NFH 02 Perfection (37 page)

"About time you dropped by," Hank, she
thought his name was, said as he slapped a hand on the back of
Trevor's shoulder, cutting off whatever pointless promise Trevor
was about to make. Even though she loved him, he didn't love her
and she couldn't allow him to settle for her when she knew he would
never be happy.

"I'm in the middle of something here,"
Trevor bit out, gesturing to Zoe.

Hank? sent her a questioning look, but
quickly shrugged it off, probably not giving her a second thought
as he turned his attention back to Trevor. "I was asked by that
group of lovely women," he said, gesturing to a group of three
women, who took that as their cue to send Trevor little flirtatious
smiles and waves, "to see if you would like to join us for a
drink."

"I just told you that I'm in the
middle of something here," he said, jaw clenching as he once again
gestured her way.

"It's fine," she said, knowing there
really was no point in prolonging the evening. Any delusions she'd
once had about having any type of relationship had been effectively
squashed. She'd rather just sit here alone and enjoy this tasty
meal before she went home to her semi-empty apartment. After nearly
five months of dieting she was going to indulge tonight. Hell, she
might even get dessert.

With ice cream.

Yes, she realized she was spiraling
into binge eating and was probably on the verge of a major
depression, but thankfully this time she had two Bradfords to help
her out with the excess calories and hopefully by the time they
were born she'd be over Trevor.

Okay, that wasn't very likely to
happen, but at least by then she wouldn't be able to afford food
for herself since she had two Bradfords to feed. It would be fine,
because she'd be so busy trying to take care of her babies to think
about Trevor.

She'd be fine.

Really.

Now if she could only believe that
everything would be okay.

Chapter
31

How in the hell had he fucked up so
badly? he wondered as he signaled for the bartender.

It was that damn
arrangement.

Of all the fucked up things he'd done
in his life that was one he wished he could go back and change that
night. He'd probably already been half in love with the stubborn
woman when he'd come up with that asinine idea. What in the hell
was wrong with him suggesting something like that?

If his mother was still alive she'd
bitch slap him into tomorrow for pulling that shit. She'd raised
him to respect women even if he didn't particular care for them and
his uncles backed up that little lesson with the unspoken promise
of an ass whooping if he ever forgot. Before Zoe there was no
question that he'd been an asshole, still was, but he'd never
treated any of the women in his life the way he treated her, like
she was nothing but a convenience to him.

The fucked up part about the whole
thing was that the only woman he'd ever truly cared about and loved
was the one he treated like she didn't exist while he paraded women
around who he couldn't have given a flying fuck about because of
the way they looked.

He let out a humorless snort of
laughter at that.

Most of the women he'd dated in the
past had annoyed the shit out of him and could never manage to keep
his attention, but his frumpy little tenant had him practically
drooling after her twenty-four-seven. He was so fucking in love
with her that he felt sick and empty when she wasn't around and so
unbelievably happy when he saw her that he couldn't believe his own
stupidity.

This was all his fault. If he could go
back and change things he would. Instead of offering sex like he
was doing her a favor he should have done what any normal man would
do for the woman he couldn't stop thinking about and asked her out,
begged if he had to. He loved spending time with her and could
easily think of a thousand things he'd like to do with her, but
he'd been stupid and selfish.

If only he could go back and change
things......

Well, he wouldn't change the
pregnancy. It had only been a day since he found out about it, but
already he was excited about the future. It didn't matter if his
baby had reading problems like him, he'd be there for his kid and
support him and of course teach him how to beat the shit out of
anyone who made fun of him. Of course Jason's kids would probably
be insanely smart and hopefully would be there for Trevor's kid the
way Jason had been there for him.

He hoped his child didn't have an
obsession with food, but judging by the way Zoe was devouring her
burger he figured that wish was useless. Wait a
minute........

Hadn't Zoe ordered baked ziti for
herself? He sighed heavily as he gestured for the busy bartender
once again. Well, it looked like he was going to go hungry for the
next six or seven months, which was fine with him. As long Zoe and
his baby were happy then he'd learn to deal.

But she certainly didn't look happy,
not the way she had when he showed up at their bedroom door with
flowers. Then she'd looked so heartbreakingly beautiful with that
little shy smile. It didn't hurt that her outfit highlighted all of
his favorite curves. He had to stop himself from grabbing her and
showing her how much he liked what he saw and remind himself that
they had a date.

A date that was not going very well,
which again was all his fault. If he hadn't gone out of his way to
ignore her and try to keep her at an arm's length he wouldn't be in
this mess right now. She didn't believe that he loved her or wanted
her, which now that he thought about it was pretty fucking
stupid.

How the hell could she not see that he
was in love with her?

Had he dated or shown any interest in
any woman since they came together? No. He'd been faithful to her
even if she hadn't expected it. He'd also spent every free second
of his time with her and came up with a million excuses just to be
near her. Hell, he even told the woman that he loved her, he
thought, getting a little angry over all the bullshit.

"What can I get you?" the bartender
asked when he finally came over.

"All set," Trevor said instead of
ordering the apple juice Zoe had asked him to get just to make him
to leave the table, because she was angry with him and everyone who
wouldn't take a fucking hint and leave him alone or because she was
a sneaky little food thief, he didn't know, but right now he also
didn't care. They had some things to settle and they were damn well
going to settle them now.

"Why the hell did you just brush me
off like that?" Hank demanded, stepping in his path and blocking
him from his goal.

"Because I was busy just like now," he
said, moving to step around the man only to find himself blocked
again. Why in the hell hadn't he told this douche bag off years
ago? He couldn't stand the prick on a good day and today definitely
was not a good day.

"I don't understand your problem,"
Hank said, shoving his fingers through his overly gelled hair.
"Every time I offer to do you a favor by introducing you to some
really hot women you blow me off. Maybe instead of acting like an
asshole you could show me some appreciation by stop busting my
balls and coming to meet some of these women," he said, raising his
voice with every word so that everyone around them could hear,
including Zoe.

He didn't need this asshole making
things more difficult and to be honest, and really when was he not
honest with himself? he was sick and tired of dealing with
him.

"My problem is that you can't take a
fucking hint. I have no interest in being your wingman. Unlike you,
I don't need help to get laid. Now get the fuck out of my way. I
have something a hell of a lot more important to do than stand here
and deal with your bullshit," he said, shouldering his way past the
man as he headed towards Zoe, who looked a little
nervous.

Good.

He wanted her nervous because that
meant she was no longer sure that he was playing around. By the
time he was through with her she was going to know exactly how much
he loved and adored her. Hell, by the end of the night he fully
expected an apology for ever doubting him, accompanied of course
with one of her delicious sandwiches otherwise the apology didn't
count. Then he would-

"Maybe if you weren't so busy sniffing
around some fat ugly bitch you wouldn't need my help," Hank
announced smugly as he gave Trevor's shoulder a good
shove.

The first punch had been automatic and
so quick that he hadn't really had much time to think about it. By
the fifth punch he wasn't thinking about anything else but killing
the bastard.

"Don't you ever call her that again,"
he snapped, following the bastard to the floor with a wild punch as
he shrugged off several guys trying to pull him off the sobbing
man.

"Stop!" Zoe cried as she latched onto
his arm just as he pulled it back to let it go flying again.
"Please stop!"

Somehow he managed to stop, but just
barely. Panting heavily, he stood up and took Zoe's trembling hand
into his. After one last glare at the man cowering on the floor he
pulled Zoe behind him, dropping enough money to cover their tab on
their table and headed for the door. He wasn't too surprised when
he found Jeff, the manager, waiting for him.

"You're banned," the man informed him
as if he really gave a damn.

With a curt nod he continued out the
door, dragging Zoe with him. He wanted to go back in there and beat
the shit out of the man until he passed out and then do it again
when the son of a bitch came to.

"Trevor? Please slow down," Zoe said,
sounding out of breath.

Instead of slowing down he scooped her
up in his arms and headed towards his truck at the same clipped
pace. There was no way he could slow down right now because if he
did he really wasn't sure what he would do at the moment and
actually scared him.

**********

"Give me the keys, Zoe," Trevor said
in a deceptively calm voice, but she wasn't buying it.

She'd honestly never seen anyone look
so livid before in her life and with her big mouth she'd pissed off
a lot of people. If she hadn't seen him in action not five minutes
ago she would think she was overreacting, but she had seen him and
there was no way she was letting him get behind the wheel of a
truck while he was acting like this.

"No," she said, shaking her head
firmly as she backed up tightly against the passenger door in the
truck's cab. "I'll drive," she offered, hoping that he'd take her
up on her offer so that they could go home and calm
down.

"I'm fine, Zoe. Give me my keys," he
bit out as he reached over to snag the keys away from her, but
before he could grab them she moved her hand behind her back to get
them out of his reach.

"Let me drive so that you can calm
down," she said, looking around the almost pitch black parking lot
and wishing there was someone around to talk some sense into
him.

"I don't need to calm down, Zoe, I
just need my goddamn keys so I can bring you home," he said, moving
closer to her and she was half thinking about opening her door and
making a run for it so she could call Jason or Jared and have them
come deal with him, because honestly she was not in the mood to
deal with this tonight.

"I-" she opened her mouth to let him
know that once they got home he was either going to give her the
key to her apartment or she was going to break the door down when
he cut her off.

"And when we get home, Zoe, I swear
I'm going to spank your ass for all the bullshit you put me through
tonight," he said, startling her.

"What the hell did I do? If anyone
here has any right to be mad here it's me," she snapped.

"No, sweetheart, I believe that would
be me," he said, moving until he was close enough to reach behind
her and gently yank the keys away from her without hurting
her.

Knowing it was useless to argue
anymore, especially since he did seem more in control right now,
except for that little muscle throbbing just above his jaw and the
tight grip that he had on the steering wheel, she pulled her
seatbelt on.

"Why exactly do you think you're
entitled to be pissed at me?" she asked, twisting in her seat to
glare at him and silently daring him to say something that would
get his shin kicked, hard.

Had he been ignored all night? Had he
had a two-hundred and fifty pound man almost sit on top of him? Was
he forced to sit there while man after man came and hit on her? Had
he-

"Because I told you that I'm in love
with you, Zoe, and you gave me the brush off," he said, shocking
her more than she would have ever thought possible. "Do you have
any idea how many women I've said that to?" he asked, not bothering
to look at her as he navigated the back roads home.

"I don't know," she answered
quietly.

"Only you, Zoe. I've never said it to
another woman, never had to and do you know how it made me feel
when you dismissed me the way you did?" he demanded. "Or how it
felt to be rejected after I told you that I wanted to spend the
rest of my life with you?"