Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell #3)(3)

He couldn't help but wonder what the hell was wrong with her. They'd had sex, not even good sex, once. There had never been any promises or declarations of love, but for some reason she thought that meant they were meant to be. Why in the hell did women get so damn clingy? It wasn't as if he hadn't made it damn clear that he'd used her for sex.

"Whoa! What the hell was wrong with Rick inviting you and Rory to the same party?" Ted, a guy he'd gone to high school with, asked, laughing as he held up his beer to Connor in salute.

"No clue," he answered without taking his eyes off his prey since he had about five minutes before Rick and his buddies tried to remove him. Two hours ago he'd been too tired to crash this party, but then he happened to stop for some gas and a cold soda and overheard the prick in front of him brag to his frat buddies that he was going to f**k a virgin townie tonight and earn twenty points.

Normally he wouldn't have cared what one of the ass**le college kids did, but when he heard Rory's name, he of course decided that he had to do something. She was his to screw over, no one else's, especially not some f**king college punk's. It didn't matter that they were no longer kids, she was still the best part of his day and he'd be damned if he let some other ass**le cause her grief when it was still his damn job. Once upon a time he’d hoped for something else, but…….

It was never going to happen and it was pointless to wish for something that common sense told him would never happen. He’d f**ked up big time and made damn sure that there would never be anything more between them a few years ago. For now he’d have to settle for keeping an eye out for her and enjoying their daily antics, which did entertain him immensely. Since this was all they would ever have, he made damn sure that he enjoyed himself.

A minute later he smoothly stepped in their path, blocking them as they tried to leave. He ignored Rory as she glared up at him since he had more important things to deal with at the moment. His eyes dropped to their entwined hands before settling back on the prick's face.

"Did you earn your twenty points yet, Mark?" he asked, drawing everyone's attention and not giving a damn.

Mark's eyes widened. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," the little shit said, lying.

"That must suck having a short term memory, especially in college. Should I refresh your memory?" he asked, barely aware that someone had shut off the music and not really caring.

"I-I-I...," the man stammered nervously as he dropped Rory's hand and stepped away from her.

"Mark?" Rory asked, glancing between the two of them.

"I-I-I..," he continued to stammer.

"Good answer, Mark," Connor drawled, wondering where she found these losers. The last one made this one look like f**king Einstein, but he hadn't been this much fun to f**k over.

Rory sighed long and heavy as she gestured for him to get on with it. There was no drama or theatrics with this woman. She knew the game as well as he did and wasn't going to freak out over the impending blow. They'd screwed each other over enough times that they were pretty much immune to public humiliation by now. That didn't mean that she was going to take this lying down. He fully expected some sort of retaliation.

"Seems your little boyfriend here is trying to pop your cherry so that he can earn some points with his frat brothers," Connor said, trying to hide how surprised he'd been to find out that she was still a virgin. Then again, he did f**k up her life on a daily basis so maybe he shouldn't be that surprised. He'd lost track of how many losers he'd run off in the last five years.

She was quiet for a moment before she frowned at the man. "Is that true?"

Connor snorted at that. As if he'd lie. She really should know better by now.

"I-I......it was," Mark noticeably swallowed as he backed away from Rory with his hands up in a pacifying manner. "It was just for fun, honestly. It's no big deal."

"I see," Rory mumbled, but didn't move to run away or cry like most women would do. She simply stood there glaring at the man.

"You're not going to hit me, are you?" Mark asked, sounding like a pu**y.

Rory simply shrugged. "I don't have to.”

Mark frowned, dropping his hands. "Why not?"

"Because they will," Connor answered for her, grinning when five huge men broke through the crowd and started to circle Mark, looking ready to tear him apart and they probably would.

"But, it was just a-" Whatever he would have said was cut off by one of Rory's brother's fist.

"Thanks for the head's up," Rory said as she passed him.

"No problem," he said, following after her. He was more than ready to go to bed and get some sleep. He was exhausted, which was probably the reason he didn't see it, or rather her, coming.

As soon as he stepped outside he realized that Rory was nowhere to be seen. He really should have known better, he thought as Rory dumped what had to be a gallon of piss warm beer over his head.

"Thanks again," she said pleasantly as she handed him the empty jug and headed towards her car.

"No problem," he said, fighting back a yawn as he headed after her, only pausing long enough to snatch a large bag of ice out of someone's hand.

Chapter 1

"Come on, come on, come on," Rory mumbled as she waited for the only traffic light in town to turn green. Just as it did, she sighed with immense relief which ended abruptly when Mrs. Church, Golden, New Hampshire's oldest citizen, took the green light as the signal to walk across the street, using her walker.