"We were, but we had to leave to come get you," Trevor bit out, looking angrier than she'd ever seen him before. Then again he had left a Thanksgiving meal to come here and she could only imagine the insane amount of food served at a Bradford get-together.

"Why?" she asked, reaching out to open the bag closest to her only to pause halfway there. She threw Jason an incredulous look. "Did you just growl at me?"

He gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug. "Sorry, habit."

With an eye roll and a few muttered words about Bradfords and their food obsession she pulled the bag closer to her, throwing Jason a cautious glance only to find the man leaning back on the couch, watching television as he devoured a large carton of beef teriyaki.

Didn't he just have chicken fingers? With a mental shake she forced herself to focus on the really pissed off man.

"Well, since I didn't ask you to come the two of you can return to your Thanksgiving dinner and I can go back to mine....." Her words trailed off as she looked at Jason.

Wasn't he just eating the carton of beef teriyaki? He ignored her questioning look as he dug into the large carton of noodles. Sighing, she went to grab her Coke only to find it and the backup she'd brought out only minutes earlier empty next to a large stack of empty food cartons.

"You call this Thanksgiving dinner?" Trevor demanded, grabbing her attention from trying to calculate how much food Jason went through in a day. It was actually frightening, because it appeared that he ate more than Trevor.

"No," she said, jabbing a thumb in Jason's direction, "I call this Jason's light snack."

"Sorry," Jason mumbled, not really sounding sorry at all, but that was all right because unfortunately the scents she thought were enticing only a few minutes before were actually starting to turn her stomach.

"Look, I don't have to time to fight about this. Run upstairs and throw some clothes on so that we can go," Trevor said, gesturing lazily towards the stairs.

"Go where?" she asked, moving away from Jason, not only because he was actually starting to frighten her, but the garlicky odor from the noodles was starting to make her feel sick.

"Go back to Thanksgiving dinner," he snapped.

"Um, I was having Thanksgiving dinner," she pointed out, not bothering to add that she planned on sending the bags of food with the men, which was hopefully soon because she really wasn't sure how much more her poor stomach could take.

She went to stand up only to have to sit right back down as a wave of dizziness hit her.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked around a mouthful of food.

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath, "I'm fine."

"Because you kind of looked a little pale there for a second," Jason pointed out as Trevor dropped to his knees in front of her.

He cupped her face. "Are you okay?" he asked, pushing her hair out of her face.

She pushed his hands away. "Yes, I'm fine. Now would the two of you just go back to your family dinner so I can go back to mine?"

Not that she could eat anything at the moment. Between her stomach twisting and her head spinning she didn't think she'd be able to hold anything down for a while, never mind eat.

"You need to-" Trevor began, but she'd had enough already. She was sick and tired of the games, and of this stupid arrangement which only made her want to cry herself to sleep most nights because she loved him so much and she was nothing to him. She shoved to her feet, forcing him to back up so that she could walk away from him.

"No, you need to go," she snapped.

"It's my goddamn house!"

"No," she said, pointing in the direction of his apartment, "that's your goddamn house. This is my home."

"It's one and the same," he said between clenched teeth.

"No, it's not! I'm your tenant, you're my landlord! That's it! You have no business coming here and telling me what to do!" she yelled, feeling herself tear up, but she couldn't help it. She was so exhausted. She was physically tired, emotionally strung out from pretending not to love him. She couldn't take this anymore.

"I'm a hell of a lot more than just your landlord!" he said, clenching and unclenching his hands by his side as though he were fighting back the urge to grab her.

"What are you then?" she demanded, taking a step towards him. "Are you my employer? My friend? Or my f**k buddy? Because last time I checked none of those titles gave you the right to come in here and demand anything!"

"Wow....this is so awkward," Jason mumbled, but instead of getting up and leaving like any normal person would he simply tore into the second bag, grabbed anther carton and gestured for the dogs to join him on the couch.

Trevor on the other hand looked close to killing her. "You know damn well what I am," he bit out evenly.

"Yeah, I do," she said, wiping at her face with the back of her hand as she made a decision. "You're my ex-landlord, ex-employer, and ex-fuck buddy. So get out," she said, rushing out of the room before she broke out into sobs.

She made it to her room before the first one escaped and was sobbing hysterically by the time she stumbled into her bathroom to splash cold water on her face. By the time she'd realized what she'd done she was already blacking out and falling towards the edge of the bathtub.

Chapter 27

"Look, I can leave if you want," Jason said, moving to stand up as he grabbed the remaining bag of food, but Trevor barely heard him as paced the living room never taking his eyes off the stairs where Zoe raced up only minutes before after she destroyed his entire world.

"Can you f**king believe her?" he demanded, but he didn't give Jason a chance to respond or if he did, Trevor didn't hear him.

He couldn't believe she'd just done that. "After everything I did for her?" he said, shaking his head in disgust. While he'd been ready to move forward with her she'd been looking to get out. Well, f**k her, because he didn't need her.

This wasn't going to last anyway. He'd have ended things in another fifty or sixty years with her. He'd never wanted anything permanent with her so this really didn't bother him. This was fine. This was more than fine, he thought as he drove his fist through the wall.

"Whoa! Calm the hell down!" Jason said, getting to his feet.

"You calm the hell down!" Trevor snapped, feeling ready to blow. "This is my f**king house!" he yelled, hoping she heard him. Never in his life had he been this angry.

"I don't f**king need her," he said, resuming his pacing as he shook off the pain in his hand. "I gave her a f**king place to live, a part-time job, I helped her find a job and I took care of her and she didn't do a goddamn thing for me," he said, getting more riled up as he paced the room. "Not one f**king thing!" he yelled, half hoping she'd hear him and come running back down the stairs so he could yell at her and make her see that she'd made a mistake.

"Maybe we should take this to your apartment," Jason suggested with a helpless shrug.

Trevor shook his head. "I'm not leaving! You hear me? If you want me to leave then you get your ass down here and tell me to my face to leave, because I'm telling you right now, it's not over until I say it is!" he yelled.

"Okay, time to go," Jason sighed as he grabbed Trevor and started pulling him towards the door.

"Get your f**king hands off me!" he snapped, shoving his cousin away. "I'm not leaving until she talks to me."

"Well, she's not going to talk to you if you keep yelling like some lunatic!" Jason snapped. "Calm the f**k down before you really mess this up. Right now she's just pissed and you can probably save this f**ked up relationship, but if you keep acting like this and yelling she's going to call the cops and have your ass hauled out of here."

"My relationship is not f**ked up," Trevor bit out harshly, but in a more restrained tone. The last thing he needed was to get sent to jail and give Zoe a chance to leave.

This wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.

She was his and she damn well knew it and she would remain his until he decided that he was done with her.