Page 15 of Rough Fantasy

“I haven’t had that in years. And you are avoiding the subject I brought up.”

“And that is?”

When he spoke, Zee’s voice was weary. “Quit being a dick, Rory. I’ve seen this pattern over and over. You’re freaking out.”

He was, Rory knew that. But it wasn’t just a sign that he was leaving. Wanting Maura with them was a preemptive strike. Zee was infatuated with her and that infatuation was a bad thing in Rory’s opinion. There was nothing but heartache on that path. It was better that both Maura and Zee work out their need for each other and get over it. He’d been waiting for an opportunity and this seemed perfect.

He leveled a look at the man he’d loved most of his life. Sure he had just figured it out, but better late than never. He would do anything to keep them together now.

“Other than that, what are your other objections?”

Zee didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Zee?”

“I worry about Maura.”

Zee could have stabbed him in the forehead with a fork and it would have hurt less that those four words. Rory knew Zee was half in love with the woman. The fact that he was more worried about her than either of them was enough to piss him off. He would never let Zee know just how much it hurt because the way Zee was, it would make him hurt too. He had never met someone who had so much empathy for the people he loved. That’s the reason he had fallen in love with the man.

“She’s important to you.”

Zee looked at him, searching his face. He hated that. Hated Zee could pick his brain, but it was one of the things he loved most about him. “She should be important to you too. She hasn’t had an easy time of it.”

Rory snorted. “Yeah, I saw the house, looked tough.”

“You’ve always been cynical but you’re worse now than ever before. When did that happen?”

It had nothing to do with being cynical. There was a deep-set panic in his gut that told him that Zee cared more about Maura than any other woman he had been involved with. That alone had him being nasty, but Rory was having issues himself. The woman had drawn him in before, but now…he was hooked. Other than Zeke, he couldn’t get the woman out of his head.

He ignored his worries and smiled at Zeke. “I’m not any more cynical than you are, my love.”

“Yes you are. Besides, money won’t bring her parents back.”

Shit, he hated that admiring tone Zee got when he talked about Maura. He knew he was jealous and hated that too, but there didn’t seem to be a damned thing he could about it.

“She had Conner.” Fuck, now he sounded defensive. He didn’t like when they had discussions like this. Zee always got hurt and Rory ended up ticked off.

“Yeah, but she was in the car with them when they died.”

“She survived.”

“Just to watch her parents die.”

“Is that what she told you?” he asked, not able to keep the snarl out of his voice.

“No. Conner told me she used to have nightmares. I do know she was stuck in the car with them for three hours after. The bastard drunk who hit them just sped off and left them there. When…” Zeke glanced at him apparently not wanting to reveal too much. He sighed. “When we were together, every now and then, she would have the nightmares. She tried to hide it, but they disturbed her. If she’s under a lot of stress, she tends to have them. It’s another reason Conner probably wants her over there.”

Rory said nothing to that, mainly because now he was starting to admire her. She never mentioned anything about it. And, she did work like she was just like everyone else at work. Tonight had to be one of the few nights she left before anyone else, and she worked as if her brother didn’t own the company. That made him like her even more. Not once did she act as if she expected something to be done for her. Dammit.

“Then, add in that she is a geek, a woman with a mind so sharp it's scary. She was always an outcast. In college at sixteen...it wasn’t easy.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Stop being an ass,” Zee said without much heat. “This isn’t a one night stand or even just a week. If we pull her into a threesome, then we just go on together without her, she’ll be an outcast again. She doesn’t need that. No one deserves that.”

Rory knew he spoke of his mother and father. Zeke’s father’s family had never accepted the wife and child he had brought back from Haiti. They were pretty much left on their own when his father had died.

“Okay. We’ll be careful, but I already put it out there. Besides, we don’t have to end it when we come back.”