moment that Trevor had returned from the twenty-four hour pharmacy, she’d popped two pills, chased them down with a sip of water and immediately regretted it.
“I know he did, sweetheart, but I think this will work,” Trevor promised in a cooing tone that had her opening her eyes just so that she could glare at him.
“How exactly can you make that promise?” she demanded, scowling at the bastard that had done this to her even as she reached out and grudgingly took the pills from him.
“Because this time I skipped your doctor and went straight to Uncle Ethan,” he explained as though that meant something special to her.
“How exactly does that help me?” she had to ask as she forced the pill in her mouth, squeezed her eyes shut and accepted a sip of ginger ale from the impregnating bastard all while trying not to remember what happened the last time a pill slid down her throat.
“Because I refused to leave him alone until he wrote you a prescription for the good shit,” he said, sounding unconcerned as she blindly reached out and slapped her hands against the side of the tub, waiting for the moment when she would pray for death, but…
It never came.
“Oh my God,” she mumbled, opening her eyes and taking her first relieved breath in hours since Trevor had offered her an egg salad sandwich, which had triggered some unholy reaction in her body and had sent her running for the bathroom in the first place.
“Better?” Trevor asked with an approving smile as he held the cup of ginger ale to her.
“Mmmhmm,” she murmured in agreement as she took a slow sip of the cold soda, nearly moaning in relief when the action didn’t cause her stomach to rebel. “Much better,” she agreed on a sigh, placing a hand over her sore stomach while he pulled the cup away.
“Why don’t we get you out of there and in something a little more comfortable?” Trevor suggested with a sympathetic murmur that took her by surprise and made her feel so special, because she knew without a doubt that he really loved her and their unborn babies.
Sniffling back a sob, she shot him a grateful smile and allowed him to help her out of the tub. When he wrapped her in a large fluffy towel, she had to bite her lip to stop herself from doing something silly like crying, something that she was afraid that she was going to end up doing a lot over the next five months.
“I love you, Trevor,” she found herself saying, unable to keep so much emotion to herself, not right now.
God, she was pathetic, she thought with a sniffle even as she sent him a shy, watery smile, unable to believe just how lucky she’d been to find someone so sweet and kind like Trevor.
“I love you, too, sweetheart,” Trevor said soothingly as he wrapped another towel around her and pulled her close so that he could hold her. “I love you so much, Zoe,” he said, making her smile even as she sniffled and closed her eyes, content on staying in the arms of the sweetest man alive.
*-*-*-*
“You. Sick. Bastard!” Zoe snapped, unable to believe that the man trying to drag her away from the kitchen table was the same man who’d held her and whispered how much he loved her as he kissed her only an hour ago.
“Let go, Zoe,” Trevor said firmly, reaching over to wrestle the maple syrup coated fork out of her hand.
“No!” she screamed, reluctantly giving up her slippery hold on the fork and grabbed a handful of syrup soaked Eggo waffles, desperate for the buttery sustenance, and took a large, satisfying bite as Trevor continued to pull her away from the table and towards the front door.
“We’ll grab food afterwards,” Trevor calmly explained as she struggled to get free and grab the last waffle.
“Just let me finish!” she begged, close to crying when it became obvious that she was never going to get a chance to enjoy that delicious Eggo waffle in all its syrupy glory.
“I’ll feed you after the ceremony. I promise,” Trevor said, but she wasn’t listening as she went limp and let him drag her away.
“My waffle,” she whispered with a little sniffle as she was carried outside and loaded in Trevor’s truck where she sadly nibbled on the handful of waffle that she’d managed to save.
“At least we know the pill works,” Trevor said, sounding oddly triumphant as she sat there, nibbling on her handful of waffle as she glared at him.
“I hate you,” she bit out evenly, never sure of anything more in her life.
“Sure you do,” he murmured in agreement, not really sounding all that concerned as he slowly backed out of the driveway.
“I do,” she mumbled, feeling her bottom lip start to tremble as she finished her last bite of waffle and absently accepted the handful of wet naps that Trevor held out to her.
“I know you do, sweetheart,” Trevor said, pausing by a stop sign to help clean her hands for her so that she could sit there, trying not to break down in tears, again.
When her hands were freshly cleaned, she folded her arms over her chest and glared out the window, struggling not to cry and it was working too, until he reached over and took her hand into his. As soon as he touched her, she lost it.
“Aw, sweetheart, it’s okay,” Trevor said softly as he pulled the truck over, set it in park, somehow managed to unbuckle her seatbelt and pulled her onto his lap. “Shhh, it’s okay, sweetheart.”
“N-no, it’s not,” she sobbed against his shirt, wondering why she couldn’t seem to stop crying. She felt like she was going crazy. One minute she felt like she was going to be sick, the next she felt like she’d starve to death if she didn’t eat everything in sight, then the next she couldn’t stop crying because she was happy, sad, tired and even cried when she was hungry. She couldn’t seem to stop crying, and God, how she really wished that she could stop crying.
“You’re just tired, Zoe,” he explained as he held her, kissing her forehead in a way that mildly pleased her.
Sniffle. “I am a little tired,” she admitted with another sniffle.
“I know, baby. I know,” Trevor said soothingly as he gently placed her back on her seat and carefully pulled her seatbelt back on her. “Why don’t you close your eyes? We’ll make this quick so that we can get you back home and in bed. How does that sound? Hmmm?”
Biting her lip, because she was honestly afraid that if she opened her mouth that she was going to further humiliate herself by turning into a blubbering idiot, she nodded and closed her eyes, deciding that perhaps a little nap was exactly what she needed. Snuggling against the door, she released a little yawn as she settled in for a refreshing nap.
As she felt Trevor pull back into traffic, something occurred to her, something that she should have wondered when he’d rushed her to get dressed, downstairs and out the door at barely six in the morning on their day off.
“Where exactly are we going?”
“To the courthouse,” Trevor explained, sounding unconcerned as she sat there, frowning and wondering why they were heading to the courthouse on the weekend when he went ahead and cleared things up for her.
“I figured we’d get married and just get it over with,” he said with a shrug.
Chapter 2
“No.”
Sighing, he reached for her hand, “Zoe, if you would just listen. I-”
“No,” the stubborn woman said with her arms folded over her chest as she continued to glare at the vending machine in front of them.
Shoving his fingers through his hair, he looked over at his uncle and cousins, but the useless bastards simply continued to stand there, munching on their snacks, watching to see how he was going to handle Zoe without her going for his balls, which he’d technically already given her permission to do.
“We’re not speaking,” she bit out when he opened his mouth to try and smooth things over.
Clearing his throat, he shot his Uncle Jared a questioning glance only to find his uncle, leaning back against the back door, nibbling on a bag of Cheetos and looking bored. Great, so much for getting help convincing the woman that he loved that marrying him was for the be
st. Reluctantly, he shot a glance over to his cousin Jason to find him sitting on one of the wooden benches lining the walls, watching him with what could only be described as a smug expression and letting Trevor know that he wasn’t going to lift a finger to make this any easier for him.
Great.
Just fucking great.
“I’m wearing my oversized grey sweatpants and one of your old tee shirts,” she bit out, every single syllable somehow filled with more rage than the last, which he’d have to admit, was actually impressive.
Frowning, because he was sure that he was missing something important here, he looked over her baggy outfit, not really seeing the problem and shrugged.
It was perhaps the single dumbest thing that he’d ever done in his life.
Her mouth slowly closed until it was obvious that she was clenching her jaw tightly shut as her eyes narrowed on him. She considered him for a long minute, making him wish for the first time in his life that he’d made a habit of wearing an athletic cup, but before he had a chance to cover his balls and drop to the ground where he would most likely curl up into a fetal position, she took them all by surprise.
She cried.
“What the hell did you do?” Jason demanded, looking pissed as he shoved past Trevor and put his arm around Zoe, who simply stood there, silently crying, adding a pathetic sniffle here and there while every man in his family glared at him like they were dying to kick his ass.
“What is wrong with you?” Uncle Jared demanded as he took Zoe by the hand and led her over to the bench by the front doors, giving her a warm smile that only seemed to make her cry harder.
Jason followed after his father, pausing long enough to slam Trevor in the shoulder and send him a glare before he sat down on Zoe’s other side, taking her small hand in his and trying to comfort the frustrating woman, who couldn’t seem to stop crying.
“H-he t-tossed the c-clothes to me and told me to get d-dressed,” she managed to get out with a sniffle that for some reason had every one of his relatives shifting their glares back on him.
“H-he didn’t even tell me where we were going,” she said, pausing to add another one of those sniffles that he was starting to blame the hormones for. “H-he wouldn’t even let me eat. He just told me to get dressed, dragged me down here and said that we were getting married.”
“That’s more than most women get in our family,” he pointed out with a mumble, expecting some support from the men in his family, but all he ended up getting were more glares, a few more shoulder shoves and a, “Better watch your back, bitch,” from his Great Uncle Theo.
“I-I understand that I didn’t have much of a choice, b-but I would have liked to have worn something pretty on my wedding day,” she said with a sniffle, further inciting the rage filled glares being shot his way as his mind latched on something she said.
“Wait, what do you mean that you didn’t have a choice?” he demanded, even though he had to admit, she really didn’t have much of a choice. She was his and that’s all that mattered, but the way she’d said it rubbed him the wrong way.
“Well,” she said with a sniffle that had his eyes narrowing to slits, “it’s just that I really never thought that I’d end up settling.”
“Settling?” he repeated back slowly, sure that he’d misheard her.
She nodded solemnly as he stood there, seething.
“I know, sweetheart,” Uncle Jason said, giving her hand a comforting pat. “I know.”
“I know that I don’t have a choice anymore, not with the babies on the way,” she said with a little heartfelt sigh as she placed her hand over her soft stomach, reminding every Bradford in the room that she was carrying two of them and bringing their animosity towards him up another notch and seriously fucking him over. “This just isn’t how I’d pictured my wedding day I guess, pregnant, wearing sweatpants and hungry.”
“He didn’t feed you?” Jason asked, shifting a glare towards him that should have rightfully killed him on the spot.
“I made her five goddamn plates of waffles!” he snapped, sick and tired of the fickle bastards screwing him over because of a few sniffles and lip trembles.
This was a fucking Bradford elopement and they damn well better start remembering that!
“I-I was still hungry,” she admitted with a beautiful blush and another one of those damn lip trembles that had his eyes narrowing impossibly further.
“Is the Justice of the Peace ready?” he asked, keeping his eyes locked on the woman that was obviously enjoying screwing him over for her own entertainment.
“They’re still trying to talk him off the ledge,” one of his cousins said around a yawn even as he continued to glare at Trevor like he was Satan himself.
“Someone get him down here so that we can get this over with,” he said, forcing himself to bite back a smile when he saw Zoe do the same, clearly enjoying herself, which was fine with him.
Just as long as she was legally obligated to put up with all his bullshit by the end of the day, she could screw him over however she wanted.
*-*-*-*
“Look, you don’t have to do this,” Uncle Jared said, licking his lips nervously as he shifted an anxious glance towards the double doors leading to the courtroom where Trevor stood, arguing with a group of his cousins and uncles, trying to convince them that he wasn’t neglecting their poor little Zoe.
“We can get her out through the back,” Jason said, gesturing towards the back doors where only two Bradfords stood guard, but something about the way that they were glaring at Trevor told her that if she really wanted to leave, that they would not only step aside, but they would probably also give her a ride somewhere and buy her breakfast to make sure that she was really okay.
This really was a sweet family, she thought, biting back another pleased smile as she did her best to look upset about this forced elopement. Never in a million years could she have ever hoped to become part of a family like this, one that enjoyed screwing each other over, but in that same breath would die for one another. They were devoted, loyal and genuinely loved each other. It was more than she could have ever hoped for and she couldn’t wait to be one of them.
She especially couldn’t wait to belong to the man ignoring his cousins and uncles bitching at him about how he had to take better care of her as he continued to send her smoldering looks that told her that he knew exactly what she was up to and that it was more than fine with him just as long as she left this courthouse knowing exactly who she belonged with.
Chapter 3
He. Was. Going. To. Fucking. Throttle. Her.
The Justice of the Peace looked like he was seconds away from a panic attack.
Most of his uncles and cousins looked torn between frustration and amusement.
His Uncle Jared stood there by Zoe’s side, determined to make sure that his “special girl” wasn’t forced to rush into something that she might regret. Since she’d asked him through a teary-eyed smile to stand up for her, the betraying bastard had somehow forgotten that he’d orchestrated a forced trip to the JP of his own, taken part in more than a dozen of these and had been at his house at five this morning with coffee and donuts, explaining the best way to kidnap Zoe and get her to the courthouse on time without her killing him.
Now the bastard was determined to make sure that Zoe wasn’t rushed into doing something that she might regret later. So, thanks to his asshole uncle’s meddling ways, they were still standing here, waiting for Zoe to answer the damn question!
“M-miss?” the Justice of the Peace asked with a hesitant stammer as he risked a glance up to find Zoe standing there, worrying her bottom lip as she “thought over her options,” as she’d explained thirty minutes ago to the amusement of his uncles and cousins.
Narrowing his eyes on his soon-to-be wife, and she would damn well be leaving this court house as his wife, he bit out, “Zoe,” putting everything into that one word.
Blinking innocently at him, she admitted, “I just wan
t to make sure that I’ve reviewed all my options before I settle.”
Lips twitching, he asked, “And?”
She released a long-suffering sigh as she reluctantly nodded. “I guess we could see where this goes.”
“You…guess….,” he repeated back dryly, still stunned that a woman like Zoe was able to not only knock him on his ass, but to make him love it.
She was short, plump, feisty, sarcastic, loved to tease and torment him, couldn’t cook to save her life and he couldn’t wait