Rubbing his hands down his face, he asked, “What did you do now?”
“Well, allegedly, because I don’t believe there’s any real proof, but Mr. Jackson believes that someone may have been involved in some sort of email scandal last night,” she said with a shrug as she popped another piece of candy in her mouth.
“What did you do?” he asked with a sigh as he dropped his hands away and sat back in his chair as he waited for the bullshit to start.
“Why do you think I did anything?” she asked, blinking innocently.
“Jen…”
“Allegedly,” she said, making air quotes that had him rolling his eyes, “Mr. Hermann left his laptop open while he went outside to make a phone call and I guess the temptation was just too much for some poor misguided soul to resist.”
“And what did this poor misguided soul do exactly?” he asked as a chirp drew his attention to his phone just as a text message popped up.
Do you think she was serious about the chemical castration thing? Because I might be willing to risk it.
“Are you familiar with the term ‘Rick Rolled’?” Jen asked as she helped herself to another piece of candy.
“Yes,” Reed said, biting back a sigh when the next text message popped up.
Do you think Jackson would be okay if I asked Joey out? Because I think I might be in love.
“Well, some evil genius took it a step further and ‘Biebed’ everyone in the PTA,” she said, right around the time that he decided to kill his brother.
“You sent a video of Justin Bieber hidden in a link to everyone on the PTA?” he asked, sighing as he reached over and typed her name into the computer and pulled up her file, again.
“Some evil genius did,” she said, nodding solemnly as he took a look at her classes, noting that she was failing every single one of them, held the school record for tardies and unexcused absences, and was well on her way to becoming the biggest pain in the ass that he’d ever known, and he was including the woman that he’d decided to stay away from in that.
“Some evil genius, huh?” he absently asked as he forced himself to focus on figuring out what he was going to do with the girl determined to get herself kicked out of school.
“That’s the only explanation that makes sense,” she said with a heavy sigh and a sad shake of her head.
“Or, the repeat offender who was supposed to be writing a paper saw an opportunity to torment someone, took it, got caught, and is now trying to talk her way out of another week of detention,” he drawled, drumming his fingers against the desk as he somehow resisted the urge to grab his phone and tell his brother to keep his fucking hands off her.
“That’s a possibility,” she allowed with a nod.
“You know what else is a possibility?” he asked.
“That you’ll let me off with a warning?” she asked with a hopeful smile.
“I was thinking more along the lines of calling your uncle,” he said, noting the look of pure panic on her face as he glanced down at his phone just in time to see the next text message.
She’s decided to sell the house. Already called Uncle Jared. He wants the house. Coming next month to put in an offer.
Staying at Jake’s tonight. Made a tactical error. She’s fine, but you might want to come home soon!
Chapter 11
“I said I was sorry!” Joey said with a sigh as she sat there, really hoping that he believed her this time only to let her shoulders sag in defeat a moment later when it became painfully obvious that the sound of a door slamming shut that she’d heard moments earlier had been Matt fleeing for his life.
Not that she could blame him, she thought with a heavy sigh as she shifted to get more comfortable, wondering if she went too far when she’d threatened his balls only to shrug it off, because he’d definitely had it coming. He’s lucky that she’d held back, she decided with a firm nod even as she threw a hopeful look toward the locked closet door when she heard movement coming from the hallway.
Maybe he’d forgiven her for putting him in that headlock? she hoped at least as she sat up, licking her lips and ready to tell the little bastard whatever it took to regain her freedom. Then, once she apologized, she would make him regret patting her on the head and calling her “Fun Size.” She was not short, damn it! She was—
Really regretting her decision not to accept the affectionate pet name with a smile when she heard the heavy, painfully familiar, long drawn-out sigh accompanied by the sounds of whatever Matt had lodged beneath the doorknob to lock her in here as it was pulled away. Really hoping that Reed wasn’t here to finish the job, she pushed back as far as the small closet would allow, hugged her knees against her chest, and did her best not to wince when the closet door was pulled open and she found herself looking up into the semi-amused face of the incredibly handsome man that she had a history of pissing off.
“What did you do this time, Joey?” Reed drawled as he sat down on the chair that had been used to lock her in here, effectively blocking her only means of escape.
“Taught your brother a healthy respect for short people,” she said, nodding solemnly.
“What’s the verdict?” he asked, reaching up to pull his tie loose and drawing attention to the fact that he’d definitely grown into an incredibly sexy man over the years.
“Your brother is lucky to be alive,” she said without missing a beat.
Chuckling, Reed shook his head ruefully. “I meant about the house.”
“Oh, that,” she said, feeling her shoulders once again sag at the reminder of her latest failure.
“Yes, that.”
She wanted to fix the house up the way that her grandfather would have wanted, but there was no way that she was going to be able to do that on her budget. Even with her savings, the college fund that her mother had started for her that she hadn’t needed, and the small inheritance that her grandparents had left her there was no way that she was going to be able to come close to being able to afford this. She considered asking Jackson for help, but she doubted that he could afford this any more than she could. Even if he could, she already knew that he would say no.
She briefly considered taking a loan out against the house only to immediately dismiss the idea since her grandparents wouldn’t have wanted her going into debt over this. She thought about making a deal with Matt, paying him what she could now with the promise that she would pay him everything she owed him plus interest when they sold the house later, but…
There was no guarantee that they would be able to sell it.
But fixing up the house was no longer an option. At least not for her, she thought with another heartfelt sigh, really wishing that she didn’t have to do this, but she didn’t have a choice. Not if she wanted to do this for her grandfather. So, that left her with two choices, put the house on the market and hope for the best or sell the house back to the family that built it.
At least this way she knew that the house would be restored the way that her grandfather would have wanted it. The only problem was going to be finding a way to get Jackson on board with this plan without her brother finding out that she was on sabbatical.
“Matt said that your uncle would be interested in buying the old place,” she said even as she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be able to squeeze under that chair.
“Uncle Jared would definitely be interested in buying it, and if he doesn’t, I know that my cousin Rory would buy it in a heartbeat. She loves restoring old houses,” Reed said, nodding as Joey sat there telling herself that this was for the best.
It was either sell the house or watch it continue to fall apart.