Page 124 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

Jess:Kane! Stop.

Kane:What? It’s true!

Jess:No, I meant stop pretending you aren’t a criminal.

He lets out a dirty chuckle and draws Ang’s curious glance in the rearview mirror. My hands shake as I rush out one last text.

Me:Okay, shut up now. He’s gonna know we’re talking about him. I’ve got this.

Kane:You don’t have shit, but I believe in you. Make it happen. The worst that’ll happen is he’ll say no.

Me:That’s pretty bad!

Kane:But it’s suuuuper unlikely. It’s way more likely he jizzes in his pants, and when he’s sure you’re into it, he’s gonna work out about fifteen years of sexual frustration. Get ready to be fucked till you chafe, baby girl. But don’t worry – Jessie likes it.

I toss my phone onto the bench seat and sigh. He’s such a pig. Everyone else in my world is so gentle with me, so wary of triggering one of my breakdowns, but not Kane. He just pushes full steam ahead. Push, push, push until the sexually traumatized woman doesn’t even blink at‘Get ready to be fucked till you chafe.’

I love that he doesn’t tread carefully around me. I love that he allows me the freedom to be the old me, because the old me would’ve been salivating at the idea of being fucked so thoroughly I’ll walk away with chafe.

All men aren’t Graham.

And all sex isn’t without consent.

I pull in long breaths to steel my nerves. Drag it in, in, in until my lungs want to explode, then let it out and clench my hands to stop the shaking.

I catch a glimpse of a snickering Kane in the backseat, but he pulls Jess into a demonstrational video of what he thinks I should do with Ang and pretends he’s not paying attention to everything I do.

I stop overthinking every move I make, stop worrying about rejection – sort of – and lean into Ang until my seatbelt pulls me up short. I tap his muscular thigh and try my best to quell the giddiness swirling through my belly. “Hey… Are you okay?”

The muscle in his thigh twitches beneath my fingers. With flickering eyes, he adjusts his hat. “Uh-huh. I’m great. What about you?”

* * *

Whether Ang drove fasterthan he should have, or Kane just made us stop less often, we pull around a long winding road around six that night – earlier than predicted, but not at all unwanted – and find ourselves at our destination.

With the sun at our backs and the cool breeze on our faces, the world opens up and the ocean presents itself in all her glory.

Seagulls fly overhead, and fishing trawlers float half a mile out, bobbing in the calm water. The wind whips my hair back, but it’s not annoyingly windy; just the effects of a topless car and the opening of the coast.

“Baby!” Jess bounces in the backseat. “Baby! Baby! Baby! We made it!”

For once in my life, I think I resemble a duck in the water. That’s not who I normally am – calm on the outside, but frantic on the inside. Usually I’m a ‘you get what you see’ kind of girl, but not today. Today, my heart pounds a million miles an hour, and inside, I’m doing cartwheels and screamingJessie! Jessie! Jessie! Jessie!while on the outside, I just smile, look out at the edge of the world, and allow the soft waves to lull me into the first true sense of freedom in… forever.

“Laine?” Ang leans toward me with concern etched into his handsome features. “Are you okay?”

“Mm.” For this one minute while I sit on the edge of the world and freedom swirls in my blood, I bravely toss my worries aside and take Ang’s hand in mine. His eyes shoot down to my lap in surprise, but I simply twine our fingers together and rest our joined hands on my leg.

He doesn’t reject me.

He doesn’t freak out.

And if I looked close enough, I bet his pulse races as fast as mine.

“I’m great. It’s beautiful, right?”

He turns back to the road and eases my heavy car around a soft curve. “So beautiful.” He sits back in the seat and grins. And still, his hand remains in mine. “Stunning, really.”

“We’re going to this place up here.” Kane sits forward and pokes his nose between me and Ang. “See the big white one?” He points out a twenty-story luxury hotel right across the street from the beach.

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