They had not gone a day in the last ten years, not even when she was laid up in bed with the flu last year, without giving each other hell. She still remembered waking up at two in the morning to find Connor short sheeting her bed while she was still in it! To this day she didn't know how he managed to sneak into her room for two weeks straight. It wasn't like her room was on the first floor or she left her windows unlocked. No matter what she did the jerk always found a way to break in and piss her off into a speedy recovery so that she could kick his ass. When he was laid up for two weeks after she'd gotten over the flu she'd made damn sure to return the favor.

"Oh please, it's not like you have a real job. I bet your daddy," he said mockingly, and he was the only one with the balls to do it, "has you fetching his drinks."

She had to snort at that. Her father worked her to the bone. She did everything her brothers had to do and more, because she had a talent and skill with the saws that none of them could touch. Every day after school, she and her brothers joined their father wherever he was working that day and they worked their asses off until dinner time. Then they went home, made dinner, did their homework and then passed out.

Even though she knew that her father worked them hard because he wanted to keep them out of trouble, she didn't care. She loved working with her family and earning her own money. It also didn't hurt that she was learning a job that she hoped to do after high school.

"At least I know who my father is," she said, knowing it was a low blow, but then again so was sitting on top of her so that he could pour gallon after gallon of paint on her.

"Well, at least my mother didn't run off with the milkman," he said, getting in her face and just like that she snapped. It didn't matter that there were twenty witnesses or that extra month of detention that would no doubt be added onto her time. All that mattered was wiping that smug look off the bastard's face.

"It was the mailman, you bastard!" she said, lunging for him.

"Same damn thing," he muttered as he put her in a headlock and took her to the floor.

* * * *

Ten years earlier.......

"But I love you, Connor," Jill, Jen, or whatever the hell her name was, said.

"Uh huh, that's nice," he said absently as he watched the ass**le who'd been hanging around Rory for way too long, wrap his arm around her shoulders and kiss her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have something very important to do," he said, not caring if she heard him over the loud music.

"Connor!" she said, grabbing onto his arm to stop him from leaving her. With an annoyed sigh, he gently removed her hand from his arm and walked away. He damn neared rolled his eyes when he heard her profess her undying love for him.

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.