Even though she knew that her father worked them hard because he wanted to keep them out of trouble, she didn’t care. She loved working with her family and earning her own money. It also didn’t hurt that she was learning a job that she hoped to do after high school.
“At least I know who my father is,” she said, knowing it was a low blow, but then again, so was sitting on top of her so that he could pour gallon after gallon of paint on her.
“Well, at least my mother didn’t run off with the milkman,” Connor said, getting in her face and just like that she snapped. It didn’t matter that there were twenty witnesses in the room or that extra month of detention that would no doubt be added to her time. All that mattered was wiping that smug expression off the bastard’s face.
“It was the mailman, you bastard!” Rory said, lunging for him.
“Same damn thing,” Connor muttered as he put her in a headlock and took her to the ground.
Ten years earlier...
“But I love you, Connor,” Jill, Jen, or whatever the hell her name was, said.
“Uh-huh, that’s nice,” Connor said absently as he watched the asshole who’d been hanging around Rory for way too long, wrap his arm around her shoulders and kiss her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have something very important to do,” he said, not caring if she heard him over the loud music.
“Connor!” she said, grabbing onto his arm to stop him from leaving her. With an annoyed sigh, he gently removed her hand from his arm and walked away. He damn near rolled his eyes when he heard her profess her undying love for him.
He couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was wrong with her. They’d had sex, not even good sex, once. There had never been any promises or declarations of love, but for some reason, she thought that meant they were meant to be. Why in the hell did women get so damn clingy? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t made it clear that he’d used her for sex.
“Whoa! What the hell was wrong with Rick inviting you and Rory to the same party?” Ted, a guy he’d gone to high school with, asked, laughing as he held up his beer to Connor in salute.
“No clue,” Connor answered without taking his eyes off his prey since he had about five minutes before Rick and his buddies tried to remove him. Two hours ago, he’d been too tired to crash this party, but then, he happened to stop for gas and a cold soda and overheard the prick in front of him bragging to his frat buddies that he was going to fuck a virgin townie tonight and earn twenty points.
Normally, he wouldn’t have cared what one of the asshole college kids did, but when he heard Rory’s name, he decided that he had to do something. She was his to screw over, no one else’s and especially not some fucking college punk’s. It didn’t matter that they were no longer kids, she was still the best part of his day and he’d be damned if he let some other asshole cause her grief when it was still his damn job. Once upon a time, he’d hoped for something else, but…
It was never going to happen and it was pointless to wish for something that common sense told him would never happen. He’d fucked up big time and made damn sure that there would never be anything more between them a few months ago. For now, he’d have to settle for keeping an eye out for her and enjoying their daily antics, which did entertain him immensely. Since this was all they would ever have, he made damn sure that he enjoyed himself.
A minute later, Connor smoothly stepped in their path, blocking them as they tried to leave. He ignored Rory as she glared up at him since he had more important things to deal with at the moment. His eyes dropped to their entwined hands before settling back on the prick’s face.
“Did you earn your twenty points yet, Mark?” Connor asked, drawing everyone’s attention and not really giving a damn.
Mark’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the little shit said, lying his ass.
“That must suck having a short-term memory problem, especially in college. Should I refresh your memory?” Connor asked, barely aware that someone had shut off the music and not really caring.
“I-I-I...” the man stammered nervously as he dropped Rory’s hand and stepped away from her.
“Mark?” Rory asked, glancing between the two of them.
“I-I-I…” Mark continued to stammer.
“Good answer, Mark,” Connor drawled, wondering where she found these losers. The last one made this one look like fucking Einstein.
Rory sighed heavily as she gestured for him to get on with it. There was no drama or theatrics with this woman. She knew the game as well as he did and wasn’t going to freak out over the impending blow. They’d screwed each other over enough times that they were pretty much immune to public humiliation by now. That didn’t mean that she was going to take this lying down. He fully expected some sort of retaliation.
“Seems your little boyfriend here is trying to pop your cherry so that he can earn some points with his frat brothers,” Connor said, trying to hide how surprised he’d been to find out that she was still a virgin. Then again, he did fuck up her life on a daily basis so maybe he shouldn’t be that surprised. He’d lost track of how many losers he’d run off in the last five years.
She was quiet for a moment before she frowned up at Mark. “Is that true?”
Connor snorted at that. As if he’d lie. She really should know better by now.
“I-I...it was…” Mark noticeably swallowed as he backed away from Rory with his hands up in a pacifying motion. “It was just for fun, honestly. It’s no big deal.”
“I see,” Rory mumbled, but didn’t make a move to run away or cry like most women would. She simply stood there glaring at the man.
“You’re not going to hit me, are you?” Mark asked, sounding like a pussy.
Rory simply shrugged. “I don’t have to.”
