She bit back a groan. Being shut down this early in the game would kill their schedule. They needed to get off the ground running. “Did he shut us down?” Rory asked, worrying her bottom lip between her lip as she struggled not to panic.
Bryce snorted. “He almost did, but lucky for you, Dad showed up.”
“Shit.”
“Yup, seems the fire inspector wasn’t too happy having to jump out of the way of the morons shoving each other. Lucky for you that Dad took him aside and convinced him to ignore the bullshit. He’s coming back Monday, so I suggest that you and Connor come to some sort of an agreement before this bullshit gets us shut down.”
Rory sighed heavily as she ran her hands down her face. “I don’t want to have to deal with Connor. Can you do it?” she asked, knowing that she was whining and not really caring.
Bryce chuckled as he reached out and hooked his arm around her neck, pulling her tightly against his side as they headed for the stairs. “Relax, Rory. I don’t think it will be that bad.”
“But I hate him,” she mumbled pathetically. “He makes my life a living hell.”
“I know, but if it makes you feel any better, I think that you do a better job of making his life a living hell,” Bryce assured her.
Well, that was something, Rory thought as she carefully stepped over a missing step.
“At least you’ll probably get a break for the next five months from all of his bullshit,” Bryce said, sounding hopeful. “He’ll be too busy with this project to give you a second thought.”
“Oh, I’m sure that I can make time for you,” Connor drawled from the bottom of the stairs. Their gazes locked, and in that moment, she knew, just knew that there would never be a break from the daily bullshit. In fact, if that wink he sent her way before he sauntered off was any indication, she could count on it getting worse and there wasn’t a damn thing that she could do to stop it.
Chapter 8
Later that night...
“Looks like he let the air out of your tires,” Sean said, chuckling as he pulled up in front of Rory’s house.
“That’s not too bad,” Rory mumbled, glancing around her dark property, wondering what else he had in store for her. At this point in their lives, letting air out of her tires was child’s play, and she knew, just knew, that he wasn’t done.
That was fine, more than fine, actually. She could handle anything he dished out and probably do a hell of a lot worse in return. She no longer got nervous at the prospect of Connor settling a score because she knew that he would at least make sure that he didn’t do any permanent damage. That was something, at least, Rory mused as she grabbed her lunch cooler and empty hot chocolate thermos.
“Are you going to need a ride in the morning?” Sean asked, sounding amused.
“Yes, and probably an apple fritter,” Rory said with a hopeful smile as she climbed out of his truck.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, chuckling as she shut the door.
She sent him one last wave as she walked towards her Jeep and sighed. She was too exhausted to mess with the air compressor right now. Thankfully, Craig gave her an AAA membership last year for Christmas. With a heartfelt sigh, she pulled her phone out of her pocket as Bunny came running around the house. When he saw her, he quickly made his way over to her and sat by her feet, obediently waiting for her to finish her phone call.
With a promise of an hour wait, Rory gave Bunny his customary ear scratch and headed for her front door, forcing herself not to act paranoid. Whatever happened, happened. She wasn’t about to live the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. He just wasn’t worth the effort. Besides, she was too tired to really care.
After feeding Bunny, she went upstairs and took a quick shower. Normally, she would have taken her time and allowed the hot water to ease the ache in her sore muscles, but she really needed a hot cocoa fix tonight. She quickly dried off, pulled on a light blue tank top that ended just above her belly button and pulled on a pair of Craig’s old grey gym shorts with a fading Mickey Mouse on the leg and tied them off so that they wouldn’t fall off, and headed downstairs for her much-needed cocoa fix.
Ten minutes later, she was carrying an extra-large mug of cocoa as she made her way back up the stairs with Bunny on her heels. She walked down the hall, releasing a loud yawn as she gestured for Bunny to get on her bed. As she pulled back the thick curtain, she sent up a silent prayer for a Connor-free night and nearly cursed when she spotted the bastard in question lounging on his deck with a bottle of beer and a magazine.
For a moment, Rory considered going downstairs and relaxing on her couch, but it wasn’t the same. She liked relaxing on her deck after work and wasn’t about to let Connor take that away from her. She took a sip of her cocoa for fortification before she opened the door and stepped out onto her porch.
Connor didn’t so much as bat an eye in her direction as she closed the door behind her. Hmmm, that was interesting, Rory thought as she took another sip of her cocoa before setting it down on the small table. Well, maybe she finally got her wish and he was too tired to do anything, Rory thought as she sat down on her lounge chair and released a sigh.
When he still didn’t say anything a few minutes later, she started to get nervous. Swallowing hard, she shot him a look only to find him taking a sip of his beer as he continued reading his magazine. It was a little unsettling and unexpected, but if he was willing to let it go for one night, then so was she. Perhaps he’d realized that they needed to get along for the sake of the project.
“Are you going to move your trailer tomorrow?” Connor asked in a bored tone, never taking his eyes off his magazine.
Maybe not.
“No,” Rory said, biting back a sigh.
“Okay,” he said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.
