Page 45 of Castling the Rook (Checkmate 3)

“I bet you did, you old dog.” I fix his collar like an old mother hen. “You’re good for her, Oz. She was miserable before she met you, always on guard, always scared.”

“She broke my face the first time I tried to talk to her. Literally.”

Riley races through my mind as I shrug. Not because I’ve hit him, but because we’re always sparring for the top spot. “You probably deserved it. She was establishing dominance in the relationship, but don’t fret; look how well it turned out.” I extend my hand to the still hugging trio. “Your face is still pretty, and you got the whole package.”

He flashes a handsome grin and pulls me in for another bone-crushing hug. “And I’m so fucking happy about it.”

* * *

It takes halfan hour to get Ben off his mom and to collect their luggage, before we load into the car and the five of us squish in. Oz drives, and Lindsi sits in the front with her hand in his lap. Miraculously, Ben doesn’t snap Oz’s neck for allowing it. Instead, he sits in the back and leans into me until I can barely breathe.

“What did you guys get up to while we were gone?” Lindsi turns in her seat, so the headlights from oncoming cars illuminate her hair. “Anything exciting?”

“Ben had a girl over,” Livi volunteers.

Lindsi’s eyes snap to her son. “You did? Who? Was Aunt Andi watching?”

“Aunt Andi had a boy over, too.”

“Livi!” I smack her leg. “What the hell? Where’s the loyalty?”

Oz’s eyes snap to mine in the mirror. “What boy, Andrea?”

“It was a cop.” Livi flicks her ponytail with arrogance. “Aunt Andi’s crushing on a policeman.”

Oz’s lips twitch. “You had Cruz over?” He laughs. “You’re sullying my rook, Conner?”

“I’m not sullying anything,” I grumble. Especially not Riley Cruz. He has them all fooled. He’s the spanking drill sergeant, yet people assume I’m the deviant in this pairing. “He’s just my friend, so you can all shut up about it.”

“He stayed all night, Mom.” Ben’s wicked grin makes my teeth grind. “He snuck in her window in the middle of the night.”

“Ben!”

“What?” Oz turns in his seat when we stop at a set of traffic lights. “Riley snuck in your window? My rook who still has some of his baby teeth snuck in? You’re lying.”

“Ben’s not lying,” Livi adds. “He snuck in, slept over, then after Ben and Aunt Andi stopped fighting about it, Ben went for a run, and Riley had breakfast.”

“I thought you were watching the fort, Sasquatch?”

“I was!” Ben snaps back. “He snuck in while I was asleep. How’m I supposed to control that? I dealt with it when I woke up and figured out what happened.”

“Dealt with it?” Lindsi’s eyes widen. “What did you do to him? Is the house trashed? Please tell me the teapot Ma gave me isn’t broken.”

“Nothing is broken,” I huff. I take my cell out and smile at the lack of texts on my screen. He’s so chill. So blasé, he forces me to call all the shots. “But since you guys are back and probably want some alone time, I’m gonna go out for a couple hours.”

“I should call something into the station,” Oz grumbles. “Suspicious activity up on Cedar Hill. Get Cruz assigned to a bullshit surveillance job for the night, because I’m not sure how I feel about this shit.”

I shrug and unlock the screen. “You don’t get an opinion, Deputy. You just gotta deal with it. I fly home tomorrow, so you don’t have to worry about awkward breakfasts with him.”

His lip curls. “That’s just weird. Don’t put that shit in my head.”

Angling my cell away from Ben’s nosy gaze, I find Riley’s name and send a text:You busy?

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