"Here you go," he said, grabbing her sandwich and drink and setting it in front of her. "I grabbed you a turkey, no cheese, extra veggies and fat free mayo on wheat. It's healthy food and it won't leave you starving, Zoe," he explained, hoping she wouldn't give him much of a fight, because at this point he was willing to pin her to the ground and force feed her.
She'd lost too much weight to be healthy and worst of all she was making all of his favorite curves smaller. He loved those f**king curves and he'd be damned if she denied him. Plus, she really was making him nervous.
Not that he really cared or anything.
Okay, so he cared a little bit. She was his friend and they were sleeping together after all. It was only natural that he be concerned when she was putting her health and more importantly their arrangement at risk. He needed to work her out of his system and he wouldn't be able to do that if she was constantly sick.
At least that's what he told himself.
Truth was he really didn't like seeing her suffer. She'd been really good to him and he loved their time together. She was the highlight of his day and as much as that frightened him he couldn't ignore it. He'd help get her where she needed to be, finish this arrangement after he found his future wife and keep tabs on her afterwards to make sure she was okay. Maybe he'd put her in one of his nicer apartment houses and let her live there free. It was the least he could do for her and it would make it so much easier to make sure that she was okay.
"What if I get fat again?" she muttered so softly that he almost missed it.
He just barely stopped himself from snapping at her. "Zoe, you really need to eat. This isn't healthy and if you make better choices and continue to exercise you should be fine."
She tore her eyes away from her sandwich and gave him a sad little sheepish smile. "I always gain back the weight plus a little extra when I break a diet," she admitted, her little chin wobbling.
Sighing heavily, he reached out and took her hand into his. "You're not breaking your diet, Zoe. You're just switching it around. Plus, I'm around and if I see you eating something unhealthy I'll just steal it from you," he said with a shrug.
Her lips twitched even as her eyes shinned with unspent tears. "That's really nice of you."
"I know," he sighed, picking up her sandwich and placing it on her lap. "I'm so damn giving."
He heard what suspiciously sound like a snort of laughter, but decided to ignore it as he devoured his four sandwiches. It didn't take Zoe long to tear through her sub and when she shot his last sandwich a wistful look he sighed and pulled out the small side salad he'd bought just in case Zoe busted his balls over the sub. She took it with a smile, leaving him to finish off his sandwich and pick out a movie.
"So, what else happened today?" he asked as he sat back down and threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him.
She shrugged, snuggling up against him. "Not much else. I had a problem getting my car started, fell, bruised my bottom, got to go home early and Jared yelled at me for starving myself," she announced around another yawn.
"Seriously?" he asked, not really all that surprised. If anyone would notice what Zoe wasn't feeding herself it would be a Bradford and since he knew his uncle cared for Zoe he wasn't at all surprised that the man had taken it upon himself to have a word with her instead of pushing the duty onto someone else. No wonder she left the trailer crying. When his uncle cared about someone who was doing something stupid he really let them know it and he should know since he had firsthand experience dealing with his uncle's "concerns."
When he'd dropped out of school at sixteen and got into a screaming match with his mother over that and his demand that she sign the release form so that he could join the army, Jared had been the one to handle him. As he yelled at his mother his uncle quietly walked into the room, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the kitchen wall while he patiently waited for the argument to end. The moment his mother told him his choices were to get his ass back in school or move out he told her to have a nice life and headed for his room to pack up his shit.
Since he was big for his age and looked at least eighteen and had twenty-five dollars to his name he figured he was more than ready to start a new life. After his father humiliated and abandoned him along with all his friends because of the special classes he had to attend he was damn determined never to return to school. He hadn't seen any real reason to. He was a man and more than able to support himself.
After he packed a duffle bag he stormed out of the house and past his hysterically sobbing mother. He didn't make it three feet past the door before he found himself flat on his stomach, on the grass that he'd forgotten to mow and his uncle's knee between his shoulder blades.
While he struggled to free himself his uncle held him there, calmly explaining to him, in detail, what would happen to him if he tried to leave the house again without his mother's permission and what he would personally do to Trevor if he ever heard him talk disrespectfully to his mother again. As soon as Trevor apologized, with a mouthful of grass and god only knows what else, Jared continued to tell him that he was going to come work for him full-time where he could keep an eye on him, but that he was also going to get his GED.
His uncle didn't ask him what he wanted. He just told him to have his ass up by six in the morning and be ready for work or his ass better be going to school. Six the next morning he groggily waited for his uncle to pick him up and by the end of the day he wished he was dead. He'd hurt everywhere, had blisters on his hands, was sunburned, exhausted, starving and more than ready to go home and crash, but his uncle had other plans for him.
Trevor woke up when his uncle announced that they were there, only to discover "there" was the community center. With a simple nod he told Trevor to get out and go inside for his GED class and that his mother would be there to pick him up in two hours. Before he drove off he explained what would happen if Trevor didn't stay awake and pay attention. Knowing his uncle didn't make idle threats he stumbled inside and forced himself to stay awake and pay attention.
Eight months later he had his GED and a pay raise for doing a good job. By then he liked his job and was pretty good at it so he stayed. He saved his money, learned to flip homes with his uncle and by twenty owned his first rental property, a beat up tiny cottage by the pond that he fixed up and once he did he never had a problem finding tenants that were willing to pay his asking price. Since then he'd bought several more rental properties and flipped at least two houses a year.