Misunderstood (A Neighbor from Hell YA #1) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,29

reaching over to push him away, but he simply ignored her and settled in more comfortably with a satisfied sigh.

“Aunt Haley’s family,” Jonathan said, making them both frown because that couldn’t be right.

Aunt Haley’s family cut her off when she married Uncle Jason and as far as Mikey knew, they hadn’t talked to her since. She wasn’t sure about all the details, but from what she understood, they hadn’t had much to do with Aunt Haley to begin with, but when she married Uncle Jason, they’d decided to cut her off. They were rich snobs who hadn’t been willing to give Uncle Jason a chance for Haley’s sake. As far as Mikey was concerned, it was their loss. Uncle Jason was probably one of the nicest people she knew. He was also funny, hardworking, and he absolutely adored Aunt Haley and their children.

“What are you talking about?” Sebastian asked as he reached over and shoved Jonathan away from her.

“Aunt Haley’s father contacted her out of the blue, giving her some lame story about how much he regretted pushing her away and how much he missed her. He wanted to meet his grandchildren and spend more time with her and a bunch of other crap that means that we get to go spend the day at Uncle Jason’s house,” Jonathan said, shrugging it off as he snuggled closer to her side as she sat there, considering what he said and…

“You like to eavesdrop, don’t you?” Mikey asked, unable to help but notice that he always knew everything first.

“It’s my passion,” Jonathan said with a heartfelt sigh as a thought occurred to her.

She glanced over at him to find him looking adoringly at her and asked, “You don’t eavesdrop on my conversations, do you?”

“Only the good ones,” Jonathan said, nodding solemnly.

With a murmured, “I see,” Mikey stood up and tossed her book on the couch before she grabbed a pillow.

“What’s that pillow for?” Jonathan asked, blinking innocently up at Mikey as she adjusted her hold on the pillow.

“Nothing,” she mumbled absently, deciding that they should probably discuss a few things.

*-*-*-*

“Are you going to move over?” came the question that had his brother folding his arms over his chest as he pointedly ignored Mikey.

With a heavy sigh, Mikey glanced toward the backseat where Mathew, Jessica, and five of the platters of baked goods that her mother had made for the party took up the back before she shifted her attention back to the empty spot next to him and–

“You could have just asked me to move,” Jonathan grumbled only to follow that up with an, “Ow!” when she used her foot to push off his lap.

“And you could stop being a jerk,” Mikey pointed out as she settled in between them only to grumble something when his father handed Jonathan a large cardboard box filled with more food for the party.

Without a word, she climbed onto Sebastian’s lap so that Jonathan could put the box down on the seat between them, shifted to get comfortable and promptly ignored him, which was more than fine with Sebastian since he wasn’t talking to her at the moment. He wrapped his arms around her and laid his head back against his seat as he closed his eyes and resigned himself to the long day ahead. He normally wasn’t a big fan of parties, but today he was exhausted and the only thing that he wanted to do was crawl back in bed and pass out.

For a moment, he considered asking his parents if he could skip the party and stay home, but he didn’t trust the girl settling back against him to keep reading. Knowing Mikey, she’d end up getting distracted by one of his cousins or spend the rest of the night tormenting one of his uncles, Sebastian thought, feeling his lips twitch as Mikey laid her head against his chest with a long-suffering sigh.

“Keep reading,” he murmured.

“I am,” she muttered, sounding so damn miserable that he couldn’t help but smile as he opened his eyes and found her glaring down at the book in her hands.

“Where are you stuck?” Sebastian asked, shifting her on his lap so that he could get a better look at the page she was on only to find himself biting back a groan when he caught the scent of the lemongrass shampoo that she liked to use.

“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” Mikey said as he took in the way that her mischievous green eyes flickered in his