Page 49 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

The guys I consider my best friends have no clue I was already a killer long before Kane ever came into our world.

I told Kane I couldn’t kill Graham… but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to be a murderer. I already am one. I just don’t want to add to my tally. Some guys might enjoy adding notches to their kill list as much as they enjoy adding notches to their bed posts.

But that’s not me.

I’m just me, and I want the world to leave me the fuck alone… except when they hurt girls.

In those cases, I sneak into houses and dismember the fuckers.

“Ang?”

“Yeah.” I shake off old memories and paste on a fake smile. “My evil plan is working. No wife, no kids, no worries.”

“You should try it sometime.” He pulls a ball cap low over his eyes and moves onto the freeway. “Girls are a pain in the ass, especiallymygirl, but I tell ya what… having a family, man, it’s magical. I wouldn’t trade it for a thing.”

“I’m happy for you, Marc.” I turn to study the trees whipping past us. “Truly, you know I am.”

It’s a full hour drive into the city. From our town to the next, we follow one single freeway and don’t get off again until we pull into the dealership on our side of the city.

We spend another hour walking around the yard at the back to make sure I’ve got everything I need, because I don’t want to have to come back again in three days.

Twelve-thousand dollars in parts spent in the blink of an eye should make the poor kid in me shrivel up and cry, but this is for Laine, and that kid would be proud that he grew to be a man that could look after a woman the right way.

Twelve thousand bucks is nothing when I compare it to her life.

Loaded up and riding low from all the extra weight, we pull in for a fast lunch at a Mexican joint and head out just as soon as we inhale the food. After another hour of driving in almost silence, we hit town and make our way to Kane’s street, and though Marc watches the house like it’s haunted, I ignore him.

He taps the steering wheel and stares as we pull in. I know what he’s thinking. I even know what he’s going to say.

Marc’snotsubtle, nor does he have a filter when something pisses him off. Knowing this, I climb out of the truck and start unloading my shit.

“Wait, Ang.” Predictably, the truck door slams. “This dude…” He grabs a box from the back and follows me. “Kane Bishop… Do we trust him?”

“Yes.” I heft another over my shoulder and turn away. “Yes, we do. We absolutely trust him.”

“How can you know? We don’t know him.” He points between my chest and his. “We go back to forever. Right back to elementary school, it was always you, me, Luc, and Scotch. Now we got this bogie coming in and pretending like he belongs. I don’t know him. I don’t trust him.”

“He’s dating Jess, so you better get on board, or she might smack you with a skateboard again. I trust him, Macchio. I trust him with my life, so if you trust me, then you gotta trust my judgement.”

“But it all happened so fast!” He drops his box against the garage wall. “He wasn’t here, then he was wanted for murder. Now he’s marrying into the family and probably expecting one of us to name our kid after him. Why am I the only one that thinks this is weird?”

“Same reason you were almost wanted for murder last year when you found out Luc was diddling with Kari; because you’re stubborn as fuck and don’t like letting people into your club.”

His eyes narrow. “Don’t saydiddling, asshole. She’s my baby girl, and Luc deserves to die for touching her.”

I shake my head and go back to unloading. “Whatever. She’s happy, and so is Jess. You get no choice.”

“What about Laine?”

I twist my knee with how fast I turn back. “What about her?”

“She got a boyfriend, and look what happened. This is why I don’t let people into our club! We’re lucky we’re unloading a truck full of car parts instead of a fuckin’ hearse. He nearly broke her!”

I drop my box and pray the loud crash doesn’t scare the girls in the house. Storming forward, I don’t stop until we’re chest to chest. “Graham’s out,” I seethe in an almost whisper, “and he ain’t coming back to bother her again. So you shut the fuck up about hearses, Marcus, or I’ll shove a damn wrench down your throat.”

“How am I the bad guy here?” He throws his hands into the air and attempts to turn away, but I grab the lapel of his shirt and pull him back. “Why am I wrong for saying what everyone else is thinking?”

“Because you have a tendency to say the worst shit at the worst times. She’s fine.” I lean closer. “She’s gonna be fine, but if she hears your bullshit, you’ll do more damage than good.” I push him back and turn away as he stumbles to get his footing. I snatch up the box I tossed and stack it properly. “Graham was bad news, we knew that before last week, but there was nothing any of us could do that wouldn’t come across as stupid older brother shit. Now she’s back, and she doesn’t need you throwing shit in her face. Leave it alone.” I push past him and ignore his rumbling growl when my shoulder slams into his. “Kane ain’t trouble for us.” I turn and walk backwards to drive my point home. “You’re all about family, Marcus; he saved X’s life in that club. I watched him do it. Fifty feet away, he put a bullet in that asshole’s brain before he could put one in X’s. His finger was already on the trigger. Without Bishop, your brother is dead. Without Bishop, Jess is dead, too.”

I turn away and move to the back of the truck without another word to Marc. I don’t only trust Kane because he saved X or Jess, but because without his actions, Laine would be dead, too. She was in that club with Jess, and I was working in my garage with zero fucking clue that anything was going down.

When Marc joins me at the back of the truck, I stop moving the heavy boxes and meet his eyes. “Next time you wanna be an ass about Bishop, imagine for just a second life without X and Jess. Think about Meg and Baby Chance, think of her bringing that baby into this world without you around. That’s what Jules would be doing if Bishop didn’t do what he did; bringing their baby into the world, but X would already be dead and buried. When you swallow your macho stubborn-ass bullshit, you can apologize to him for being an asshole. I trust him with my life, so you better get on board.”

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