Finally (Neighbor from Hell 12)

“Look,” she said, licking her lips as she grabbed hold of the kitchen island as she struggled not to cry, “I love you, Devin and I can accept the fact that I am never going to have any children, but I can’t do this right now. I just need some time to accept this, okay?”

“When I made that promise-” Devin started to explain, but she didn’t want to hear about that damn promise right now.

“Devin, please don’t,” Charlie said, so close to losing it right now.

“When I made that promise I never planned on breaking it,” Devin said, ignoring her plea and continued. “I just wanted to be there for my children and to be able to take care of them. I didn’t want to do anything that would make it harder for them. The only problem is that I never expected that I would want to spend the rest of my life with someone and what my promise would mean for you.”

“You don’t have to explain,” Charlie said, because she already knew why he’d made that promise and as much as she hated it…

She couldn’t hate him for it.

“Yes, I do, Charlie. If I had known that you would walk into my life one day and completely fucking destroy it, I would have done so many things differently. I never would have made that promise and I sure as hell never would have wasted the last five years trying to keep it. When I made that promise I didn’t consider what it would mean for you because I never expected to find the love of my life.”

“Please stop explaining, Devin,” Charlie said, opening her eyes as she pushed away from the kitchen island. “You don’t have to explain anything. I know why you did what you did, and I get it, but I just need time to accept it, okay?” Charlie said, heading for the door.

“Charlie, wait,” Devin said as she grabbed her bag, deciding that she’d pick up the pizza instead of having it delivered to give herself some time to clear her head.

“Charlie, please wait,” Devin said as she headed for the door.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, opening the door and-

“Charlie, please!” he said, gasping in pain, making her frown as she turned around to find Devin, who was looking really pale, holding onto the kitchen island as he struggled to stand up.

“What the hell happened?” she said, dropping her bag on the floor and rushed over to help him.

Shaking his head, Devin continued to gasp in pain as she stood there, struggling not to freak out but it was really difficult to do with him muttering, “Please kill me,” as he dropped to his knees.

“Okay,” she said, nodding like an idiot because she had no idea what was going on. Licking her lips, she dropped to her knees, looking for something that would explain why Devin was now dropping onto his side with another muttered, “Kill me,” as he curled up into the fetal position.

“I’m really going to need you to tell me what happened, Devin,” Charlie said, giving up on trying to figure out what was wrong and rushed back over to her bag to grab her phone only to frown when he said, “Four months.”

“What’s four months, Devin?” she asked, trying to figure out who she was supposed to call.

There was a gasp of pain and then, he said, “Until I can give you a baby,” making her frown as she glanced back over to find him in the fetal position, cupping himself, and making her frown as she replayed his words in her head and when she did…

“Oh, my god, Devin! What the hell did you do?” she asked, dropping her phone on her bag and rushed over to the freezer.

“B-begged my cousin to call in a f-favor,” he said, only to end that with another pained gasp as Charlie grabbed the bucket of ice out of the freezer and quickly made an ice pack for him.

“I don’t understand,” Charlie said, rushing over to him and moved to place the ice pack on him only to decide that it would probably be better if he did it.

“Two weeks to heal, four months before I can give you a baby,” Devin managed to get out as he rolled over onto his back and shoved the ice pack down the front of his pants as he slowly exhaled.

“Better?” Charlie asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Not even a little bit,” he said, shaking his head as he pressed his hands over his face.

“You were only gone for four hours, Devin. How did this happen?” Charlie asked, rushing to the bathroom to grab the Advil.

“Only took two hours to reverse the vasectomy. Pain meds started wearing off a little sooner than I thought they would,” he said when she walked back into the room.

“Devin, I-”

“I’m going to give you a baby,” he said firmly as she grabbed a bottle of water off her nightstand before rushing back over to join him on the floor.

“I don’t understand why you’d do something like this,” Charlie said, dumping a couple of Advil in her hands only to cringe in sympathy when he grabbed the pills out of her hand and shoved them in his mouth, swallowing them dry.

“Because I love you,” he said, rolling onto his side with a mumbled, “That’s better,” only to roll back onto his back a few seconds later with, “No it’s not.”

“And I love you, Devin, but you didn’t need to do this,” she said, hating to see him in this much pain.

“We’re going to get married and have another child,” Devin said firmly as he took her hand in his.

“Devin, I-”

“We’re also going to make it official. I emailed my cousin Garrett and he’s drawing up the adoption papers,” he said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Really?” Charlie said, feeling her lips pull up into a watery smile.

“Really,” Devin said, using his hold on her hand, he pulled her closer so that he could reach up and cup her face in his hands.

“Are you sure?” she asked, placing her hand over his as she searched his expression, trying to make sure that this was what he really wanted.

“Absolutely,” Devin said, pulling her closer so that he could kiss her, slowly brushing his lips against hers.

“How many?” she asked, making him chuckle.

“I think we could handle two more, maybe three,” he said, making her smile.

“Yeah?” she said, absently as she slowly lost herself in that kiss.

“Mmmhmm,” Devin said, running his hands down her back. “Just as long as you’re finally mine.”

Chapter 43

Two Weeks and Five Days Later…

That was it.

He wanted a divorce, Devin decided as he sat there, seething as he was forced to watch his wife cuddling his children and pets while he was stuck on the other end of the couch, alone. As he sat there, absently running his thumb over the underside of the black wedding band that he now proudly wore on his finger, one thing became painfully clear.

His wife was trying to kill him.

For the past nineteen days, she’d kept her naughty little hands off him and it was fucking killing him. At first, he’d appreciated it and even foolishly believed that she was doing it because she loved him, but then the doctor cleared him to return to regular activities and…

Nothing.

Not one fucking kiss, caress, or touc

h to put him out of his fucking misery. The most he got was a kiss on his cheek and a quick hug seconds before he was forced to watch her give his children double the kisses that he got. Then again, that probably shouldn’t surprise him given what happened on their wedding night…

Since he’d been somewhat incapacitated at the time, he’d been forced to ask for help to pull it off. He’d considered waiting until he was healed before they got married, but he didn’t want to take any chances that she’d change her mind. So, he did what every self-respecting Bradford had done before him.

He’d kidnapped his bride.

Okay, so kidnapping might be a bit of an exaggeration since what he really did was tell her that they were taking the kids to the movies with Ben and T.J.’s help and then simply drove to New Hampshire while pretending that he didn’t hear her mumbling something about a secondary location. Once they were in New Hampshire, he’d shamelessly used the twins to lure her out of the car and into the courthouse and once he had her where he wanted her…

She’d told him that she wasn’t sure that she could marry him because she just wasn’t feeling worshipped enough to find the energy to make it down the aisle.

That was followed by him agreeing that she should feel properly worshipped on her wedding day before locking her in a storage closet until she agreed to marry him. That led to him leaving her in there until she admitted that she loved and adored him and couldn’t wait to marry him. Once she’d convinced him that she couldn’t wait to marry him, he’d released her so that he could make her the happiest woman alive.

He’d ignored her glares while the Justice of the Peace married them and focused on the night ahead. The doctor hadn’t cleared him, but he’d decided not to let that stop him. He’d planned on spending the night showing his wife just how much he loved her only to discover that his wife had made other plans, plans that ended with him sleeping alone while his wife and children cuddled on the other hotel bed, watching Disney movies all night while he’d laid there, seething.