"Until you f**k up again that is," Jason mused, looking thoughtful.
"I'm not going to f**k up again," he said between clench teeth.
His uncles, all six of them, sighed long and heavy. "Yes, you will," they pretty much said in unison so he decided to turn his glare on them, but only for a moment. He needed to keep his eye on the door so he could grab the next person who walked out wearing a hospital ID.
"You're a Bradford," Jared said with a careless shrug. "We always f**k up."
"That's not exactly helpful," Trevor said, quickly losing all those warm fuzzy feelings he'd had about his family five minutes ago.
"But it's the truth. We all f**k up when it comes to our women and you will too. The key is to make her love you more than you piss her off," Jason added. "It's a very delicate balance."
He shifted in his chair to scowl at his cousin. "How exactly is that helpful?"
Sighing heavily, Jason threw his arm over Trevor's shoulders and gave him a hard squeeze. "Don't worry. Once she gets over her crush on me, I'm sure she'll forgive you."
"You do realize that Zoe thinks you're insane, right?" Trevor asked distractedly as he threw another look at the double doors.
"But the point is that she does think about me," Jason said and Trevor appreciated the man's efforts to distract him from his worry. It was sweet really.
"Shit," Jason gasped, dropping his arm from around Trevor's shoulders to grab his side. "Bastard," he said, sucking in a breath.
Trevor stood up and gave his cousin a solid clap on the back. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up."
"Not a problem," Jason said, coughing, which only made Trevor feel kind of bad for elbowing the man in the ribs, but he quickly got over it when he saw the double doors open and a nurse and doctor roll a barely with it Zoe out in a wheelchair.
The doctor, a tall man who looked to be in his early forties, spoke with the triage nurse who threw him a dirty look and gestured their way. Trevor didn't wait for the doctor to approach. He rushed over to Zoe, barely pausing to shove a few of his cousins out of his way.
Seconds later he was dropping to his knees in front of the wheelchair, forcing the nurse to stop. His stomach clenched into a knot when he spotted the white gauze taped to her temple. He reached out to smooth the gauze over and offer her some comfort.
"Baby, I'm so sorry-ow!" He pulled his hand back, trying to shake off the slight sting. "What the hell was that for?" he snapped, making her wince and grab her head and making him feel like an ass**le. Of course her head hurt.
"Don't," she sucked in a breath, "touch."
"I won't. I'm sorry, sweetheart," he whispered softly, too afraid to raise his voice and cause her any pain or discomfort. "Let's get you home where I can take care of you. Okay?"
Of course the stubborn woman shook her damn head, well, tried to at least. "Go away, Trevor," she said, noticeably wincing.
"Shh, baby, try to relax. You don't have to say anything. I'll take you home and take care of you."
"I.....don't want......you," she said, sucking in a breath. "Go...away."
Instead of getting mad, which under normal circumstances he probably would have done, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to the back of one of the hands that was holding her head tightly. If he didn't know that she had a head injury and was obviously out of it, he might have taken that personally, but he knew she loved him.
How could she not? He was so damn giving after all, he thought as he ducked out of the way before her blind swing could connect with his jaw. He ignored his family's obvious amusement and decided he'd use her, hopefully, temporary little disabled state and show her just how giving he really was.
Chapter 28
"It's over," Zoe said, again.
"Uh huh," Trevor said, not really paying attention to her as the stubborn man carefully placed a tray on her lap. "My aunt dropped some food off last night, but you were asleep and my uncles and cousins were here to help out and everyone got hungry," he said with a shrug.
"So they dropped off more food, but unfortunately you slept all day and I got hungry and you made me nervous because you slept so damn much," he said accusingly like she'd fallen asleep the second Jason placed her on Trevor's lap in the back seat of Jared's car and hadn't woken up until about twenty minutes ago on purpose.
At first she'd been a little confused to find herself in Trevor's bed, but the dull pain in her head and the memory of what happened in the emergency room helped her wake up pretty damn quickly. Although she had absolutely no idea in hell what she was going to do, she knew she wanted to figure things out privately in her own apartment where she could freak out and this was definitely a moment to freak out.
What the hell was she going to do now? she wondered, worrying her bottom lip. She was in a nonexistent relationship, well, was. That was over so she'd probably have to move out soon and that would take up a chunk of the money she'd saved. Thank god she hadn't gone through with her vacation plans because then she'd really be screwed, even more that is.
At least she had a good paying job and health insurance for a little while longer, but once the babies came she couldn't really expect Jared to hold her job for her, especially since she'd probably be out of commission for quite some time.
Twins.
When she messed up, she really messed up. Instead of just getting knocked up she really got knocked up. She was either going to end up living in her car, which was barely running these days or be stuck on welfare and that was a dead end she refused to go. She wasn't going to end up like her mother and her kids were not going to end up in foster care because she had no choice.
No matter what she would not be losing her babies, she decided as she pressed a hand to her stomach, whishing she could feel some kind of proof that they were really there. It would be nice to feel some kind of connection to her babies so she could draw strength from them to do what she needed to do. She'd tell Trevor about them, but she wasn't expecting much from him as far as she was concerned.
Oh, she knew he'd take care of the babies and they'd never want for anything, but she wasn't so sure she'd survive being forced to see him every time he came to see the babies and she knew damn well the man wouldn't be able to stay away from his children. She would never stop him, but when he started to date again or god help her, decided to get married it would kill her.
There were a lot of things she knew she could force herself to survive, but seeing Trevor with another woman wasn't going to be one of them. It would be too difficult knowing that she'd never be good enough to be the woman that Trevor wanted. She'd always be the plain woman that he'd slummed with and got pregnant.