Page 33 of The Very Naughty List

She chuckles wryly as if it’s funny, but I’m not amused by it at all. In fact, it pisses me off to think that she’d be living in such a shitty situation.

If Ted is going to charge money for a room rental, then the very least he can do is provide decent accommodations free of cigar smoke, noise pollution, and the sight of her apparent ‘landlord’ in his briefs. Now I really want to go inside and check it out.

I don’t take no for an answer, and I don’t let Hailey brush it off. Instead, I get out of the car and walk her up to the front door. The second we step inside, I realize just how much sheunderplayedwhat a dump this place is.

“Fucking hell, Hailey.” I glance around, my brows pinching together. “This place is a shit hole.”

Ted Bigelow strides into the living room—not in his underwear, thank fuck—and his eyebrows rise as he sees me standing beside Hailey.

“You’re not allowed to have guests,” he says blandly.

The fact that he sounds like he’s chastising her makes me bristle. “She’snot allowed to have guests? She’s not the one doing something wrong here, asshole. You are.”

He frowns. “What? Is there a problem?”

His feigned ignorance pisses me off even more. I take a step toward him, towering over him with my hands curled into fists at my sides. “Yeah, the problem is that you’re a piece of shit for taking advantage of a woman needing a place to stay.”

“Whoa, whoa! I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never laid a hand on her.” He raises both of his palms in the air, a flash of worry entering his eyes.

“I don’t mean like that, you jackass. I mean she’s paying you to rent this room and stay in this house. The very least you could do is keep it clean and wear your fucking clothes in common areas. You’re ripping her off because you know Chestnut Hill gets packed around this time of year. You knew she didn’t have a lot of options, so you decided you could get away with overcharging her for a piece of shit room rental, huh?”

Ted’s face pales. His gaze slides sideways toward Hailey and then back to me, and he licks his lips nervously.

“Okay, okay.” He keeps his hands held out. “You’re right, man. I’m sorry. I’ll get the place all fixed up tomorrow. And I’ll even credit her a night or two of rent for the trouble.”

“Fuck that. Not good enough.” I shake my head and turn my attention to Hailey. “I’m moving you out of here right now.”

“You’rewhat?”

I don’t let her visible shock deter me from the idea. There’s no way I’m letting her stay in a place like this and pay money for it too. She mentioned that losing her job in LA was part of what brought her back to Chestnut Hill for the holidays, so I’m assuming funds are a little tight. She shouldn’t be paying at all.

And luckily, I know a way to fix that.

“Come on.” I glance around quickly, looking for the room she’s staying in. “I’m going to help you pack up your stuff.”

Hailey’s gaze darts toward a door to my right, so I make a beeline in that direction. The second I open it and step inside, I know it’s hers. Despite the musty scent that seems to permeate the entire house, I can smell a hint of honeysuckle in the air.

She follows me into the room, shooting me a quizzical look as I grab one of the suitcases on the floor and set it on the bed before opening it. “And go where, exactly?”

I open a dresser drawer, fully prepared to reach in and start grabbing things, but Hailey rushes over and loads her arms up with a bunch of clothes before I can. She drops them into the suitcase as I answer her.

“I’m moving you into the house with me and my brothers.”

Ted, who trailed after us and is standing in the doorway watching, throws his arms in the air and makes some sort of remark under his breath about how he “didn’t really need the rent anyway,” then leaves us alone to pack up. He’s lucky I don’t go after him and beat his ass into giving her a refund for every single night she stayed here already—including a surcharge for having had to listen to him play music all night.

But at this point, my only focus is on getting her out of this shit hole and back to our house where she can have a decent and comfortable living arrangement.

She might be okay with staying in a dive like this, but I’m certainly not okay with anyone that I care about getting charged to live in a dump. A home should be a place that you want to get back to and spend time in, even if it’s just a temporary room.

Hailey stops packing and stares at me. “What about Reid and Sebastian? You haven’t even run this by them or asked if it will be an imposition to have me there. It’s a sweet offer, Nick. Really. But maybe you should sleep on this for a night and then?—”

“No, I’ve already made up my mind. They’ll be fine with it.”

I shut down her attempts to weakly protest and motion for her to grab whatever toiletries and stuff she has in the bathroom.

As soon as her modest amount of belongings are packed up and in my car, we head out. I drive a little more aggressively than I mean to on the way back to the house I share with my brothers, but I’m still stewing about Ted thinking he can get away with treating Hailey like that. The car is silent like it was before,but it’s a different kind of tension now—a better kind than the awkward, post-kiss one, at least.

Sebastian is in the living room, sitting in one of the easy chairs that bracket the fireplace, so he’s the first to see us when we enter. He looks up, his mouth opening to greet me, but then his eyebrows shoot up as he notices Hailey by my side.

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