Trevor just barely stopped himself from defending Zoe. He didn’t think she was fat. Curvy? Hell yeah, but he knew better than to open his mouth to defend her. He had to deal with enough of the high school drama bullshit at work. He wasn’t about to deal with it at home.
Jason snorted. “Haley will kick your ass if she hears you talking about her friend,” he pointed out as he double-checked the empty potato chip bags.
That kind of surprised Trevor, not that Haley would try and kick someone’s ass since he’d heard plenty of amusing stories about her fighting skills, but that Haley considered Zoe a friend. Then again, there was still a lot about Zoe that he didn’t know. Something that shouldn’t bother him since she was really just a tenant and an employee of sorts, but it did.
“Why don’t one of us order?” Zack asked, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket.
“Won’t work,” Mitch said absently, never looking up from his phone.
“Why not?”
“Because they won’t deliver here if a guy calls,” Brad said, leaning further back so Jason could reach past him to check the empty bowls on the end tables. “It has to be a woman.”
“Look, you either go ask Zoe to order food or I’m going to start getting cranky!” Jason snapped.
“Start?” Brad repeated, chuckling.
“Shut up, damn it! I need food!”
“Anything to get you to stop whining,” Trevor said, getting to his feet. Truth be told, he was getting a little cranky. Zoe knew that he was having the guys over and should have already ordered them food a couple of hours ago. She was usually on top of these things. He knew that she hadn’t forgotten that he was having the guys over since she’d filled his counters with junk food and his fridge with beer and soda.
Speaking of junk food...
After she ordered them food, she was going to have to run out and grab some more junk food and maybe after that he’d have her run out and hit the barbeque place over on Fourth Street and get them a couple of buckets of ribs. His stomach growled at the idea even as he gave himself another pat on the back. Hiring Zoe really was the best thing he’d ever done.
Too bad she didn’t cook, otherwise he’d have her cook him breakfast in bed. That would have made this arrangement perfect, but he’d settle for her running out tomorrow morning and picking him up a fresh coffee cake from Mary Lou’s. Of course, she’d have to head over there before seven because they sold out quickly. He hadn’t had Mary Lou’s coffee cake in three years since they’d started making it only on Saturday morning and he was usually too damn exhausted and lazy to get his ass out of bed and go get it. He no longer had to worry about that problem thanks to his little tenant.
He walked into the hallway, not bothering to close his door and rapped once on her door before opening it, only to find his entrance suddenly blocked.
“Hi, Trevor,” Zoe said brightly as she tried to close the door another inch.
“What’s going on?” Trevor asked, curious since she never denied him entrance. Since they’d come up with this arrangement, neither one of them bothered locking their doors. Leaving the doors unlocked made it easier for him when he needed a favor or to grab his lunch and for her to clean his apartment and run his errands.
“Nothing,” Zoe said even as she tried to close the door a little more. With a tired sigh, Trevor reached out and placed his hand on her door, easily stopping her. “Is there something I can help you with?” she asked with a nervous smile, he noted. She shifted to block his view into her apartment. Well, she tried, but since he towered over her, she kind of failed.
“Well,” Trevor said, looking past her into her tidy apartment, “I was wondering if you could order us some food.”
She suddenly looked over her shoulder and noticeably started.
“Is something wrong?” Trevor asked, frowning as he leaned in to see what was going on only to find himself shoved back as Zoe swiftly stepped out of her apartment and closed the door before he could see what the hell was going on.
“No, no, nothing is wrong,” she said brightly, a little too brightly for his comfort, but he was willing to let it go as long as the house wasn’t burning down and she got his damn food.
“Can you order some food for us?” He sighed, gesturing towards his apartment. “And make sure you double the amount because-”
“Triple it! I’m starving,” Jason piped in from the apartment.
“I already ordered the food,” she said and rushed to add, “and Haley already called me to let me know Jason was coming over so I tripled the order,” before Jason could bitch.
“That’s because my wife adores me,” Jason said, sounding smug.
“No, that’s because you’re a pig,” Brad pointed out.
“Shut up, you bastard!”
“The order should be here soon,” Zoe said, ignoring Jason’s rant. “So, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to-” she started to say only to get cut off by a loud crash in her apartment.
“What the hell was that?” Trevor asked, moving to check it out only to have Zoe jump in front of him.
