Perfection: A Neighbor From Hell Novel

by R. L. Mathewson

  He didn't bother looking up from his large plate of fried chicken, but he did smile. The look on Jason's face when he'd stolen the last piece of chicken off his plate was priceless and he may have rubbed it in Jason's face a little bit until he thought his cousin was going to lunge for his throat.

  He probably would have too if Haley hadn't handed their infant daughter over to Jason. The murderous glare on Jason's face was instantly replaced by one of adoration as he pressed little kisses on the little baby girl's face. That is until he saluted Jason with a drumstick a minute ago.

  Ah, good times, he thought, as he focused his attention on Zoe, who looked a little bored. If she was a Bradford she wouldn't be bored. This would be like winning the lottery to her, but alas she wasn't and he couldn't exactly encourage her to kill time by eating since she would probably bitch slap him for the suggestion, steal his chicken, and give it to Jason just to screw him over.

  Granted, he wouldn't mind seeing her eat a little more food. He really missed how much fuller her curves used to be, he thought with a little inward groan. Then again she had been doing pretty good with that plate his uncle put together for her until halfway through she suddenly stopped eating, looking a little pale and pushed the food towards him as if she was afraid it was going to attack her.

  Damn food poisoning.

  Since he'd had food poisoning more than once in his life he could sympathize with her. It wasn't a whole hell of a lot of fun, especially not being able to eat. Although the cup of tea he went and grabbed for her did anything but calm her stomach she did manage to sip the glass of ginger ale he gave her.

  "Is there going to be a riot?" she asked, looking and sounding hopeful. "Or a fight? How exactly do you guys get yourselves banned?"

  "I cannot believe you took advantage of our weakness for your own entertainment," he said in mock disgust since it actually turned him on and he'd been struggling off and on with the desire to drag her adorable ass to his truck where he could show her just much it turned him on, but that would have to wait until the restaurant closed down for the night or they kicked him out, whichever came first.

  She rolled her eyes as she gestured to the buffet tables. "I get entertainment and you get food. I really don't see what the problem is."

  "I would have gotten at least a week's worth of the buffet if you hadn't told everyone," he grumbled, giving her his best pout.

  "Would it make you feel better if I promised not to tell anyone but you about the next time that I spot a new buffet restaurant?"

  "Yes, yes it would," he said, feeling somewhat appeased.

  "Fine, you big baby," she said, sighing as she looked around the restaurant again. "Do you think it would be okay if I went over and asked Haley if I could borrow one of her books so that I have something to do while I wait for my entertainment?" she asked, gesturing across the room to Haley who had a small stack of paperback books on the table next to her.

  "I'm not entertaining enough?" he asked, biting into a large juicy breast.

  "Sadly no."

  Even though he was damn entertaining and she knew it, he decided to take pity on her. "Here," he said, picking the black shopping bag off the seat next to him and handed it to her.

  "You're giving me your condiments?" she asked, looking confused as she took the bag.

  "Not that you deserve it after what you pulled today," he said, gesturing to the bag, "but I got you a little something. It's fully charged and it has a hundred dollar balance on it so you can start downloading whenever you're ready."

  Nibbling her bottom lip in that nervous way of hers, Zoe shot him a curious look before placing the bag on the bench next to her and opening it. The stunned look on her face pleased him greatly.

  "You're giving me an e-reader?" she asked softly.

  He nodded, rather pleased with the wobbly smile she was giving him. "You mentioned how much you wanted one so I picked one up yesterday morning when I ran out to do errands," he explained, not mentioning that he called Jason up for help.

  His cousin had been a little shocked by the call, but pleased. He hated asking for help and thankfully his cousin understood that which was why he called him. Out of all the people who knew about his problem, and there weren't that many, only Jason and his Uncle Jared made him feel comfortable about it. His aunt babied him and the rest of his family was too damn overprotective of him.

  Although Jason was a little surprised that he wanted an e-reader, he didn't really question it. For two hours they looked around until they found one they both liked. He liked the look and the easy features that Jason read to him and Jason liked the rest of the technical nonsense so he bought one for Haley that he planned on surprising her with later.

  It actually surprised him that he'd enjoyed shopping with Jason. Not that he wanted to make it a weekly thing, the shopping that is, but he wouldn't mind spending more time with his cousin. He hadn't realized how much he actually missed the man until they were shoving a couple of teenagers away from the demo video games so that they could play.

  For the first time in a long time he was actually looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner with his family. It was probably past time he gave up his bullshit and stopped acting like an ass over his cousin's happiness. Not that he ever truly begrudged Jason his happiness, but it had reminded him that he was unhappy.

  He wasn't really sure when he'd gotten over his bullshit, but after spending time with Zoe and learning to relax a little more he realized he was being an idiot. Of course her telling him that he was being an idiot after he confided in her late one late night might have something to do with it. Any other woman would have probably been sympathetic and babied him, but Zoe stared at him for a minute, just stared at him before she reached up and slapped him upside his head and told him to get over it.

  She told him that he was missing out over something that shouldn't matter since his family clearly loved him and it was more than obvious to anyone that Jason was trying to reach out to him. After he thought it over with the help of one of her delicious sandwiches of course, he realized that it really was petty bullshit. No matter how smart Jason was or how perfect his life seemed Jason was just......Jason, the cousin who sometimes went out of his way to embarrass everyone, but had a heart of gold.

  After everything Jason did for him as a kid he wanted his cousin to have the best life and be happy. He also realized he wanted to be part of it. He wanted to hang out with Jason again and spend more time with his family. If he decided to have children he hoped their kids could be friends, granted Jason's kids would probably be freakishly smart and would probably have to help his kids out a time or two, but they could be friends. He wouldn't mind a second generation of Jason's looking out for his kids.

  "Really?" she asked, sounding unsure and drawing his attention once again.

  "I figured this way if you started to read a book and didn't like it you could always find another one," he said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal, but he was secretly pleased that he'd given her something that she clearly liked so much......

  "Zoe, are you crying?" he asked, feeling like he'd just been kicked in the balls.

  "No!" she said, sounding outraged, but he didn't miss the way she ducked her head or tried to wipe her eyes on the back of her sleeves. "I just have something in my eye that's all."

  Shit.

  He messed up on the gift. Damn it, maybe he should have just gotten her that little German Sheppard puppy that he'd spotted in the pet store. The damn thing looked so small and lonely and he knew that Zoe would just love the damn thing and Toby would probably like a little friend. Well, it looked like he'd be hitting the mall again and picking out a different gift.

  It was all Jason's fault.

  The bastard, he thought as he picked up a particularly large chicken drumstick and held it up to taunt the bastard only to spot Jason holding up a large juicy looking rib. There were ribs? he wondered, licking his lips. Zoe's small little sniffle brought him back. Focus. Zoe firs
t, ribs second and oh, there would be ribs.....lots and lots of ribs.

  He reached across the table to take the e-reader out of her hand. "I'll take it back and get you something else--ow!" he yelped, pulling his poor battered hand away from the crazed woman.

  "Mine," she said, hugging the e-reader to her chest as she glared at him.

  "But, I was just-"

  "Mine," she said more firmly.

  He held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. It's yours," he said, secretly pleased that she liked it enough to attack him. Always a good sign when giving a woman a gift, although he couldn't remember any of his past girlfriends, not that Zoe was his girlfriend, willing to harm him if he threatened to take a gift away from them. Not that he ever gave them anything more than a gift card for their birthday or Christmas, but still, he was taking it as a good sign.

  "Thank you, I love it," she said, sounding close to tears again. Ah hell, he'd rather have her attack him than cry.

  "Zoe,-"

  "I'm fine," she said, wiping at her eyes again. "I just need to use the bathroom," she announced, getting to her feet and reluctantly putting her gift down. "Thank you," she said, again, looking even closer to crying.

  "You're welcome," he said, wishing he could take her into his arms and make her feel better. Maybe he should back off on their arrangement and let the poor woman get some rest. He really couldn't have her crying over every little thing, especially now that he decided to get her that damn puppy.

  Which he was naming, damn it!

  **********

  She felt so stupid.

  Why the hell was she crying all the time? Okay, so it wasn't really all the time, but it was a lot more than she normally cried, which was pretty much never. Then again she was pretty tired lately, but she was pretty sure that had nothing to do with the reason why she was crying now.

  Trevor had given her the nicest gift she'd ever received. Growing up in foster care she'd gotten a small gift from whatever family she'd been staying with for birthdays or Christmas, but it was never anything much or personal, most of the time it was just something that they probably grabbed while they stood in the checkout line. The few boyfriends she'd have over the years had given her some flowers or candy, basic dating fair, but she couldn't actually remember any of them giving her an actual gift, which probably had something to do with the fact that she usually didn't have a boyfriend around her birthday or Christmas. She'd received a few little token gifts from friends over the years that she really loved, but no one had ever given her a gift like this.

  The gift was thoughtful and sweet and something that she truly wanted. No one had ever taken the time to buy her something special for absolutely no reason at all before and god help her, but she feared she was a little more than halfway in love with the big jerk.

  "That's just what I need," she mumbled to herself as she pressed the cold wet paper towel to her eyes. It would just be her luck to fall in love with a man who would never see her as anything more than a convenience.

  Unfortunately knowing there was never going to be anything more didn't stop her from doing something completely stupid like fall madly in love with him.

  When this was all over she knew she would be broken and losing Trevor was going to hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced before, but right now she was pushing that rather depressing thought aside and focusing on the here and now. Right now she had a great job, a great apartment, and a great guy to spend time with as long as they kept it simple.

  Although it was actually starting to hurt that he wanted to keep their relationship, well it really couldn't be called a relationship, secret she realized that in the end it might be for the best. When this was over she didn't want anyone to look at her with pity.

  Hell bent on enjoying her new gift, spending a little more time with Trevor and hopefully getting answers to a few questions that kept her up late at night, Zoe forced all the depressing thoughts out of her head and left the bathroom and came to a skidding stop.

  "You can't ban us over that!" Jason said, holding Cole, who was happily devouring a cookie, on his hip as he was being herded out the door by what appeared to be a manager and several very nervous employees. Granted, she'd be nervous too if she was responsible for coming between not just one Bradford male, but all of them from the looks of it.

  Seriously, what the hell had they done?

  She was only in the bathroom for five minutes, ten minutes tops. How was that enough time to get an entire family banned?

  Trevor, glaring at several young men who were obviously Bradfords, gestured for her to walk over.

  "Can you hold, Elizabeth?" Haley said before she could take so much as a step in the direction of the exit, startling her.

  Zoe readied her arms automatically for the sleeping baby girl. She was so adorable and clearly favored the Bradford side with her coloring. She really was a pretty little girl.

  "I can't believe she slept through all of that," Haley whispered, sounding a little freaked out. It was then that she noticed the woman was trembling.

  "Haley, are you okay?" she asked, wondering just what the hell happened.

  Haley forced one of her smiles, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. "Do you mind carrying her out for me?"

  "Of course," Zoe answered, for the first time noticing the horrified expressions on the rest of the customers' faces as they watched all the Bradford men as they were herded out of the building.

  Suddenly she wasn't so sure that she wanted to know what she'd missed.

  Chapter 25

  This arrangement wasn't working for him any longer, he realized as he stepped over his boys fighting over that damn pretty pink princess chew toy. He hung up their leashes and headed up the stairs only to come to an abrupt halt when his sleep hazed mind remembered something.

  Grunting at Toby and Max to keep it down, he walked into Zoe's kitchen. He yawned as he grabbed a glass, dropped some ice into the cup and filled it with ginger ale. As he was leaving he shot a glance at the clock stove and nearly groaned. It was nearly eight o'clock in the morning and if he didn't leave soon he'd probably miss out on the fresh baked muffins his aunts made every Thanksgiving morning, but he should be able to make it in time for the huge breakfast spread they put out.

  If he didn't haul ass soon he wouldn't have the proper nourishment that helping prepare Thanksgiving dinner for his family required. He had about three hours of peeling, chopping, dicing, washing dishes, and at least one emergency run to the store for whatever ingredient the women of his family needed to complete the insanely delicious dinner they'd serve at one o'clock promptly, but first he wanted to check on Zoe and tell her that things just weren't working out for him anymore.

  This wasn't her fault of course. She'd respected their arrangement and even followed the rules that they both set, but somewhere along the line it stopped working for him. This whole bullshit situation of having sex with a woman but not sleeping with her and having to sneak into her room first thing in the morning just so he could cuddle with her and admittedly have his very naughty way with her was just too much work.

  Plus if he was going to be honest with himself he'd have to admit that he was sick of all the work that it required to keep his hands off of her in public. Every time he wanted to touch her, hold her hand, or kiss her he had to remind himself that it wasn't like that between them and hold back. Denying himself what he wanted wasn't fun and he was done doing it.

  This whole thing was ridiculous, he thought as he stepped back over the playful pups and started up the stairs. They'd been together for months and he cared for her, genuinely cared for her. He couldn't actually remember caring about a woman before Zoe. Before her he only cared what being with a woman did for him, food, sex, and a beautiful woman on his arm, but with Zoe he'd have to get his own damn food or risk his own case of food poisoning, unless she made him a yummy sandwich, he'd die without sex with her, and he didn't give a flying fuck what anyone thought about her. He enjoyed being with her an
d if anyone had a problem with that they could fuck off.

  He didn't think it would last once he put his new plan into effect, but then again he hadn't thought their little arrangement would last this long. He'd been wrong about that, but he was sure that once they arrangement turned into something a little more substantial the novelty of the whole thing would wear off quickly. No doubt his plan would take all the fun and excitement out of sneaking around, and he was pretty sure that's why it lasted this long, but he didn't really care. The sooner he told her the sooner he could put himself out his misery and just relax and enjoy being with her until it was time to end things.

  When he came to the top of the stairs he hesitated for a moment. He'd kept her up pretty late last night, or rather this morning, maybe he should just let her get some sleep and he'd talk to her when they both got back from their Thanksgiving plans. But that would mean he'd have to wait until well after six o'clock, the time he usually came home after his family ran out of food on Thanksgiving Day, to talk to her about his decision and he really didn't want to put it off, knowing how happy it would make her.

  Besides, he didn't want to leave without seeing her. It was stupid, but he liked seeing her first thing in the morning when her hair was all messed up, her face was puffy and she grumbled rather violent promise to his manhood. She was so damn cute first thing in the morning.

  He walked into her room and wasn't too surprised when he heard Toby's happy panting closing in behind him or when the large pup ran past him, wagging his tail happily as he raced towards Zoe's bed, but didn't jump on the bed. The pup had learned early on not to be close to Zoe when she first woke up. The woman was not a happy camper and poor Toby had been hit with a pillow or two as Zoe struggled to bury her head under her pillow and ignore their demands that she get up.

  A few seconds later Max ran in, no less eager, but not yet quite half the size of Toby and raced to the bed, trying to jump on it and failing miserably as he whimpered, still sounding very much like a puppy, demanding Zoe wake up and cuddle with him. It was the same way the dogs had woken him up an hour ago. Of course Toby didn't hesitate waking him up with puppy licks since he'd snuck into his room with Max following right behind him around three this morning after Zoe had fallen asleep, and slept on the bed with him.