NFH 03 Checkmate (42 page)

She grabbed onto his left arm and yanked it
forward. Before he could pull it back, she was holding his bloodied
hand and glaring up at him. “Yeah, they’re real fine, Connor,” she
said with disgust as she released his hand and stepped past
him.

“
What are you doing?” he
asked, kind of hoping that she’d just go back to sleep and forget
all about this so that he wouldn’t be forced to lie to
her.

“
Helping you get cleaned up
before your hands get infected,” Rory said, turning the shower
on.

“
I don’t need help, Rory. Go
on back to bed and get some sleep,” Connor said, trying not to
think about how exhausted he suddenly felt.

For the past couple of weeks he’d been
running on barely two hours of sleep a night and putting in about
twenty hours a day and it was catching up to him. As much as his
body was begging for him to stop, he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. If
he didn’t stay busy, stay focused on something other than his life,
then he was afraid that he was going to lose it.

“
Is this about Andrew
quitting?” Rory asked and although he’d been waiting for her to get
around to bringing it up since Andrew decided to quit and cut him
out of his life, he wasn’t ready to talk about it. He didn’t want
to talk about it, didn’t want to think about it. He sure as hell
didn’t like waiting around for the phone call letting him know that
his best friend died all alone, because the stubborn asshole was
too damn proud to let Connor be there for him.

“
Leave it alone, Rory. It’s
over,” he said, shoving aside the agony that once again threatened
to take over.

“
I know that you’re upset
that your friend quit,” Rory said, sounding sympathetic as she
checked the temperature of the water, “but it’s probably for the
best. He wasn’t showing up at work. When he did show up he was late
and he always left early and I know you don’t want to talk about
it, but I think he had a problem.”

“
Like you said, he quit so
let it go,” he said, yanking his shirt off and tossing it aside,
ignoring the fresh wave of pain that shot through his hands as he
forced his hands to work through the pain and remove his pants and
boots.

“
I can’t,” Rory said, moving
to step in front of him, but he was in no mood to deal with her or
anything else at the moment. He just wanted to take a shower, pass
out for a few hours and get his ass back to work where he could
work himself into exhaustion and forget about how fucking bad it
hurt losing his best friend.

“
You can’t or you won’t?”
Rory demanded as he stepped into the shower.

“
Both,” he snapped, yanking
the curtain closed.

He stepped beneath the hot water, allowing
it to seep into his pores and work its way down to his hands,
stinging his sensitive skin as it washed away the blood. It wasn’t
enough to make him completely forget, but it was enough to keep him
from losing it, something he’d been fighting since Andrew told him
over beers and a Yankees game that he had a rare form of Leukemia
and that he wasn’t going to fight it.

Andrew had type AB negative blood, a very
rare blood type. The chances of finding a matching donor were very
slim and Andrew didn’t hold out much hope of finding a match, but
the main reason why Andrew was refusing to look? Because he would
rather see the bone marrow go to a child or someone with a family,
someone that would be missed. Andrew wasn’t married, broke up with
his girlfriend last year and his parents died years ago leaving him
all alone so in his book, his death wouldn’t be a loss. The asshole
was trying to be noble to the end and Connor fucking hated him for
it.

“
We’ve put this off for long
enough,” Rory announced as she stepped into the shower behind
him.

“
Go away, Rory,” he said,
feeling his hold on the situation slipping and he didn’t want her
around when it did.

“
Not until we talk,” she
said, stubbornly.

“
There’s nothing to talk
about,” he said, tightly, forcing his eyes shut while his hands
clenched by his sides as he tried to stay calm. He needed her to
leave so that he could focus on pretending that everything was okay
just for a little while longer.

“
Oh really? How about the
fact that I’ve barely seen you over the past month? You don’t
smile. You barely say more than a few words to me when you do see
me. All you want to do is work. You look like you’re going to kill
someone anytime someone mentions Andrew. You haven’t touched me in
a month and-“

“
You want me to fuck you?”
he demanded harshly as he turned around and faced her, feeling his
control snap. Even knowing that he was probably going to do
something to lose the love of his life, he couldn’t make himself
reign it back in. He didn’t want to hold it back any longer,
couldn’t. He wanted to put his fist through the wall, scream at the
world, and have someone to take his anger out on and right now that
someone was Rory.

“
Is that the problem, Rory?”
he asked, stepping into her. “You’re pissed because I haven’t
fucked you?”

“
No, it’s not!” Rory snapped
as she tried to stand her ground against him, but he was done
playing games.

“
Then what’s the problem,
Rory? Huh?” he asked, stepping into her until she had no choice but
to back off and once she did, he didn’t stop until he had her back
against the shower wall.

“
My problem is that you’re
being an asshole and I want to know why!” she snapped, trying to
shove him back, but he refused to move. He moved into her, resting
his arms against the wall near her head and caging her in with the
rest of his body.

“
It doesn’t matter,” he
said, leaning in to kiss Rory when she turned her head
away.

“
Yes, it does,” she said in
that mutinous tone that used to drive him crazy, but now it just
simply pissed him off.

“
No, it doesn’t,” he snapped
as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to 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 to kiss 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, he 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!” she
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 into 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,” he 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,” she 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. It
was something that she hadn’t done since she grew breasts and that
unfortunate incident in the apple orchard when she went to teach
him a lesson, but instead ended up giving him a glance at her
developing breasts that had him grinning like a fool.

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 in
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,” she said, not sounding scared, but just
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,” he announced, watching as the anger quickly disappeared
from Rory’s beautiful face and was replaced by sympathy.

“
Oh my God……,” she
mumbled.

“
Mmmhmmm,” he 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 of
the way that his voice shook or the way his body trembled as he
spoke.

“
No,” Rory said, her voice
hollow as she laid 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 he 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 now. The stubborn asshole doesn’t want
anyone to see that, but I need to. 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 touching him, of her comforting him. It made it
feel too real, like his best friend really was dying and there was
nothing 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,
she was climbing onto his lap and straddling him. He went to push
her off, desperate to avoid her touch, but when he moved to push
her off he found himself instead 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 against her chest. “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 and then
another and another until all he could do was hold onto her as he
lost control and finally gave into the pain.

* * * *

“
What 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
ground before he could make a half ass 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’d just wish fate would stop fucking with him
and get it over with, because he wasn’t sure that he could-

“
Rory?” he 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 there to finish him off. The woman hated him, always
had and he really couldn’t blame her, because he had been an
asshole. He’d love to say that he’d had an excuse to treat her the
way that he did, but unfortunately he’d been a dumb kid, a jealous
dumb kid who’d crushed on her and hated the fact that Connor loved
her. Connor was his best friend, more like a brother and because of
him, he 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 realized that he’d simply been harboring
a childhood crush on her and had been a complete asshole to her for
no good reason.