Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell (4 page)

Chapter 5

              “This is disgusting!” the middle-aged woman that could have been the poster child for soccer moms everywhere, said with a sneer, making sure that everyone in the restaurant heard her.

              “I see,” Lucifer murmured thoughtfully as he looked down at the plate she’d shoved in his face before he had a chance to ask what was wrong.

              Well, he knew what was wrong. This woman and her three clones, who couldn’t decide if they wanted to devour him on the spot or send him bitchy looks in support of their friend, had belittled his waitress and embarrassed her in front of everyone. They were also pissing him off and creating a scene in his restaurant, which unfortunately for them wasn’t something that he would tolerate.

              “The French fries were ice cold and soggy. The burger was burnt to a crisp on the outside and completely raw in the middle. The bun was completely dried out. The coleslaw was rancid and-”

              “Then why did you eat it?” he asked in a deceptively calm tone that had all of his employees that were in the large dinning area going completely still and some of the regulars sharing nervous glances as he looked from the empty plate in his hands to the woman trying to force him into giving her a free meal and something to talk about later around the water cooler.

              “Because I was hungry and I didn’t have much choice since your waitress was too busy flirting with the bartender to come check on us!” she snapped back, probably thinking that taking it to the next level of bitch would help her case.

              It didn’t.

              “Then why didn’t you flag down one of the other waitresses or walk out?” he asked as he gave her a look that dared her to continue with this line of bullshit.

              “I shouldn’t have to wave down anyone!” she yelled. “And if you knew how to run a restaurant then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

              “I see,” he murmured thoughtfully as he placed her plate back on the table in front of her along with her check. “Pay your bill and get the hell out of my restaurant,” he said, more than willing to let her off the hook since he had other things that required his attention, but apparently she wasn’t willing to let this go.

              “You expect me to pay for this garbage? You can’t be serious!” she shouted as she came to her feet, grabbed her purse before she reached down, picked up the receipt, squeezed it into a ball and threw it at his face.

              He easily caught it and, keeping his eyes locked on her stunned ones, he tossed the receipt on the table, opened his mouth and-

              “No! We don’t kill the customers!” the sudden weight on his back yelled. “We are not going over this again!”

              “Get the fuck off!” he snarled, keeping his eyes on the bitch, who’d decided to take advantage of the insane woman plastering herself to his back and bolted for the door with her friends right behind her, but only after they’d each thrown a twenty dollar bill on the table.

              “This isn’t how we handle rude customers!” Rebecca yelled as she tightened her hold around his shoulders and tried to pull him back, but her feet didn’t touch the ground so all she ended up doing was pissing him off more.

              Cursing her back to hell where she belonged, he reached up, grabbed her by her arms and leaned down, forcing her weight to drop forward. She released a loud squeal as the momentum threw her over his shoulders and sent her careening towards the hardwood floor. Before she hit the floor he had her thrown over his shoulder and was walking towards his office, determined to finally see this thing through to the end even if it killed him.

              “Didn’t we discuss the manhandling this morning? she demanded, not really sounding all that angry as she grabbed onto the back of his pants and held on when she should have been doing everything in her power to get away from him.

*-*-*-*

              “Wait. Where are we going?” she asked when she realized that he’d just walked past his office door and was heading towards the back hallway.

              “To have a little talk,” he bit out coldly, which really didn’t frighten her, but the fact that they were apparently heading back upstairs to his apartment did concern her a tad bit.

              “That sounds like a great idea,” she said, tightening her hold on the back of his pants as her mind raced for a way to convince him to turn around. “But, wouldn’t you be more comfortable having this discussion in your office?” she suggested with a hopeful smile that he couldn’t see.

              “No,” the stubborn man said firmly, making her sigh heavily because they were really going to have to work on that.

              “May I ask why?”

              “No.”

              “This isn’t really the best way to open the floor for a productive dialogue.”

              “Did you want me to drop you on your head?” he asked with absolutely no humor, which she would admit was a bit concerning even though she knew that he would never do it.

              At least, she was ninety-nine percent positive that he wouldn’t drop her on her head, but still…

              “No, I’m good,” she said, deciding that perhaps it would be in her best interest to vocalizing her desire to stay alive.

              “Then be quiet,” he said in that damn tone that simply grated on her nerves and made her want to argue for the sake of arguing, but that would be foolish at the moment.

              Yet, she found herself opening her mouth and doing just that as he started up the stairs.

              “Do you think we could have this discussion downstairs?” she suggested, tightening her hold on his pants past the point of pain just in case the habitually angry man decided to follow through with his threat to drop her on her head.

              “Do you think you could shut up?” he shot back, which of course he probably didn’t expect an answer to, but she really just couldn’t help herself.

              “Probably,” she mumbled thoughtfully, knowing that she was playing with fire by taunting him, but unable to help herself, especially now when she needed something to distract herself before she lost it and did something foolish like cry.

              She wasn’t going to feel sorry for herself.

              She wasn’t.

              All the tests had come back negative, confirming everything that she’d suspected before. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her. At least, not medically. Mentally though…

              Well, there seemed to be quite a bit wrong with her. According to her newest Doctor, he knew a great psychiatrist that could help her. He’d actually gone to college with him and thought he’d be able to help her come to terms with her condition. Prescription drugs and group counseling on top of individual counseling would help her to one day lead a normal and productive life.

              It would take time of course, but one day she’d be able to make it through the day without wanting to get sick, because apparently this was a choice that she was making. Not subconsciously according to the Doctor, but it was definitely something that she could control with time.

              “Here’s the plan,” Lucifer said, reminding her that her day wasn’t over yet, not until he got another chance to fire her, “you’re going to sit down, shut up and listen to what I have to tell you. You’re not going to distract me, grab that fucking clipboard, have that oversized dog of yours jump on my lap and pin me down to the floor or have your partner in crime come running in with some bullshit story to save your ass. This ends today.”

              “Okay,” she said distractedly, because he was right.

              Everything ended today.

              She had no idea why this was bothering her so much. She hadn’t expected them to find anything and when the Doctor had suggested that it was all in her head, she’d been ready for it. So, why was she crying?

              Because even though she’d always told herself that she hadn’t expected any real answers, she’d always secretly hoped for one and now, it was all over. There would be no more appointments, tests or Melanie getting on her ass about seeing another Doctor. Now it would be about keeping weekly appointments so that they could get to the root of her problems and figure out how to change her.

              She should be glad that it was over, but she wasn’t. No matter what she told herself, told Melanie or anyone else, a small part of her had always hoped that they’d figure out what was wrong with her so that everyone would stop looking at her like she was crazy.

              “Put me down,” she whispered, needing to get out of there.

              She didn’t care where she went just as long as it was somewhere that she could be curl up, close her eyes and feel sorry for herself for a little while, but Lucifer ignored her request and continued carrying her until he had her inside his apartment. As soon as the door closed shut with a click behind them, he was dropping her ass back on the couch, kneeling down in front of her and-

              Froze.

Chapter 6

              “I’m fired. I get it,” the woman that was driving him insane said with a sniffle as she got off the couch and walked out of his apartment. Before she made it to her apartment door he was on his feet and going after her, because there was no way after five years of fucking with his head that she’d actually let him off that easily. Which meant that she was once again fucking with his head.

              She had to be, because he honestly wasn’t sure if he could handle knowing that he’d made her cry. He’d never cared if a woman cried before, but for some reason that he couldn’t explain it bothered him to see her like this. Maybe it was because he’d never seen her cry before. No matter how many times he’d fired her, yelled at her, or questioned her demonic origins, she’d never cried.

              Not once.

              It actually amazed him that she took his shit without complaint when everyone else usually broke down after only a few angry syllables left his lips. Rebecca would either take his shit with a smile or distract him to the point that he was forced to question his own sanity. She’d never tried to play him with tears before. It was the one thing that he’d always respected about her, which was why the thought of her suddenly trying to play him with tears pissed him off.

              Before she could close the door in his face, he slammed his hand against it, forcing her to keep the door open and stopping her from running away before he got a few answers.

              “What the hell is going on, Rebecca?” he asked, pushing the door open wider.

              “I’m fired. I get it. Now, can you go away so that I can feel sorry for myself in peace?” she demanded, sounding pissed at him as she moved to shove the door shut, but he wasn’t having that.

              Not until they’d settled this.

              “We’re not done here,” he said evenly, which earned him a shake of the head and a muttered, “I give up,” as the woman who’d made his life a living hell turned around and walked away, leaving him to either stand there like an idiot or follow her like a fucking moron.

              Apparently he was a fucking moron, because he followed her over to the couch where someone was apparently camping out. Grabbing a Hostess pie off the coffee table, she climbed onto the couch covered in blankets and pillows, curled up onto her side and pulled a majority of the blankets up to her chin as she let out a pathetic little sigh and began to stare blindly at something already playing on the television.

              “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, because…shouldn’t she be trying to manipulate him? Make him feel bad? Turn up the water works until he apologized for being an asshole and promised that she wasn’t fired?

              “Wallowing in self pity,” she muttered, gesturing for him to get out of the way, because he was apparently blocking her view of-

              “
Child’s Play
?” he asked with a frown, because he really didn’t understand this woman.

              “It soothes me,” she explained with a sniffle before adding, “Now, you may leave.”

              “
Child’s Play
soothes you?” he asked slowly, almost positive that he’d misheard her. “A serial killer trapped inside a doll soothes you?” he asked, deciding that perhaps it would be best if he clarified this for his own sanity.

              “Yes!” she hissed in aggravation with another sniffle as her hands appeared out from beneath the blanket, holding that Hostess pie that was actually looking pretty good…

              “What the hell?” she snapped as he reached down and snatched the pie from her, because as far as he was concerned, she owed him for all the bullshit that she’d put him through over the years.

              “I need this more than you do!” he snapped right back, using the Bradford mantra that usually ended arguments over food pretty quickly.

              “Asshole,” she muttered angrily as she reached over and grabbed another pie, this one looking just as good.

              “Oh, come on!” she snapped in outrage as he helped himself to the second pie.

              “You going to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, deciding that he could pretend that he actually cared since she’d so graciously shared her fruit pies with him.

              Shifting her attention back to the television, she muttered, “It’s not important.”

              “Then why are you upset?” he asked, glancing around the large apartment for that damn dog and her wingman so that he could push her off onto them and make his escape now that he knew that he wasn’t the cause of her mental breakdown.

              “Because it’s my right as a woman to get pissed off for absolutely no reason,” she said with a shrug as she stared blindly at the television.

              “Uh huh,” he said absently, wondering why Melanie wasn’t here to handle this.

              “She took Mojo out for a walk after I threatened to kill her if she didn’t stop bugging the shit out of me,” she said, answering his unasked question and letting him know that there would be no escape for him, because he couldn’t leave her like this.

              Could he?

              Well, he could, but he was pretty sure that would make him an asshole and right now, being an asshole somehow felt…
wrong
.

*-*-*-*

              “Don’t you have a restaurant to run?” she asked, wondering why he hadn’t left yet.

              He was really wrecking this for her.

              He ignored her question and asked one of his own. “When’s Melanie coming back?”

              “Well, since she’s attempting to take a two hundred and sixty-five pound dog for a walk by herself, I’m guessing that we won’t be seeing her until she calls and asks for a crane to help drag Mojo back,” she said absently while she continued to stare numbly at the television as Chucky slashed and diced his way through another bad joke, wondering why Lucifer was still here.

              As soon as she’d given him what he wanted he should have left, satisfied with the knowledge that he’d finally managed to kick her out of his restaurant. Actually, as soon as he’d realized that she was crying, he should have shown her the door and washed his hands of the whole situation. It was something that she’d seen him do in the past when he had to fire a waitress and they’d foolishly decided to see if they could manipulate him with a few tears to change his mind. It usually had the opposite effect on him.

              The same could be said for the women that he’d dated over the last few years that thought pretty little pouts and a few crocodile tears were enough to wrap him around their little fingers. They actually seemed to have the opposite effect on him as well. Not that she’d been paying attention.

              Okay, so she had probably paid a little too much attention to his love life, but then again, who hadn’t? It was hard not to! The women that he dated brought endless hours of entertainment to them all and for that alone, they would always have a special place in her heart.

              Every single one of the women that he’d dated, and there had been quite a few over the years, seemed determined to bring him to heel. For whatever reason they all seemed to look at him as some poor wounded soul hiding behind an asshole exterior that only they could break through.

              They were wrong, but she never had the heart to tell them, mostly because that would have meant putting an end to the entertainment that they provided and there was no way in hell that she would ever do that. Not when their obvious attempts seemed to really annoy Lucifer and put a smile on her face.

              She wasn’t sure if it was the challenge of breaking Lucifer or the fact that he was incredibly hot that had women going nuts over him. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter to her just as long as they didn’t stop doing it. There was really nothing like watching a woman try to break Lucifer so that the rest of the world could see what a kind, generous, and caring man he really was.

              It was always fun watching him prove that he wasn’t.

              “What’s really going on, Rebecca?” he asked, rudely disturbing thoughts of happier times and making her wonder why it mattered.

              It wasn’t like he didn’t already know. So, what was the big deal admitting it?

              “Haven’t you heard? I’m a hypochondriac,” she said with a shrug as she continued to stare blindly at the television, surprised at how little she cared any more.