Neighbor from Hell

And So It Begins… XIII

“I wanna see!” Katie, his next-door neighbor and his personal tormentor, said as she moved to get a closer look only to sigh heavily when Cole picked her up and handed her off to her older sister, who didn’t seem to appreciate what he was trying to do here.

“So, let me get this straight,” Chloe said, pausing to throw her little sister over her shoulder before she continued, “you charged your family to go into a restaurant that you don’t own?”

Sighing heavily, Cole couldn’t help but wonder what was so difficult to understand about this. “No, I charged them a finder’s fee,” he said as he continued counting the money in his hand.

And So It Begins…

This couldn’t be happening.

Not now, not when they were so close to getting through this without anyone getting thrown out and getting them all banned, Trevor thought, trying not to panic but it…

Oh, god, where the hell was he?

Swallowing hard, Trevor glanced back beneath the table to make sure that Dustin hadn’t doubled-back before he glanced up and-

Realized that he’d come between his uncle and food.

And So It Begins… Part XI

“How did you see this playing out?” Trevor asked as he glanced from his son, who hadn’t stopped glaring at him since Mikey made a run for it, to take in the rest of the large restaurant, making sure that the rest of the men in his family were behaving.

He had to admit that this was going a lot better than he thought it would. So far, the rest of the men in his family were keeping their distance, waiting their turns to go up, and restricting themselves to two plates an hour. It had to be a record, Trevor thought absently as he glanced back to find Sebastian watching him as he said, “Just like this.”

And So It Begins X…

“I see that you managed to run Jason off,” Trevor murmured as he watched Jason pause by the door, looking torn between staying and making a run for it.

“Mikey has a new fast ball,” Sebastian said, making Trevor wince in sympathy as he glanced from Jason, who was now glaring at Sebastian, to Mikey, who was adding another scoopful of mashed potatoes on a plate with the saddest expression that he’d ever seen.

And So It Begins…Part IX

“She’s trying to make a run for it,” Jason pointed out as he watched Mikey bypass the fried chicken section and headed for the door.

“She’ll be back,” Sebastian said, not really sounding all that concerned as Jason watched Mikey pick up the pace only to frown and reach into her sweatshirt pocket a few seconds later. Jason watched as she frowned down at whatever she read on her phone, looked up at them, back down at her phone and then, mumbled what looked suspiciously like, “I really hate him,” as she headed back to the fried chicken and grabbed a plate.

And So It Begins… Part VIII

“That’s not going to end well,” Sebastian said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of his head as Jason sat there, watching as Reese noticeably struggled to figure out a way to appease his seriously pissed off wife.

“It’s really not,” Jason had to agree as he reached for Mikey’s untouched plate only to find it suddenly gone and-

“I want in,” Jonathan said as he dropped down on the end of the bench seat next to Mikey as he grabbed a fork and dug in as Mikey sat there, her shoulders slumped in defeat as she mumbled, “I’d really like to go home now.”

 

And So it Begins… Part VII

“I’d really like to go home now,” came the softly whispered words that had Reese looking up from his food to find the bench across from him empty.

Frowning, he stood up only to find Mikey curled up in the fetal position on the other bench. When he opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, she slowly raised a damning finger and pointed to his right. Curious, Reese followed the gesture to find Sebastian sitting on the other side of the restaurant, slowly rolling what looked like one of Mikey’s baseballs between his hands as he kept his gaze locked on Mikey.

And So It Begins… Part VI An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“One hundred dollars,” came the quietly mumbled words that had Mikey frowning as she dropped another piece of fried chicken on her plate.

“Two hundred,” came the follow-up before she got a chance to look over her shoulder to find Uncle Jared standing behind her.

“For…” Mikey prompted since she’d learned her lesson in agreeing to anything before finding out the details to avoid situations like this one.

 

And So It Begins… Part V: An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“It’s just that,” and this is where Mikey paused, “I feel like this isn’t going to end well,” she said, looking thoughtful as they watched Devin, who looked really pissed, as he was escorted to the front door.

“You’re not getting out of this,” Jason told her as he watched Trevor head back to get more fried chicken.

“That’s his third time,” Sebastian said, narrowing his eyes on his father as he watched his every move.

“Fourth,” Mikey said, sounding bored as she pulled a baseball out of the sweatshirt that he could have sworn was Sebastian’s and began rolling it between her hands only to sigh heavily when Jason plucked the ball out of her hands and gestured for her to get on with it.

And So It Begins: Part IV

“You do realize that I hate you, right?” the man that hadn’t stopped bitching since Devin dragged him out of his office said.

“You realize that I don’t care, right?” Devin asked his wife’s best friend as he glanced around the large parking lot, making sure that none of his cousins or uncles were around before he reached for the car door.

“Are you going to tell me why we had to take my car?” Ben asked, sighing heavily as he reluctantly climbed out.

“Because I couldn’t take my truck,” Devin murmured absently as he looked back and…

He just couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this was a trap.