Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell 3)

"I'm not going anywhere," she said stubbornly as she bent, making sure that she bumped into him hard and was pleased by his pained grunt, and marked off another area.

"Then neither am I," he bit out tightly when she stood up.

She shrugged as she focused on her work and not on the large hands at her waist. "Suit yourself." It was a difficult task, but she somehow made it through the next hour without tossing him over the side of the roof. When they were done, the life ruining bastard insisted that he go down the ladder first and waited patiently until she moved her ass and joined him on the ladder.

"Careful," Connor said, making her grind her teeth together as she glared up at her brothers as they nearly fell off the roof while they laughed their asses off at her. It would serve them right, she decided as she was forced to move at Connor's snail's pace down the ladder. Once they reached the bottom, the bastard actually had the nerve to place his hands on her h*ps as if she needed the help.

She'd been seven when her last babysitter quit after a rather unfortunate incident at the playground between her, Connor and the McCaffie's dog, Snowflake. Since no one else in town had the guts to watch her, her father decided that she was more than old enough to work. He'd started her off with grunt work and he hadn't taken it easy on her because she was a girl or only seven.

It figured that the one man that treated her like a woman was the one that made her wish she was a man so that she could kick his ass. Ever since she could remember she'd been treated like one of the guys. Even her boyfriends treated her like one of the guys.

They never once told her that she was pretty, bought her flowers or chocolates or did a hundred things that other women took for granted. When they went out it was a fast food joint or the bar. For movies they always picked action movies or horror flicks, never once asking her if she wanted to see whatever romantic comedy was playing, she didn't, but it would have been nice to have been asked. For gifts, she got tools and nothing but tools. She liked tools, but she could have gone for some sexy lingerie or something equally as feminine.

The fact that Connor seemed to be the only man on earth that remembered that she was a woman, even as he tortured the hell out of her, annoyed her. She didn't want him to notice her and she sure as hell didn't like the fact that on some level she liked it. She hated him and always would.

"Where the hell are you going now?" he demanded as she shoved him away.

"I need a drink," she bit out between clenched teeth as she headed for her trailer.

"Hold up, we need to talk," he said, but she didn't stop. Oh no, she moved faster. If she didn't get a drink soon she was going to do something stupid like strangle the bastard. Then she'd lose the contract on Strawberry Manor and as good as she knew it would feel to do it, she couldn't. She'd waited too long for this project and she wasn't about to let him wreck it.

By the time she reached her trailer her nerves were frayed and she was trembling with the need to kick Connor's ass. She stormed into the trailer, ignoring Jacob's questioning look as he spoke on the phone, probably handling one of the hundreds of boring things that she hated doing. She walked over to the coffee cart that she paid Jacob well to keep stocked and turned on the electric kettle.

While the water was heating up, she scooped out a large amount of hot cocoa mix and placed it in a super-sized coffee cup. Once it looked like enough, she opened the small fridge and grabbed a small carton of coffee creamer and poured just a dab into the cup. She mixed the cocoa powder until the mixture was nice and creamy. Then she added a spoonful of fluff and mixed it until it was blended. When it was done she stood there with her hands on her h*ps as she glared at the electric kettle, urging it to hurry up.

"I hate to tell you this since you're already in a bad mood," Jacob said as he stood up and approached her.

"I'm not in a bad mood," she said tightly as she narrowed her eyes on the kettle, making all sorts of mental promises to sell it for scrap metal if it didn't hurry the hell up so that she could make her precious and much needed hot cocoa.

"Then why are you having a large hot chocolate during a work day, hmm?" he asked, stepping beside her and with an amused smirk that she could have happily bitch slapped off his face at the moment, he reached over and plugged the kettle in.

She clenched her jaw tighter as she fought against letting out a frustrated scream. Jacob smartly said nothing about the kettle as he leaned against the paneled wall.

"I have some bad news."

"Does it have to do with the life wrecking bastard?" she asked, wondering just how much more she could take before she lost it. The fact that the first day wasn't even over and she was close to a breakdown wasn't lost on her.

"No," Jacob said, shaking his head before frowning at her. "Are you ever going to tell me why you call him that?"

"No," she said evenly while she continued to direct her attention on the kettle that was just now starting to release steam.

"Alrighty then. I guess this is the part where I tell you that your father just called to let you know that he's on his way," he said, taking a healthy step back just as Rory's glare swung from the kettle to him.

"This is how you tell me?" she demanded in disgust.

Jacob shifted nervously under her murderous glare. "He just called," when she looked towards the door, wondering, heck hoping that she could make a run for it before her old man came, he added, "he was on his cell phone and less than two minutes away."

She couldn't do this. Oh god, she really couldn't do this. Not today. Not when Connor already had her contemplating manslaughter. Her eyes shot back to the kettle just as it began to whistle. Wasting no time, she picked up the kettle, filled the mug and stirred it until the creamy concoction was perfect. She picked it up, gave it the customary thirty second blow and sipped.

When she felt the hot creamy chocolate go down her throat and into her stomach some of the tension in her body disappeared. Three long sips later and she felt close to being able to face the day. By the time half the cocoa was gone she was in her special place, the place where everything was fine and she could face anything including Connor and a visit from her dad. By the time she finished the rest of the cocoa she'd be able to keep this calm going for the rest of the day, but of course she needed a second cup. She quickly made another cup and was just about to take a sip when the trailer door flew open and Connor stormed inside looking pissed.

"I told you that I had to talk to you," he said, tossing his hard hat on one of the guest chairs as he headed over to her. Her lips barely touched the rim of the cup when she found her large mug suddenly ripped out of her hands.