“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re going to tear my throat out and kick the shit out of me or some other bullshit,” Connor said dryly, daring a glance down at his watch and wondering what was taking Rory so damn long.
“Um, actually, no. I was wondering if you had any cream and sugar that I could borrow. They messed up on my order,” Brian said sheepishly as he gestured to the coffee in his hand.
“Help yourself,” Connor said, focusing his attention back on Rory’s front door.
“Thanks, man,” Brian said, walking towards Connor’s front door only to pause and add with a shrug, “You know you’re a dead man, right?”
“Yup.”
“Good, good,” Brian said with a nod as he headed for Connor’s house.
“That’s right, your ass is grass, you little prick,” Johnny said, sounding smug, which was a little sad.
Connor was just about to go see what was taking Rory so long when her front door opened and she walked out, smiling when she spotted him. He pushed away from his truck and walked past her brothers, ignoring their muttered threats to keep his “dirty hands off their sweet little sister” and met her halfway down her walkway. He didn’t care that her brothers and half the neighborhood was watching, he had to kiss her, so he did just that.
“Ow!” he winced, stepping away from Rory and rubbing the back of his head where it throbbed. He looked over his shoulder and found all five of her brothers watching them as they did their best to look innocent.
“It was a squirrel,” Craig said, somehow keeping a straight face.
“Vicious little bastards,” Bryce added solemnly.
“You should really be careful,” Johnny added before mouthing, “bitch.”
Oh, this was going to be a long fucking day.
Chapter 34
“Can we stop at Henderson’s?” Rory asked, noting that it was almost six in the morning and the little dinner/convenience store should be open by now. At least, she thought it should. Granted, it had been more than ten years since she’d been allowed within thirty yards of the store, but she was pretty sure that it still opened early and closed late.
Connor took a left on Long Pond Road, pissing her brothers off if the sound of their horns blaring was any indication. They weren’t happy that Connor was going with her. They were also pissed that their pathetic attempts to get rid of him had failed.
They’d yanked the battery out of Connor’s truck along with the spark plugs, a few hoses, and let the air out of his tires, probably thinking that would stop Connor from coming with them. Just in case that didn’t work, they did the same to her Jeep and explained with smug smiles that they only had room for one more passenger. It was an amateur move.
She knew that Connor really didn’t want to spend the day with her brothers and she really couldn’t blame him. Even though she wanted him there, wanted to spend a whole day away from work with him, she’d understood and was willing to go without him. Just as she opened her mouth to let him off the hook, he flipped off her brothers and set to work. It wasn’t exactly surprising to discover that Connor kept spare parts in his garage. She did the same thing. They’d screwed each other over enough in the past that they were pretty much prepared for anything and everything.
“Do you want to go to Henderson’s or do you want to hit McDonalds, when we get to the highway?” Connor asked, gently caressing the back of her hand with his thumb as he took a right at the lights.
“McDonald’s is a half-hour away,” she pointed out, starting to feel giddy at the prospect of going to Henderson’s for the first time in years. It used to be her favorite store as a child and she’d missed going there every Sunday for a stack of pancakes, bacon, and hot cocoa.
As much as she would have loved to blame Connor for getting banned from her favorite store, she couldn’t. Getting banned from Henderson’s had been one hundred percent her fault. Then again, the ban probably would have been shorter if Alex, her boyfriend at the time, hadn’t decided to get in her face and call her a fucking bitch for getting him tossed out as well. That’s not what pushed Henderson into banning her for life, though. It was Connor grabbing Alex by the throat and shoving him into the shelves of penny candy that got them the lifetime ban, which had been lifted for a probationary period a week ago.
In fact, every ban and restriction in town had been lifted. People were still placing bets on them, but at least they could now go wherever they wanted to without having to worry about restrictions. They hadn’t had much time to enjoy the bans being lifted, but they had managed to grab dinner at O’Malley’s last Tuesday, a place neither of them had been allowed to set foot in for the past five years. They’d even gone grocery shopping together. Granted, on both occasions, the managers had assigned someone to watch their every move and follow them, but still, it was progress.
“You just want to see if Henderson still has those little chocolate balls that you used to love, don’t you?” Connor asked, chuckling softly as he pulled into Henderson’s cracked parking lot.
“No, I’m just hungry,” Rory said, only partially lying because she planned on getting three bags of those delicious little chocolate balls and eating every last one of them.
“Uh-huh, sure,” Connor said, smiling that sexy smile of his as he handed her two twenties.
Frowning, she asked, “You’re not coming in?” and nearly cringed at how needy she sounded. She wanted to share this with him and enjoy visiting her favorite childhood store with him.
“Sorry, baby,” Connor said, leaning over and kissing her, “but someone has to keep your brothers from going in there and getting you banned again.”
She looked past him to see Craig’s truck parked next to them and when she saw the anticipatory gleam on her brothers’ faces, she realized that Connor had a point. They’d hound her in that store and do their best to talk some sense into her, which of course, would annoy her and cause her to do something stupid like get banned again.
“I won’t be long,” Rory promised with a pleased smile as she climbed out of the truck and made a beeline for the old familiar white door that used to welcome her as a child. Bryce almost managed to cut her off, but Connor was there a split second before her brother could reach for her.
Knowing that she probably only had a few minutes before her brothers managed to plow past Connor and start the next round of lectures, she quickly made her way through the old country store. She ignored the curious looks watching her every move and focused on filling her handbasket with chocolate balls, a bag of freshly made donuts that were still warm, ordering two hot cocoas, grabbing some penny candy, a few small white boxes of fruit-filled pastries, a couple of waters, and a bag of homemade mini peanut butter cups, Connor’s favorite, and quickly paid.
