Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell (3 page)

              “Get him off me!” Melanie screamed hysterically, which was just ridiculous, because Mojo would never hurt her and she knew that.

              Muttering to herself, Rebecca stepped into the small hallway that was made even smaller by the fact that Melanie was laying on the floor with the two-hundred and sixty-five pound mastiff laying on top of her, happily wagging his tail as he continued to drool all over the woman that seemed to have a problem with cuddling.

              “Are you going to get him off me?” Melanie demanded as she tried, and failed, to turn her head to get out of the path of all that drool slowly dripping down on her face and neck.

              “Are you going to cancel the doctor’s appointment?” Rebecca countered, realizing that she might actually have a shot at getting out of this appointment. She’d still get her ass kicked. There was no doubt about that, but at least thanks to Mojo and his love for a good cuddle, she’d miss her appointment and really, that’s all that mattered to her.

              “No!” the stubborn woman that was lying in a large puddle of dog drool snapped, shooting a terrifying glare in her direction as though it was somehow Rebecca’s fault that Mojo loved to tackle her whenever the opportunity presented itself.

              “Are you sure?” Rebecca asked after a slight hesitation, simply because she knew how this was going to end.

              “Yes!”

              “Then I’m afraid that there’s nothing that I can do,” she said with a shrug as she turned around and headed for the back door, deciding that she’d go back to work since it appeared that she suddenly had a few extra hours to kill.

Chapter 3

              “I’m going to fucking kill her,” he said in resignation as he rubbed his hands down his face, because he no longer had a choice. Not now when every single one of his employees was wearing the uniform that the little demon had ordered behind his back.

              He couldn’t even say that he hadn’t seen this day coming. There had been plenty of clues along the way letting him know that one day he would have no choice but to dump her body into a tub of holy water and let the Devil have his protégé back.

              There was the day that Rebecca Shaw had shown up twenty minutes late to her interview, wearing a Goonies t-shirt, flannel pajama pants, pink bunny slippers and carrying a resume that proudly informed anyone who had the misfortune of reading it about the five years she’d spent finding herself as she’d jumped from job to job…
to job
.

              Normally he never would have hired someone who clearly didn’t have their shit together, but at the time he’d been short-staffed because he’d mistakenly hired waitresses who couldn’t handle a little fucking criticism without bursting into tears. When she hadn’t turned into a nervous wreck five minutes into the interview, the time it usually took someone to decide that working at Fire & Brimstone just wasn’t for them, he decided to hire her on a temporary basis.

              With her work history he’d figured that it was only a matter of weeks before she’d quit and by the time that happened, he should have been able to find a reliable waitress who knew how to do her job without pissing him off. Unfortunately for his sanity and his blood pressure, things hadn’t worked out that way.

              Like the first time that he’d tried to fire her and had somehow ended up with a new menu, two new waitresses that actually turned out to be pretty good, and renting the apartment across from his to her, her best friend and that fucking dog. He still wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but every fucking time that he tried to tell her to stop fucking with his head, his life, and his restaurant, she somehow managed to change the subject and fuck with his head until he found himself doing exactly what she wanted just to shut her the fuck up, but no longer.

              He was fucking done.

             
Absolutely fucking done.

              Shooting one last glare at the uniforms that would make a lovely addition to a bonfire, he headed towards the back, giving customers a slight nod when they waved hello and ignoring the employees that were trying to derail him from his life’s purpose with petty bullshit. He didn’t stop until he found himself in the employee hallway and was forced to punch in the code to release the security door that lead upstairs to the apartments that he’d added shortly after he’d purchased the building.

              As soon as the door clicked open, he was in the stairwell and heading upstairs where he would finally end the little demon’s reign of terror. This ended today, he promised himself, refusing to put up with her bullshit for one more day. Thirty seconds later, he was at her door and raising his hand as anticipation coursed through his body.

              Finally, this nightmare was about to-

              “Good morning, Christopher,” the little terror greeted him with a huge smile when she opened the door and spotted him, daring to call him the name that not even his mother used anymore, further fueling his determination to get rid of her. “Did you need something?”

              “You’re fired,” he blurted out with absolutely no finesse, ruining what he’d been working on for years, but at the moment he really didn’t fucking care as long as the job got done. The only thing that mattered was finally ridding himself of the biggest mistake of his life.

              Instead of crying, begging for her job or arguing with him like most sane people would have done, she simply nodded and mumbled a distracted, “I see,” as she glanced over her shoulder at something in her apartment, the move causing her curly black hair that he had to admit that he liked about her to slide off her shoulder.

             
“You’re fired,” he said a little louder, determined to make sure that there were no misunderstandings.

              “Uh huh,” she mumbled, sounding even more distracted as she turned around, grabbed the door handle and ever so carefully, pulled the door closed behind her. She slowly backed away from the door. Licking her lips nervously, she shot a hopeful glance towards the stairwell door as though she was calculating the odds of making it there before-

              “You little bitch!” came the feminine roar as the door was suddenly thrown open and Melanie, the normal one in this duo as far as he could tell, launched herself at Rebecca before the much smaller woman could so much as gasp in surprise as she took her down to the ground.

              “Get the hell off me!” Rebecca demanded a minute later as she rolled over onto her stomach and attempted to crawl away, but the crazed woman on top of her, who’d clearly been pushed to her limit, refused to let her go.

              “No!”

              “Bitch!” Rebecca shot back, triggering a verbal duel that he was, unfortunately, all too familiar with.

              “Whore!”

              “Tramp!”

              “Bieber lover!” Melanie growled as she put Rebecca in a headlock and earned a gasp of outrage, because
clearly
that was crossing the line.

              “You bitch!” Rebecca snarled, forgoing her attempts to escape so that she could put her best friend in a headlock of her own.

              Sighing heavily, Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how his life had turned into this fucked up existence. He’d like to say that living with these two was like living with his family, but sadly, he couldn’t even say that, because they were clearly worse than anyone in his family, which was actually fucking disturbing.

              “Are you two done yet?” he asked, not really surprised when they ignored him and continued to fight, argue or whatever they fucking called it.

              “You’re going!” Melanie snapped with a determined expression as she released her hold on Rebecca and-

              “Ow!” Rebecca screamed as Melanie grabbed her by the ear and gave it a good twist, a move that never seemed to fail and one that the little pain in the ass really should have expected.

              “I didn’t come up here to witness more of your bullshit,” he snapped as the pair moved onto ineffectual bitch slaps. “I wanted to make sure that you understood that you’re fired.”

              But, like always, they continued to ignore him and the fact that their “baby,” had come out into the hallway to watch them, already looking bored. Thankful that the dog hadn’t focused on him, Lucifer decided to give it one more try before he left, secure in the knowledge that he’d accomplished what he’d come here to do.

              “You’re fired.”

              “We heard you the first time!” Melanie snapped, looking more determined than he’d ever seen her before as she stood up and attempted to drag her best friend towards the stairwell door by her ear.

              “Let go!” Rebecca snapped right back, but it was clear to everyone in the hallway, including the dog now snoring loudly by the door, that she’d lost.

              Having had enough bullshit today and wanting to make sure that the worst employee that he’d ever had knew that she was fired, he walked over to the struggling duo, reached down and swept Rebecca off her feet. He ignored the twin sounds of outrage, the dog rolling over onto his side and blocking most of the hallway and headed for his apartment.

*-*-*-*

              “Hey! I was winning that!” she argued, even though she’d been getting her ass royally kicked and seconds away from being dragged down a flight of stairs by her ear.

              “Shut up and sit down,” Lucifer said evenly as he rudely deposited her on one of the large leather couches taking up the large open space, letting her know that she’d finally pushed him too far, because he’d never once in the five years that she’d worked for him allowed her inside his apartment.

              No one was allowed in here as far as she knew. This was his sanctuary, his escape from the rest of the world and the one place that she’d never attempted to infiltrate, because she hadn’t wanted to see exactly how far she could push him before he snapped and turned the infamous Lucifer Bradford temper on her. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t lost his temper with her before. It happened on a daily basis and usually more than once a day, but she’d never seen him this angry before.

              At other people?

              All. The. Time.

              Since she really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that aforementioned temper, she decided that it would probably be in her best interest if she made a hasty retreat and gave him a chance to cool off.

              “You and I need to have a talk,” he bit out with a cold glare that didn’t bode well for her.

              Yeah….no, she was good.

              “We definitely should talk,” she agreed with a firm nod, because she’d learned years ago that the best way to deal with Lucifer Bradford was to either distract him or avoid him altogether and since she didn’t have her trusty clipboard with her...

              She needed to get out of here for a few hours and unfortunately for her, the only thing that would grant her sanctuary until Mr. Cranky Pants here redirected that anger issue of his onto someone else was a visit to the Doctor’s office.

              Well, there really was no point in putting it off any longer, especially since Lucifer looked liked he was going to try firing her again. He really was cute when he thought that he was in charge, she mused with a resigned sigh as she got to her feet and headed for the door.

              “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded, somehow managing to look downright adorable for a man that could have easily been a cover model with his brooding green eyes, perfect tan, great build and short jet black hair that he swept forward every morning.

              It really was a shame that he was such an asshole, she thought as she gave him one of those huge smiles that made always seemed to make the muscle beneath his eye tick and said brightly, “Doctor’s appointment!”

              Before he could reply, she was out the door and in a chokehold by a woman who could teach Lucifer Bradford a thing or two about channeling all that anger.

Chapter 4

              “What are you going to do if he actually fires you?” Melanie asked as though this time her answer would be different.

              “Kill you,” Rebecca answered with a lazy shrug as she continued to flip through the health magazine on her lap.

              “Killing me wouldn’t pay the rent,” Melanie pointed out smugly.

              “It would if your family paid me to do it,” she felt obligated to point out as she shot another calculating glance towards the exit.

              “My family loves me.”

              “Your father offered me fifty-thousand dollars to kill you,” Rebecca pointed out, wishing that she’d managed to jump out of the car before Melanie had stopped her, but the damn woman had lightening fast reflexes. Besides, the idea of getting road rash at forty miles as hour hadn’t really appealed to her.

              “He was joking!” Melanie gasped in outrage, giving her the distraction that she needed, because honestly, she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to sit here, knowing what was coming.

              “He wrote a check,” she answered as she glanced back at the disapproving receptionist, who hadn’t taken her eyes off of them since they’d walked in the door, before she returned her attention to the magazine pushing the latest version of Viagra.

              “You’re lying!”

              “You were dating Craig Milton,” she said, reminding her best friend of the biggest dating mistake of her life.

              “I was ten years old!” Melanie gasped with a chuckle.

              “Your father took exception to him,” Rebecca said with a shrug as she stared at the magazine in her lap, trying her best not to think about…
anything
.

              But, with every passing second she was losing that battle and she couldn’t help but think about the conversation that was to come or the gut wrenching feeling that hit her every time another Doctor looked at her with pity and annoyance as they came to the conclusion that she’d wasted their time. She didn’t want to be here, but then again, she really didn’t want to be home or at work where a certain terrifying man was no doubt on a rampage thanks to the fact that she’d once again narrowly escaped another attempt to fire her.

              Okay, so technically she hadn’t escaped anything since he’d flat out told her that she was fired nearly a dozen times over the past five years. If it had been anyone else she probably would have just accepted her fate and moved on by now, but this was Lucifer Bradford, who obviously had no idea what he was doing, so she felt it was for the best if she simply ignored him and focused on saving the Fire & Brimstone before he ran it into the ground.

              Lucifer was a very intelligent man, a hard worker and even though she personally thought that he was an asshole, he was also one of the most honest men that she’d ever met. That being said, he was also incredibly stubborn and that just wasn’t going to work for her.

              She understood probably better than anyone how much the Fire & Brimstone meant to him. She hadn’t been able to help but fall in love with the restaurant and its charm the very first time she’d laid eyes on it. She’d do anything to make sure that it was a success even if that meant saving it from the man that had every right to run it into the ground.

              Lucifer was stuck in his ways, refused to change anything or look for ways to improve the restaurant and evolve to meet growing trends. As far as he was concerned, the day that he’d opened Fire & Brimstone’s doors to the public, the restaurant had been absolutely perfect the way that it was and didn’t need to change. She’d admit that it probably had been perfect back then, but that was ten years ago and lot had changed since.

              When she’d first started working at Fire & Brimstone she’d realized that the restaurant was in desperate need of a massive overhaul or it wasn’t going to be able to keep its doors open for very much longer. The food was horrible, overpriced and, more than often, was charred beyond recognition. Staff turnover was high and the employees that stayed were complete assholes that didn’t give a damn that the restaurant was in a downward spiral as long as their checks cleared.

              It had been a nightmare.

              She’d also noticed that Christopher, (AKA Lucifer Bradford to those that didn’t want to piss him off) had been in way over his head. Technically, he still was and if she let him have his way and get rid or her, then the poor man wouldn’t know what to do with himself or the Fire & Brimstone. He needed her, almost desperately, she concluded with a pitying sigh and a shake of her head, because really, she had no choice but to stay and help him.

              It really was for his own good.

              “I wonder what they found,” Melanie said with that calculating tone of hers that just made Rebecca want to sneak into the bitch’s room one night and smother frosting all over her face so that she could sic Mojo on her.

              “They didn’t find anything,” she said in aggravation, foolishly taking the bait and promising herself that if Melanie kept this shit up that she was stopping at a store on the way home and buying a dozen cans of frosting.

              “Then why would they ask you to come in?” Melanie asked, sounding smug, which she knew from experience wouldn’t last long.

              As soon as the Doctor broke the news to them that she was probably a fucking nut job just looking for attention, Melanie’s tone would turn slightly…
crazed
. At least, that’s how the last Doctor had described it.

              “Don’t get your hopes up,” she said instead of allowing herself to be drawn into this pointless conversation.

              She absolutely refused to have this conversation again.

              It just wasn’t happening.

              It
wasn’t
.

              “They found something. I can feel it,” Melanie said firmly, which of course earned an eye roll, because Melanie was always sure that they’d finally found a reason why she couldn’t seem to go a day without getting sick.

              She should keep her mouth shut, because she knew that if she ignored Melanie long enough that she’d get bored and drop the conversation, but the stubborn part of her that couldn’t leave well enough alone just couldn’t keep quiet.

              “Yeah? And what am I going to do if they find something, huh?” she demanded.

              “We’ll deal with it,” was the immediate response that had Rebecca sighing heavily as she tossed the magazine back on the neat pile in front of her so that she could give her undivided attention to her best that she loved more than anything, but was likely to kill one day.

              “Really? What if they find out that I’m diabetic or that I have cancer?” she asked, because she honestly wasn’t sure what she was going to do if the test came back positive. It would probably take her years to get over the shock that she was actually sick.

              “Then we’ll find the best cancer treatment in the world if it’s cancer and if it’s diabetes then we’ll cut back on sugar and watch what we eat,” Melanie said, sounding completely confident that they’d be able to handle whatever it was and that was great, sweet really, but Rebecca knew that they weren’t going to find anything.

              “This is the last appointment that I’m going to,” she said firmly, because she was done.

              “We won’t need another appointment after this,” Melanie said, sounding so damn sure of herself. “They figured out what’s wrong and now they can fix it.”

              “Uh huh,” she mumbled, hoping that Melanie would shut up and drop it.

              “And don’t worry,” Melanie said, reaching over and giving her leg a comforting pat that was going to get her drizzled in gravy one night, “no matter what happens, what they find, you’re not in this alone. I’ll go through this with you.”

              “Rebecca Shaw,” the nurse said, letting her know that her time had run out, “the Doctor’s ready to see you now.”