Without Love ::: Merry, Connor, Rodney

A smile spread across Rodney’s face as he watched Merry belly dance in front of everyone. He tried to drown out the looks from the other people in the audience and just pretend that she was dancing for him and him only. But of course Connor was in the room which put quite the damper on things. He knew Merry had feelings for him. He wasn’t stupid. In fact, far from stupid. He could also see the way Connor watched her. He cared about her too which made it very difficult for him to sit next to him right now. But he wouldn’t cause problems. That just wasn’t Rodney. He knew that he meant something to Merry which meant that he had to respect that. Rodney watched as Merry’s hips swayed back and forth, the silver dangling gems from her pink dress moving around rapidly. Her pale skin was bright and sparkly from where he was sitting. He couldn’t wait until after the dance, so he could give her a big hug and hand her the red roses he bought for her. Rodney couldn’t help but wonder if Connor had done the same.

And just Merry’s hips shot from left and then to right, that small hint of jealousy that had been mustering within Rodney grew. Grew into something that wasn’t just jealousy, but hate, hate for the guy sitting right next to him. For some reason, all Rodney wanted to do was one up Connor. Make himself look better in the eyes of Merry. He felt like he had to. He wasn’t even sure if Merry knew he was here just yet. So, he did the first thing that came to mind. Without any hesitation at all, Rodney stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs towards Merry. “WHOOOOOOO! YAY MERRY!” Rodney clapped loudly. He was certain that at least now she would know that he stood up first to show his support, not Connor.

"Yeah well, you've never met any men that are exactly like me before. I don't expect you to react any other way." he said with a laugh as he watched her expression. The colour under her skin was so tempting, the redness that showed through the surface. For a moment there he could have sworn he was slipping into his feeding mood. All noise phased out of the room, there was nothing but the quick rhythmic beat of Merry's heart that was like a drug to him. He was trapped in the moment until he picked up another coming towards, causing him to snap out of little dream, a feral rage building inside of him.

Connor offered an innocent smile, looking back and forth between Rodney and Merry. "I'm sorry sir, have I done something to offend?" he asked in a playful tone, knowing pretty well that it would only ramp up the tension this game created. There was a charming smile that flashed on his expression, even if his mood suggested murder. Straighting his tie a bit, he fussed at his jacket as Merry seemed to take notice of it all. It was for her, he could not imagine looking nothing short of excellent for her. "I'm sure your father would have loved to be here, I actually ran into him a few days ago. He seemed nicer than normal.." he said, seeming confused about what she might have said.

Snapping back to the conversation at hand, Connor eyed Rodney with an amused smirk. "If you would like we could have one right now, then I wouldn't seem so out of place." he said in a calm manner, though his rage was boiling over the edge. He had never gotten a lid on his fledgling rage thus far, everything was at risk tonight, not just the man standing in front of him. Connor felt like an addict, one going through a serious withdrawl as he felt Merry's warmth nearby. All of that faded however as he watched her recieve the flowers, even hug the man. Why was he such a jealous mess? Was this really a part of who he was?

"See, you even brought the right flowers for one?" he said, smirking. Rodney was quicker than him however when she mentioned iHop, he didn't even get the words in his head before Rodney had shouted them out. Things were going nuts in this moment between the two of them, if this wasn't brought under control tonight it would go from international house of pancakes to international house of blood. "Not a problem Merry, you know I wouldn't miss this for the world." he said, with a laugh. He would let Rodney think he had won for now, "Go on ahead with him, I will catch up in a moment." he said, swatting Merry's butt playfully as he wandered off, opening his phone to make a call.

He had come here on foot tonight, it was better if he let them go ahead so that he could just beat them there.

Rodney rolled his eyes when Connor asked him if he had done anything to offend him. “Damn right you have.” Rodney couldn’t believe he just said that. What had gotten into him? He was saying things that normally Rodney was to mature to say. Or things that he thought about but never had the guts to bring up. But when Connor mentioned Merry’s dad, Rodney couldn’t really say anything. He wanted to, but it would more than likely be against him. That was one part of Merry Connor had that Rodney didn’t. Rodney had yet to meet the infamous Robert Lovelace. It bothered Rodney that Merry didn’t think him important enough to meet her father.

When Connor threatened him, Rodney clenched his fist. Oh how he wished he could punch that face right in, but as much as he wanted to, Merry wouldn’t be pleased in the slightest. And they were in public too which wouldn’t go over well. But when Connor said something about the flowers he had bought for Merry, he was about to say screw the fact that they were in public and screw how Merry felt about him. “Well, I’m sure the flowers are better than that fake ass kiss you just planted on her.” When he spoke, it was almost like he wasn’t the one speaking at all. This was a part of him that he’d never seen before, and it was uncontrollable. These bad comments just seemed to be spewing from his lips without a care in the world. This was when Merry spoke up and told them not to fight. As much as he liked her, it was so hard to listen to her. She didn’t know what he was willing to do at this point to get rid of Connor and keep her to himself. He honestly wasn’t sure either.

Rodney’s eyes moved from Connor to Merry when she thanked him for buying for everyone. When he said he was buying, nowhere in his gesture did he mean Connor as well. So now he was going to have to buy for him too. But before he could even protest, Connor said he’d catch up later and slapped Merry’s butt. Rodney glared at Connor as he walked off. If he’d stuck around, there was no doubt about it. Rodney would have punched him and a fight would have ensued. He didn’t care if it was playful or not. It was uncalled for and just a way for Connor to get under Rodney’s skin even more than he already was.

Once Connor was gone, Rodney and Merry headed out to the cars. Rodney snickered at Merry’s comment. That was it. “Never acted like this before? He’s an ass hole Merry. And you deserve better than what he can give to you.” Rodney stopped walking. This was ridiculous. He’d waited long enough to saw what was just seconds from coming out of his mouth right now. He couldn’t believe how much he wanted to prove to her that he was better than Connor, and he wanted more than this friendship that they shared.

Infused with the power of his latest victims blood, Connor hoisted the remains of the human husk and made his way out back. Dropping it off in the nearest dumpster, he sighed as he watched himself do the very thing he had always hated. He was becoming more and more like Anne in his eyes, something that bothered him to no end. As hard as he tried to escape her, she kept on pulling him back to her without having to do a damn thing. Inwardly he was starting to believe he was the monster she made him out to be, and being away from Merry now he could think clearly. Though she kept trying to appeal to him, Connor honest despised the bond formed between him and Merry. The ability for her to communicate wordlessly with him further made him feel like an alien in this world.

Was she actually inviting that man over for dinner? There was a loud sound, like steel scraping against stone which filled the night air. Connor hit the dumpster so hard that it was actually sliding away from the building. Where his fist had struck there was a large indent that took it's shape. It was almost impossible to compose himself now as he tried to straighten his suit. Focusing all of his mind on fixing his tie, he made his way around the building towards the parking lot. He could feel this nagging, icy feeling as Merry tried to speak to him over the distance.

Just like in films, Connor happened to round the corner at the "right" time as he watched Rodney step forward and kiss her. None of what Merry was saying to him mattered anymore, the smile that she spoke of putting on his face had vanished and was replaced with absolute rage. He couldn't figure out why however, wasn't he the one who previously said that it was in his best interest to let her go? The idea of doing such a thing was much harder to put into action than he thought as he witnessed this moment. It didn't matter to him much if she kissed him back, he was irate either way.

"Well, this is just golden." Connor said with a sarcastic laugh. Clapping his hands together slowly, the monster that Anne had tried to turn him into was actually taking shape. It was all he could do not to turn the fangs loose on Rodney in this moment, break his neck in half. "I was wondering when you would try to make a move on Merry, as everyone keeps reassuring me Rodney is a nice guy." he said, with a smirk on his face. He felt bother rage and satisfaction, as he now felt even more justified in his actions should he choose to cross this little gap and wipe that dumb face right off of Rodney's skull.

Glancing at Merry, his eyes flashed a hurt expression as if her asking him out to dinner had been taken as a sign of her changing her mind about him. It was clear from the way he stared at her that he had heard every word she said.