She got him ice cream? He fucking loved ice cream.
"What flavor?" he asked, licking his lips in anticipation of the sweet treat.
"I don't remember right now. I bought you several half gallons because I wasn't sure what you liked, but I really have to get off the phone so I can put the stuff away. The checkout line was really long and then I got held up in traffic so-"
"No, that's fine. I just wanted to see if you got the job," he lied. He could have just as easily asked his uncle if he'd really wanted to know. As far as he was concerned his guilt was washed away when he hired her this morning. Anything else was just a plus.
"Oh, that was nice of you. Thank you," she said, sounding truly surprised, which kind of pissed him off since he was fucking nice. Didn't he just find her two jobs out of the goodness of his heart? "I really have to go now. Bye," she said, hanging up before he could respond. Damn infuriating tenant, he thought as he turned his scowl on his cousin.
"What the hell do you want?"
"What the hell does it look like?" Jason snapped. "I need a ride home."
"So? Go find your wife and have her drive your ass home. I have plans," he said, getting in and starting the truck. He threw his cousin an expectant look that clearly told the other man to get his ass out.
Jason simply crossed his arms over his wide chest and leaned back. "She already left for the day."
"Call her and tell her to come pick your ass up," Trevor said, giving the door a pointed look.
"She's sleeping," Jason said as if that should mean something to him. It didn't. Sure he liked Haley and if his cousin hadn't managed to trick her into marrying him he would have made an exception for her height and taken a go at her, but that didn't mean he gave a rat's ass that she'd have to cut her nap short and come get her pain in the ass husband.
"So? Wake her up and have her come get you. She should be awake when watching the baby anyway," he pointed out.
Jason snorted. "Wow, you really are an asshole."
Trevor simply nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."
"She was falling asleep at her desk so Dad called up Jill and Mary. They came and got her and one of them drove her and the car home and Dad decided to take Cole home for the night to give her a break," Jason said, sounding exhausted.
"Why didn't they have you bring her home?"
"They wanted to give her a break from all my fussing," he said, pouting.
Knowing there really wasn't much choice in the matter, Trevor threw the car into drive and headed towards the center of town. He still couldn't believe the lovesick bastard sitting next to him was the same man who'd fucked their Cousin Eric's fiancé at the rehearsal dinner to win a bet. Granted, he'd started that bet, but that didn't change the fact that his cousin had changed and not for the better as far as he was concerned.
Not that he'd ever admit it, but Trevor had always been intimidated by his cousin, not in looks of course, but just in the way everything came so easily to Jason, especially when they were kids. Jason learned to tie his shoes at two, ride a bike by three, read at two, and pretty much dominated any sport he played while Trevor had to ask his mother to tie his shoes for him until he was seven, still rode a bike with training wheels while all their friends were popping wheelies on two wheels and he was ashamed to say that he hadn't learned how to read until he was fifteen and that was only because a teacher discovered that he'd been getting other kids to do his homework for him, including Jason.
Finding out that he was dyslexic had been one of worst moments of his life. He still remembered the look on his father's face when the school counselor explained that he needed to be placed in special classes. That's just about the same time his father started to call him retard, telling him how glad he was that they didn't share the same last name and canceling their weekend visits. When he did show up, which wasn't often, he spent most of their visit talking about how great Jason was and how much he wished Trevor was more like his cousin.
Two months after he started the special classes he brought home a report card full of C-'s and D's, but he'd been so goddamn proud of that report card because he'd earned it all on his own. His father had taken one look at his report card before backhanding him, knocking him on his ass in front of his cousins and friends.
While everyone else ran to get help, Jason took it upon himself to beat the shit out of the man. Jared and the rest of his mother's brothers came running out of the house minutes later and had to tear Jason off the man so that they could get in their hits.
To this day he wasn't sure if it was the embarrassment of getting his ass kicked by a fifteen year old kid or the shame of having him as a son, but he hadn't seen or heard from his father since. After that day he stopped trying in school and gave up on everything, content to sit back and watch as his cousin Jason kicked ass in life.
As much as he tried when they were kids he just couldn't hate Jason. He was a funny, laid back guy, who could be an asshole and embarrass the ever loving shit out of him, but he was always a decent guy and Trevor loved him, not that he would ever admit that. He'd never begrudged his cousin anything in life because he was family and even though the bastard was insanely smart and a Harvard grad to boot he never acted like it, making it easier for Trevor to be around him and not feel like the loser that he knew he was.
After Jason met Haley he'd changed. He became more serious and cut his asshole ways for good and made Haley the center of his world. As a result Trevor no longer knew how to relate to his cousin. They no longer hung out and Trevor avoided the man at work just so he wouldn't be reminded that the man with the perfect like was slumming so he could save up enough money to build the wife that he loved and adored the perfect house. How the hell could he relate to that?
He couldn't and had absolutely no plans to try. Marriage for him wasn't going to be about love, romance, and fairytales. It was going to be about finding the woman of his dreams and keeping her. His wife was going to be the one thing in his life that everyone envied and she was going to be absolutely perfect.
"Where are you going?" Jason asked.
"To your house?" he meant that as a statement, but truth be told he had absolutely no idea where his cousin lived, which was kind of sad since he'd helped him move.
"Take a left at the next set of lights," Jason said, chuckling softly. "You'd know where I lived if you took us up on the dozen or so dinner invitations we shot your way each month."
"I've been busy," he lied.
"Uh huh," Jason said unconcerned. "So, your girlfriend seemed nice. Totally wanted me by the way, but that's understandable."
Trevor couldn't help but frown, wondering who the hell Jason was talking about. "Who?"
"Zoe," Jason said, gesturing for Trevor to take a right turn. "She seemed a little shy, but I liked her," he simply stated. "Cole liked her, too."
Trevor just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "First off, she's not my girlfriend and I'm actually pretty insulted that you'd think I'd date someone like her. Secondly, I don't date woman based on your son's opinion."
Jason snorted. "You should. My son has great taste."
He threw the man a sideways glance, wondering if he was high. "Are you trying to tell me that you found Zoe hot?" If he said yes, Trevor was turning the truck around and taking the man to the nearest emergency room to have him tested for drugs.
"I didn't say that. I said she was nice. Not at all like the women you usually date," Jason said.
"What the hell's wrong with the women I date?" he demanded, feeling pretty damn insulted. All the women he dated were fucking perfect, well almost.
"They're all ice bitches," Jason stated.
"No, they're not," Trevor argued, but they usually were. Not that he'd admit it to his perfect cousin. Besides all the women Jason dated before Haley were all stuck up, annoying bitches so he really didn't think his cousin had any room to talk.
"It's the next house," Jason said, gesturing to a beautiful two story ranch with a perfectly manic
ured lawn. Not that Trevor was surprised.
"Why don't you come in? I'll fire up the grill and we can have steaks by the pool?" Jason suggested.
"Can't. I have plans tonight," Trevor said, suddenly feeling exhausted. It was kind of funny how that happened these days. Ten years ago he would have taken his cousin up on his offer, eaten him out of house and home, and hit the bars until three in the morning before he picked up a piece of ass to keep him company for a few hours and he'd still have his ass at work on time. Now all he wanted to do was get his haircut without falling asleep, go home, shower, rub some muscle gel on his aching shoulders, and fall asleep in front of the television.
Getting old fucking sucked.
Jason looked like he was going to argue, but in the end just nodded as he got out of the truck. "If you change your mind the offer is on the table."
"Thanks."
"I still say Zoe is nice and that you could do a lot worse," Jason said conversationally as he grabbed his tool belt.
There was no way he was going to put up with the suggestion that he should settle on someone like Zoe so he did what he had to do.
"You do know that Zoe's a Red Sox fan, right?"
The look on Jason's face was priceless and he found himself still laughing about it an hour later when he pulled into his driveway. He parked next to Zoe's piece of shit car and headed for the door, running his hand through his now thankfully short hair.
He glared at the freshly cleaned floor mat, pissed that woman had wrecked his hard work and was tempted to go back outside and stomp around in the dirt just so he could cover those freaky looking puppies again, but he was too damn tired at the moment to try. Tomorrow, he promised himself as he walked into his apartment and froze.
It was.......
Clean.
Not only was it clean, but it smelled like lemons. The rug was vacuumed, the furniture polished, dirty clothes, and food wrappers were gone. It looked damn good, he decided as he gave himself a mental pat on the back for coming up with such a great plan. He walked into his kitchen and nearly wept with joy when he spotted the empty sinks and counters. She'd even put away the dishes.
He spotted a note on his counter with a small pile of money. At that he frowned. He'd given her two hundred and fifty dollars to fill his kitchen up with food and she'd only spent a hundred of fifty of that. He'd have to tell her to spend it all next time otherwise she'd be making multiple trips to the store every week for him.
Wondering what she bought, he opened the fridge door and felt his mouth drop open. His fridge was completely packed with food. He moved onto the freezer and cabinets and couldn't believe that she'd managed to buy twice the amount of food that he usually bought with less money.
Zoe rocked, he decided as he returned to the fridge and pulled out items to make a sandwich. After he scarfed down three sandwiches and half a bag of chips he headed upstairs and took a shower. He was just about to head downstairs for that ice cream he'd been dreaming about when he thought he heard movement next door. He really had to look into getting the walls reinsulated, he decided.
"Zoe?"
"Yeah?"
He looked around his clean room, noting the freshly made bed, laundry basket full of folded clean clothes and felt like he should say something. "Thank you for everything you did today," he said awkwardly, feeling pretty damn stupid.
She chuckled. "You're welcome and don't worry I'm keeping track of my hours, although I was tempted to charge you hazard pay after I saw your bathroom."
He actually cringed at that. It had been pretty bad and if she was anything more than a tenant and now an employee he'd be pretty embarrassed, but she wasn't. So it didn't really matter, he decided with a careless shrug.
"Let me know how many hours you got and I'll pay you on Friday," he said, already dismissing her and heading for the bedroom door.
"Okay," she said, laughing, making him pause at the door.
"What's so funny?" he asked out of curiosity. In the past two months that she lived here he couldn't remember ever seeing her smile or hearing her laugh.
"Huh? Oh, just something in this book I'm reading," she said, sounding relaxed, which he guessed was nice and of course because of him since he'd improved her life with his generosity.
"What are you reading?"
"Twilight."
Why did that sound familiar? It took him a minute before it came to him. "Is that the vampire series they made into a movie?" he asked. He'd heard a few good things about the books and kept meaning to buy the mp3 file so he could listen to it, but he never found the time.
"Yes, I'm reading it for the fifth time."
Fifth time? Now he was intrigued. That meant it had to be good. "Read some for me," he said, walking over to his bed and laying back, resting his arms behind his head, waiting expectantly for her to read to him.
She sighed heavily. "You can borrow it after I'm done."
He snorted at that suggestion. It would take him years to read a book and he just didn't have the time or patience for that.
"I won't have time and you're reading it now so it just makes more sense to save time and read it out loud, don't you think?" he said, slipping into old habits. He'd never had a problem convincing anyone that doing something for him was actually to their benefit.
So he wasn't too surprised when she said, "Fine," sounding totally put out, but that really didn't bother him as long as she did what he wanted.
"You'll start from the beginning, right?" he said, grinning when she let out a surprisingly cute little growl.
"Fine," she snapped.
"There's lots of sex in this book, right?"
"Oh yeah, there's lots of sex in this book," she said brightly.
"Excellent."
Chapter 7
"Um, are you going to move?" Zoe asked when he hadn't moved in over two minutes. "I kind of have to get in there," she said, tentatively pointing past him towards the office trailer. If he didn't move soon she was going to be late and she really didn't want to start her first day on the job by getting yelled at.
A muscle ticked beneath Jason's eye as he continued to glare down at her. It was really rather unnerving and she had to wonder how such a sweet woman married him. Zoe considered trying to walk around him, but knew it would be pointless. He'd just move to block her yet again.
"Look," he finally said, "just tell me he lied and we can pretend that none of this ever happened and I won't have to upset my wife with the news."
She looked over her shoulder, hoping someone would come give her hand or at least give him the medication that he obviously needed. When it didn't look like any help was forthcoming she reluctantly looked back at Jason.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she admitted, taking a nervous step back when he started mumbling to himself.
"Please tell me that my cousin lied to screw with me and that you're really not a Red Sox fan," Jason said, staring at her intently as he waited for the answer.
"I-I'm not a baseball fan," she stammered nervously, hoping that was the right answer. "I really don't know much about sports in general."
His eyes narrowed on her. "Then why did he tell me that you were a Red Sox fan?"
"Because I have a Red Sox tee shirt," she explained, discretely taking a step to the side so she could walk past him only to be cut off as he stepped in front of her.
"Why do you-"
With an exasperated roll of her eyes she snapped, "Because the tee shirt is cute. Now can I please go to work?"
"Cute?" he repeated as if he couldn't believe what he heard. "There's nothing cute about those bastards."
"Except their shirts," she pointed out, biting back a smile at his horrified expression.
He looked like he was about to say something else, but then threw his hands up in the air and finally walked off in disgust.
So nice to make friends on the first day, she thought dryly as she hurried inside the trailer. Just as she placed her purse on the desk Jared steppe
d out of his office. Zoe's eyes automatically sought out the clock. Her stomach churned when she realized that she was a minute late.
She'd always hated being yelled at by her bosses, but she had a feeling that being yelled at by a Bradford was going to be ten times worse. This really was not the best way to start her first day.
"Good morning, Zoe," Jared said, smiling, making her even more nervous.
"Good morning, Mr. Bradford," she said, trying not to shift nervously.
"It's Jared," he reminded her, still smiling as he headed for the kitchen counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Would you like some?" he asked, holding up the coffee pot.
"No thank you, sir," she mumbled.
He rolled his eyes, shaking his head good naturedly as he walked back towards his office. "It's Jared, not Mr. Bradford and certainly not 'sir'. Just relax, Zoe. You'll do fine," he promised with a wink.
"Okay, thank you," she said, forcing a small, albeit, nervous smile.
"Yell if you have any problems," he called out from his office.
Zoe slowly exhaled the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and walked towards the fridge to put her lunch away.
"You can't put that in there."
Great. Not even five minutes into her first day and she was already screwing up. She felt her cheeks burn as she turned around. "I'm sorry. I thought it was the employee refrigerator," she explained to Haley, who was walking, well more like wobbling, towards her.
"Oh, it is," Haley said, smiling. "But if you put it in there it will be gone within ten minutes." Zoe watched as she pulled several ice packs from the freezer. "I have a system for this," she said.
Curious, Zoe followed her to the desk and watched as Haley sat in the chair and unlocked one of the large bottom desk drawers, revealing a really large box of tampons. Zoe felt her lips twitch as Haley shot her a mischievous smile.
"I've tried other things, but in my experience tampons are the best deterrent for the food thieves, although cleaning supplies have been known to work in a pinch," Haley explained as she handed Zoe an ice pack. In an unspoken agreement they both hurried to place the ice packs in their bags and placed them in the large drawer, shutting and locking it seconds before Jason came storming into the office.
Perfection anfh-2 Page 5