“What’s going on?” she asked, thankful that there was at least a sheet covering her naked body. It wasn’t as if she was shy around Connor, but something about this position made her feel a little too vulnerable and she wasn’t exactly sure that she liked it.
“How was your nap?” Connor asked, sounding bored and drawing her attention to her left where she found him, half-naked and lounging in a chair where he watched her.
“Good,” she said, absently, wondering if this really was just a dream.
“That’s good, Rory,” Connor said, his eyes never leaving her face and she decided that maybe this wasn’t a dream since he looked kind of pissed and she couldn’t will the ropes away with just a thought.
“Why am I tied to the bed?” she asked, giving her restraints a slight pull, hoping the knots were loose. After a moment she came to the conclusion that Connor was definitely pissed and the man knew how to tie an excellent knot.
“No reason,” he said with a one shoulder shrug, still watching her expectantly.
“I see,” she murmured as she looked around her room, but she didn’t see anything out of place or anything to clue her into what was going on.
She did a quick sweep of the bed and was about to move on when something caught her eye and made her stomach drop. Her ring was gone. Oh God, she lost her ring. She looked around the bed anxiously, but it was useless. She couldn’t see anything and couldn’t move and she very much feared that the ring had fallen off when she was in the tub.
“What are you looking for, Rory?” Connor asked in that bored tone that she really didn’t appreciate at the moment.
“My ring. I lost my ring, Connor,” she said, yanking on her restraints as she tried to sit up, but she couldn’t move. “Let me go so that I can find it!”
“No.”
“You don’t understand, Connor. I think I lost my ring in the tub,” she said, letting out a frustrated growl as she yanked on her restraints.
“You didn’t lose the ring in the tub, Rory, so relax,” he said, leaning back in the chair, appearing even more relaxed.
“Then where is it?” she demanded.
“It’s right here,” he said, gesturing lazily to the desk behind him.
“Why’s it over there? And why am I tied up?”
“Because I took it back,” he explained, getting to his feet.
“Why?” she asked absently as she tried to pull her hands through the rope, but there was no give.
“Because I decided not to marry you.”
Chapter 39
“What?” Rory asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper as all the color in her face slowly faded away.
A few days ago that hurt expression would have done him in and had him apologizing and saying anything and everything to make her happy, but not now, not after everything that she’d put him through. For three days he’d worried about her, missed her and all along she was less than five minutes away from their houses, shacked up in a hotel with another fucking guy.
When he needed her the most, she hadn’t been there for him. He could have used her support while he sat in that hospital waiting room, doing his best not to lose it as he waited for the doctors to tell him that Andrew’s body hadn’t rejected the bone marrow and that his best friend was going to make it, but she hadn't been there. She wasn’t there for him and now he knew why.
“You heard me,” he murmured as he walked over to the bed and ran his fingers over her sheet covered leg until his fingers touched the little toes that he loved to kiss. Slowly, he pulled the sheet away, revealing her body inch by inch until the sheet was pooled by his feet.
“What the hell is going on, Connor?” Rory demanded, not bitching that she was naked and for some reason that made him wonder who the other guy was.
The thought of another man seeing her body, touching her and making her tremble turned his stomach. He had to force himself to focus on something else or he wouldn’t be able to see this thing to the end and he would damn well be the one to end this. After twenty years of playing games with her, he was finally going bring the game to an end. Then he was going to walk away from her. After today she was just going to be his neighbor and the woman that he was going to run out of business. She was going to mean absolutely nothing to him.
“The transplant worked,” he said, reaching out to toy with one of her toes before he could stop himself.
“I know that. I called the hospital. He’s doing well, but he’s driving the nursing staff nuts with his bitching,” she said, shifting her foot to the side and robbing him of the contact. “Now tell me why you’re acting so damn bitchy and give me back my ring.”
He ignored her, because there was no way in hell that he was putting that ring back on the finger of someone who didn’t love him. He’d worked his ass off for that ring. He’d been so damned proud and excited when he bought that ring and couldn’t wait to give it to her, to the woman that he loved, but that wasn’t her. She cheated on him and he couldn’t fucking believe it. If anyone would have told him that Rory James would cheat on him, he would have called them a fucking liar and broken their jaw for trying to start shit. Now he just wanted to kill the bastard that had touched her and make love to her one last time to show her exactly what she'd lost and because he just couldn’t say goodbye to her without having her one last time.
“Where have you been for the last three days?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he watched her, waiting for her to lie, needing for her to lie so that he could hate her enough to push her away.
For a moment Rory watched him, glared and then muttered a few words that he didn’t quite catch as she squeezed her eyes shut and said, “You know, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he said, deciding that if she was done playing games then so was he. “What I don’t know is why you lied.”
“I didn’t want you to get upset,” she said, shocking him into stunned silence.
“Upset? I’m going to fucking kill him!” he shouted, wondering if he’d ever really known Rory. Up until today he would have sworn that he knew her better than he knew himself. He never thought that she would do this to him.
She opened her eyes to frown up at him. “Kill who?”
“Oh, don’t play this fucking game with me now, Rory,” he said, somehow stopping himself from demanding the name of the bastard. He would find out, but later. Right now he needed to let Rory know that he was done with her. It was over and he was the one that ended it.
“Are you serious?” she asked, laughing without humor. “You tied me up, you jackass!”
“And you fucking cheated on me!” he shouted, regretting the loss of control as soon as the words left his mouth. He was a fucking idiot.
“You think I cheated on you?” she asked, sounding hurt, which he had to admit was a nice touch.
“Yes!” he snapped, hating her even more for trying to bullshit her way out of it once she got caught.
“Oh my God, you’re an idiot,” she mumbled, shaking her head in disgust. “I didn’t cheat on you, you jerk!”
“Bullshit!”
“It’s the truth!”
“If you didn’t cheat on me then why were you shacked up in a hotel room for the last three days with another man?” he shouted, moving closer to the bed until he found himself climbing on it and over her so that he could glare down at her, needing to look into her eyes as she lied to him.
He had to admit that she looked really pissed off as she glared right back up at him. “Because I was recovering from donating bone marrow!”