Rory keeps ahold of my arm and helps me down the hallway to my room.
“Have fun, boys!” Mom calls out, and damned if I don’t recognize that tone.
“I’m pretty sure your mom thinks we’re fucking,” he says softly.
“Screw you.”
“Aw, why are you mad? I’m not the one who held you at gunpoint and stole four thousand dollars from you.”
I turn into my room, Rory following me. He dive-bombs onto my bed, landing on his back, his shirt pulling up, and I can see the gun tucked in his waistband. “You left yours in your car. Don’t worry. It’s safe in mine.”
Why the hell hadn’t I thought to grab my piece earlier? I’m fucking this up all the way through.
“What do you want?” I fall into my desk chair and massage my temples. “I’ll pay you back.”
“Money means nothing to me. I have more of it than I know what to do with.”
“Must be a tough life being so privileged.”
He shrugs. “In some ways, I am, yes.”
I can’t stop myself from watching him. I can’t believe he’s in this room with me right now. Again, I wonder why I’m not more scared. How I can know someone is dangerous yet not fear him.
“Don’t hurt her. Do what you want to me. Kill me, I don’t fucking care, but don’t hurt her.”
He rolls to his side, pushes up on his elbow, cocking his head, studying me. I don’t get him. I’m not sure how to respond or what the fuck he’s thinking. “Would she sacrifice herself for you?”
“Fuck off.”
“I’m not trying to be a dick. Just curious.”
I shrug. “Probably not.”
“And you don’t care?”
“I don’t stress about things I can’t change.”
He nods slowly, gaze still penetrating.
“What do you want?” I ask again.
“I haven’t figured it out yet. I should kill you. Let’s be real, I probably will, but…you’re intriguing. Plus, my bunny likes you, and I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“Your bunny?” What the hell is he talking about? “Is there something wrong with you?”
“Yes. And Ollie is my bunny. He wouldn’t like you anymore if he knew you robbed me, and Cillian would kill you, which again, is likely where we’ll end up, but…I want to play with you first.”
Either my brain is scrambled from the hit I took, or there really is something wrong with this man. And I’m fucking lost about the relationship dynamics. He said Cillian is like a brother to him, but he talks about Ollie like they’re together. I don’t have the mental capacity right now to disentangle that, and really, I shouldn’t care. But I don’t want these bastards to take advantage of Ollie.
For now, I choose to focus on his intentions toward me. “Play with me? I’m not a fucking toy.”
His brows draw together. “Yes, you are. I’ve been playing with you for days. Going to the Pizza Palace, following you, watching your house. Now I must find a new game. Why did you steal from me?”
He bounces around topics, I’ve noticed, from playing with me to my stealing from him without any kind of bridge. “Rent money. Our landlord is a prick. I’m pretty sure he’s into illegal shit. He’s got this bodyguard that follows himaround. Anyway, my mom spent all the rent money, so I did what I had to do.”
“Yet you’d still sacrifice yourself for her?” He sits up on the edge of the bed and continues when I don’t answer him. “She said you’re her best friend, that she had you at fifteen. She seems to love you even if she’s a shitty mom.”
“Hey, fuck off. Don’t call her that.” I mean, he’s right. She’s a terrible mom and always has been, but he doesn’t have the right to say it.
