Page 46 of Castling the Rook (Checkmate 3)

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Riley

Baking

Switching mom’s TV off and fixing her blankets, I wander outside with a smile on my face and appreciation that today was a good day. Raya Cruz hasn’t had an easy life. She worked tirelessly under the kind of pressure that would cripple a lesser person, and when it was finally time for her to rest, when I grew up, graduated, got a job and had the ability to support her, she got ill, fragile, and was robbed of what should have been her easy years.

But she’s still here, she’s happy, and she’s content with her small slice of life.

That’s enough for me.

Someday she’ll be gone, and I’ll be all alone in this shitty world, so medications, soap operas, and frilly blankets are fine with me, because the alternative fucking stinks.

Pulling open the driver’s side of my truck, I slide in and stare back at the brick exterior of my mom’s building. It’s going on nine, it’s dark, it’s cold, and I’m hungry. Ridiculously, I’m lonely, and considering I’m a solitary man that enjoys his own company, I place the blame for that bullshit directly on Andi Conner’s toned shoulders.

She’s like a shooting star; impossible to catch, yearned for, burns bright, but gone in an instant. I shouldn’t miss her. Fuck knows, I hardly even know her, and yet, a couple nights in bed together has left me with a yearning for more, but the knowledge she’s already flown over and burned out.

Checking my cell for the first time since I stepped into mom’s room, I find three texts and four missed calls.

Jay:Where the fuck are you?

Kane:Motherfucker, answer your phone!

Jay:Forget it. Moment’s gone. You’re an asshole.

Andi:You busy?

Andi’s text came an hour ago, and the guys before that, and though hers makes me feel all sorts of weird shit in my gut, I still hit redial on Jay’s call and mentally tell Andi to wait in line.

“Asshole! Where the fuck were you?”

“Jay.” He’s alive, and he’s pissed. “I was with my mom. What happened?”

“Aww, your mom?” From pissed to ‘awwww-ing’, his mood takes a wild one-eighty. “How is she?”

It’s fucking weird that he speaks of her as though he knows her. “She’s good. It’s a good day. Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we had to call in a tip, but our cop wasn’t taking calls tonight, I guess. You’re lucky it was your mom and not a regular female; I’d be a hell of a lot more pissed at you.”

“What was the tip?”Stop talking about my mom!“What happened?”

“Hayes was heading out to a meet. He was onsite with known criminals, cocaine, and money. You had the trifecta, asshole. You had them in the same place at the same time and could’ve had Hayes in your cages tonight, but you fucked it up, so now we wait for the next window.”

“Fuck.” I push my hat off and drop it to the passenger seat. “I messed up. I’m sorry, Jay. I had my cell, but I turned it to silent so it didn’t wake my mom.”

“It’s okay,” he sighs. “You would’ve had to arrest Kane, too, and I was excited to watch that.” He gives a gritty cough and makes me wonder how many cigarettes he’s had today. He’s way too young to sound as bad as he does. “We could’ve gone home,” he adds wistfully. “We could be done with this shit if we got Hayes tonight. I just wanna go home,” he finishes on a whisper.

“I’m sorry, Jay. Seriously. I didn’t know anything was going down tonight, and my mom needed a visitor. This has been a shitty month for her, she needed extra time, and I didn’t get here till late because the chief kept me back.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it anymore,” he brushes me off with an exhalation of smoke. “You guys digging harder into our case?”

“Ah… well…” We were digging intoacase. Just not his. “Nah, something else.”

“I guess we can’t always have the world revolve around us. Tonight’s done, so don’t worry about it. Hayes already pulled into the dock, and Kane’s unloading some shit now. Maybe we’ll get another window soon.”

“I’ll be better with my cell. I’ll turn it up and keep it up, so just call and I’ll be around.”

“Where you going now, Cruz?” I canhearthe smile in his voice. “A certain Snow White lookalike calling your name?”

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