Chapter 26 #2
Rory couldn’t help but frown at that announcement because the big baby curled up on the couch was a Bradford and if there was one thing a Bradford knew, it was food.
It didn’t matter what color you dyed it, if it was burnt, squished, or ten weeks past its expiration date and was growing a fuzzy blue, white and green habitat, a Bradford would figure it out by the first bite and by the second, he would know if it would make him sick.
Not that they would stop eating it if they figured out that it might kill them because they wouldn’t. A true Bradford would take the risk.
“It was orange, gooey, and smelled like pumpkin and nutmeg!” Jason snapped at Trevor before turning a glare on her. “Would it kill you to rub my back? I’m dying here!”
Knowing that he wouldn’t stop bitching until she did it, Rory gave in.
After about ten seconds, Jason decided to get a little more comfortable and flopped over onto his stomach and sprawled out on the couch.
When she didn’t recommence with the back rubbing fast enough, he cleared his throat, and just in case she didn’t take the hint, the bastard reached down and pinched the back of her calf.
“Ow!” Rory yelped, but she moved her ass and started rubbing his back, knowing that the big jerk would only keep bugging the shit out of her until she gave in and did what he wanted. “Demanding bastard,” she muttered as she rubbed his back.
“Nice to see that you’re still a bully,” Jason grumbled, silently demanding that she rub faster by wiggling until she got the damn hint.
“How am I the bully? You pinched me, you bastard!” Rory snapped at him but wasn’t foolish enough to stop rubbing.
“Because you called me a naughty, naughty name,” Jason said on a huff that was quickly followed by a little sigh of pleasure as she rubbed between his shoulders.
“Called you a naughty name?” she repeated in disbelief, foolishly pausing in her labor and earning another pinch. “Ow! Stop doing that, asshole!”
“Again, with the name-calling,” Jason sighed.
“She was always so mean to us,” Trevor mused just as an odd crunching noise caught her attention.
She moved her glare away from the large bastard using her lap as a pillow to the large bastard sprawled out in the chair across from her and snapped, “Oh, my God! Stop eating that!”
“This trail mix tastes funny,” Trevor said with a cringe.
“That wasn’t trail mix, you bastard! That was potpourri!”
“Well, that explains a lot,” Trevor said, giving her a sheepish smile as he returned the large wooden bowl back to the side table. She didn’t need to look to know that he’d already eaten half the bowl of potpourri. She didn’t even bother asking him what was wrong with him since she knew the answer.
The man was a Bradford.
Enough said.
It was also the reminder that she needed to find out why they were here and throw their asses out before she got caught harboring Bradfords.
She really needed to find out what they’d done to get banned in the first place, but that was a problem for another time.
Right now, she needed to deal with them, and hopefully, she could do that in less than twenty minutes so that she could get in a quick shower and take care of Bunny before she met Connor and enjoyed her night of unlimited hot cocoa.
“There’s that smile again,” Trevor said, sounding amused.
“Why are you here?” Rory demanded, deciding to ignore the fact that she couldn’t help smiling when she thought about Connor.
“To help you, you ungrateful bastard,” Jason grumbled, snuggling his head near her knees and she was tempted, oh, so tempted, to shove him onto the floor and give him the wedgie that he was practically begging for.
“How exactly is having you bitch and whine helping me?” she demanded, rubbing faster when she felt his hand move near her calf.
“I wouldn’t be bitching and whining if that bastard’s Red Sox-loving wife hadn’t tried to poison me!” Jason bit out harshly and she knew without asking that her cousin was more pissed off about the fact that Trevor’s wife, Zoe, had a soft spot for all things Red Sox than the actual poisoning.
She still cringed when she thought about last Christmas’ family gathering.
All she had to say was that Zoe had guts showing up at a Bradford gathering with her twin baby boys dressed in matching Red Sox jerseys.
She could still remember the stunned silence that took over the house when Zoe pulled the baby blanket off the twins and revealed those damn jerseys that her brothers, cousins, and she may have accidentally smeared pudding, chocolate, and cold gravy on within minutes of the unveiling.
It hadn’t mattered that they’d “accidentally” dropped the small jerseys in the fireplace after they’d offered to clean them, the damage had already been done.
She’d never seen Trevor look so angry before.
Instead of yelling at Zoe like she’d expected, he became deathly silent and walked away.
It had actually been kind of frightening.
For the rest of the night, he’d sat silently in the corner of the room, never shifting his glare away from his wife.
It wasn’t until Zoe complimented Aunt Janice on her table arrangement that he’d reacted.
He was up and out of his chair and across the room in seconds, shoving aside anyone foolish enough to get in his way.
Without a word, he’d grabbed Zoe’s hand, yanked her out of the room and disappeared down the hall.
She’d like to say that she hadn’t heard the sounds of her cousin having sex and that those sounds didn’t still haunt her to this day, but she couldn’t.
The rest of the family found it amusing, but they knew better than to say anything about it.
Everyone else pretended that the incident had never happened, partly because they knew that Trevor would beat the hell out of them if any of them gave his wife any shit, but mostly because they were all deathly afraid of Zoe and her baked goods.
So far, the small woman who made her laugh her ass off had managed to send a total of twenty-nine Bradfords to the emergency room to have their stomachs pumped.
Speaking of Bradfords and emergency rooms…
“Should we bring him to the emergency room?” Rory asked, throwing Jason a nervous glance and noting the slightly green color marring his normally healthy tanned skin.
“No, he’ll be fine. He only took one bite of the brownie,” Trevor said, sounding unconcerned. She opened her mouth to argue, but then with a sigh and a shrug, she reminded herself that Trevor would know the danger signs of eating Zoe’s baked goods better than anyone.
“Fine, then tell me how the two of you breaking the ban is helping me?”
“Let us worry about the ban,” Trevor said with a shrug as he reached for the bowl of potpourri, but one look from her had him pulling his hand back and shooting her a sheepish smile.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?
” Rory asked absently as she threw another glance towards the clock.
She might have to skip the shower and take one later with Connor, she realized as she calculated the odds of throwing her cousins out, feeding Bunny, and at the very least brushing her teeth before Connor showed up.
She had to admit they weren’t very good.
“We’re here to help you with your project, Rory, and we’re going to help you build your suites,” Trevor announced, grabbing her attention in a big way.
“What?” she asked dumbly, not sure that she’d heard him correctly.
“He said that we came to help you with your project. Now, move your ass and get back to rubbing, woman!” Jason grumbled testily, wiggling around in an attempt to get her to recommence with the rubbing, but she couldn’t do anything more than sit there like an idiot as her mind quickly wrapped around that announcement.
“You’re here to help?” Rory asked, making sure that she’d heard them correctly.
“Yes,” Trevor said with a nod and a shrug as if he hadn’t just solved most of her problems.
Where her brothers were good, really good, her cousins were the best. They were bigger, stronger, and faster, very fast. Having one Bradford working for her would be like having five extra guys.
“Some of the others will come out when they can to help, but for now, it’s us,” Trevor explained.
“Oh, my God,” she mumbled, feeling her lips pull up into a huge smile. “Really? This is great!”
“If you want, we can go have a look at this project right now,” Trevor offered with a shrug.
“That would be great!” she said, shoving Jason off of her lap and ignoring his whimpers and muttered, “Bastard,” as she jumped to her feet and practically raced to the door. She was halfway there when one thought had her skidding to a stop.
Connor.
She didn’t want to break their plans, but she had to if she wanted to get her cousins caught up on what was going on.
She could always sneak into his room later tonight, but she already knew that she’d be too tired to do that.
It didn’t help matters that she had to get up early in the morning.
Skipping out on their plans also meant losing a night in his arms and she really wasn’t sure that she could do that.
“Where are you going?” Trevor asked as she abruptly turned around and raced upstairs.
“I’ll be back in ten minutes!” Rory yelled, hoping to be back before her cousins did something to give themselves away and land her ass in jail for the night.