Fire & Brimstone (Neighbor from Hell #8) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,49

in the refrigerator with a “Gluten Free,” label. Frowning, she shut the refrigerator door and opened the cabinet door closest to her and found the same thing had been done for all the dry goods.

Why would he do something like this?

“I wanted to make sure that you had something to eat when you were here,” he explained as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. “I fucked up and I’m sorry, Rebecca. The Fire & Brimstone has been my life for as long as I can remember. It’s always come first in my life and the fact that you make me want to forget that scares the hell out of me,” he whispered, holding her tightly as though he never wanted to let her go.

Closing her eyes and telling herself that this was probably the biggest mistake of her life, she placed her hand over the arm that held her tightly and took the biggest risk of her life.

“Don’t screw this up,” she said, knowing that next time it would be more than her pride that took a hit.

Chapter 24

“Are you on the verge of having a panic attack?” Rebecca asked teasingly as they stood in line, waiting to purchase snacks before they went into the theatre to watch the latest horror flick to appease her disturbing obsession with paranormal movies.

“No,” he said, still surprised that he hadn’t tried to sneak off so that he could check his email or called the restaurant to make sure that everything was running smoothly.

He’d never gone this long before without checking in to see how things were going back at the Fire & Brimstone, but then again, he’d never been out with a woman like Rebecca, who would happily drop kick him in the balls if he so much as touched his phone. At least, he was assuming that she would since she hadn’t actually said anything about it yet.

He was basing this assumption on the fact that he’d seriously fucked up and needed to be on his best behavior and that meant no touching his phone when he was out with her. Rebecca on the other hand didn’t seem to feel the same way since she was currently checking her phone for the tenth time since they’d arrived.

He was starting to see how people found this annoying. It was also really fucking insulting! Here he was, dotting on her and she was on the phone as though his company wasn’t good enough.

What. The. Fuck?

It didn’t matter that he’d done the same thing during every date that he’d been on since the invention of the smartphone. It was fucking rude and-

“Patrick says that everything is running smoothly. I also checked on the orders you placed this morning and they should be delivered tomorrow morning,” she said with a mischievous little smile as she slipped her phone back into her bag.

“You checked for me?” he asked, smiling as she wrapped her arm around his and leaned into him.

“Couldn’t have you crying,” she said as she slipped her hand into his.

“We wouldn’t want that,” he agreed as he entwined their hands together and stepped up in line to buy snacks for the movie.

Normally he would buy one of everything, but he couldn’t do that with Rebecca since she couldn’t have most of the stuff that they had here. He didn’t feel right about eating something that she couldn’t have in front of her. So, already knowing that he couldn’t have his customary triple order of his beloved nachos, he took out his phone and checked with the gluten free app that he’d found to see what she could have.

Just as he’d suspected, there was really nothing here that she could have. He was going to starve to death, he realized, trying not to panic, because he honestly couldn’t imagine going two whole hours without eating something. Maybe he could sneak out to use the bathroom and scarf down a few nachos and a hot dog without her knowing, he thought even as he realized that he couldn’t do that to her.

“What are you getting?” she asked as she looked at the selection before them, no doubt already realizing that she couldn’t have anything here.

“Nothing. I’m good,” he said, wondering why she was looking up at him with a frown.

“Yeah…,” she said, not really sounding like she believed him, which was actually really fucking insulting. “Sure you are.”

“I’m fine,” he lied, wishing that he’d grabbed something before they’d left, but he’d been in