The Troublemaker Next Door

by Marie Harte

  Maddie kicked off her heels, imagining kicking them at Ben’s head. “We broke up. He was getting too clingy, so I told him to man up or man out—as in, get out.”

  “Are you serious? What did he do when you issued that ultimatum?”

  “He got out, or rather, he told me to get out. Told me it wasn’t manning up to want his girlfriend to spend time with him. Oh, like my career doesn’t matter because I’m an interior designer? Like being a doctor is so much more important.” She saw Abby’s wince and snapped, “He’s a foot doctor, not a neurosurgeon. Give me a break.”

  Abby squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I know you liked Ben.”

  “It’s all right. He was wearing on me. They all do.” She walked away from Abby and paced back and forth across the room. “Men. Nothing but a bunch of self-absorbed assholes who can’t think beyond their dicks.”

  “Ah, Maddie, you might want to—”

  “And really, Fred Hampton? Designer to the stars? Please. Forcing my hand over his lap was a stupid thing to do. His package did not impress. At. All.”

  Abby flushed.

  “Come on. You write a lot worse than that.”

  “Uh, yeah, but you see, there’s someone—”

  “All my hard work, for what?” Maddie was on a tear. “I spent ten fucking years working to get to that place. Sure I learned. I interned, paid my way through school, suffered through the chrome years and the faux fur trends, which just won’t go away. But this insult! In this day and age, with so much bullshit about being PC and sexual harassment has no place in the workplace, and my boss just made me feel him up in his own office during business hours. The perv! I feel like a total—”

  She looked up to see a huge, green-eyed hunk filling out a white T-shirt and jeans like he’d stepped out of a Man of the Month calendar. One of them. A man. The enemy.

  Abby cleared her throat. “Maddie, this is Flynn McCauley, Mike’s brother. He was just fixing our kitchen sink.”

  Mortified but not willing to let him see it, Maddie gave him a disdainful once-over, ignoring the surge of her libido. “How nice to meet you. And would you like me to feel you up as well?”

  He raised a brow and gave her the same thorough examination, lingering not on her breasts or ass, the way most men did, but on her face. Sure, why should this one be typical when it took all kind of XY degrees of perversion to make the world go ’round?

  Annoyed all over again, she tossed her head, grateful her hair stayed out of her eyes, though God knew she had the frizz from hell going on, and stomped out of the room with a low, “And fuck you too.” She took the stairs two at a time and slammed the door of her bedroom behind her. After locking the door and turning on the radio to mask any other noise, she lay down on her bed and let the tears fall. Could her life get any worse?

  ***

  “Oh man, I’m really sorry.” Abby apologized for the fourth time in as many seconds.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it. Sounds like your friend had the mother of all bad days.” Flynn still had a hard time catching his breath.

  Had Mike said the women were hot? He was out of his celibate mind. Abby had cute down to a science, and that resemblance to Lea which kind of freaked him out. But Maddie? She of the long legs, killer rack, and sultry face? Sultry, a word he’d never used to describe a woman. But damn, it fit. She wasn’t pretty or cute, but with full lips, that flush on her cheeks, and those direct, man-hating eyes so dark they looked like never-ending night, the woman had a knockout punch he still hadn’t recovered from.

  “Maddie can be a little dramatic, but she had cause.” Abby picked up her friend’s purse and shoes and put them on the desk next to her computer.

  It suddenly struck Flynn that in all the time he’d been standing there listening to Maddie, he hadn’t noticed that the women had turned his mother’s idea of a sitting room into an office. French doors off the smaller room gave it a bigger feel, and the hardwoods had been covered with a Persian rug in dark red accents. Dark red, reminding him of Maddie’s hair. Man, he had a thing for redheads. All that temper… he could only imagine what she’d be like in bed.

  “Flynn?”

  “Sorry. Hey, you want me to go down to her boss’s office and pound some sense into him?”

  She blinked. “Probably not a good idea unless you want a lawsuit. Fred Hampton has a lot of money.”

  He shrugged. “That’s okay. I know a lot of people who’d back me up. Heck, my nephew would alibi me with no problem. I’ll go kick this Fred guy’s ass, and we’ll all pretend I was here fixing your sink while Colin watched me the whole time. Kid has the face of angel but can lie like a champ.” Was it bad he sounded like he was bragging? Though the thought of beating the shit out of Maddie’s boss had real appeal. Who the hell treated a woman like that but real scum?

  “Nice offer. I’ll pass it on to Maddie when she’s in a better mood. Now, about the sink, how much do I owe you for parts or labor or whatever?”

  He shook his head. “Your landlord should have handled this when the problem first happened.” He made a mental note to talk to his mom and dad after he chewed out Mike.

  “It’s not their fault. I kind of dragged my feet to get it fixed. Vanessa usually handles the house issues, but she’s been busy at work lately.”

  “Please tell me she doesn’t work with Maddie.” He liked saying her name. Short for Madison? Madeleine? He’d have to find out.

  Abby snorted. “No way. Vanessa is an accountant. Very cut and dry. The woman means business when it comes to numbers. You need a good person to do your taxes, you should call her.”

  “I would if I didn’t make my little brother, I mean, if my little brother hadn’t already offered to take care of them for me.”

  She laughed and walked with him to the kitchen to grab his tools. “I have two sisters. They can be a handful. At least mine live on the East Coast.”

  “Lucky you.” Cameron was such a snot. Thought he knew everything when it came to financial planning. From what little Flynn knew, his brother did, but it didn’t help Cam’s already huge ego to point that out. “If you need anything else, let me know.” He fished a business card out of his back pocket.

  “You really are a plumber.” Her surprise disgruntled him, and she must have seen it, because she blushed. “I know you said you were, but I thought that might have been a little brotherly competition. As in, you’re better at plumbing than he is. And besides, you don’t look anything like our old neighborhood plumber. He was an older man with a big belly and that problem men get with their pants when they bend over.”

  It took him a minute. “Ah. Crack, the nonaddictive kind. The pants too low for you?”

  She shuddered. “Way too low.” So much for thinking the woman was shy. “But yours seem okay. Forgive me for making generalizations.”

  She walked him to the front door.

  “No problem. But if you want, I could wear my pants really low for you the next time your sink clogs.”

  She winked. “Sounds good to me.”

  She shut the door behind him, and he heard her faint chuckle. He decided he liked Abby Dunn. Her roommate, on the other hand… That redhead he had no intention of leaving alone. Now that he thought about it, his mother wasn’t exactly being neighborly by not inviting her new tenants over for a summer barbecue. He’d have to rectify that, but not until he had a few words with Mike. What had he been thinking to leave a houseful of women like that all alone? God knew what Vanessa looked like. Flynn had a sudden image of the three roommates scrapping around in a ring throwing Jell-O at one another, Maddie leading the match, and hustled back to his brother to yell at him.

  Chapter 2

  “Maddie, open the door!” Vanessa’s stern voice refused to lower in volume. Determined to be heard, she also refused to go away.

  Weary, puffy-eyed, and miserable, Maddie dragged herself off the bed and unlocked her door. Then she stumbled back to bed and flopped down. Vanessa entered with Abby righ
t behind her, both looking worried—Vanessa looked worried and annoyed, but then, Vanessa needed stress to make her life complete.

  “Okay, I want the whole story from beginning to end.” Her cousin liked order as much as she liked giving orders. Straight and to the point, Vanessa would have been a terror to grow up with. She had a year on Maddie and used to lord the fact over her during family visits until they’d decided to live together a little over a year ago. Now she no longer had to mention what she’d drilled into them from move-in day. Abby, the little traitor, gracefully gave in, ceding Vanessa’s dominance over the household.

  Maddie ran through her situation, hitting all the pertinent points. “He took me out to lunch at a posh spot, and he made a ton of comments about me going places. How I was such a talented designer, how he’d seen me working so hard and was impressed. Then we returned to the office to work. Not an hour later, he brought me in to make me an offer—so I thought. Instead, he showed me something else.”

  “His etchings,” Abby muttered.

  “Might as well have been. He dangled the contract for Mishton Plaza, that new condo near Pioneer Square. I would have had carte blanche over the lobby and a few of the predesigned spaces, with an option for more. It’s a primo job. And if I didn’t want Diane to get it, all I had to do was say yes to spreading my legs and keeping my mouth shut about it.”

  “You, keep quiet? He didn’t know who he was messing with.”

  She ignored Vanessa. “To seal the deal, a handjob right there in his office, smack-dab during the work day.”

  “This makes no sense.” Vanessa frowned.

  “You think I just blew a chance at making a living doing what I love, on what, a lie?” Incensed, Maddie tried to rise but Abby sat on the bed and latched on to her like a dead weight.

  “No, I believe you. I just have a hard time believing no one’s ever said no to him before. I bet he’s harassed a lot of other women.”

  Maddie didn’t know. She only knew he’d done it to her. Made her feel like a victim, and she hated it. “At first I just listened to him in shock. I mean, this is Fred, my gay boss, hitting on me. He’s at least twenty years older than I am. I didn’t expect it. Not of him.”

  “I’m getting grossed out all over again.” Abby had a squick factor Maddie had never understood. The woman wrote dirty books, for God’s sake.

  “I don’t like any of this. I’m going to look into an attorney for you.” Vanessa held up a hand. “Stop. It won’t cost you a dime, and I just want to see how you can fight this, if you even can. Unless you had witnesses, I think you’re right about it being a case of he said–she said.”

  “No witnesses.” Bitterness filled her once more. “Fred’s office is his sanctum.”

  She told them everything, leaving out her terror about how she’d make a living in this downtrodden economy. Maddie had been working since she’d been ten. She’d always known what she was doing, where she was going. But now? Would she end up serving lattes at Starbucks? Her tears returned.

  “Honey, it’ll be okay.” Abby muscled Maddie into a hug.

  “Not if she spends her days like this.”

  “Nice, Vanessa.” Abby huffed.

  “Look, we all know that jerk will probably get away with it. But at least go on record about what happened.”

  Sound advice. “I did,” she said, muffled against Abby’s ample chest.

  “Good. It won’t help your career to get labeled as a whistle-blower, and by now Fred’s had time to paint you as the company whore, but at least you did the right thing.”

  Abby scowled. “God, Vanessa, now even I want to go hang myself, and I’ve never met the guy.” She patted Maddie’s back, her best friend through thick and thin.

  Oddly enough, Vanessa’s blunt words made her feel better. “Actually, it helps to hear the truth. Let’s say I get my job back. Then I have to pretend nothing happened. And after the stink I made when I yelled at the other partners about what he did, I don’t want to work for Fred Hampton again. Ever. Worst case, he’ll tell everyone he fired me, even though I said I quit. And I don’t have to see that place again.”

  Vanessa cocked her head, the way she did when she pondered a deep and interesting problem. Like how to make two kids count as more of a tax credit. “What do Kim and Robin have to say about this?”

  Maddie blew out a deep breath. “I haven’t told them yet.”

  Vanessa snorted. “Like they don’t know. Maddie, they do most of your contract work; they have friends all over that office. Of course they’ve heard by now. Knowing you, the floors below you heard how upset you were—with good reason. You’re not exactly quiet, even on your good days.”

  Maddie glared. “I only told Pat and Jean, the partners. They said they’d look into it, but I know they won’t. They do everything Fred tells them to.”

  “And Olivia, the receptionist, probably heard you,” Vanessa continued. “The office isn’t that big.”

  “So?”

  “So Olivia has a big mouth. And she’s part of the gay club.”

  Maddie’s head pounded. “It’s not a club. She’s gay. Robin and Kim are gay. Lesbian. Say it with me, Vanessa. Gay is not a bad word.”

  “I didn’t say it was. My point is that the gay people I’ve met in my profession tend to stick together, because they have more than one thing in common. I guarantee you Olivia already told Kim and Robin what happened. Five bucks says they’re either calling you or knocking at the front door before the night is through.”

  As if on cue, someone leaned on the doorbell.

  ***

  Four margaritas and two buttery nipples later, Maddie felt no pain. Surrounded by her friends, she laughed and drank as if she had no worries. As if she wouldn’t soon start on the same path her mother had taken so many years ago.

  “To you guys. You rock.” She licked the salt on the wide glass and took a large swallow, followed by a larger burp.

  “Nice, Maddie.” Kim sighed, taking dainty sips of her drink. “She’s a sloppy drunk, who knew?”

  “I knew.” Vanessa tapped glasses with Robin. “Ever since she turned twenty-one. Can’t hold her liquor either. That’s why she never goes out to bars. Two tequilas and she’d be some guy’s mattress for sure.” She paused. “Or some girl’s mattress, I suppose.”

  Robin grinned. “Cheers to equal opportunity.”

  Kim frowned.

  Maddie sighed. “Oh, Kimmie. Don’t worry. Your girl has never looked twice at anyone I know.”

  “Really?”

  Robin coughed before clearing her throat. “Come on, Kim. You know you’re the woman for me. So I look. I’m human.”

  Kim took another sip. “So you are. But don’t forget where you put your boots every night. Under my bed.”

  Robin and the others laughed, looking at her construction boots. But to Maddie, their love was the sweetest thing. Robin, with her short spiky brown hair, her pretty blue eyes framed by the thickest lashes. She tried to be so tough and butch. But when she looked at Kim, her partner, she of the designer dresses, killer heels, and manicures, she had that soft gleam in her eyes.

  A tear trickled down Maddie’s cheek. She sniffed and took another drink. “Maybe I should switch sides. I haven’t found any luck with men.”

  “Hear, hear,” Robin and Kim said as one.

  “And I… Where’s Abby?”

  Vanessa shrugged. “You know how she gets. When the guys have their poker nights, she’s in the hammock.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kim asked and ran a hand through her long blond hair. Classically beautiful, Kim was every inch the blue-eyed blond. Maddie wished she felt something more than admiration for the woman’s looks. Something like the lust she’d felt, despite her earlier embarrassment, when the hunk had been gaping at her.

  Talk about hot. Such a broad chest, corded arms, thick thighs. He had to be seriously hung, a guy that large with such big feet… And why the hell should she care about that? Had to be the drin
k. “Vanessa, have you seen our neighbors?”

  “Mike and Colin? Yeah.”

  “No, I mean the brother. The green-eyed stud. Finn, Frank, Flynn, something like that.”

  “I don’t think so.” Vanessa frowned. She didn’t look nearly as drunk as she should be.

  “How many drinks have you had?” Maddie heard herself slur but didn’t care. She was sliding into numbness feet first.

  “Two, Sloppy Sally. Geesh, what a lush.” Vanessa shook her head. “Hard to believe we’re related.”

  Kim laughed. “Give her a break. She broke up with her boyfriend, held her boss’s dick, and quit her job all on the same day. She’s entitled.”

  Robin shuddered. “Fred’s dick. I think I just threw up in my mouth.”

  Kim kissed her. “See, that’s true love, that I kiss you even though you say something so disgusting. Now someone tell me where Abby is.”

  Maddie leaned forward. “You wanna know? She’s outside in a hammock, listening to the guys playing poker.”

  Kim blinked. “Why?”

  Maddie had no idea, but Vanessa answered. “It helps her get in touch with her male characters. She needs to make her men sound like men. The neighbors get together once a week and talk about guy stuff.”

  “Guy stuff?” Maddie frowned.

  “Tits and ass, who’s getting laid, you know, guy stuff.” Robin downed her drink. “And on that note, Kim and I are taking your room, Maddie. We’re too buzzed to drive, and all this talk of tits and ass is making me need some Kimmie time.”

  “Bleh. Get out of here with your love talk. Making me sick.” Actually, she did feel a little nauseous.

  “Need help?” Robin asked.

  “I have her.” Vanessa swore. “Hell no. Not in here. Come on, princess.” Her cousin hauled her to her feet and helped her to the bathroom just in time. The buttery nipples weren’t so buttery when the schnapps discharged from her body. And then the margaritas stood up with a shout, demanding to be noticed.

  ***

  “I’m telling you, from behind, I thought I was seeing a ghost.” Flynn polished off another Heineken, ignoring Cam’s gripe about hurting the local microbreweries.