Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell #11) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,15

and once again pondered her life’s choices. After he’d dragged the nightstand over to the other side of the room and decided that it wouldn’t hold the television, he’d disappeared again only to return with the large bureau that she’d spotted in the hallway earlier covered in boxes and clothes, into the room, kicking everything out of his way as he went.

Once Aidan had the television plugged in, he dug through his room until he found a legal pad and a pen, moved to sit down on the bed next to her only to rethink it and sat down on the floor where he ignored her so that he could consult with medical journals to help him make a grocery list. When he’d finished with his list, he’d handed her another bottle of lukewarm water, turned on the television, and promptly disappeared.

Exhausted, she’d shaken her head, sighed heavily and closed her eyes. It seemed like only minutes later that she woke up to find him checking her vitals. Before she had a chance to panic, she’d found herself being herded towards the bathroom where she barely had time to wake up before she once again found herself tucked back into bed.

Once he’d assured himself that she was settled in, he’d placed a tray filled with yogurt, raw veggies, and a plate of scrambled eggs on her lap. She’d taken one look at the healthy offering, gagged, shook her head, shoved the tray off her lap, slapped a hand across her mouth, and rushed towards the bathroom and that’s where she stayed until he’d rummaged through her purse and found her anti-nausea medicine.

As soon as she felt that her stomach was settled, she’d given him a wobbly smile, accepted his help and returned to the bedroom only to turn right back around and found herself once again kneeling on the cold tile floor in the dark bathroom while Aidan sat there, awkwardly rubbing her back as he read, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” on his iPad.

While she’d knelt there, hugging the toilet, he’d snuck back into the bedroom, cleaned up the mess, and had the bed turned down and waiting for her by the time she’d finished embarrassing herself. As soon as he’d tucked her back in bed, he’d disappeared again, leaving her lying there, curled up on her side, trying to ignore the sounds of Aidan tearing apart the apartment next door as she absently noted that the apartment had thin walls.

At some point, Melanie fell asleep only to be startled awake several times throughout the night when he checked on her, brought her snacks, piled more blankets on top of her, tucked her in, fluffed her pillow, brought her more water, and shoved unsweetened applesauce at her before returning to whatever he was doing next door. About an hour ago, Aidan came back, grabbed a towel off the floor, disappeared, shouted a few obscenities, and stumbled back into the room a little while later as he struggled to pull his clothes on.

It was at that point that Melanie felt that it was best for everyone involved if she pretended to be asleep. Now she was laying there waiting for him to leave so that she could relax and maybe rethink her decision to stay here, not because she thought that he was going to neglect or abandon her at this point, but because she was terrified that he wouldn’t.

She really wasn’t sure that she could handle any more unsweetened applesauce at this point.

*-*-*-*

“Damn it,” Aidan bit out with a resigned sigh as he pulled on the shirt that he was hoping was clean and rushed over to his front door, praying that whoever was knocking hadn’t woken up Melanie only to follow that with, “It’s too fucking early for this,” when he opened the door and found Rebecca standing in front of his door with several large suitcases by her side.

“We should probably have that talk,” the small woman that had proven the existence of evil over the last five months said with a smile that had him taking a step back and somehow resisting the urge to look over his shoulder for the trap that she’d most likely set for him, but he’d learned never to take his eyes off the woman standing before him.

Oh, had he fucking learned…

For the past five months, she’d taken great joy in finding new and interesting ways to make his life a living hell. It had started with karaoke but had