“Besides,” the little bastard said before he could respond, “you need the help.”
“I have it under control,” Reed said, trying not to think of all the paperwork waiting for him, the meetings, phone calls, and all the interviews that he had with kids barely out of college filling up the rest of his week.
“Doesn’t she have a master’s degree?” the little bastard asked, earning a murderous glare and making him wonder why he’d promised his mother that he wouldn’t smother the little bastard in his sleep.
“She has two Ph.D.s, but I’m still not hiring her,” Reed said, shaking his head because this wasn’t fucking happening.
“Why not? You’d be able to keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble,” Matt pointed out with a satisfied sigh and for a moment, he was actually tempted to say yes.
“Where is she going to stay?” Reed asked, hoping to distract his brother while he tried to figure out what he was going to do about her.
“She can sleep in my room,” the little bastard said, drawing his attention to the smug little bastard looking way too fucking pleased with himself. When Matt caught the murderous expression on Reed’s face, he rolled his eyes and sighed heavily with a, “Fine. I’ll set up your old room.”
“You mean the room right next to mine and the one that shares my bathroom?” Reed asked before shaking his head and saying, “No fucking way.”
“Fine,” Matt said, trying to bite back a smile, “then she can use the old guest room.”
“You mean the one right next to yours?” Reed bit out as he checked to make sure that his bedroom door was still closed before he returned his attention to the little bastard.
“The very one,” Matt said, making him glare.
“No.”
“Technically it makes the most sense since she’s my guest,” Matt explained innocently.
“Is that what you’re going to tell Jackson?” Reed asked, noting the way that Matt slowly nodded and said, “Your old room it is,” before Reed sighed heavily and pushed away from the wall, deciding that it was time to get some answers.
Chapter 13
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Making as many bad choices as humanly possible,” Joey couldn’t help but admit as she hung there, squeezing her eyes tightly shut while doing her best not to think about the ground rushing up to greet her and really hoping that the large man that hated her would pull her up for old time’s sake.
“I can see that,” Reed murmured, but something, mostly the fact that he left her hanging from the window, told her that he really didn’t.
He did, however, grab her by the back of her pants just in case the window that was currently keeping her pinned in place decided to finally budge and released her for what promised to be a very memorable experience.
“Why don’t we have a talk?” Reed asked as she hung there, really wishing that she hadn’t leaned out so far.
Then again, she really wished that she’d known that someone had removed the old rose trellis before she’d come up with this plan. She should have just walked out the door, but since that hadn’t ended well the last time she’d figured that her best bet was to sneak out the window, make her way next door, find her keys, and leave before the large man currently dragging a chair closer by the sounds of it, could find her.
“When did you remove the old trellis?” she asked, hoping to change the subject before he started asking questions that she’d really rather not answer.
“It’s on the other side of the house,” he said, making her groan as she tried to shimmy back inside only to give up a few seconds later when nothing happened. If only her feet reached the floor, she thought with a sigh as she resigned herself to hanging there at the mercy of her brother’s best friend, who wasn’t exactly fond of her.
“Why are you here, Joey?” Reed asked, ruining all of her hopes and dreams that he would just let her leave.
“Tried to escape,” she said before following that up with, “Any chance that you’d be willing to let me up before I pass out?”
“No,” he said, making her sigh as she hung there, regretting so many things. “Why do you think you’re an obligation?”
“Because I am,” she grumbled.
“I see,” Reed murmured thoughtfully, “and you feel that way because…”
“Because it’s true,” she said with a shrug and a sigh as she opened her eyes and quickly closed them at the reminder that she was deathly afraid of heights, which of course was another reason why trying to escape by climbing out of a second story window really hadn’t been the best decision.
“And that’s the reason you don’t want me to call your brother and tell him you’re here?”
“We already went over this,” she said with a sigh as she cracked one eye open and debated pushing herself free and taking her chances with gravity.
“Humor me,” Reed said, tightening his hold on the back of her pants to let her know that she wasn’t going anywhere until she answered his questions.
“I didn’t want to bother him?” Joey said, regretting her decision not to steal one of Reed’s sweatshirts before she tried to make her escape when a gust of cold wind swept over her.
“That’s really thoughtful of you.”
“I try,” she said, sighing heavily only to wince when the move caused more blood to rush to her head.
“Try again.”
Closing her eyes, she shook her head with a sigh and said, “Because he would drop everything to fix this.”
“That’s his job,” Reed pointed out, and if she could roll her eyes without passing out, she would have done it.
“I don’t need him to rescue me,” she grumbled.
“He loves you.”
“Which is why I haven’t killed him yet,” she pointed out, ignoring the incredibly sexy chuckle as she hung there, really wishing that she’d used the bathroom before she’d tried to escape.
“He’s not that bad,” Reed said, shifting his hold as she hung there, snorting in disbelief.
“Why are you holding my ass?” she couldn’t help but ask when she felt a large hand cup her ass.
“For safety,” Reed said, even as he cleared his throat and shifted his grip back to her pants.
“Are you done yet?”
“Yes, you little pain in the ass,” he said as pushed the window up and pulled her inside.
Before she could so much as glare at him, her legs were giving out and she found herself curling up on the floor, deciding that this was the perfect time to admire the hardwood floor. She was never trying to escape through another window as long as she lived, she promised herself as she laid there, willing the world to stop spinning.
“You’re not an obligation,” the large man that she’d really been hoping had forgotten all about her, said.
“Really? Then please explain why you won’t let me leave?” Joey managed to ask.
“Because you’re a pain in the ass,” he reminded her as she laid there, really wishing that her head would stop spinning even as she decided to show herself out when the opportunity presented itself.
“That really doesn’t explain why you won’t let me leave,” she pointed out.
“Because your brother would kill me. Plus, I promised your grandmother that I would look after you.”
“That’s the definition of an obligation,” she couldn’t help but point out.
“You need someone to take care of you,” he said with a bored sigh.
“I can take care of myself,” she said only to narrow her eyes a second later when he patted her leg and followed that up with a disbelieving, “Uh huh.”
“I can,” Joey bit out as she cracked open an eye to glare up at the annoying bastard.
“Then you have a plan?”
“Of course, I do,” she said, lying her ass off because she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do now.
“So, what’s this wonderful plan of yours?” Reed asked as she tried to come up with something that was going to stop him from calling her brother.
“My plan?” she repeated back, nodding to herself as she glanced around his bedroom, looking for something to save her.
“Your plan.”