“Talk or stop touching me,” Rory demanded, but he ignored her and kept kissing his way down to her beautiful breasts.
Escape, that’s all he wanted to do and Rory’s body would allow him to do just that. He just needed to escape, he told himself as he moved to kiss his way down to that dark rosy nipple that he loved.
“Goddamnit, Connor! Stop touching me and tell me what the hell is going on with you!” she yelled as she placed her hands on his shoulders and shoved him back, robbing him of the escape that he needed.
“It’s none of your fucking business!” he yelled back, knowing that he’d hit a dangerous point and forced himself to step away from her before he did something really stupid.
“Bullshit!” Rory screamed, getting right into his face and cutting him off when he tried to step out of the shower and leave so that he could calm down, but she wouldn’t let him.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Rory,” he said, tightly through a clenched jaw. When she didn’t move, he yelled, “Now!”
“No!” she yelled right back. “You’re not leaving this shower until you tell me what’s going on!”
“Fuck that,” he snapped, picking her up and moving her to the side so that he could leave. He needed space, needed to calm the fuck down, but of course the damn woman wouldn’t let him have that.
“I told you that you weren’t leaving until you told me what’s going on,” she said, getting out of the shower and moving to block his path, but he simply ignored her as he grabbed a towel and headed for the door.
He didn’t make it far. In fact, he’d barely made it five feet into her bedroom when Rory took him by surprise and tackled him, taking him off guard and down to the ground. It was something that she hadn’t done since she grew breasts and that unfortunate incident in the apple orchard when she went to teach him a lesson, but instead ended up giving him a glance at her developing breasts that had him grinning like a fool.
He wasn’t grinning now. No, now he was pissed. Barely aware of what he was doing, he rolled them over and pinned Rory to the floor, ignoring her dog’s demands to be let in the room and the pain shooting through his hands as he held her arms down.
“You really want to know what’s going on, huh?” he asked, roughly, settling himself between her legs and grinding his hardening cock against her damp slit. “Huh?”
“Yeah, I’d love to know why you’re being a prick,” she said, not sounding scared, but just pissed, Rory level pissed as she tried to get her arms free, but he wasn’t ready to let her go yet. Not yet.
“Because my best friend is dying,” he announced, watching as the anger quickly disappeared from Rory’s beautiful face and was replaced by sympathy.
“Oh my God……,” she mumbled.
“Mmmhmmm,” he said, continuing to grind against her. “Leukemia, but you want to know the real kick in the ass? He has a chance, a fucking chance to live and he’s ignoring it. Do you know why?” he asked, barely aware of the way that his voice shook or the way his body trembled as he spoke.
“No,” Rory said, her voice hollow as she laid there, no longer fighting him.
“Because the asshole has a rare blood type and he’s afraid that if he takes the bone marrow that he’ll be taking away the chance for a kid or someone with a family’s chance to live. He doesn’t care that I need him and that I’m going to miss him,” he said, grinding against her, harder. “He doesn’t fucking care!”
He kept grinding against her, not feeling anything as he looked down at her, watching as the tears rolled down her beautiful face. “He doesn’t care that I’m going to miss him. He doesn’t care that he’s making me watch him die and he won’t let me fucking help him! Now that he quit, he doesn’t have health insurance and can’t get the medicine that he needs. He won’t even let me be there for him now. The stubborn asshole doesn’t want anyone to see that, but I need to. I need to be there for him and let him know how much I love him and he won’t give me that!”
“Shhh, it’s okay,” Rory said, putting her arms around him and pulling him down, but he wouldn’t allow it. He didn’t remember letting her arms go or moving to get away from her and didn’t care. Suddenly he couldn’t stand the thought of her touching him, of her comforting him. It made it feel too real, like his best friend really was dying and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t deal with it, just wanted to pretend for a little while longer. He-
“Shhh, baby, it’s okay,” Rory said as she gently pushed him back down until he was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed. Before he could move, she was climbing onto his lap and straddling him. He went to push her off, desperate to avoid her touch, but when he moved to push her off he found himself instead grabbing her and pulling close, suddenly desperate for the comfort that she was offering him, needing it more than his next breath.
“Everything is going to be okay, Connor,” Rory said soothingly as she wrapped her arms around his head and held him against her chest. “Shhh, it’s okay.”
He tried to tell her that it wasn’t, but he couldn’t. The only thing that came out was an agonized sob and then another and another until all he could do was hold onto her as he lost control and finally gave into the pain.
* * *
“What do you mean, you and Connor aren’t coming in today?” Craig demanded, sounding stressed and for good reason. They had less than two months to finish the hotel and they were barely keeping their heads above water. They should be at work, but Connor needed some rest and she needed to do something.
She leaned over and kissed Connor’s cheek as he slept, his stubble tickling her lips and making her smile sadly as she looked down at him. He’d been shouldering this secret for far too long. She hated seeing him in this much pain and she refused to let it continue. With that in mind she said, “Our cousins aren’t coming in today either. I need their help with something.”
* * *
“This has to end,” Andrew said, his legs giving out beneath him, dropping his ass to the ground before he could make a half ass attempt to hold himself up against the wall. He was tired, too damn tired and couldn’t wait for it to end.
He was ready. He’d said his goodbyes and accepted his fate. He’d just wish fate would stop fucking with him and get it over with, because he wasn’t sure that he could-
“Rory?” he asked, sure that he was seeing things as he watched the stunning woman climb through his window. When two very large men followed her inside, he prayed that they were there to finish him off. The woman hated him, always had and he really couldn’t blame her, because he had been an asshole. He’d love to say that he’d had an excuse to treat her the way that he did, but unfortunately he’d been a dumb kid, a jealous dumb kid who’d crushed on her and hated the fact that Connor loved her. Connor was his best friend, more like a brother and because of him, he never tried anything with Rory, but once upon a time he’d dreamed of making her his own. He’d hated that she was off limits, but as the years passed he realized that he’d simply been harboring a childhood crush on her and had been a complete asshole to her for no good reason.
“Oh good, you’re ready to go,” she said, smiling when she spotted him.
Frowning, he looked down at his bare chest and boxers and had to wonder what she was talking about. He moved to open his mouth, but no words came out as he watched more men crawl through the window, a lot more. A few he recognized, but most of them he’d never seen before. He knew by their builds, their dark hair, and bad boy looks that they were all related and they were all looking at him.
“W-what’s going on?” he asked, hating how weak he sounded.
Rory gestured a few of the men forward. “Nothing much. We’ve just come to get you and end the bullshit.”
“Oh shit,” he mumbled when they came for him.
Chapter 37
October
“Get the hell away from me with that, you psychotic harpy!” Andrew shouted, making Connor smile as he headed downstairs, more than ready for thi
s morning’s battle.
It had been almost a month since Rory and her cousins kidnapped Andrew. Well, “talked him into leaving his house and come live with her” as Rory had explained it to the nice police officer that showed up when Andrew managed to get his hands on a cell phone and called for help. The two of them fought day and night and they seemed to hate each other more than ever, but Rory didn’t let that stop her from making sure that Andrew was cared for. She took care of him in the morning, came by several times during the day to check up on him and even had that little snot rag of an assistant of hers help out, and she took care of him at night as well.
Andrew, who’d been ready to give up, hated every last second of it. He bitched and whined and tried to make several escape attempts, but unfortunately for him, the Bradfords decided to take a special interest in him. They now had three Bradfords a week, two to work on Strawberry Manor and one to hang out at Rory’s during the day and keep an eye on Andrew. He’d only managed to sneak past a Bradford one time, but he didn’t get very far, not with Bunny on the job. One vicious growl and Andrew was making his way back to the bedroom Rory had set up for him on the first floor.
Thanks to Rory taking over, Andrew gained back some weight, had health insurance and all his medication. He also made it to all of his medical appointments and Rory somehow managed to browbeat the man into putting his name on the wait list for a transplant. He was somewhat lucky that a bone marrow donation should heal him. The only problem was that he had a very rare blood type, but that didn’t stop Connor from praying for a miracle.
“Take your medication!” Rory snapped.
“Go to hell!” Andrew shot back.
“Take it!”
“Make me!” Andrew snapped, making Connor cringe on his behalf as he stepped over Bunny and headed for Andrew’s room.
When he stepped into Andrew’s room and discovered that Rory had his best friend in a headlock and was trying to shove a pill into his mouth, he wasn’t all that surprised. The man had set down a challenge after all.
“Would you two cut the shit? We have to get going or you’re going to be late for your appointment,” Connor said, ignoring the little power struggle going on behind him and grabbed some clothes for Andrew.
“Actually,” Rory said, pausing just as Andrew muttered and made a few gagging noises, “if you have room for one more, I need a ride to the medical center, too.”
Frowning, he tossed the clothes he grabbed to Andrew, who was chugging down a bottle of water as he glared at Rory. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, waving it off like it was no big deal, “I just have a checkup.”
“Then why do you have to come with us?” Andrew asked, watching Rory suspiciously, probably because Rory had a tendency of taking over Andrew’s appointments and interrogating his doctors, making Andrew feel like a five year old.
Rory rolled her eyes as she snatched the tee shirt out of Andrew’s hands and returned it back to the drawer only to pick out a different shirt and toss it to him. He tried to bite back a smile as Andrew shot him an “I told you so look.” The man bitched day and night about Rory babying him and even though Connor told the man that he was imagining things, he wasn’t. Connor wasn’t about to interfere, for several reasons. One, he knew that Andrew secretly liked the attention. It had been a long time since anyone took care of him. Secondly, it entertained the hell out of him and her cousins. It lightened the mood and helped relieve some of the stress of trying to get the manor done and it kept their minds off of what would happen if the doctors didn’t find a match.
“Because I lent my Jeep to Max so that he could check up on some orders in town for us and help with the manor. Now stop your bitching, eat your breakfast and get your ass dressed or you’ll make us late,” she said as she walked out of the room, only pausing long enough to give him a kiss and then she was off, probably to double check Andrew’s afternoon pills.
“I hate her,” Andrew said evenly as he picked up the toast that Rory had slathered with butter, peanut butter and jelly, part of her effort to put some weight back on the man.
Connor chuckled. “No, you don’t.”
Andrew sighed long and loud as he took a big bite, knowing the little general would just shove it down his throat if he didn’t eat it. “You’re right. I don’t. But if she tries to check up on me in the bathroom one more time, I’m going to throttle the little pain in the ass!”
“I’ll let her know,” Connor said, chuckling as he headed out the door to give his friend privacy.
“You be sure to do that,” Andrew mumbled and Connor didn’t need to look back to know that his friend was smiling. Rory was a hell of a woman and he’d been damn lucky to snatch her up before some other asshole realized how great she was.
Damn lucky.
* * *
“What's taking them so long?” Andrew asked as he fidgeted in the waiting room chair.
“No idea,” Connor said, looking at his watch, again. It was a doctor’s office so they usually were running behind, but never like this. They were running an hour and a half behind schedule and if Rory hadn't already gone in an exam room and Andrew needed this appointment, he would have told his friend to reschedule. He had a lot of shit to do today.
“Connor, can you go see how long Rory is going to be?” Andrew asked, sounding tired, which was a side effect of the medication and something the doctors should have considered before making him wait this long.
“Yeah, no problem,” he said, trying to figure out how to convince his friend to wait a little while longer.
He walked through the door that led to the examination rooms, not bothering to ask where Rory was since he overheard the nurse tell her which room to go into. Plus, they’d just tell him to wait in the waiting room since they weren’t related and he wasn’t her husband. Next month could not come fast enough as far as he was concerned.
“Rory?” he asked as he knocked on room ten’s door.
“Connor?” Rory asked, sounding happy, which of course pleased him.
“Can I come in?” he asked, already opening the door and walking in just as Rory pulled on her shoe.
“Yes,” she said, smiling and looking happy, which was a bit unexpected, but he wasn’t going to complain since he liked seeing her happy.
“Andrew’s appointment is running behind. I just wanted to see how much longer you were going to be,” he said, leaning in and kissing her.
“Just a few more minutes. Can you sit with me?” she asked, taking him off guard.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, not that he had a problem with sitting with her, but it was just an unusual request coming from Rory.
“Yeah, it’s just boring in here by myself. Do you mind?” she asked, giving him a sweet smile that he was helpless against.
“Sure,” he said, returning her smile as he moved to stand next to her as she sat on the exam table.
They didn’t have to wait long before a doctor came into the room, looking surprised to see Connor. But when Rory quickly explained that he was her fiancé, the doctor nodded and sat down.
“Your test results all look great, Rory. I ran a pregnancy test,” the woman announced, making his heart skip a beat.
Oh shit…………
“The test came back negative. You’ve been under a lot of stress and have been working too hard. I think once you’re able to slow down and take a break then your cycle will go back to normal,” the doctor announced with a polite smile.
“Thank you, Dr. Hahn,” Rory said, quietly.
Connor chuckled as he leaned down and kissed the top of Rory’s head. “I guess we got lucky, huh? Maybe you should see if you can get a prescription so that we don’t have to worry about this for a while.”
“I can write you a prescription for birth control if that’s what you want,” Dr. Hahn said, smiling. “But, I’d like to talk to you about your other request first.”
Connor was just about to ask what the other request was when a n
urse popped her head in the door. “We found a match for your friend,” she said, worrying her bottom lip as relief surged through him before she added, “We also need you to help pick him up. He may have passed out when we told him the news.”
“Aw, shit,” he said, giving Rory a quick kiss on the cheek before he followed the nurse out the door, thanking his lucky stars that he’d managed to avoid becoming a daddy and been given a chance to keep his friend for a little while longer.
Definitely a great day.
* * *
“Do you think that you could swing by and visit Andrew in a couple of hours?” Connor asked, sounding excited when all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry and mourn the child that wasn’t meant to be.
It had been foolish to let herself get her hopes up. She should have gone to the doctor sooner or at the very least, bought a home pregnancy test, but she’d been so damn positive that she was pregnant. She’d never been late before a day in her life. It was only natural to assume that she was pregnant. She’d been stupid, so damn stupid and now her heart ached and all she wanted to do was cry, but she couldn’t.
Connor was happy and she didn’t want to wreck that for him. He didn’t want a child yet and as much as that hurt, it would have hurt a heck of a lot more having a child with a man that didn’t want it.
“Rory?” Connor asked as he pulled into Strawberry Manor’s parking lot.
“Yes?” she asked, feeling like she was in a daze.
“Can you check up on him for me later?” he asked, reminding her that at least she had something else to focus on for a while.
“I’ll try to, but I might not be able to,” she said, avoiding his eyes as she lied to him.
“Why not?”
“I have to go away for a few days.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Now? You need to go away now when Andrew is getting his transplant?” Connor asked, sounding confused and a little disappointed.