A man, Bill, was standing at her door stroking her arm.
Connor saw the bastard touch her, and he saw red. It didn’t matter that Zoe was pushing the other guy away. No one put his hands on Zoe who wasn’t him, Jake, or Brent. This guy was going to pay. He tore Bill off her, slammed his fist in the guy’s face, and kneed him in the balls. The guy doubled over, but Connor wasn’t finished.
“I don’t give a fuck who you are in this neighbourhood. This is still Law Castle, and no one fucks with the people in my town.” Connor dragged him outside of Zoe’s apartment and pushed him against the railing. “If I catch you near her again I will end you. Do you understand me?”
“You haven’t got the guts,” Bill said.
Connor wrapped his hand around the guy’s neck and cut off his air. “I’m not a squeaky clean guy you can threaten, boy. Leave her alone and get the fuck out of Law Castle, or your life is gone.”
“Connor, stop it! You’ll kill him.”
He stared at Bill watching his colour turn blue before letting go. Bill collapsed on the floor then scampered away.
“What is the matter with you?” Zoe said. Her voice rose making him wince. She slapped his arm then stormed inside her apartment. He followed her and closed the door.
“What? Were you planning on banging the fucking asshole? I did you a favour.” He wanted her to run into his arms like everything was okay.
“Why? Because I slept with you and your two friends my pussy is suddenly for sale for any guy who would want me?”
Obviously, he was wrong.
“Don’t overanalyse this, Zoe.”
“You almost killed a man.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
She shook her head then turned away from him. “I don’t get you at all. One moment I think we understand each other, and the next you shoot me down, Connor. What the hell is going on?”
“You ask too many questions. You don’t need to know about my past,” he said. His anger was rising up.
“I don’t need to know about your past? Then why am I the one dealing with all that crap, huh?”
He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know what I’m talking about? Then tell me why every time you fuck me, you have to be in control? Tell me that, Connor. I’ve seen the way you react to me when I try to disobey you. You’ve never taken me in your arms and made love to me. You tell me you care about me, and yet you treat me like a toy.” Tears began to fall from her eyes.
Connor felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. “Don’t cry, Zoe.” He moved toward her unable to bear seeing her cry.
“Don’t come near me. I don’t want you to touch me right now.”
He cursed running his fingers through his hair. His choices were gone. He either opened up to her, or that was it—they were finished.
His past was still controlling him. Connor knew his friends were fed up with him.
“You really want to know the truth about me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Fine, here it is a nutshell. My mother was a weak-ass bitch who couldn’t please my father. When she stopped being good enough, my father turned to me.” The tears lodged in his throat.
He sat down on her couch. His heart was hurting, and he felt like he was going to throw up. Everything hurt inside him, and he hated it. The anger left him as he gazed around at her poky apartment. Connor wanted to give her the world and to show her there was a part of him worth loving.
“Your father abused you?” she asked.
“No, my father loved me a little too much.” He chuckled. “I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. My mother knew what was going on, and she didn’t do anything to stop it. In Law Castle, everyone knows your business, right? That’s not the case. Not one person understood my dad the way I did.”
Zoe sat down next to him on the couch. “It was not your fault,” she said.
“Not my fault.” He burst out laughing. “What a joke. Most people wouldn’t benefit for being used. I did.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. He saw the tears falling from her eyes. Connor stroked her cheek.
“Don’t cry, Zoe.”
“Tell me what happened, Connor.”
He shook his head. The memory of their bargain was clear in his mind. “I didn’t want him touching anyone else. I made a deal that I would do anything as long as he paid me. I turned myself into a prostitute.”
“You need to tell the police about this,” she said.
“Why? My folks are dead.”
“What? Jake said they moved out of town.”
“About a year ago I got a call telling me my folks had died in a gas explosion where they lived. No one else was hurt as there was no one around at the time. Very tragic and I felt relieved about it. What kind of person feels relieved that their folks died?”