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  "That's bullshit," he snapped. "You chained me to a toilet, Rory, and took away any way to call for help. What if there had been a fire?" he demanded.

  "I paid Mr. Henderson fifty bucks to watch the house and keep an ear out for you," she said in a bored tone as she started hefting more crates over to the other side of the room.

  "Mr. Henderson is ninety years old and wears a hearing aid the size of my fist. How the hell was he supposed to hear me screaming for help over the garbage you left blasting?"

  She picked up a crate and moved it to the other side of the room as she said, "He had his binoculars."

  Connor snorted in disbelief. "Of course he had his binoculars! He can't see without them!"

  "Obviously nothing bad happened," she said with a shrug as she grabbed the second crate from the top, not mentioning that she also paid Katie, her seventeen year old neighbor who specialized in babysitting, fifty bucks to also keep an eye on Connor's house. Then again, she wouldn't be paying Katie the extra fifty dollars to call her and alert her when Connor broke out.

  Oh yes she would, she realized a moment later, sighing as she reached for her cell phone and remembered that she'd put it down on her desk when she changed her shirt and forgot to put it back on her belt. Damn, a warning would have been nice, too.

  "What about kicking my men off the site? What's your excuse for that?" Connor demanded, sounding truly pissed.

  "You mean the men standing around and getting in the way?" she asked, wondering when he was just going to give up this line of questioning and seek his sad little revenge.

  "I don't care what they were doing-"

  "Well, you should," she said, cutting him off as she reached for another crate.

  He simply continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Those men work for me. If there's a problem then I'll handle it," he said tightly.

  "But you weren't here," she pointed out in an innocent tone that she knew would drive him crazy. It was probably wrong of her to enjoy tormenting him, but she didn't care. It was one of the few pleasures in life that she allowed herself.

  "If it hadn't been for you, I would have been here and my men wouldn't have been delayed," he snapped, sounding more irritated.

  With a sigh, she removed the final crate and brought it over to the other wall. "You shouldn't have to babysit your men, Connor. It's a waste of time and resources," she simply said as she walked back to the area she'd just cleared and inspected the wall.

  The wall was made of wood, rotting wood, but that would work. She frowned as she looked down at her feet. Although the area matched the rest of the room's floor, dirt mixed with a heavy layer of dust, it didn't feel like dirt beneath her feet. Was it a wood floor, she wondered idly as she dragged her foot across the surface, shifting the dirt and sand to the side to reveal old rotting wood.

  "Don't tell me how to handle my men, Rory. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you just stayed the hell out of my way completely," Connor snapped.

  "That's going to be kind of hard to do with us working together, don't you think?" she mused.

  "We're not working together, Rory. I'm running this site with the use of your men and equipment. You’re going to stay out of my way. If you can manage to do that and cut the bullshit like this morning then you'll come out of this a very rich woman," he said, ramming his fingers through his hair in frustration.

  She ground her teeth together as she reminded herself that she had to play nice, well, at least while they were at work. Outside of work she didn't have to take his bullshit. "We signed that contract together, Connor, so whether you like it or not I will be working on this project and if you don't like that then you can-"

  She never finished that sentence as the sounds of planks cracking cut her off. Before she could move so much as a muscle, the floor beneath her gave way and she found herself falling into darkness.

  "Rory!" she thought she heard Connor yell, but she wasn't really sure since she couldn't hear much of anything above her own screams of agony.

  Chapter 10

  "Rory!" he yelled again as he gripped the edge of the splintered wood floor and pulled, uncaring that the dry rotting wood was tearing into his hands as he widened the hole she'd just dropped through. "Answer me goddammit!"

  Nothing.

  "Shit," he muttered, yanking his two way radio off his belt. He knew that he should call 911, but he needed help now. Besides, he wasn't about to leave Rory wherever the hell she just landed, alone, so that he could run outside and try getting a signal on his cell phone.

  "Andrew!" he said, clicking off and dropping the radio by his side so that he could widen the whole while he waited for a response. When one didn't come quick enough he tried again with the same results.

  Cursing his foreman to hell, he switched the radio to the channel he knew the James brothers used. "Craig, I need someone to call an ambulance and I need help down in the basement, fourth storage room to the right," he said, releasing the button with a click and praying that someone heard him.

  "Connor, what the hell is going on?" Craig returned almost immediately.

  "Rory's hurt. I need an ambulance and help," he said, quickly releasing the radio to set back to work on the hole.

  "If you hurt her, I will-"

  "I didn't hurt her!" he snapped, feeling his patience fray as his body shook. Please let her be okay, he prayed as he ripped another chunk of wood away with one hand. "Call a fucking ambulance and send some men down here now!" he snapped, tossing the radio down and promising to kill the bastard if he didn't move his ass.

  Not even a minute later he heard the sounds of men running in his direction.

  "Rory!" he heard Bryce yell.

  "In here!" he answered as he ripped another piece of wood off, but it wasn't wide enough.

  Shit!

  He tore off another piece and then another until he was sure the space was big enough for him to fit through. He grabbed her flashlight and aimed it into the hole and squinted. He couldn't see anything but a set of stone stairs

  "Rory!" he called down, but there was no answer.

  "Shit!" he snapped as he dropped down onto his ass and shifted until his feet were in the hole. He shoved the flashlight in his pocket and moved to go after her.

  "Where the hell is she?" Sean asked as he ran into the room with three of his brothers close behind him. He didn't need to look to know that Craig wasn't with them. The last he'd seen of the oldest brother he'd been on the roof tearing it apart. He also knew that Craig probably wasn't too far behind them.

  "Rory crashed through this hole. Make sure they send Fire and Rescue with that ambulance," he said as he lowered himself into the hole, quickly, ignoring the sharp shards of wood that sliced through his clothes and skin as he went.

  "Get the hell out of there and let one of us go. It's our sister down there," Johnny said, reaching to grab his arm and yank him out of the hole.

  "Back the fuck off. I've got this," he said as he sucked in a breath and worked his way through the opening. Johnny paused in surprise just long enough to give him a chance to work his shoulders through the hole and when he dropped down, he released his hold on the splintered wood and did his best not to fall down the stairs and land on Rory.

  With a grunt, he landed on his feet and quickly righted himself before he toppled over into the pitch black. He yanked the flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on, chasing away the darkness. He aimed the beam down the stairs and nearly dropped to his knees when he spotted her.

  "Oh god......," he mumbled even as he raced down the stone stairs. "Rory? Rory!" he said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice, but failing miserably.

  He dropped by her side, careful not to brush against her and quickly looked her over with the flashlight. She was on her side. Her left arm was obviously broken, blood trickled down her forehead and onto the dirt floor, forming a small pool of blood beneath her head and she was out. He wasn't sure what else was wrong with her so he didn't dare move her.

  "Rory? Y
ou have to wake up," he said gently as he pressed his fingertips against the cut on her temple, careful not to apply too much pressure and hurt her.

  "Is she okay?" Sean yelled down the hole.

  "Her arm's broken, she has a head wound and she's unconscious," he yelled back, never taking his eyes away from her.

  He heard her brothers arguing about who was coming down, but he didn't pay much attention to them as he placed the flashlight on the ground with the beam pointed at her. With a shaky hand, he pressed two blood stained fingers against her neck and searched for a pulse.

  When he didn't find it, he promised everything that he had and was if she would just be okay. Hell, he couldn't imagine a world without Rory in it, didn't want to think about that happening. The moment his fingers came in contact with the proof that she was still very much alive, he nearly sagged with relief.

  "Connor?" Rory said weakly.

  "I'm here," he said softly as he let out a shaky breath. She was going to be okay. He'd make damn sure of it.

  "We're all coming down!" Johnny yelled.

  "She's awake!" he yelled back, noting Rory's cringe. Her head was probably pounding, he realized and having five brothers fussing over her and bickering wasn't going to help with that. "Stay up there and make the hole big enough for the stretcher and EMTs!"

  There was a short pause before they started bitching, but thank fucking god they did as they were asked. He looked back at Rory and even in the dim light cast off by the flashlight he could tell that she was pale. Her mouth was pinched tightly and he had no doubt that she was struggling not to scream or cry.

  "Where does it hurt, Rory?" he asked quietly, trying to keep his tone soothing even though he was panicking on the inside. What the hell was he supposed to do? He didn't know jack shit about first aid. The one and only time he attended a class on first aid hadn't ended well.

  Then again, if the instructor had read the memo the school gave her, she wouldn't have made the mistake of placing them in the same class. She certainly wouldn't have ignored the other students' pleas, shouts and warnings about placing them together in the same group. Of course, he could have said something and Rory sure as hell could have said something, but they'd both been more than eager for a little payback after the incident at the convenient store the night before. It really shouldn't have surprised anyone when a demonstration in the Heimlich maneuver turned into him on his back with Rory straddling his waist and trying to shove a fistful of gauze down his throat or him flipping her off of him and onto her stomach and hog tying her with medical tape.

  He still wasn't sure why the principal kicked them out of the class or blamed them for the woman's meltdown. It's not like it took her an hour to spit up all the bits of gauze that Rory managed to shove down his throat. Curling up into the fetal position beneath the desk had been a bit much for something so minor. Clearly the woman had no business teaching kids if something like that would set her off into full blown panic attack that needed five teachers, four cops and the paramedics to get her to come out from beneath the desk.

  Now he was regretting not taking that course they offered every year at the community center. After this incident he was going to damn well make sure he went and he'd make his men do it as well. It was stupid not to have all his men trained in first aid, he realized as he grabbed the flashlight and ran it over Rory's body, taking a closer look to make sure that there wasn't any other damage.

  "I think my arm's broken," she said, sucking in a breath before she continued, "and a few ribs might be bruised."

  "Well, then try not to move," he said lamely, feeling like an idiot.

  "Yeah, I'll get right on that," she said dryly as she noticeably cringed.

  Her smartass remark helped ease some of his worry, but that only made way for the anger that had been simmering in the background. Now he couldn't hold it back any longer. She'd scared the shit out of him when she disappeared through the floor. Then when she didn't answer him and he couldn't get to her fast enough he'd feared the worse.

  "What the hell were you doing down here by yourself in the first place?" he demanded as he continued to look her over, ignoring the way his hands shook at the memory of her falling through the floor.

  "My job," she said tightly as she sucked in another deep breath.

  "You had no business being down here, Rory," he said, noting the way she shivered. He pulled his long sleeve shirt off and laid it over her, leaving him in a white tee shirt.

  "McGill called up and asked me to look into making the wine storage room bigger," she explained with a tremor in her voice as she did her best to hold it together.

  "Then you should have waited for me, Rory," he snapped, feeling like an asshole yelling at an injured woman, but he couldn't help it. He knew he was taking it out on her, but god help him, he really just couldn't help it. He'd never been so frightened in his life.

  "You were kind of tied up at the moment," she said, smiling weakly.

  "And if you weren't interfering with my job, Rory, I would have been here!"

  "Stop yelling at me, you insensitive bastard! You had it coming and you damn well know it," she said, forcing her eyes open to glare at him, then immediately winced and closed them right back up again as she assumed her grimace of pain.

  "All I know is that better be the last time you pull a stunt like that, Rory. Whether you like it or not, this is my project and if you want to stick around then you're going to start doing things my way and that includes not taking bullshit chances," he bit through clenched teeth as he fought against the urge to pull the infuriating woman into his arms and comfort her.

  "Doing my job is not taking chances and this is my project as well so you need to get the hell over-ow!" she cried out, turning her face towards the dirt floor as if she were trying to hide from the pain.

  "Rory?" Brian yelled down the hole.

  "She's fine!" Connor yelled back, never taking his eyes off her. Not knowing what else to do at the moment, he reached out and took her good hand into his and held it. He was surprised when she didn't try to pull her hand away, but instead gave his hand a squeeze.

  "This is my project too, Connor, and if you can't accept that then we're going to have some serious problems," she said evenly after a minute as she continued to clasp onto his hand like a lifeline.

  He sighed heavily. She was right of course. They were going to have problems.

  * * *

  "I'm going to kick his ass," Craig said, earning approving nods from the rest of her brothers who were lounging around her bedroom.

  "I told you," she said, sucking in a breath as sharp pain shot up her left arm and raced around her ribs as she slowly made her way from the bathroom to her bed, "he didn't do this."

  Her brothers grumbled something, but quickly they let it go, which she would forever appreciate. Her head was pounding, her side hurt, she was starving and her arm was killing her. She couldn't wait to get into bed and take a few of the painkillers the doctor had given her.

  As soon as she made it to the bed she let out a sigh of relief and proceeded to take her pills. She considered asking her brothers to get her something to eat, but that would mean having them stick around longer. Unfortunately for her, her brothers weren't exactly known for their domestic skills or their ability to be quiet and right now peace and quiet were the things that she craved more than anything.

  Carefully, she laid down and closed her eyes, releasing another sigh of relief. Sleep, she just needed a little sleep and she'd be fine, she decided as she felt the first tendrils of sleep pull at her.

  "Who's staying the night?" Sean asked, yanking her right back to reality, but since she was comfortable she decided not to bother with opening her eyes as she said, "No one is staying. Now get the hell out so that I can sleep," she mumbled around a loud yawn.

  Her brothers weren't the coddling type and took her at her word. Craig took Bunny home with him for the night and they promised to give Dad an update so that he wouldn't worry. Not t
hat he would. If it wasn't serious enough to warrant a night in the hospital then it wasn't serious enough to worry about, was her father's motto. He'd checked up on her at the ER, spoke with the doctor and when she told him that she was fine, he took her at her word.

  Her brothers weren't so easily dissuaded, but giving her a ride home was pretty much the extent of their nursing abilities. They made her promise to call them if she needed anything, but other than that they left her to get a good night's sleep. That was all she needed, she thought as she drifted off.

  It was pitch black when she woke up, biting back a cry of pain. Why did it hurt so much? It hadn’t hurt this badly when it broke and that had definitely been a memorable occasion. Her head pounded and with every breath she took, her ribs screamed in protest

  Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to send her brothers away, she realized as she turned slightly to bury her face against her pillow and let out a scream of agony. She needed her pills or at the very least have someone knock her out so that she didn't have to experience this much pain.

  "Shhhhh."

  She barely heard the whisper or registered the large strong hands on her shoulders as she was turned over onto her back and pills were pressed against her lips. Once she accepted them into her mouth, the rim of a water bottle quickly followed. She swallowed her pills as she struggled not to scream out against the pain.

  This was too much. She couldn't handle this, couldn't do this, she realized, panicking at the thought that there would be no escaping from this pain. She would have to-

  "Shhhh, I've got you," the deep familiar voice said soothingly as she was carefully shifted until she was lying on her right side with her injured arm resting across a firm stomach. Her face was pressed against a warm shoulder as a strong arm came up behind her and pulled her closer.

  "Connor?" she whispered softly, but apparently not softly enough since the sound tore through her already throbbing head.