Checkmate

“Wow, this is just getting sad,” Jason said, shaking his head in disgust as he followed after his cousin. Before Connor could tell both men where they could go, Jason shut the door and headed for the warehouse club, leaving Connor to curse and move his ass as he resigned himself to spending a night in jail.

* * * *

“Hands off, woman!” Trevor demanded, but she ignored him as she shoved him back against the brick wall. She threw a warning glare at Jason as the man tried to step away and head for the warehouse that promised unlimited free samples.

She pointed her finger from one man to the other as she leveled a hard glare on them. “I am not going to jail for the two of you so listen up and listen good. You are only allowed to hit each sample cart ten times and that’s it.”

“You bitch!” Trevor and Jason gasped in outrage.

Ignoring them, she continued. “And while we’re at it, let’s get to the other rules.”

“Rules?” Trevor repeated slowly, his eyes narrowing to slits on her.

“You are not allowed to eat in any of the restaurants in town or within twenty miles of the town unless I am there with you.” At that announcement, Jason’s eyes narrowed on her, too. “Also, you are not to buy anything that requires you to show your driver’s license. If you hit the grocery store, you’re each limited to one carriage full. You can order in, but you’re only allowed to order enough for six people.”

“I’ve always hated you,” Jason bit out in a huff as he turned his back on her and headed for the double doors of the warehouse.

“Ditto,” Trevor said even as he threw his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze or a warning, she wasn’t sure. The warning wouldn’t exactly surprise her since she’d basically just put them on a strict diet.

As they walked through the double doors, she pulled her club membership card out of her pocket, hoping against hope that the ban the manager threatened them with seven months ago was just a warning. She really hoped it was, otherwise they were going to have problems keeping her cousins fed enough to follow her rules.

She really didn’t want to spend another night in jail.

“Good evening and welcome to Sam’s Club. Can I see your card please?” the smiling greeter holding the clipboard asked as they approached the entrance.

“Of course,” she said, making sure to give the man a flirty smile, praying that he just gave her card a quick glance and let them be on their way.

Before she could hand her card over, a large tan hand covered her good hand and stopped her.

“They’re with me,” Connor said, holding her hand by his side as he handed over his card.

“You folks have a good evening,” the greeter said, still smiling as he handed Connor’s card back.

“You too,” Connor said, giving her hand a slight tug, effectively pulling her away from Trevor’s side so that she was walking with him. She heard her cousin’s amused chuckle, but ignored it as she walked with Connor to the oversized carriages.

Once she was sure that they were out of earshot of the greeter, she asked, “What the hell was that all about?”

Connor let out a long suffering sigh as he pulled a carriage loose. “You’re banned, Rory.”

“I know that, but so are you, so what was that all about?” she asked, giving him a gentle shove out of the way and stealing his carriage.

“I didn’t get banned, baby,” he said, swooping in and giving her a swift kiss as he deftly stole the carriage back, “only you did.”

“How the hell is that possible?” she demanded, gesturing wildly towards the automotive department. “You were the one that started it!”

His answer was a chuckle as he walked away and she considered running him down with a carriage for old time’s sake.

“You got banned from a warehouse?” Trevor asked, coming up to her right side as Jason joined her on the left.

“What kind of loser gets banned from a warehouse?”

Chapter 31

“Ow! Stop hitting us!” Trevor snapped, grabbing Jason and shoving him towards the slap happy Rory as the woman let loose on the men that turned her yearlong ban into a lifetime ban in less than twenty minutes.

“How many samples did I tell you that you could have?” she demanded as she moved to kick Jason in the shin, but before she could make contact, Connor had her in his arms and over his shoulder. That didn’t seem to slow her down, not at all.

“How many?” she demanded when her cousins didn’t answer her fast enough.

“Ten,” they muttered sheepishly.

“And how many did you take?”

The men muttered their answers. Not that it mattered. Rory was too busy flipping out to actually listen to them. “You scared the hell out of everyone in that warehouse! You made men and women cry and run screaming for their lives! And thanks to you, my photo now hangs in front of the building next to the Recall Notice board, you greedy bastards!”

“Hey! It’s not our fault that those samples were so damn yummy!” Jason snapped back.

“We wouldn’t have had any problems if they hadn’t been so f**king cheap with the portions!” Trevor added.

“That’s it. Put me down. I’m going to kill them,” Rory demanded as she struggled to escape from his hold, but he’d been prepared for her escape attempt and kept his arm firmly locked around her.

He looked past the two pouting men towards the front of the warehouse where the manager and about twenty employees stood on the sidewalk, watching them warily. No doubt they’d already called the police. Not that he could blame them, but he really didn’t want to deal with having to tackle Rory when she went for the cop’s billy club to beat the shit out of her cousins.

“Listen,” he said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and tossing them to Jason. “There’s an all you can eat buffet about thirty-five miles from here.”

The two men’s pouts instantly disappeared as a predatory gleam took over. “We’re listening,” Trevor said, focusing on him.

“It’s in Haverville. There’s a map book in the truck. The restaurant is on Copper Street. They close down at one in the morning so that should hold you over and keep you out of trouble.” Rory snorted at that announcement, not that he could blame her.

“Let yourselves into the house and be ready to work your asses off by five,” he said, determined to keep her cousins busy and out of his way.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew why they were here. They were definitely here to help them with Strawberry Manor, but he knew that the main reason for their presence was him and Rory. It wasn’t difficult to guess that her brothers were behind this one. They probably thought their cousins would manage to scare him off. They wouldn’t, but he appreciated the effort.

That didn’t mean that he’d put up with this bullshit. He’d keep her cousins busy with work and food so that they didn’t come between him and Rory. He had less than five months to convince Rory to spend the rest of her life with him and he wasn’t about to let anyone f**k that up.

“Put me down, Connor. I need to kick their asses,” Rory demanded, but he simply ignored her as he headed for her Jeep.

“You can kick their asses later, Rory. Right now we have to get out of here before the cops show up,” he said, placing her on her feet and stealing her keys out of her pocket. He had the door open and her inside before she could put up much of a fight. Not that he expected her to put up much of a fight, not with the police on the way. They’d been in this situation enough times to know that it was time to haul ass.