Page 2 of Another Christmas from Hell

“Stay here,” he bit out one last time before he opened the backdoor and left, closing the door behind him. Slowly exhaling, Cayley moved to climb out of the box only to remember who she was dealing with here and forced herself to sit there, keeping her expression blank as the backdoor slowly opened seconds later to reveal Sean, standing in the doorway, watching her through narrowed eyes.

“This is a really nice box,” Cayley murmured, nodding solemnly as she watched the boy that she was never sharing her cookies with again as he slowly closed the door, his gaze never leaving hers until finally, the door clicked shut and it was time to move her butt.

“Stupid box,” Cayley grumbled as she struggled to stand up, only to give up, slam her shoulder into the side and grunt in pain when a bottle of Gatorade hit her in the head.

Vowing to make Sean pay for this one day, Cayley yanked her wrists free, thankful that he’d used the bungee rope instead of the tape, shoved the bungee rope aside, got to her feet and started to make a run for it, only to remember who she was dealing with here and grabbed the Tupperware full of treats first. She ran as fast as her severely uncoordinated legs would carry her to the front door and-

Quickly decided that her best bet was running upstairs and hiding under the first available bed that she could find when she saw the front door opening. Decision made, Cayley ran upstairs, struggling not to panic as she ran down the hallway and slammed into what felt like a cement wall. Stumbling back and admittedly a bit dazed, Cayley found herself looking up at the large man that really seemed to love glaring at her.

Clearing her throat, Cayley gestured with the large Tupperware container in her hands back towards the stairs as she mumbled weakly, “He ran out to get the nail gun,” as she watched Mr. James’s eyes narrow on her and decided that perhaps she’d be better off taking her chances in the box.

Never taking his eyes off her, Mr. James reached over and opened the bedroom door to his right. With a sniffle, Cayley said, “Bless you,” as she headed into the messy bedroom, only to grumble when Mr. James plucked the Tupperware container out of her hands. She’d been hoping to use the baked goods to distract Sean if he managed to corner her again, but that was fine, more than fine, Cayley told herself as she took in the messy bedroom and-

Decided that she was wasting precious seconds standing there when she heard another door slam shut somewhere in the large house and dove under the bed in front of her. That was followed by a grunt of pain when she landed on a baseball, cleats, and a fork for some reason. Shoving everything out of her way, Cayley quickly made her way beneath the bed and pressed herself tightly against the wall just as the bedroom door opened again.

Praying that it wasn’t the deranged boy determined to ship her off to the North Pole, Cayley swallowed hard as she debated making a run for it, only to decide that she was good where she was when someone heavy dropped down on the bed, forcing her to bite back a groan. That led her to wonder just how much Mr. James fed his sons when she was forced to press herself against the wall more tightly when whoever was on the bed shifted to get more comfortable, causing the mattress to press down on her.

This was definitely a bad idea.

Maybe she should-

“Why’s Sean breaking into Dad’s workshop?” Craig asked right around the time that Cayley decided that she was good where she was.

“No clue, but it probably has something to do with the little pain in the ass next door,” Bryce said, sighing heavily as Cayley opened her mouth only to close it on a silent grumble since she really couldn’t argue that one.

“She’s not that bad,” Craig said, chuckling.

“That’s easy for you to say. She’s not stalking you,” Bryce bit out, making Cayley frown.

There was a heavy sigh, and then, “She’s not stalking you,” Craig said as Cayley found herself nodding in agreement.

“Then, what is she doing?” Bryce asked, shifting on the bed again and forcing her to bite back a grunt as she glared ahead.

“Hiding beneath your bed,” came the amused announcement that had Cayley swallowing hard as she lay there, wincing when the bed creaked seconds later and-

“Oh, no,” Cayley barely managed to get the words out when she felt the hand wrap around her ankle and found herself being dragged towards a boy whoreallydidn’t look happy to see her.

CHAPTER1

“This is going to be the best Christmas ever,” his brother Craig said with a satisfied sigh as Bryce sat there glaring at the man who better be fucking joking.

“She’s moving in even as we speak,” Connor said with a look on his face that told Bryce that he knew exactly what he was doing and just in case he missed it…

“Payback’s a bitch,” Connor said, shooting him a wink as Bryce sat there looking for any signs that his brother-in-law was lying to him only to feel the first tendrils of fear slowly make their way up his spine when he didn’t find any.

“Rory would never let you do this,” Bryce said, knowing before the words had a chance to leave his mouth that this was definitely something that his sister would do.

“It gets better,” Craig said with that devious look in his eye that told Bryce everything that he needed to know.

It was already too fucking late to stop this.

“Better than the asshole letting the woman that’s obsessed with me move into the apartment across from mine?” Bryce bit out, wishing like hell that he never signed that lease.

God, if he thought for one minute that they’d release him from his lease early, Bryce would already be throwing all of his shit in his truck and getting the hell out of here. He’d barely survived living across the street from her when they were kids and-

He couldn’t do this, Bryce thought, swallowing hard as he found himself glancing at his apartment door, praying that it was locked. Please let it be locked, he thought, trying not to panic as he climbed over the back of the couch and quickly made his way across the living room to make sure. He just needed to figure out a way to get out of this before the little brat could set her sights on him.

He needed a plan.

---