“No, it doesn’t,” Connor snapped as he leaned in and pressed a kiss against her neck in the spot that he knew drove her crazy. If he wasn’t going to be able to work himself into exhaustion, then he’d fuck Rory until he couldn’t remember his own name, never mind the pain that was driving him out of his fucking mind, he decided as he continued kissing her neck.
“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, Connor 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!” Rory 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 in 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,” Connor 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,” Rory 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. She hadn’t tackled him since she’d started to grow breasts and because of that unfortunate incident in the apple orchard when she’d tried to teach him a lesson, but instead ended up giving him a glance at her breasts that had him grinning like a fool for days.
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 into 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,” Rory said, not sounding scared, but 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,” Connor announced, watching as the anger quickly disappeared from Rory’s beautiful face and was replaced with sympathy.
“Oh, my God,” she mumbled weakly.
“Mmmhmmm,” Connor 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 that his voice shook or that his body was trembling as he spoke.
“No,” Rory said hollowly as she lay 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 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. The stubborn asshole doesn’t want anyone to see that, but I need it. 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 trying to comfort him. It made this feel real, like his best friend really was dying and there was nothing that 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, Rory was climbing on his lap and straddling him. He went to push her off, desperate to avoid her touch, but when he moved to push her away, he found himself 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. “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, then another and another, until all he could do was hold onto her as he lost control and finally gave into the pain.
“What the hell 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 floor before he could make a half-assed 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 just wished fate would stop fucking with him and get it over with because he wasn’t sure that he could-
“Rory?” Andrew 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 here to finish him off. The woman hated him, always had and he really couldn’t blame her, because he’d been an asshole.
He’d love to say that he’d had an excuse for treating her the way that he had, but unfortunately, he’d been a dumb kid, a jealous dumb kid who’d had a crush on her and hated the fact that Connor loved her first. Connor was his best friend, more like a brother, and because of him, he’d 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’d realized that he’d simply been harboring a childhood crush on her and had been a complete asshole to her for no good reason.
