself as he continued to brush his lips against the small of her back. He was a sneaky bastard, she realized with a smile. Fortunately for him, she rather liked that about him, but then again, so was she.

              Sneaky that is, and not the bastard part.

              Biting her lip to hide her smile, she turned over, forcing him to lean back and take his hand away. Once she was on her back, she said, “Three weeks,” deciding that the best way to handle him was to make a counteroffer.

              “Two,” he said, not missing a beat as one of his hands returned to massaging her inner thigh.

              “Four,” she said, comforted in the knowledge that she would most likely have a job by then.

              “Two,” he said, leaning down to kiss her.

              “Four,” she said against his lips, smiling when she felt his hand press down against her mound.

              “Fine. Three,” he said, kissing her bottom lip as she felt one of his long, thick fingers slide between her slit.

              “Four,” she said, standing her ground, because that was the only way to deal with a man like Lucifer.

              “Fine. Four,” he conceded, kissing her chin as he slid that finger deep inside her.

              “And then you’ll accept my decision to quit?” she asked as she reached down and wrapped her hand around the large erection that needed her attention.

              “Absolutely,” he promised with a smile that she didn’t quite trust, but as long as he kept his word and gave her four weeks to find another job she was willing to pretend to negotiate anything he wanted.