that she was going to so say or do something that she was going to regret, and sadly, kicking him in the balls probably wouldn’t make her feel bad right now.
So, with that in mind, she continued to walk towards the exit, ignoring the curious looks as well as the ones of disgust because she was walking away from a man in a wheelchair. Yeah, she’d admit that she was acting like a bitch, but she really didn’t care at the moment. She was too damn tired and too damn hungry to give a damn what anyone thought.
Doubling her steps, she walked through the exit, past the tired looking travelers and headed for the line of taxis. Within seconds she was in a car and heading towards the nearest hotel with twenty-four hour room service.
The boys could have their secrets.
That was more than fine with her, she told herself trying not to cry or feel sorry for herself, but with so many hormones surging through her body and the fact that she was tired and hungry, it was impossible. By the time they’d arrived at the large hotel she was a mess, barely able to say thank you to the taxi driver as he helped her with her meager possessions or the doorman who held the door for her as the concierge ran to get her a box of tissues.
Since she wasn’t able to communicate without hysterically, they settled for nods, shakes of her head and holding up fingers to let them know how many rooms she needed, nights, etc. Twenty minutes later with a new understanding of mortification, she was finally in a room, the door locked behind her and a large room service order placed.
Knowing that she had time for a warm bath to settle her nerves before the food arrived, she started a large bath in the two person garden tub, took off her clothes, grabbed a twenty dollar bottle of orange juice from the mini-bar and settled into the nice, hot bath and felt herself instantly begin to relax.
This was exactly what she needed, she told herself as she took a sip of the overpriced-watered-down drink. She just need a night for herself to think things through and figure out some things for herself. She already knew that she would do whatever it took to make things work with Danny.
That really was a no brainer.
She loved him more than anything and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. No, her problem was this secretive business between the cousins, the fact that he hadn’t even mentioned that they were now married even though they were both wearing matching bands and she’d found the Las Vegas marriage certificate in the bottom of his duffle bag the other day.
The problem she had was this highhanded bullshit that apparently went along with being a Bradford.
Well, that and she had a craving for pumpkin pie…
Chapter 9
“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t release that information,” the desk clerk said with a professional, friendly smile, but the look in his eyes said it all…
He thought Danny was the biggest piece of shit to ever disgrace his hotel lobby. That was fine, because he wasn’t all that thrilled with himself either at the moment. That didn’t mean that he was going to sit here and let some asshole keep him away from his wife.
It just wasn’t happening.
“Tell me which room my wife is in,” he bit out between clenched teeth as he grabbed onto the armrests of his wheelchair, prepared to shove himself to his feet, uncaring that he couldn’t walk on his own yet, just so he could grab this prick by the throat and force him to tell him where his wife was.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we respect our guest’s privacy,” the man said with that damn polite smile that was going to get him killed even as the look in his eyes told Danny how much the little prick was enjoying this. He’d bet every last cent that he had that his wife had been crying by the time she got here, which only made him that much more desperate to get to her.
He would have been here sooner, but since his father was currently indisposed that left him with Jason and Trevor to help him and since both of them were full of shit…
“You’re going about this all wrong,” Trevor pointed out as he idly tapped his fingers against the marble countertop as he glanced around the small, empty hotel foyer.
“You’re wasting your time,” Jason added from where he leaned against the wall behind him.
“No, I’m not,” he bit out, damning that bike messenger to hell and back for cutting him off before he could get in the cab and away from his cousins.
“You really are,” Jason said with a shrug as he pushed away from the wall and helped himself to a small cup of lemonade by the courtesy desk. “If you were smart,” Jason started to explain only to pause to take a sip of his juice, “you’d let one of us take her home so that the curse would end sooner.”
Trevor shook his head with a disgusted snort. “That’s not going to work.”
“If we separate them, the honeymoon ends,” Jason said, gesturing towards Danny with his cup, “End of story.”
“You think so?” Trevor asked, chuckling without humor while he sat there, wondering how he kept getting stuck with assholes.
They were great guys.
They really were and if they weren’t his cousins, they’d probably still be two of his best friends, but God, some days he just wanted to beat the shit out of them and throw their bodies down a deep fucking well and today was definitely one of those days. While he was trying to get to his wife and make sure that she was okay, they were arguing about this fucking curse, trying to decide “their” next move and making this a hell of a lot more difficult than it needed to be.
All he wanted to do was to find his wife, pull her in his arms and hold her before he broke the bad news to her that she was now a Bradford, which meant that she was going to have to deal with some seriously fucked up shit for the rest of her life.
That was it.
“The curse only fucks with us during the first year of marriage and only until we get home. Once we get them both home safely, this fucking curse will end and they can get a fresh start,” Jason argued.
“How do you know this won’t follow them if we intervene?” Trevor snapped and it was in that moment that he realized that his family was fucking crazy.
Well, he’d already figured that out before, but that wasn’t the point. He’d been lucky enough to marry the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and instead of savoring that victory, he’d been doing everything he could to protect her from a curse that he suddenly realized might be nothing more than Bradford bullshit that they’d all made come true over the years as a result of their paranoia.
He was truly a fucking moron.
“Where are you going?” Trevor asked, but he ignored his cousin and focused on the prick manning the desk.
“My. Wife,” he bit out, sounding every bit the marine that he’d once been. “Where is she?”
*-*-*-*
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Bradford, but we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”
“I’m sorry, what?” she asked a bit distractedly as she frowned at the nervous man in front of her, almost positive that this had been the overly-polite man that had handed her a box of tissues when she’d checked in a few hours ago.
He shifted nervously as he wrapped his arms around himself, but the move didn’t hide the fact that he was trembling. He looked over his shoulder, towards the elevator as he cleared his throat. “We need you to leave,” he repeated hoarsely, looking close to crying.
“Because…,” she said slowly, having a pretty good idea about what had terrified the middle-aged man.
Keeping his eyes locked on the elevator, he admitted, “I’d rather not say.”
“I see,” she mumbled, following his gaze to the elevator and then to the stairway door where another employee stood waiting and looking like the tiniest noise would set him off into a full out run.
“Does this have anything to do with a very large man in a wheelchair?” she asked, and yup, just like that, the man standing near the door made a run for it.
“I-I can’t say,” he said, turning an interesting shade of green as he watched the other man
run with away, telling her absolutely everything that she needed to know.
“I see,” she murmured thoughtfully as she considered her options.
“Please leave,” the man whispered, pleadingly.
She opened her mouth to refuse, but the sheer terror that she saw in his eyes had her sighing and nodding her head, because sadly, she knew exactly how determined a Bradford could be, which was absolutely terrifying to most people.
It really didn’t bother her, but then again she also knew how to screw with a Bradford’s head for her own enjoyment, something that she’d learned from Haley and Zoe over the past few months. It wasn’t exactly something that she could put on her resume, but it was a useful skill to have when she was pissed or well, bored.
She should tell him no and refuse to leave until checkout, but that wasn’t fair to the hotel staff and honestly, at this point she just wanted to get this over with and if that meant that they had to have it out now, then so be it. They’d talk, she’d let him know that she wasn’t going to put up with anymore of this Bradford bullshit and hopefully they’d find a dinner that had pumpkin pie…and blueberry pie…and they could put this whole mess behind them.
Once he understood that the next time that he tried to make decisions for her that she would make his life a living hell, they’d be fine. Grabbing her bag, she walked out into the hallway, past the nervous employee and-
“There you are,” Trevor said with a smile as he swept her off her feet before she could get a startled gasp out, turned around and carried her to the elevator where Jason stood, waiting for her with a grim expression on his face.
That’s pretty much what scared her the most, because no matter what life threw at Jason, he could usually manage a smile.
“What’s going on?” she asked, trying to act casual as Jason reached over and took her bag from her.
She waited for Trevor to put her down, but he never did. Not even when the elevator doors opened, revealing an empty foyer, or when he carried her out of the hotel. She thought once they reached the parking lot that he’d put her down, but once again she was wrong.
He kept his arms locked around her until she realized what was going on, and by then, it was too late.
Chapter 10
Massachusetts…. Two Days later…..
“Can’t we talk about this?” Jodi asked as she shifted nervously on his lap, trying not to appear as though she was looking for a way to escape, but he’d been trained by the military and was a Bradford by birth so he knew how to spot the signs of someone desperate to get away from him.
It was a gift, he mused with a satisfied smile as he continued to absently caressed the large swell of her stomach, loving the way that his boys nudged up against his hand in approval.
“I think we’re past the point of talking, don’t you?” he said, barely paying attention to where they were going since all of his attention was on his skittish wife who’d made a total of twenty-three escape attempts since they’d kidnapped her from the hotel last night.
Well, kidnapping might be a strong term since all they did was carry her against her will out of the hotel, place her in a car and drive her straight through the night, ignoring all of her requests that they let her go. There were other requests, like they could go fuck themselves and an adamant plea that they rot in hell, but since he knew that she really didn’t mean any of it, he decided to ignore her murderous glares and enjoy the long ride home with her in his arms.
He knew that she was just incredibly pissed at him, because he’d kept her in the dark and refused to tell her anything more than he loved her and just how beautiful she looked, which to him she did. To the rest of the world she looked tired, bitter, on the verge of committing murder, but the rest of the world had absolutely no idea how incredibly fucked up the last few days had been for her.
Not that it could have been avoided, because…
Well, it probably should have, he mused while he absently tightened his arms around her and held on when she tried to make another escape, most likely to dump him out of his wheelchair so that she could kick his balls into submission. He probably should have sat her down and calmly explained everything, explained why they’d kidnapped her, the whole sordid family history, why he was rushing her, the arrest and bans were probably something better left discussed for later, but he could have at least done whatever he could to make this easier for her.
He could have, but…
Well, let’s just say that he was being cautious about what information he gave her right now, mostly because he hadn’t wanted to delay their return home by answering a hundred questions as well as the time it would take to convince her that he wasn’t crazy, which probably would have added a few days to trip.
Now he had nothing to worry about, he thought, fighting the urge to sigh with relief because he knew that it wasn’t over just yet. He still needed to get her across the threshold of the house that his father and Trevor had purchased for them to lease before he could stop worrying about the curse. Not that he was still worried about it, he wasn’t, really, but he didn’t want to fuck this up anymore than he needed to, which was why he refused to answer her questions until they were safely inside.
“Ready?” Trevor asked with a grim expression as he took a deep breath.
“Ready,” he answered with a firm nod, tightening his hold around his wife and making sure that she didn’t make her escape and prolong this damn curse any longer than was necessary.
Nodding once firmly, Trevor pushed him towards the wheelchair ramp that someone had added onto the house recently and headed for the front door where Jason stood, holding the front door open and keeping his eyes locked on Jodi to make sure that she wasn’t able to make a run for it.
What felt like a lifetime later, they were crossing the threshold into the large house that was theirs to use. As soon as they were safely inside and the door was locked behind them, he released his hold around Jodi and grunted when her elbow slammed into his side as she scurried off his lap and smiled.
It was finally over.
They were home and out of reach of the curse. Granted, his father was still awaiting bail and trying to fight the charges, his cousins were exhausted, they were out six thousand dollars for the car rental they’d fucked up getting home, had over a thousand dollars worth of speeding tickets to take care of, were exhausted, starving, still wearing the same clothes since last week and felt disgusting, but at least they were home, at least they were safe.
“I’m out of here,” Jason said, giving his shoulder a firm squeeze as he nodded towards the door. “Give me a call if you need anything.”
“Zoe and Haley stocked the kitchen. Everything’s in reach so you should be okay,” Trevor added even as he looked around the large old house that had been recently renovated. “But if you need anything, we can be here in less than five.”
“We’ll be fine,” Danny said with a relieved sigh as he decided to make something for his wife to eat before he grabbed a shower and some sleep.
Jason paused by the door. “Do you want help explaining everything to Jodi?” he asked, gesturing with a nod in the direction that she’d disappeared.
“No, I’ll be fine,” he said, confident that everything would be fine now that they were home. He’d make Tink something to eat, finally explain everything to her and when he was done they’d probably have a good laugh, curl up in bed and sleep for a week and try to pretend that none of the bullshit from the past week had ever happened.
As far as he was concerned the only thing that mattered was that they were married, finally home after spending the last few months in the hospital and a beautiful future to look forward to. Nothing else mattered, especially that trip from hell that he’d like to forget, something that he was sure that his wife was more than happy to do as well.
*-*-*-*
“Open the fucking door!”
Since he’d refused to answer her questions or even acknowledge her existence over the last couple of d
ays, besides the kidnapping that is, she decided to continue the trend and ignore him as she settled in more comfortably in the large garden tub that she’d discovered only moments ago.
Normally, baths really didn’t do much for her except offer a short reprieve after a long day, but since she’d started showing and the boys had proved exactly how much of a handful they were going to be, she’d come to enjoy her baths more and more. Unfortunately the house that they’d rented in Florida had only one bathtub and it had been a shallow tub that barely allowed the water to reach above her hips.
It also didn’t help that the water had been hard water that reeked of chlorine, effectively killing her enjoyment anytime she tried to take a bath. This bathtub however was absolutely perfect. She wasn’t like her husband’s cousin, Rory, who was obsessed with baths, but she could definitely see herself falling in love with baths thanks to this beautiful tub.
God, this felt good, she thought as the wet heat wrapped around her and seeped into her bones, erasing the aches and pains from traveling the last couple days. She really could fall in love with this bathtub, she decided as she closed her eyes, sighed, releasing all the stress that had built over the last few months and just enjoyed herself.
It was so nice not to have to worry about Danny, late night calls from the hospital, fighting with Bradfords for food, or the call that she dreaded, the one where the doctor called her in so that he could tell her that Danny was never going to walk again.