Chapter 23

"Are you still pouting?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Trevor threw his truck into park as he sent her another glare. "I just don't understand how you could betray me like this."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," she said, getting out of the truck and headed for the restaurant sporting the "Grand Opening Weekend" banner, knowing that Trevor was probably close behind her.

"Why did you have to tell her?" he demanded as he caught up to her.

Zoe worried her bottom lip, wondering if he was going to throw his arm around her or hold her hand the way he did when they took Toby for a walk. Of course when he didn't, she forced herself not to be too disappointed. This was only an arrangement after all.

She shoved her disappointment aside and answered him, knowing it was just a waste of time and energy to be upset over things that were never going to happen. "Why wouldn't I tell Haley?"

"Because she'll tell Jason," he said, not sounding happy at all as he opened the door and gestured for her to go ahead with the medium size black plastic shopping bag that he'd brought with him. She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now she wondered if he was carting around his own condiments.

"And probably Jared and everyone else, too," Zoe pointed out, feigning innocence. Of course Trevor probably didn't need to know that she text messaged Jared with the name and location of the new buffet restaurant or that she'd made damn sure that everyone in his family knew about the buffet restaurant. He'd be pissed when he found out, but that was okay since she'd been admittedly a little pissed when she did it.

She still couldn't believe he called her beautiful. While most women probably would have appreciated the compliment she hadn't. If he had actually meant it, and she knew the odds of that happening were zilch, she would have savored it, but he'd only called her beautiful to make her feel better. It was a nice gesture, kind of, but one that hurt more than anything.

It was hard enough knowing that this arrangement was never going to be more than just sex, and at first she'd accepted it, welcomed it even, but now......

She wanted more. More importantly she wanted more with Trevor, but she wasn't delusional. He didn't want more with her and she wasn't going to push for it. For however long this lasted, and she really couldn't believe that it lasted this long, she was going to enjoy it. When it ended she was going to take Toby and find a new place to live and hope it didn't kill her to have to see Trevor every day at work. If she couldn't handle seeing him she'd already decided that she'd move out of state, maybe to Florida where she could get a fresh start.

"Would it have killed you to keep it a secret between us?" Trevor asked as they stepped into the long line for the cashier.

"It's a buffet, Trevor. They would have found out about it within a week," she explained even though it was really just common sense.

"Yes, but that would have been a week that I could enjoy the place before those greedy bastards get us all banned," Trevor sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

"Gee, I hadn't thought about that," she mumbled, trying not to laugh.

Trevor slowly looked down at her. His eyes narrowed dangerously on her as she did her best to bite back her smile, but lost that battle several times.

"Oh my god.....you sold me out," he said, looking shocked and affronted, which was kind of ridiculous since at this point he really should be used to it.

"I wanted to see how an entire family could get banned from a restaurant," she admitted with a shrug. Ever since she first heard that he'd been banned from most of the fast food places she'd been admittedly curious. Of course that curiosity only tripled when she discovered the entire family had a history of being banned. So when she accidentally discovered this place last Monday she thought that perhaps she could entertain herself with a live show.

"You sold me out? For your own amusement?" he demanded.

"And this shocks you how?" she asked, stepping up in the line.

When Trevor looked around before leaning down to whisper something in her ear she fully expected a promise to spank her ass, but she got something entirely different instead.

"If I wasn't certain that I'd be banned after today, you and I would be heading to the nearest hotel where I could f**k you until neither one of us could move," he whispered harshly in her ear, making her breaths come a little faster and her knees threaten to give out.

"I-I'm not that hungry," she stammered, more than willing to opt for plan B. Well she was hungry, but she was also feeling a little sick as well. She was starting to get a little worried that she might have something worse than food poisoning like e coli. "And I'm pretty sure I spotted a few hotels close by."

"Too bad, you need to eat," he said, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before stepping back so they could move up in the line.

She opened her mouth to argue only to have Trevor give her a stern look and a shake of his head in warning. He'd already warned her that he didn't want to hear anymore nonsense about needing to lose weight and told her that he would end things if she didn't take better care of herself. It was actually kind of sweet that he cared so much.

"Fine," she sighed, stepping up to the front of the line.

"How many?" the friendly cashier asked with a huge smile and Zoe idly wondered how long the woman would be able to keep it up before it became painful.

"Two," Trevor answered.

Zoe pulled out some money from her pocket to pay for her meal and went to hand it to the woman when Trevor threw her a dirty look as he gently pushed her hand away. With a sigh she put the money away, knowing this wasn't a date and really wishing he'd just let her pay her own way.

"Over here," Trevor said, placing a hand at the small of her back to guide her through the already crowded restaurant towards the booths closer to the long buffet tables.

"Oh, there's Haley and Jason," she said, gesturing towards the opposite side of the room where Haley and Jason sat with their two little ones. Haley went to gesture them over only to have Jason grab her hand and shake his head.

Frowning, Zoe raised her hand to at least wave to her friend, wondering what Jason's problem was, when she found herself in a similar situation.

"Don't," Trevor said, gently pushing her hand down as he continued to usher her towards a row of empty booths near the large bay windows overlooking the parking lot.

"I was just going to say hello," Zoe explained as Trevor placed their receipt down to claim the table.

"You can't," Trevor said, giving her a little nudge in the direction of one of the buffet lines, the black bag still firmly in his left hand.

"Why not?"

"Because she's with the enemy," Trevor said tightly.

Zoe shot a look over at Haley to find Jason glaring in their direction. "Jason's the enemy?" she asked, starting to feel a little confused. She'd come for entertainment, but instead she'd found a new level of insanity among the Bradford males. Well, it was entertaining, but a different form of entertainment than what she'd been expecting.

"Now you're getting it," Trevor said approvingly. "Every bastard from my family is a potential threat. We need to maintain our distance and watch our backs," he said, sounding completely serious, which she found rather cute.