Perfection: A Neighbor From Hell Novel

by R. L. Mathewson

  He paused at her closed door, wondering if he should knock or state his case behind the protection of the closed door where his balls would remain safe. After a slight pause and a silent apology to his balls in advance, he opened the door, more than ready to take his punishment like a man and frowned when he didn't encounter any flying books or yelling.

  "Go find mommy," he said, putting the tiny pup down.

  As he followed the puppy as it ran full speed towards the bathroom he wondered if maybe he should hit the pound and get another dog for her since she really loved dogs and he loved the look on her face when was getting puppy kisses. Maybe he should......

  All thoughts of what he should do raced from his head as he spotted Zoe crumpled on the floor, lying near a small pool of blood. His heart dropped in his chest as he raced to her side, somehow remembering to be gentle with Max as he picked the dog up and moved him to the side. With a shaky hand he reached out and checked her pulse, praying and promising everything he had if she was okay.

  She had to be okay.

  He sighed with relief when he felt her pulse. "Baby? Zoe? Sweetheart," he said, resisting the urge to shake her, but barely. From what he could see she'd fallen and he didn't want to hurt her anymore.

  "It's okay, Zoe," he said, wishing he'd been a fucking man and come after her and begged her to give him a chance when she ran out of the room instead of acting like an asshole. This was all his fault, he realized as he went to grab his phone out of his pocket only to remember that he took it out of his pocket and placed it on his aunt's kitchen table so that he wouldn't get it wet while he was doing dishes.

  He needed to get her help, but he didn't want to leave her, he couldn't. For the second time since Zoe became a part of his life he was happy that he hadn't had the walls insulated.

  "Jason!"

  *******

  "Sir, you need to calm down," the triage nurse said, probably for the hundredth time that hour.

  "I'll calm down when you let me in there to see her," Trevor said, trying to pull out of his uncle and Jason's grasp as they tried to drag him away from the front desk.

  "If you'd just have a seat, I'm sure someone will be with you in a moment," she said in that annoyingly calm tone that made him want to tear the place apart with his hands.

  "That's what you said an hour ago!" Trevor snapped. "I want to see my girlfriend or at the very least have someone tell me how she is!" he snapped, fighting to get out of the restraint so that he could storm through the double gray doors and find Zoe.

  For three of the longest hours of his life he'd been forced to stay in the emergency room's waiting area while doctors did god only knows what to Zoe. When his family wasn't reassuring him that she'd be okay or offering to get him something to eat they were taking turns trying to restrain him.

  Never in his life had he appreciated his family more than today. When word got out that Zoe was hurt, every single one of them came running, except for Haley who'd been forced to stay away because no one wanted to take the chance of the babies catching a bug in the waiting room. He hadn't been pacing the waiting room ten minutes when the first flood of Bradfords came storming through the doors demanding to know how Zoe was. They didn't all know her, most of them hadn't met her, but she was important to him so that made her important to them. Plus it probably didn't hurt that she'd tipped them all off about the buffet last weekend.

  "Let's go have a seat before she calls the nice security officers on you again," Jared said as he half-dragged/half-shoved Trevor back to the waiting room where a fresh group of Bradford males looked ready to take him to the ground if he moved so much as an inch out of the room again.

  For a moment he actually considered going for the doors again just so they'd beat the shit out of him and give him a bed inside so he could go look for Zoe. Then he realized he wouldn't do much good for Zoe if they knocked him out or the nurse had him restrained to a bed since he was acting a bit insane at the moment.

  "We should have lied about her family," Jason said, rubbing his hands down his face in frustration. "I should have told them I was her brother so I could find out what the hell was going on."

  "I tried telling them that Zoe was my daughter, but the ice princess manning the desk wasn't having it," Jared said, looking like he'd aged ten years in the past three hours.

  "I honestly don't know how she's managed," Jason said.

  "Managed what?" Trevor said, glaring at a rather rotund man who stepped in his line of sight. The man noticeably started when he spotted Trevor and thankfully moved the hell out of his way so he could keep his eyes on the door.

  "Being alone," Jason said softly. "I can't imagine how she did it all these years, having no one and nothing."

  "She's not alone," Trevor bit out. "She has me."

  "Until you fuck up again that is," Jason mused, looking thoughtful.

  "I'm not going to fuck 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 fuck 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 fuck 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 asshole. 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.

  "But I did find a can of chicken noodle soup in the kitchen so we're in luck," Trevor said, oblivious to her pathetic musings as he lifted the cover off the tray.

  Zoe opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn't hungry and that she was leaving when the aroma of chicken broth hit her hard. Gagging, she covered her mouth with both hands as she struggled to get away from the tray.

  Thankfully Trevor had the good sense to grab the tray and rush it out of the room so that she could run to the bathroom. She stumbled towards the bathroom, praying she wouldn't have a repeat of the other day and quickly made it to the bathroom where she dry heaved for a minute before her stomach finally gave up.

  After using the bathroom and brushing her teeth, because she felt pretty gross, she decided it was time to go home.

  "I'm sorry, baby. I should have given you your pill before you tried to eat," Trevor said, walking into the bathroom, carrying a glass in one hand and a small pile of pills in the other.

  He handed the pills over to her. "The small one is your nausea pill. The doctor said that should take care of it, but if it doesn't your doctor can give you a stronger prescription when you see him on Monday."

  She didn't need to ask him what the other pills were for since she remembered the doctor telling her that he was sending her home with some low dose pain killers that were safe for the babies and prenatal vitamins. Needing a moment, she took the pills and swallowed them.

  "Thank you," she said, feeling a little nervous as she handed him the glass.

  The silence that followed was a bit awkward and telling. Worrying her bottom lip, she looked up and met his eyes. "You know, don't you?"

  "That you're carrying my love child?" he asked, smiling softly. "Yes."

  "Oh," she said, wishing they didn't have to have this conversation right now, but there really was no point in putting it off. "Then you know that this doesn't change anything, don't you?"

  "I know," he said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal and gently ushering her to the side of the decent size bathroom.

  Weren't guys usually more upset about this kind of thing? she wondered as she watched him start the shower.

  "You're not upset?" she asked, wondering if maybe she'd imagined the whole thing. The idea upset her. She may not have known about the babies for very long, but she wanted them. It would be nice to finally have someone to belong to.

  "Upset?" he asked, throwing her a frown over his shoulder. "Why would I be upset?"

  "Because we're having a baby," she said slowly, wondering if maybe he'd suffered a head injury while she'd been out. It was possible. There was a lot of ice on the ground after all. Maybe while he was walking outside with the dogs he-

  "I'm hoping for a girl," he announced the same way he'd ask her for extra snacks in his lunch.

  "A girl?" she asked, not because she didn't love the idea of having a little baby girl to buy pretty pink things for, but because she was actually getting a little nervous here. Never in a million years would she have imagined the man who didn't want a real relationship with her to be happy having a child with her, a child that would bind them for life.

  "Yeah, I kind of like the idea of having a little girl to spoil," he admitted with a careless shrug. "I'll even let you name her," he offered magnanimously. "But if it's a boy I'm naming it," he said, shooting her a look of warning. It was the same one he shot her when she wanted to name Max, Percival so that she could call him Percy.

  "Gee, that's really generous of you," she said dryly.

  "I know," he said breezily, making her roll her eyes. The man was nothing if not arrogant. She watched as he yanked off his tee-shirt and tossed it in the hamper and thought that a shower was a pretty good idea, especially since she'd worn the same shirt for two days.

  She looked down at her shirt and frowned. "Um, what happened to my Red Sox tee shirt?" she asked as she looked down at Trevor's favorite Yankees tee-shirt.

  "Oh, we burned that."

  "You burned my shirt?" she practically shrieked. She'd loved that shirt. It was really cute with its bubbled lettering and cartoony baseball.

  "Uh huh, we even took a vote."

  "You voted to burn my shirt?"

  "Yup."

  "Seriously?" she asked, wondering if he was kidding.

  "It was a real family bonding moment. There were tears and hugs and everything."

  "But I loved that shirt. It was cute," she said, knowing she was pouting, but she really couldn't help it.

  "That one's cuter," he said, pointing at the shirt she was wearing. />
  "Not really." And it wasn't. There were no bubbly letters or cartoonish-like drawings on this shirt. It had a big Y over an equally big N. How exactly was that cute?

  "Well, we'll get the baby a few Yankees onesies and I'm sure you'll at least find those cute," he said, yanking his pants off.

  "Actually I was planning on getting the this cute little pink Red Sox uniform I saw-"

  He practically growled, "You wouldn't."

  "I would."

  He narrowed his eyes on her and she knew that if she ever tried he'd spank her ass, which meant she'd have to dress the baby up in cute Red Sox gear when he wasn't around and of course she would probably do it just to piss him off when he started dating.

  "Look," she said, gesturing to the door, "I'm going to go now. I need to go home and figure some things out."

  "Like what?" he asked, chucking his boxers and making it kind of difficult to focus.

  "Umm, things?" she asked, admittedly distracted.

  "Do they involve the baby?" he asked casually.

  "Yes."

  "Okay," he nodded slowly. "We can discuss the baby in here," he said, pulling back the shower curtain and gesturing for her to enter.

  "Or we could just wait until later," she said, taking a step towards the door.

  "Either you strip out of that shirt and get your ass in here, Zoe, or I'm going to toss you in there. Your choice," he said firmly, probably thinking that she'd just do whatever he wanted, but he really should have known better.

  "We'll talk later," she said, turning her back on him and heading for the door only to find Trevor blocking her way. For a big man he moved pretty quickly, she thought, backing up as he stalked towards her.

  "Okay, fine. We'll talk now," she said quickly, knowing there really was no choice in the matter, but trying to appear like she had a say.

  "After you," he said, gesturing once again towards the shower.

  With a small sigh she pulled her shirt and panties off and tossed them on the hamper and stepped into the shower. "We're just talking, Trevor. Nothing more and I'm only going along with this because I need a shower and I don't want to wait an hour for the water to heat up again."