“They’re swarming!” Haley cried.
“Shit!” Jason said, looking frantically around for a safe place to run.
“My house!” Haley yelled, gesturing wildly towards her front door as the buzzing grew louder.
“Good idea,” Jason said as he ran towards the house, dragging her behind him. The buzzing became louder as the swarm began circling them. Once they reached the front door, he opened it, relieved that she’d left it unlocked, and dragged her inside, slamming the door shut behind them.
“Bees!” Haley cried, gesturing wildly to the yellowjackets that had followed them inside.
He quickly released her hand and grabbed two magazines from a small pile on the coffee table and threw one to her. Without a word, they rolled the magazines up and began to attack the dozen or so yellowjackets that had managed to follow them inside. Neither spoke until the last one was dead.
“Five nights…in…a…row…stung…” Jason tried to explain while he struggled to catch his breath.
“You knew there were yellowjackets and you still tore up the flowers?” Haley asked in disbelief. Her grandmother had taught her well. A ground nest was not something you wanted to mess with. It could be as small as a stack of quarters or several feet long, but you wouldn’t know until it was too late.
Jason gestured towards his house. “I was trying to kill them!”
She shook her head in disbelief. He knew there was a nest and he hadn’t told her? He knew that she worked outside every weekend.
“Why didn’t you tell me there was a nest?” Haley demanded, trying not to yell at him, but it was difficult knowing just how easily they could have been killed.
“I did!”
“No, you didn’t!”
He threw his hands up in exasperation. “I’ve been trying to tell you for the last few weeks, but whenever I approached you, you ran off!”
Haley opened her mouth to argue only to shut it just as quickly with a wince. Yeah, that really did sound like something she would do where he was concerned.
“Oh,” she finally said.
“Yeah, oh,” Jason snapped as he glanced out the window and groaned. “They’re still swarming.”
Haley sighed. “They’re going to be a problem for a few hours. We need to call an exterminator.”
Man, he was fucking freezing.
He was soaked to the bone and it didn’t look like he was going to be able to go to his house to change anytime soon. Normally, he’d strip down to his boxers, but his neighbor was already skittish around him. He didn’t want to give the poor thing a heart attack. Jason looked down at her very clean and, obviously well cared for, wood floor and cringed.
“Shit, maybe I should step out the backdoor and dry off,” Jason said as he raised his eyes to look at the adjoining kitchen and swore roundly as he watched the windows suddenly turn black.
“I don’t think that will be happening for a while,” Haley mumbled softly as she rubbed her forehead. “Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll see if I can find you something to wear. While you’re taking your shower, I’ll call an exterminator.”
“If you’re sure?” Jason said, hoping that she wouldn’t change her mind. He was freezing his balls off. Hell, at this point, he’d squeeze his ass into a dress to get warm.
Haley nodded absently as she watched the bees swarm around her backyard through the gaps in the windows. “Yeah, let me show you where the bathroom is.”
Ten minutes later, the shivering had finally stopped and he was able to enjoy his shower. Never in his life had hot water felt this good before. This was the best shower he’d ever had. It didn’t hurt that his shy neighbor shared his appreciation for the simple things in life like a normal bar of soap. She didn’t have any of that perfumed shit that never lathered properly and always left a rash on his skin. It also didn’t hurt that the bathroom looked like a bathroom and wasn’t covered from head-to-toe in lace and makeup. This was a bathroom a man could comfortably use.
He was just pulling on the tee-shirt she’d left for him when he heard Haley scream, “No! Please, don’t do it!”
Jason was out of the bathroom before the last syllable left her mouth, running towards her and ready to kill whoever was trying to hurt her. He came to a skidding stop in front of her just as she released a heartfelt sigh.
“God, I love you,” she announced with a watery smile.
His brows nearly shot through his hairline as his heart pounded. Shit, this was worse than he thought. She hadn’t been avoiding him all these years because she was shy. No, she was head over heels in love with him. Shit. This was awkward, especially since he was stuck here until an exterminator showed up. Now, he hoped it was soon.
Really fucking soon.
