Chapter 14
T here’s a split second where consciousness seeps in and I don’t know where I am. Then I inhale and smell him. Connor. I don’t need to open my eyes to know he’s here with me, and if he’s here with me, I don’t care where I am.
“Connor?”
“Yeah?”
“How bad was I?” I ask him. I don’t remember getting into bed, which means I drank a lot more than I meant to yesterday.
“Bad? You’re never bad, Aurora,” he tells me.
“How drunk was I? Oh god, I didn’t kill anyone, did I? Wait… Did I do something really stupid?” I open one eye to gauge his response.
“You’re never stupid and you didn’t kill anyone that I know of . You were pretty drunk, though,” he says.
“How did I get in this bed?”
“I put you in it, after I showered you and washed your hair. You did brush your own teeth. You wouldn’t let me do that for you.” He chuckles.
“Oh my god. I’m sorry.” I’m mortified. What the hell did I say? What did I do? I don’t think I’ve ever been drunk around Connor. I’ve had one or two drinks, but I always limit myself. Especially after what happened that night at Kenny’s party…
“Don’t be,” Connor tells me. “Why did you drink so much? It’s not like you.”
“I don’t know. I guess I just got carried away with Zara.”
Oh shit, I wonder how much trouble she’s in? I do remember Dominic coming to get her, and he was far from happy. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man all that happy.
“Whatever you did, you pissed off your brother. He literally threw you on my bed and told me you were my problem now.”
My eyes widen. Lorenzo threw me onto Connor’s bed? He must have been really annoyed with me.
“He’ll get over it.” And he will. Because he’s my brother. He will forgive me for whatever I did or said. He always does. It finally registers in my mind that I’m completely naked. “Why am I naked?” I ask aloud.
“I didn’t have anything to put on you,” Connor explains.
“We need to get some supplies.”
“We do. I need a computer. What are the chances your brother will give me a laptop?”
“Probably not high. But you have that burner phone still, right?” I look around like it will just pop up out of thin air.
“I do. Why?”
“You want a laptop? I know how to smuggle one in.” I smile wide, because getting my hands on things people tell me I can’t have happens to be one of my specialties.
“You can’t call anyone, babe. No one can know you’re here,” Connor says, sounding more and more like my dad and brothers by the minute.
“I’m calling Zara. She already knows I’m here.” I roll my eyes. “So, no harm.”
“Okay.” Connor leans over the side of the bed and reaches for something. When he comes back up, he has the burner phone in his hand. “Do you know her number?”
“Ah… no. Shit. Hold that thought,” I say, jumping off the bed.
Before he can protest, I’m wrapping a towel around my body and walking out of the room. I hear him yelling my name as I shut the door and make a hasty escape down the hall.
I am, however, stopped dead in my tracks once I reach the corridor that leads to the main suite. Lorenzo is walking towards me. I turn and look over a shoulder to find Connor coming up the rear. I’m trapped.
“Aurora, why the fuck are you running around my house naked? Do you have any fucking idea how many men come and go from this place?” Lorenzo’s voice rises the closer he gets to me.
“I’m not naked, idiot. I’m wearing a towel. And I don’t know if you have memory issues, but I don’t have any clothes here. I was on my way to get something from your closet,” I tell him, which is half the truth. I also wanted to find Kyla (and her phone) so I could get Zara’s number.
“Hurry up and put some clothes on. You can’t run around here looking like that . I’ll have some shit delivered for you both.” Lorenzo nods at Connor. “Don’t let her run around naked.”
Connor laughs. “Aurora isn’t a pet. I don’t control her every movement.”
I smile. This is why I love him. He sees me as his equal, not just another female who needs to be wrapped up in cotton wool.
My brother goes to walk around me. “Where’s Kyla?” I ask him.
“Why?”
“Girl things, Lorenzo. I’m due to get my period tomorrow and I need tampons, so where is she?” I laugh at my brother’s disgusted face. Internally, of course.
He’s never liked hearing about that stuff. I don’t think it’s the whole period thing. It’s more the fact that I’m not the little girl he still sees me as.
“She’s in the library,” he says and walks away.
“You do know you’re not due to get your period tomorrow, right?” Connor whispers from behind me.
“I know that, but how do you know that?” I ask him.
“I keep track of these things,” he says as if that’s not weird at all.
“That’s fucking strange, Connor. Don’t do that,” I tell him.
“If it concerns you, I’m going to notice. I can’t help it if my brain remembers your cycle.”
“Maybe be a little less concerned with my bodily functions,” I huff. Some things should remain a mystery in a relationship. Next, he’ll tell me he knows what time of day I poop. It wouldn’t surprise me if he knew that too.
Just, no.
I walk into my brother’s room and find his closet, rolling my eyes at the enormity of it.
I head straight for his T-shirts. Finding a pair of workout shorts with a draw string, I pull them up my legs and tie them as tight as I can.
Then I tug a shirt over my head. I do all of this while Connor is looking at me with a very pissed-off expression on his face, his jaw clenched and his eyes cold.
“What?” I ask him.
“I don’t like you wearing other guys’ clothes,” he grunts.
“He’s not another guy. He’s my brother. Would you prefer I take them off and walk around in a towel?” I raise a brow, waiting for Connor to answer.
“No. But we need to get to a computer. We’re not relying on other people to buy us shit.”
“Okay, let’s find Kyla, then I can get Zara’s number.” As I’m walking back out of my brother’s room, Kyla is headed towards us.
“Hey, Lorenzo said you were looking for me. Something about tampons and how he doesn’t need to know about his sister’s period,” she says.
“Yeah, I… ah… Do you have any?” I ask her.
“Of course. Follow me.” She nods her head back towards the bedroom.
I throw my arms around her. “Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”
After getting a pack of tampons from my sister-in-law’s stash, I make my way back towards Connor’s bedroom. As soon as he shuts the door, I pull Kyla’s phone out of my pocket.
“How?” he says.
“I’m good at getting things.” I shrug. I used to do it to my brothers and cousins all the time when we were younger. I got a lot of practice pickpocketing.
I tap on the screen and the password option comes up. I type in the date that Lorenzo and Kyla were married and the phone comes alive.
“Predictable. Give me that burner.” I hold out a hand while scrolling through Kyla’s contacts until I find the one I want.
Zara picks up on the first ring. Thankfully. I was worried she wouldn’t answer an unknown number. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Aurora. Good to see you’re not pig food.”
“Nope, I did have my car taken away, though. I have to use a driver now.” She sighs.
“How terrible your life is,” I scoff.
“It is when that driver reports all your comings and goings back to your father.”
“I need a favor.”
“Okay, what do you need?” Zara says.
“A laptop. Can you smuggle me one in without my brother or your sister knowing?”
“Pfft… Of course I can. Give me a few hours.”
“Thanks. You’re the best,” I tell her.
“I know,” she replies and hangs up.
I hand the burner back to Connor. “What are you going to do? With the computer. What do you want it for?” I ask him.
“We need money. I have it.” He shrugs.
“Connor, you can’t access your accounts. You don’t think your parents are watching them?” I huff. “I mean, I have money too, you know, but it would be stupid to log in and access it.”
“I’m not accessing anything they know about. I have some hidden funds. The accounts aren’t even in my name.”
I blink at him. “Why?”
“The same reason you had new identities and passports made up for us, Aurora. You never know when you’re going to need to get away,” he tells me.
“Are you sure they don’t know?”
“Positive. Relax. I would never do anything that I thought would lead my family to you,” he says. Which reminds me…
“I never asked… how did they find us in that cabin?”
“My parents were paranoid about me being kidnapped.” Connor smirks. “They had trackers sewn into all of my belts, shoes, and my wallet. To be honest, I forgot they did that shit until they turned up.”
“That’s why you took your shoes off?”
“Why’d you think I took them off?” he asks me.
“To run faster? I don’t know.” I laugh. “I didn’t really stop to think about it at the time.”
“We need to find somewhere to get new IDs,” Connor says, changing the subject.
“Once we have access to the funds, I can get them,” I tell him. “How much money did you squirrel away?”
“Last I checked, I had around twenty mil in three different accounts,” he says.
My eyes pop open. “I know I’m not great at math and all, but that’s… sixty million dollars, Connor. Where the hell did you get it from?”
“I’m good at investing. Believe it or not, it’s all legitimate. Well, apart from the fact that the person who owns the accounts doesn’t exist.”
“You are way more like Dante than I thought,” I say, and Connor scrunches up his face.
“I’m way better looking than that asshole.”
“And smarter, but don’t ever tell him I said that. He happens to be my favorite cousin.” My stomach picks that moment to rumble, as if it’s been starved of food for an entire week.
“You need to eat,” Connor states the obvious. “You did throw up everything your body was holding, so I’m not surprised.”
“I threw up?” I don’t remember doing that.
“A lot,” Connor says.
“And you saw?”
“Babe, I held your hair back for you.” He wraps an arm around my shoulder. “And, in case you forgot, I already told you there was nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” Connor’s lips press to the side of my forehead, and my body melts into his.