Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Connor was quiet the entire way home from my parents. I might be living in dreamland, but I thought the dinner went really well. And I can’t wait to do it again. I have no idea what his problem is. Maybe he’s not feeling well. Or my father said something to him during their private conversation.
“Did you not like dinner?” I ask, finally breaking the silence as we walk into his bedroom.
“You could have warned me we weren’t actually expected there, Aurora,” Connor says.
“You wouldn’t have come,” I tell him.
“No, I would never turn up to your father’s house without an invitation. Do you have any idea how awkward that was for me?”
“Can’t be any less awkward than when your father chained me up in a dark basement,” I spit. And the moment the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. The broken, defeated look on Connor’s face hurts my soul. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Yeah, you did,” he says.
“No, I didn’t.” I shake my head. “What did my father say to you? Whatever he said, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going anywhere, Connor. We are okay. We will be okay as long as we’re together.” I sit on the bed and bring my knees up to my chest.
We don’t fight, not like this. Usually, we’re yelling at each other and I’m threatening to stab him. But this? The silent treatment? I don’t like it. I would rather him yell at me.
“He said he submitted our schoolwork and somehow has managed to get the school to issue us our diplomas,” Connor tells me.
“That’s it? He wanted to talk about school?”
“He also told me he has a way to get me out.” Connor sits in front of me on the bed. “I told him to do whatever he can to make that happen. So you can come home.”
“I don’t care where we are, Connor. I just want to be with you.”
Do I get homesick? Yes, but I’m certain that will go away with time.
“You should be with your family, Aurora. You belong in New York.”
“What else did he say?” I feel like there’s something Connor isn’t telling me.
He looks to the window, then back at me. “I want you to know that it doesn’t matter to me anymore. Once we are out of the organization, I will follow you wherever you want to go.”
“Connor, what did he say?” I repeat.
“He said I can still accept my spot at Harvard.” Connor sighs. “I told him that was a decision you and I would make together. I also told him NYU had business courses too.”
“NYU is not Harvard. They are not the same, Connor.” How is he even considering NYU? “You are going to Harvard.”
“What about you? What do you want?” he asks.
I smile. “I don’t think Dante will want to do my assignments for another four years.”
“Fuck Dante. I’ll do them for you.”
“You’re going to Harvard, Connor, and I’m going to start our business. Remember? Weapons. I’m going to build something huge.” I nod with finality. “With your smarts, obviously.”
“Aurora, you are smart enough to do that on your own. You don’t need my help.” This man has way too much faith in me.
“I think we should go to Boston. You can go to Harvard. We can get our own place, not something that was your parents’. Something new, that’s just ours. I can get my mom to help me decorate.”
“Can we get a one-bedroom?” Connor asks.
“Why?”
“That way, none of your cousins can just drop in and stay.” He laughs.
“They wouldn’t.” I shake my head. When Connor cocks a single eyebrow, I change my answer. “They would… Is this really happening? Wait? How exactly is my dad getting you out?”
“He didn’t say.” Connor shrugs. “But we do have to go back to Ireland tomorrow. Cillian messaged. They’ve found the bastards I’ve been looking for.”
“Okay. I’m going to start searching for houses in Boston.” I smile. “Can I be the one to tell Patty we’re moving?”
“Sure. Why?”
“I just want to make sure he still fears me a little.” I smirk. “I love you. I can’t wait to start our life together, without all the bullshit of the organization.”
“Me too.” Connor leans forward and presses his lips to mine.
“You can either wait in the car, or come in and watch? Help? Up to you, princess,” Connor says, a flight and a car ride later. Right now, we are parked in front of a warehouse in Dublin.
“What’s in there?” I ask him.
“The last two fuckers who helped my father abuse you, while you were in that basement.”
My heart rate picks up. They’re here. My mind goes back to that place. Chained up in the dark, not knowing when the blows were coming. The stench, the pain.
“I’m coming,” I tell Connor.
I’m taking that fear away. I’m killing those memories and replacing them with new ones. I’m going to show them who I really am. Aurora Valentino. Aurora O’Malley? Either way, I’m not a wilting flower. I am not the victim.
I open the car door and wait for Connor to round the hood. Then, with his hand firmly gripped in mine, we walk into the warehouse.
The two men are chained to what I’m assuming are butcher hooks hanging down from the ceiling. They’ve already been worked over by Connor’s guys.
“That’s them?” I have no idea what I was expecting. “I can do anything?”
“Anything.” Connor points to a wooden table off to the side of the room.
I release my grip on his hand and walk over to the table where a variety of tools are laid out in front of me.
As my finger brushes along a few of them, I realize this isn’t what I want.
So I take the gun from the holster under my jacket, the pretty gold one Connor gifted me.
I can’t think of a better way to use it for the first time than by killing my demons.
I approach the closest guy. “This is quicker than you deserve. See you in hell, motherfucker.” I raise the gun, take aim, and pull the trigger. Blood splatters from the center of his head.
That was more cathartic than I thought.
I then step to the side and look at the other man.
“Don’t,” he says.
I tilt my head and then raise my gun. “Don’t what? This?” I pull the trigger, sending a bullet right through his skull. “Huh, guess he doesn’t have any objections now,” I say when I turn around.
Connor is smirking. He holds out a hand to me. “Let’s go home.”
As soon as we’re back in the car, I stop Connor from starting the engine by climbing over the center console and straddling him.
“I need you to fuck me, Connor. Now,” I tell him as my hands fumble with his belt. I can’t get to his cock quick enough. I need to feel, and the only way I know how to do that is by having him fuck me.
Connor’s hand wraps around my hair. He tilts my head backwards, and then his lips slam on mine. His tongue pushes into my mouth, fucking it with a frenzy. When I finally get his cock free, my hand strokes him a few times. He’s already hard, and I’m weeping. There’s no need for foreplay.
I move my panties to the side, line myself up with the tip of his cock, and sink down on him. I groan into his mouth as I start grinding against him. Connor’s hands slide to my waist as he sets the pace, thrusting his hips upwards into me.
“Don’t stop,” I tell him. I’m so close.
“Fucking come for me, Aurora. Come all over my cock,” Connor grunts.
“So close.” I lean forward and rest my forehead against his.
Connor’s pace slows, his fingers find my clit, and he rubs small circles around the hardened bud.
“Oh god!”
Our eyes never lose their connection. I rub myself against his fingers and move up and down his cock. Then I’m coming apart. Connor thrusts into me three more times before he pulls out, his cum spilling all over my upper thighs.
“Thank you,” I say breathlessly.
Connor’s chest vibrates with a chuckle. “Fucking you isn’t something you ever need to thank me for, princess.”
I don’t tell him this. But my thank you was more for the fact that he pulled out.
Which he has been doing a lot lately. Ever since I told him about not wanting to get pregnant.
I know he wouldn’t care. He would be the perfect husband, the perfect father, if that were to happen.
I just don’t think we need to experience it at eighteen.