NFH 03 Checkmate (10 page)

"Shit."

"Yup, seems the fire inspector wasn't too
happy having to duck out of the way of morons shoving each other
and leaving equipment running and unmanned. 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."

She sighed heavily as she ran her hands down
her face. "I don't want to have to deal with Connor. Can't 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 fair job of making his life a living
hell, too."

Well, that was something, she 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 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 little 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," she mumbled, shooting
glances 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. Oh no, not Connor, especially not since that look he shot her
earlier told her as much.

That was fine, more than fine actually. She
could handle anything he dished out and probably do worse. 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, she 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 an apple fritter or two," she
said, throwing him a wink 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 just too tired to mess with
the air compressor right now and was glad that Craig had given her
an AAA membership last year for Christmas. Bunny came running
around the house as she pulled out her cell phone. He jogged over
to her and sat by her feet, obediently waiting for her to finish
her phone call.

With a promise of an hour wait she gave
Bunny his customary behind the ear scratch and headed for her front
door, forcing herself not to look around like some paranoid chick
in a horror flick. 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 at the moment 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
tonight she really needed a hot cocoa fix. 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 the
fading Mickey Mouse on the leg and tied them off so that they
wouldn't fall off and headed towards her much needed fix.

Ten minutes later she was carrying an extra
large mug of cocoa as she walked up the stairs with Bunny on her
heels. She walked down the hall, letting out a loud yawn as she
gestured Bunny towards 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.

Hopefully, he was too exhausted to annoy
her. For a moment she considered going downstairs and relaxing on
her couch, but it wasn't the same. She liked relaxing on her deck
after a long day and wasn't about to let Connor take that away from
her. She took a sip of her cocoa for fortification, opened the door
and stepped out onto her porch.

Connor didn't so much as bat an eye in her
direction. Hmmm, that was interesting, she noted as she took
another sip from her cocoa before setting it down on the small
table. Well, maybe she got her wish and he was too tired to do
anything, she thought as she sat down on her lounge chair and
stretched out.

When he still didn't say anything a few
minutes later she became a little nervous and shot him a look only
to find him taking a sip of his beer as he continued to read 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
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," she said on a sigh.

"Okay," he said, shrugging.

She cocked a brow at that. "Okay?"

"Yup," he said absently as he took another
sip of his beer.

She narrowed her eyes on him, wondering what
the hell he was up to. He never gave up this easily, never. Not
even when they were fourteen and she may have pantsed him in front
of the entire school one afternoon and he may have broken his arm
in an attempt to pull her out of the air duct where she might have
been hiding. He simply waited until the cast was dry and his mother
was looking the other way before he snuck out of the exam room at
the clinic over on Chestnut and made his way to the waiting room
where he knew her father would make her wait so that she could give
him the customary muttered "sorry."

As soon as Connor stepped into the waiting
room she knew that she was in deep shit. She'd barely turned to run
and hide when he clamped his good hand around her wrist and dragged
her kicking and screaming into the staff kitchenette where he found
a strawberry yogurt three years past its expiration date in the
back of the fridge. For the next ten minutes he sat on her back
while he forced her to eat the brown concoction and even when the
doctor, three nurses and his mother tried to drag him off of her,
he still managed to shove a large spoonful of the fuzzy gunk into
her mouth.

No, he was definitely up to something, she
thought as she picked up her mug of cocoa and gave it the attention
that it deserved. Since there really was no way to prepare herself
for his little antics she didn't even bother trying. Whatever he
did she would make damn sure that she did something ten times worse
to him.

"I'm drawing a blank here and I was
wondering if you could help me out," he said in a thoughtful tone
and just like that the small hairs on the back of her neck stood
up, but she refused to visibly react to him in any way.

She didn't answer and he didn't seem to care
as he continued, "What was the name of that guy, you know the one
that you bitch slapped at McGill's Bar last year for no reason at
all?"

Rory wasn't sure where he was going with
this, but she was sick of people, especially Connor for some weird
reason, thinking that she attacked the jerk for no reason at all
like she was some crazed bitch with a bad case of PMS. She hadn't
told her brothers why she slapped the man, because she thought that
she'd taken care of it, but obviously she'd been wrong. By the next
morning he'd spread rumors all over town that she begged him for a
quickie in the bathroom and that he turned her down, making her
look pathetic and slutty. Her brothers' fists had taken care of the
rumor, but men still thought she was easy thanks to him.

"Oh, you mean the guy that cornered me in
the small hallway near the jukebox and grabbed my breasts while
demanding that I give him a blowjob in the bathroom?" she asked in
a bored tone even though the memory of that night still had the
power to make her feel weak and vulnerable, something she didn't
like.

Connor paused just as he brought the beer to
his mouth. He looked thoughtful as he took a slow sip and placed
the beer down on his small table. "He attacked you?" he asked in a
deceptively calm tone that didn't match the way his jaw clenched
tightly and the little muscle that ticked just below his eye.

"You didn't really think that I would slap
some jerk for no reason, now did you?" she asked with a shrug.

He sighed heavily as he took another sip of
his beer. "No, I didn't, but I didn't know the asshole was that
stupid," he said, shifting in his seat to look at something over
his banister. "Speaking of the asshole, you called triple A to take
care of your tires?" he asked, conversationally.

"You mean for my tires that mysteriously
deflated sometime after I got home last night?" she asked dryly.
"Yeah, I hoped they'd send someone else, but it figures that they'd
send him," she said, not even bothering to get up to look since she
didn't need to sign anything for him to fill up her tires.

She didn't need any added drama to her night
and she sure as hell didn't want to face Barry tonight. The guy was
a prick and took being shot down a little too personally. As far as
she was concerned the man should just be grateful that she hadn't
told her brothers what he'd done, because the man would still be
eating through a straw if she had.

"Hmmm, looks like he's towing you," Connor
said in an innocent tone as he watched Barry do whatever the hell
he was doing.

"Yeah, right." She snorted in disbelief. It
was really sad that Connor had to resort to lame jokes to try and
scare her. Seriously, like she'd believe Barry was really stupid
enough to tow her truck away. There was no way Barry would
ever.......

Did she just hear chains rattling? she
wondered, trying not to panic as she quickly climbed off her lounge
chair and made her way over to the railing just in time to see
Barry throw the switch.

"Stop!" she yelled, looking around
desperately for a way to get down there and stop that madman before
he took off with her Jeep. "What the hell are you doing?" she
asked, even as she contemplated climbing over the railing and
jumping.

With her paved driveway right below her, she
didn't want to take a chance of twisting her ankle or breaking
something. She uselessly waved to get Barry’s attention, but the
damn man was too busy looking down at his clipboard to see her.
Groaning in frustration, she shoved away from the banister and ran
towards her room.

She ran across the room, startling Bunny and
down the long hallway, down the stairs, taking them two at a time
and damn near falling to her death several times in the process,
and across her small foyer. She threw the front door open, ran
outside and across her freshly mowed lawn towards the tow truck
just as Barry set the locks on the back wheels of her Jeep, the
Jeep that was now firmly secured on the back of the tow truck.

"Get it down! What the hell are you doing?"
she demanded.

Barry shrugged helplessly. "I have orders to
tow it."

"What the hell are you talking about? That's
my Jeep! Put it back!" she ordered, resisting the urge to punch
that smug little smile that was playing on the corners of Barry’s
mouth off.

"Sorry, you'll have to take that up with the
city," he said, not sounding sorry at all as she followed him
around the truck to the driver's side.

"City? What the hell are you talking
about?"

"Jeep's being impounded for unpaid parking
tickets," he said with that damn shrug again.

"Tickets? I don't have any tickets. I just
got this thing," she pointed out to the stubborn man as he opened
his door and threw his clipboard in the truck's cab.

"Like I said before, you'll have to take it
up with the city," he said, looking past her and gave a slight nod.
"Thanks for the tip."

"Not a problem," Connor said from somewhere
behind her.

Slowly, she turned around to face her
nemesis. "You did this?" she demanded, barely holding back her
rage.

"It was my civic duty," he said with an
exaggerated sigh.

"I just bet it was," she said, forcing
herself to walk past him.

This battle was lost and she knew it. Barry
wasn't about to unload her Jeep and she sure as hell wasn't going
to give the neighbors any more gossip.

"
Motherfucker!
" she heard Barry wail
as she reached her front door, but she was too focused on what
needed to be done to care. If Connor wanted to play this game then
that was more than fine with her.

* * * *

Early the next morning............

"What the hell!" Connor yelled as he came
fully awake in under three seconds flat. He reached over and
slammed his hand down on his alarm clock, silencing it on the first
hit and glowering when he saw what time it was. He hadn't set his
alarm for two in the morning. Why the hell was it going off?

"Oh, good. You're awake," Rory said,
sounding upbeat and chipper as his bedroom lights were thrown on,
momentarily blinding him.

"It's two in the morning, Rory! What the
hell are you doing?" he demanded as he opened his eyes, wincing as
his eyes adjusted to the suddenly bright room and when they did
they narrowed on the woman sitting on top of his desk, looking
amused and oddly triumphant.