Chapter 2

CHAPTER2

She would never survive prison, Cayley admitted to herself as she walked into her apartment, her gaze locking on the large bastard that had finally gone too far.

“Here,” Cayley said, blindly reaching down and grabbed the lease agreement that she was tempted to rip up and shoved it in Connor’s hands as she focused on the man that she was going to beat the crap out of.

“Is something amiss, pookie?” Sean, her best friend and the man that she fantasized about shoving in front of an oncoming train at least a hundred times a day, asked, not even bothering to hide that shit-eating grin that was going to get him killed.

“Did you forget to tell me something?” Cayley asked in a deceptively calm voice as she shifted her focus to the stacks of boxes that took up the living room of her new apartment, the same one that she’d been forced to move into after the unfortunate incident involving the man finishing off her Coke as he watched her every move.

Not that she could blame him.

“I love you?” Sean said, trying to appear innocent as he reached for the bag of chips that he’d helped himself to.

“That’s nice,” Cayley murmured absently as she found the large box marked “Pans” and debated throwing a frying pan at his head, only to decide against it since that just seemed too easy.

“Did you meet your new neighbor? Was he nice?” Sean asked as Connor dropped down on the other end of the couch with a satisfied sigh and a murmured, “I really love this family.”

“And by new neighbor, do you mean your brother, Bryce?” Cayley asked as she shifted her attention to the stack of boxes by the living room window.

“Is that who that was?” Sean murmured, sounding thoughtful.

“It was,” Cayley said, nodding absently as she looked through the boxes and debated her options. “Which is funny because I seem to remember someone telling me that none of his brothers lived here and that I wouldn’t have to worry about the typical James brothers’ bullshit if I moved in.”

“I do seem to remember having that conversation,” Sean admitted with a solemn nod as he popped another chip in his mouth.

“That will make this easier,” Cayley said as she found the box marked “Throw pillows.”

“What will?” Sean asked as he tossed the empty chip bag aside and pulled the box that she’d marked with “Snacks” closer.

“We’ll get to that in a moment,” Cayley murmured absently as she ripped the box open and grabbed the large throw pillow on top with a satisfied sigh. “First, I thought we’d discuss why Bryce is living across the hallway from me.”

“Because he decided to sell the house that he renovated?” Sean said, helping himself to a package of chocolate chip cookies.

“And was this before or after you got me evicted from my apartment and got me fired?” Cayley asked, testing the pillow for durability as she waited for an answer.

Sean seemed to think that over for a moment before he said, “Before. Definitely before,” with a firm nod as he popped another cookie in his mouth.

“What did I miss?” Craig, the oldest of the James boys and the man that had been forced to sit her down years ago and explain that Sean hadn’t been dropped on his head and that he was just an asshole after she’d been forced to spend ten hours in a tree because of the little bastard, said as he closed her door behind him and quickly made his way to the living room.

“From what I’ve gathered so far,” Connor, the incredibly handsome man that married Rory, the only James girl, after making her life a living hell for more than two decades, began, “the little bastard devouring everything within sight failed to mention that her favorite James brother lived across the hallway and doesn’t really seem all that concerned that she’s going to kill him.”

“She adores me,” Sean said with a satisfied sigh as he finished off the cookies and-

“That would explain why she’s smothering him,” Craig murmured, not really sounding all that concerned as he reached over and grabbed hold of the box of snacks and pulled it closer while Cayley did her best to keep the pillow pressed against the bastard’s face.

“I just don’t feel like your heart’s really in it,” Sean said with a sad shake of his head as he reached up and plucked the pillow out of her hands and tossed it across the room.

“Oh, but it really is,” Cayley said, glaring down at the man that better fix this fast, “but I promised him,” and this is where she paused to point in Craig’s direction, “that I wouldn’t kill you until your father said it was okay.”

“Should be any day now,” Craig murmured as he helped himself to a candy bar.

“My father adores me,” Sean said, looking like he really believed it, which was sad.

“He offered me fifty bucks to get rid of the body,” Connor said, shrugging it off as he moved to help himself to the snack box only to sigh heavily as he pulled his hand away when both James brothers narrowed their eyes on the move.

“Because he cares,” Sean said, shoving a cookie in his mouth as he reached over and grabbed hold of the box, his glare never leaving Connor as he pulled it closer.

Realizing that she wasn’t getting anywhere with the bastard that had clearly screwed her over for his own entertainment, something that he’d been doing since they were little, she focused her attention on Connor. “I’m going to need another apartment.”

“Unfortunately, I won’t have anything available until January,” Connor said with a sympathetic wince that had her biting back a curse.

Nodding, Cayley shifted her attention back to Sean, who was watching her with that look in his eye that told her that he knew exactly what she was about to say and couldn’t wait to fuck her over again, and quickly decided that crashing on his couch until January was probably a bad idea. That left…

Her with absolutely no choice but to wait until January before she could move away from the large man that absolutely hated her.

* * *

It was already fucking starting,Bryce thought as he rubbed his hands down his face as the small woman determined to make all of her hopes and dreams come true continued knocking on his door.

For a moment, Bryce considered pretending that he couldn’t hear her only to decide that it would be better for everyone if he made it clear from the beginning that he wouldn’t be putting up with knocks on his door at all hours of the day and night, finding her waiting for him with some asinine excuse in the hallway, or any of the professions of her undying love that she’d clearly been waiting years to make. Decision made, Bryce opened the door and found the woman in question holding a cup of coffee in one hand as she searched through the backpack slung over her shoulder with the other.

“What can I help you with, Cayley?” Bryce asked, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about what bullshit excuse she’d come up with to knock on his door at six in the morning.

“Someone built a cinderblock wall around your truck,” Cayley mumbled absently as she continued making a show of searching through her bag, most likely looking for the keys that suddenly “disappeared” before she turned those incredibly beautiful eyes on him and begged him for a ride to-

“What did you just say?” Bryce found himself asking, sure that he’d misheard her.

“There’s a cinderblock wall around your truck,” Cayley said, only to follow that up with a heavy sigh as she shoved her coffee in his hand so that she could focus on searching through her bag as he released a curse and placed her coffee on the small table by his door and headed for the front door, telling himself every fucking step of the way that his brothers wouldn’t do that to him.

A minute later, Bryce was standing in front of the cinderblock wall wrapped around his truck, debating which asshole was responsible for this when the bane of his existence walked outside, sipping her coffee as another thought occurred to him. Could she have done this? Bryce found himself wondering if she could have done it in a desperate attempt to spend time with him, only to dismiss the idea just as quickly. She was too fucking short to pull this off, which left…

“This is a really beautiful morning,” Sean said with a huge fucking smile and a satisfied sigh as he leaned back against Cayley’s car.

“Stop being mean to your brother,” Cayley said, only to narrow her eyes on the large bastard when his brother plucked the coffee out of her hand and took a sip.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sean said, but that look in his eyes said it all as he moved to take another sip and-

“Goddamnit!” Sean bit out when Cayley reached up and twisted his ear with a bored sigh until the bastard gave her back her coffee. “Violent little leprechaun,” Sean muttered, reaching up to rub his ear as he glared down at the woman walking past him.

“You’ve been warned,” Cayley said, shrugging it off as Bryce watched her make her way to her car door as his gaze dropped to the generous ass that was made for-

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun,” Sean said, drawing his attention to find his brother watching him with a knowing look that he really didn’t fucking appreciate at the moment.

Not. One. Fucking. Bit.