NFH Honeymoon from Hell II (3 page)

*-*-*-*

“
You. Sick. Bastard!” Zoe
snapped, unable to believe that the man trying to drag her away
from the kitchen table was the same man who’d held her and
whispered how much he loved her as he kissed her only an hour
ago.

“
Let go, Zoe,” Trevor said
firmly, reaching over to wrestle the maple syrup coated fork out of
her hand.

“
No!” she screamed,
reluctantly giving up her slippery hold on the fork and grabbed a
handful of syrup soaked Eggo waffles, desperate for the buttery
sustenance, and took a large, satisfying bite as Trevor continued
to pull her away from the table and towards the front
door.

“
We’ll grab food
afterwards,” Trevor calmly explained as she struggled to get free
and grab the last waffle.

“
Just let me finish!” she
begged, close to crying when it became obvious that she was never
going to get a chance to enjoy that delicious Eggo waffle in all
its syrupy glory.

“
I’ll feed you after the
ceremony. I promise,” Trevor said, but she wasn’t listening as she
went limp and let him drag her away.

“
My waffle,” she whispered
with a little sniffle as she was carried outside and loaded in
Trevor’s truck where she sadly nibbled on the handful of waffle
that she’d managed to save.

“
At least we know the pill
works,” Trevor said, sounding oddly triumphant as she sat there,
nibbling on her handful of waffle as she glared at him.

“
I hate you,” she bit out
evenly, never sure of anything more in her life.

“
Sure you do,” he murmured
in agreement, not really sounding all that concerned as he slowly
backed out of the driveway.

“
I do,” she mumbled, feeling
her bottom lip start to tremble as she finished her last bite of
waffle and absently accepted the handful of wet naps that Trevor
held out to her.

“
I know you do, sweetheart,”
Trevor said, pausing by a stop sign to help clean her hands for her
so that she could sit there, trying not to break down in tears,
again.

When her hands were freshly cleaned, she
folded her arms over her chest and glared out the window,
struggling not to cry and it was working too, until he reached over
and took her hand into his. As soon as he touched her, she lost
it.

“
Aw, sweetheart, it’s okay,”
Trevor said softly as he pulled the truck over, set it in park,
somehow managed to unbuckle her seatbelt and pulled her onto his
lap. “Shhh, it’s okay, sweetheart.”

“
N-no, it’s not,” she sobbed
against his shirt, wondering why she couldn’t seem to stop crying.
She felt like she was going crazy. One minute she felt like she was
going to be sick, the next she felt like she’d starve to death if
she didn’t eat everything in sight, then the next she couldn’t stop
crying because she was happy, sad, tired and even cried when she
was hungry. She couldn’t seem to stop crying, and God, how she
really wished that she could stop crying.

“
You’re just tired, Zoe,” he
explained as he held her, kissing her forehead in a way that mildly
pleased her.

Sniffle. “I am a little tired,” she admitted
with another sniffle.

“
I know, baby. I know,”
Trevor said soothingly as he gently placed her back on her seat and
carefully pulled her seatbelt back on her. “Why don’t you close
your eyes? We’ll make this quick so that we can get you back home
and in bed. How does that sound? Hmmm?”

Biting her lip, because she was honestly
afraid that if she opened her mouth that she was going to further
humiliate herself by turning into a blubbering idiot, she nodded
and closed her eyes, deciding that perhaps a little nap was exactly
what she needed. Snuggling against the door, she released a little
yawn as she settled in for a refreshing nap.

As she felt Trevor pull back into traffic,
something occurred to her, something that she should have wondered
when he’d rushed her to get dressed, downstairs and out the door at
barely six in the morning on their day off.

“
Where exactly are we
going?”

“
To the courthouse,” Trevor
explained, sounding unconcerned as she sat there, frowning and
wondering why they were heading to the courthouse on the weekend
when he went ahead and cleared things up for her.

“
I figured we’d get married
and just get it over with,” he said with a shrug.

Chapter 2

“
No.”

Sighing, he reached for her hand, “Zoe, if
you would just listen. I-”

“
No,” the stubborn woman
said with her arms folded over her chest as she continued to glare
at the vending machine in front of them.

Shoving his fingers through his hair, he
looked over at his uncle and cousins, but the useless bastards
simply continued to stand there, munching on their snacks, watching
to see how he was going to handle Zoe without her going for his
balls, which he’d technically already given her permission to
do.

“
We’re not speaking,” she
bit out when he opened his mouth to try and smooth things
over.

Clearing his throat, he shot his Uncle Jared
a questioning glance only to find his uncle, leaning back against
the back door, nibbling on a bag of Cheetos and looking bored.
Great, so much for getting help convincing the woman that he loved
that marrying him was for the best. Reluctantly, he shot a glance
over to his cousin Jason to find him sitting on one of the wooden
benches lining the walls, watching him with what could only be
described as a smug expression and letting Trevor know that he
wasn’t going to lift a finger to make this any easier for him.

Great.

Just fucking great.

“
I’m wearing my oversized
grey sweatpants and one of your old tee shirts,” she bit out, every
single syllable somehow filled with more rage than the last, which
he’d have to admit, was actually impressive.

Frowning, because he was sure that he was
missing something important here, he looked over her baggy outfit,
not really seeing the problem and shrugged.

It was perhaps the single dumbest thing that
he’d ever done in his life.

Her mouth slowly closed until it was obvious
that she was clenching her jaw tightly shut as her eyes narrowed on
him. She considered him for a long minute, making him wish for the
first time in his life that he’d made a habit of wearing an
athletic cup, but before he had a chance to cover his balls and
drop to the ground where he would most likely curl up into a fetal
position, she took them all by surprise.

She cried.

“
What the hell did you do?”
Jason demanded, looking pissed as he shoved past Trevor and put his
arm around Zoe, who simply stood there, silently crying, adding a
pathetic sniffle here and there while every man in his family
glared at him like they were dying to kick his ass.

“
What is wrong with you?”
Uncle Jared demanded as he took Zoe by the hand and led her over to
the bench by the front doors, giving her a warm smile that only
seemed to make her cry harder.

Jason followed after his father, pausing long
enough to slam Trevor in the shoulder and send him a glare before
he sat down on Zoe’s other side, taking her small hand in his and
trying to comfort the frustrating woman, who couldn’t seem to stop
crying.

“
H-he t-tossed the c-clothes
to me and told me to get d-dressed,” she managed to get out with a
sniffle that for some reason had every one of his relatives
shifting their glares back on him.

“
H-he didn’t even tell me
where we were going,” she said, pausing to add another one of those
sniffles that he was starting to blame the hormones for. “H-he
wouldn’t even let me eat. He just told me to get dressed, dragged
me down here and said that we were getting married.”

“
That’s more than most women
get in our family,” he pointed out with a mumble, expecting some
support from the men in his family, but all he ended up getting
were more glares, a few more shoulder shoves and a, “Better watch
your back,
bitch
,”
from his Great Uncle Theo.

“
I-I understand that I
didn’t have much of a choice, b-but I would have liked to have worn
something pretty on my wedding day,” she said with a sniffle,
further inciting the rage filled glares being shot his way as his
mind latched on something she said.

“
Wait, what do you mean that
you didn’t have a choice?” he demanded, even though he had to
admit, she really didn’t have much of a choice. She was his and
that’s all that mattered, but the way she’d said it rubbed him the
wrong way.

“
Well,” she said with a
sniffle that had his eyes narrowing to slits, “it’s just that I
really never thought that I’d end up settling.”

“
Settling?” he repeated back
slowly, sure that he’d misheard her.

She nodded solemnly as he stood there,
seething.

“
I know, sweetheart,” Uncle
Jason said, giving her hand a comforting pat. “I know.”

“
I know that I don’t have a
choice anymore, not with the babies on the way,” she said with a
little heartfelt sigh as she placed her hand over her soft stomach,
reminding every Bradford in the room that she was carrying two of
them and bringing their animosity towards him up another notch and
seriously fucking him over. “This just isn’t how I’d pictured my
wedding day I guess, pregnant, wearing sweatpants and
hungry.”

“
He didn’t feed you?” Jason
asked, shifting a glare towards him that should have rightfully
killed him on the spot.

“
I made her five goddamn
plates of waffles!” he snapped, sick and tired of the fickle
bastards screwing him over because of a few sniffles and lip
trembles.

This was a fucking Bradford elopement and
they damn well better start remembering that!

“
I-I was still hungry,” she
admitted with a beautiful blush and another one of those damn lip
trembles that had his eyes narrowing impossibly further.

“
Is the Justice of the Peace
ready?” he asked, keeping his eyes locked on the woman that was
obviously enjoying screwing him over for her own
entertainment.

“
They’re still trying to
talk him off the ledge,” one of his cousins said around a yawn even
as he continued to glare at Trevor like he was Satan
himself.

“
Someone get him down here
so that we can get this over with,” he said, forcing himself to
bite back a smile when he saw Zoe do the same, clearly enjoying
herself, which was fine with him.

Just as long as she was legally obligated to
put up with all his bullshit by the end of the day, she could screw
him over however she wanted.

*-*-*-*

“
Look, you don’t have to do
this,” Uncle Jared said, licking his lips nervously as he shifted
an anxious glance towards the double doors leading to the courtroom
where Trevor stood, arguing with a group of his cousins and uncles,
trying to convince them that he wasn’t neglecting their poor little
Zoe.

“
We can get her out through
the back,” Jason said, gesturing towards the back doors where only
two Bradfords stood guard, but something about the way that they
were glaring at Trevor told her that if she really wanted to leave,
that they would not only step aside, but they would probably also
give her a ride somewhere and buy her breakfast to make sure that
she was really okay.

This really was a sweet family, she thought,
biting back another pleased smile as she did her best to look upset
about this forced elopement. Never in a million years could she
have ever hoped to become part of a family like this, one that
enjoyed screwing each other over, but in that same breath would die
for one another. They were devoted, loyal and genuinely loved each
other. It was more than she could have ever hoped for and she
couldn’t wait to be one of them.

She especially couldn’t wait to belong to the
man ignoring his cousins and uncles bitching at him about how he
had to take better care of her as he continued to send her
smoldering looks that told her that he knew exactly what she was up
to and that it was more than fine with him just as long as she left
this courthouse knowing exactly who she belonged with.

Chapter 3

He. Was. Going. To. Fucking. Throttle.
Her.

The Justice of the Peace looked like he was
seconds away from a panic attack.

Most of his uncles and cousins looked torn
between frustration and amusement.

His Uncle Jared stood there by Zoe’s side,
determined to make sure that his “special girl” wasn’t forced to
rush into something that she might regret. Since she’d asked him
through a teary-eyed smile to stand up for her, the betraying
bastard had somehow forgotten that he’d orchestrated a forced trip
to the JP of his own, taken part in more than a dozen of these and
had been at his house at five this morning with coffee and donuts,
explaining the best way to kidnap Zoe and get her to the courthouse
on time without her killing him.

Now the bastard was determined to make sure
that Zoe wasn’t rushed into doing something that she might regret
later. So, thanks to his asshole uncle’s meddling ways, they were
still standing here, waiting for Zoe to answer the damn
question!

“
M-miss?” the Justice of the
Peace asked with a hesitant stammer as he risked a glance up to
find Zoe standing there, worrying her bottom lip as she “thought
over her options,” as she’d explained thirty minutes ago to the
amusement of his uncles and cousins.