Misunderstood: Inspired by the Neighbor from Hell Series (A Neighbor from Hell YA Book 1)

by R. L. Mathewson

  At Uncle Trevor’s questioning look, Mikey said, “He’ll be back,” with a firm nod that had him opening his mouth to say something only to close it when Jonathan walked back into the room, looking calmer than he had a few seconds ago. With a helpless shrug, Jonathan said, “I forgive you.”

  “For getting you stuck at the top of the Ferris wheel or for making you cry because I was bored?” Mikey asked, mostly because she liked clarification. She didn’t bother asking him if he forgave her for making that video since she doubted that he would ever forgive her for doing that.

  Then again, since he didn’t know that she’d made a video…

  It was probably for the best if she didn’t mention it at the moment.

  His eyes narrowed on her as he said, “There was something in my eye,” before he took a shuddering breath and waved it off as though it was of little consequence. “For the sake of our relationship–”

  “Ah, we don’t have one,” she pointed out only to have him continue as though she hadn’t said anything.

  “–I’m willing to forgive you.”

  And with that, Jonathan turned around and walked away, leaving her sitting there, shaking her head in disbelief as she turned her attention back to Uncle Trevor to find him rubbing his hands roughly down his face as he said, “I really just can’t with that kid.”

  “Understandable,” Mikey murmured, nodding solemnly as she glanced down to find Sebastian on his back with one arm thrown over his face, fast asleep on the bed next to her.

  God, he looked exhausted, Mikey thought even as she couldn’t help but smile. He’d stayed up all night, helping her get through her book and when she’d been too tired to make out the words, he’d taken over, reading to her while she’d curled up next to him with her eyes closed as she’d lost herself to the soft timbre of his voice as he’d made the story come alive.

  At some point, she’d fallen asleep only to wake up to find Sebastian’s arms wrapped around her, holding her close. When she’d tried to roll over onto her side, he’d growled as his arms tightened around her and pulled her closer until she gave up trying to roll over onto her side and snuggled in closer only to fall asleep within minutes. He really was a demanding bed hog, Mikey thought, biting back a sigh when she once again turned her attention back to Uncle Trevor to find him watching her, looking as though he was debating his next words.

  Finally, he said, “Mikey, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “What’s not a good idea?” she absently asked as she shoved the blankets off and swung her legs over the side of the bed while she reached over and grabbed her book that wasn’t as bad as she first thought, off Sebastian’s nightstand.

  “Sleeping in the same bed with Sebastian,” he said with a pointed look at them.

  “Would it help if I told you that I hadn’t planned on sleeping over, but that boy,” and this is where she paused so that she could point a damning finger at Sebastian, “wouldn’t let me borrow a dictionary without an interrogation?”

  Frowning, Uncle Trevor asked, “Wait. Why don’t you have a dictionary?”

  “Because my religion forbids it,” she said with a firm nod that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

  “But your religion is okay with you sleeping in the same bed with a teenage boy?” he countered.

  “It does when I have a book report due on Monday,” Mikey said, holding up the thick book as proof.

  “And you couldn’t have asked your parents for help?” Uncle Trevor asked as she slipped her feet back into her sneakers.

  “Not if I wanted a passing grade,” Mikey admitted with a sad shake of her head that had his lips twitching.

  “I see,” he murmured, looking thoughtful before asking, “And how exactly did you get in here?”

  “I feel that it would be in my best interest not to answer that question,” she said, tossing the book on the bed so that she could reach down and grab the sweatshirt that really was quite comfortable off the floor and pulled it on.

  “And I’m assuming that you’re not going to tell me how you got out of your house without your parents knowing either?” Uncle Trevor asked, clearly understanding her need for survival.

  “You assume correctly,” Mikey said, sighing in relief as she grabbed her book.

  “And I also assume that you’re going to want to go tell your parents about this before I get a chance to,” he said, making her wince.

  “And just out of curiosity, when will that be?” Mikey asked, licking her lips nervously as she started to slowly move closer to the door, really hoping that he was kidding.

  He wasn’t kidding.

  “When I’m done talking to my son,” he drawled with a look that told her that she better move her butt and since that seemed like a good idea at the moment, she nodded, cleared her throat, and murmured, “That’s probably not going to end well for me.”

  “Probably not,” Uncle Trevor murmured as she stood there, debating her options only to decide that she really didn’t have a choice in the matter. With that in mind, Mikey nodded to herself, murmured, “Okay,” for some reason and turned around and did what she had to.

  *-*-*-*

  “Did…did she just hide in your closet?” his father asked, looking stunned while Sebastian sat up with a resigned sigh.

  “Probably,” Sebastian said around a yawn as he leaned back against the wall while he waited for the talk that he knew was coming, the one where his father let him know that he was worried about him, again.

  His parents had been having these talks with him since he’d turned down that scholarship three years ago, and they always began the same way…

  “We need to talk,” his father said, giving up trying to figure Mikey out and focused on Sebastian.

  “About?” Sebastian asked as he watched his father try to figure out how to talk to him.

  With a sigh, his father rubbed the back of his neck as he reached over and grabbed the desk chair and sat down. “Mikey for starters.”

  “What about her?” Sebastian asked while he sat there, wondering when his father was going to bring up the therapist.

  “How about the fact that I told you that she wasn’t allowed to sleep over anymore. At least, not in your bed,” his father said, leaning back in the chair as he gestured to the iPad.

  Great.

  Sebastian grabbed his iPad and tossed it to his father, who added, “You’re grounded for a month.”

  “A month? Are you serious? For what?” Sebastian demanded, because there was no way in hell that this should end with him losing everything for a month.

  One month of not being allowed to leave the house, of having to stay in his room only allowed to leave for meals, to do his chores, and most likely, go to therapy. There was no way that he would be able to handle that right now. Christ, he could already feel the walls starting to close in around him.

  “How about the fact that you lied to me?” his father said as he turned the iPad over in his hands.

  “What did I lie about?”

  “Aunt Haley,” his father said with a pointed look at his bandaged hand.

  “I didn’t lie about anything!”

  “Where did you go after you left the therapist’s office?”

  “To the library and then to Aunt Haley’s house to grab a book,” Sebastian said, deciding that there was no way in hell that he was going to tell him where he’d gone for lunch because he wasn’t about to risk his father taking that away from him, too.

  “You never grabbed the book that she left on the table for you,” his father said, watching him.

  “That’s because I didn’t go inside,” he bit out evenly.

  “What did you do, Sebastian?” his father asked, looking resigned to whatever he was about to admit and that…

  Pissed him off.

  “Or what? You’ll send to me to military school?” he demanded, watching as his father cursed under his breath.

  “Sebastian, I–”

  “I have never
given you a reason not to trust me. I work my ass off to do everything you tell me to. I get my schoolwork done, do my chores, help Jessica and Mathew with their homework, make sure they get to school on time, and none of that is ever good enough!” he snapped.

  “You lied and you broke a rule. You were told that Mikey wasn’t allowed to sleep in your room anymore,” his father bit out evenly, looking just as pissed as Sebastian was.

  “I didn’t lie, but that really doesn’t seem to matter, does it? As far as Mikey is concerned, she was in way over her head and she needed my help. I texted Aunt Kasey and Uncle Reese as soon as I realized how late it was so that they wouldn’t worry about her. I also sent you and mom a text to let you know that I was helping Mikey with her homework,” Sebastian said, dropping back down on his bed since there was no point in getting dressed now that it looked like he was going to be stuck in his room all weekend.

  “Sebastian, Mikey is–”

  “The only one that doesn’t look at me like I’m a freak,” he finished for his father as he glared at the ceiling.

  “Wait. Yes, I do!” came the smartass comment from the closet that had Sebastian narrowing his eyes as he climbed off the bed and grabbing his noise-blocking headphones and iPod. Ignoring the pained look on his father’s face, he walked over to the closet, yanked the door open and handed Mikey the headphones and iPod.

  With a grumble, she accepted them, pulling on the headphones and started the playlist that he’d created for her before returning her attention back to her book as he closed the closet door and–

  “I don’t look at you like you’re a freak,” his father said.

  “Yes, you do,” Sebastian said, dropping back down on his bed with a sigh.

  For several minutes, his father didn’t say anything and then…

  “Please talk to me, Sebastian,” his father pleaded softly.

  “I don’t have anything to say,” Sebastian said as he continued glaring at the ceiling, tired of playing this game. If they wanted to send him to military school then–

  “He was fixing Mrs. Blaine’s ramp!” Mikey said in a rush as she hurried out of the closet, climbed onto his bed and–

  Oooomph!

  –slammed a pillow over his face before he could tell the little traitor to be quiet.

  When Sebastian managed to shove the pillow away, she straddled his chest and slapped her hand over his mouth as she continued betraying him. “The boards broke, breaking Mrs. Blaine’s wheelchair in the process. Sebastian got her wheelchair loose and replaced the boards. That’s how he cut his hand. He forgot to grab the book before he left. And as far as last night, nothing happened. He tried to help me get through this book and we fell asleep. He wasn’t lying and nothing happened, so please don’t send him to military school just because he’s a stubborn jerk!” Mikey finished in a rush as she struggled to keep her hand over his mouth.

  Once she was done, he glanced over to find his father absently nodding as he stood up. With a softly murmured, “Here,” he placed Sebastian’s iPad back on the nightstand before he walked out, leaving Sebastian alone with the traitor.

  With a glare, he pushed her hand away and bit out, “Run,” which had Mikey nodding with a mumbled, “That’s probably a good idea,” as she did just that.

  Chapter 11

  “Damn it,” Trevor sighed, dropping his head as he grabbed onto the kitchen counter while he stood there wondering just how many times he was going to screw this up.

  “What’s wrong?” Zoe asked as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed a kiss against his back.

  “I think I just made everything worse,” he said, releasing his hold on the counter so that he could turn around and pull his wife into his arms.

  “Is that even possible?” Zoe asked with a heartfelt sigh as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest.

  “He thinks that we look at him like he’s a freak,” Trevor said, pressing a kiss against the top of his wife’s head as he tried to figure out how he was going to fix this.

  This used to be so easy, Trevor thought, unable to help but smile as he remembered when Sebastian was a baby, the way that his face used to light up whenever he saw him and…

  God, he missed those days.

  He missed seeing a carefree smile on his son’s face, the way that Sebastian would run outside so that he could be the first one to tell Trevor about his day, and the mischievous look in his eye when he tormented his brothers. One day, Sebastian had been a happy, carefree kid and the next, he’d stopped smiling, stopped tormenting his brothers, and became too damn serious and Trevor had no idea why. He’d tried to talk to Sebastian, tried spending more time with him, gave him space, did anything and everything that he could think of, but nothing worked. Sebastian shut down, barely talking most days, and closed himself off, escaping into books and they’d been forced to watch it happen.

  “Why does he think that we see him as a freak?” Zoe mumbled against his chest as her arms tightened around him.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Trevor said, debating asking Jonathan about it, but he wasn’t the one that Sebastian confided in anymore.

  That honor had been passed onto the adorable pain in the ass who lived to torment his son and was currently walking into the kitchen grumbling to herself as she headed to the pantry. With another grumble, Mikey opened the pantry door, grabbed the box of cereal that they bought just for her and with another sigh, shut the door and headed to the kitchen table. For a moment, Trevor watched Mikey as she grabbed everything that she needed from the cabinets and fridge before dropping down in a chair, pouring herself a large bowl of cereal and with one last grumble, opened her book with a heartfelt sigh as he stood there, debating doing something that he swore that he wouldn’t do, but…

  “Mikey, can we talk to you for a moment?” Trevor asked, leaning down and brushed his lips against his wife’s before she could argue. With a softly whispered, “Trust me,” he released her and headed to the table.

  “I’m not a snitch,” Mikey said, not bothering to look up as he joined her.

  “That’s not what I–” he started to say when she cut him off.

  “Snitches get stitches,” Mikey said only to ask with a sad shake of her head, “Do you want me to get stitches, Uncle Trevor?”

  With a sigh, Zoe sat down next to him and reached across the table to pluck the book out of Mikey’s hands. “We’re worried about Sebastian, sweetie,” she explained as Mikey worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered them.

  “Can I be honest?” Mikey asked after a moment.

  Although, he wasn’t sure that was a good idea, Trevor found himself nodding.

  “You expect too much from him,” Mikey said, making him frown as she turned her attention to her cereal.

  “How so?” Zoe asked, getting up to grab the chocolate milk and a glass for Mikey.

  “Take this morning for example,” she said, pausing to murmur, “Thank you,” when Zoe handed her the glass of chocolate milk. “You told him that you wanted to talk to him, but you never gave him a chance before you grounded him.”

  “I messed up,” Trevor admitted with a sigh as he sat back in his chair.

  Nodding in agreement, Mikey said, “I get why you’re worried about Sebastian, I do, but the problem is that he knows it.”

  “What do you mean?” Trevor asked, frowning.

  “It’s the way you look at him, watching him like you’re waiting for him to mess up and when he does, you kind of go overboard like you’re punishing him to stop him from doing something worse. The only thing that you’re doing is reminding him that you think there’s something wrong with him,” Mikey said with a sympathetic wince.

  “There’s nothing wrong with him,” Trevor said hollowly as he tried to tell himself that she was wrong, but…

  He couldn’t.

  *-*-*-*

  “Why must everyone in this family manhandle me?” came the sadly mumbled words that had Sebastian
shifting his glare from the ceiling to find his father carrying Mikey over his shoulder and–

  “That’s going to leave a mark,” Mikey said on a groan when his father dumped her on the bed next to him.

  “What’s going on?” Sebastian asked, moving over so that Mikey could sit up only to release a pained grunt when the little brat shoved him out of the way and took his spot with a satisfied sigh.

  “Let’s try this again,” his father said, sitting back down on the desk chair where he cleared his throat, shifted nervously only to follow that up by clearing his throat again and…

  Apparently had no idea where to start, making Sebastian frown as he shifted his gaze from his father to find Mikey watching his father expectantly. When his father continued sitting there, looking at a loss for words, Mikey slowly nodded as she mumbled to herself, “I should probably go read my book,” and crawled off the bed, effectively abandoning him and giving him one more reason to be mad at her.

  Once she was gone, Sebastian shifted his attention back to find his father gesturing to his iPad. “Your mother said that you were probably going to need a new iPad soon, something about running out of memory.”

  Shaking his head, Sebastian absently said, “I don’t need a new iPad,” wondering where his father was going with this.

  “Are you sure? Your mother said–”

  “I don’t want a new iPad, Dad. It was a gift,” Sebastian said, cutting his father off before he could push the subject only to end up inwardly cursing himself when his father’s lips pulled up into a knowing smile.

  A few years ago, Mikey had surprised him with an iPad simply because she knew how badly he’d wanted one. He’d been trying to save up for one for a few years, but something always came up, a birthday, Christmas, or he saw something that he knew that someone he loved would like and he’d have to start all over again. Just when he’d resigned himself to borrowing his mom’s iPad for a little while longer, Mikey had taken him by surprise and bought him one.

  She’d done extra chores for her mom, helped her dad work on the house, did grunt work for Uncle Jared, shoveled snow, raked leaves, whatever it took to earn enough money to buy an iPad for him so that he could have one and…