Page 3 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

“Yep. Then Alex and Oz are both still healing.”

My heart skitters in my chest. “What? Why?”

“The fire. The one Kane died in… Oz and Alex were there and got a little burnt. They’re both okay,” she adds before I have to ask. “Just a few burns, a couple blisters. They’re treating them with a little cream each night, so it’s not a big deal.”

“How are the kids? They’re okay?”

“Yeah, Ben and Livi are a little quiet, I guess. But that’s everyone right now. Riley gets to come home in two more days, so that’ll help, I guess.”

“Riley?” I was waiting for her to say his name.Hopingshe would. But a single second of relief immediately turns to dread. “Come home? Where’s he been?”

“He– You–” She sputters. “What?”

“What?”

“What do you know?”

“What do I know about what? I don’t know anything! You’re my source of local gossip.” I try to laugh it off. I try to joke and pretend his absence doesn’t hurt me. “Has he been on vacation?”Without me. Probably with the love of his life. Cocktails by the pool, couples’ massages, fancy dinners, and wedding proposals.He’s a romantic, he craves deep roots, but the second I started to feel something for him, the second I looked at us and saw a white picket fence, I panicked and tore those roots out. “Did Alex send him away for work or something?”

“No… Andi…” Her voice breaks. “Riley was… He was hurt.”

“Hurt? Like, he stubbed his toe, or he crashed his car? Because those are two completely different things.”

“Worse,” she whispers. “Way worse. He was hurt at work. He got shot.”

“Shot?” I shoot up from my stool and knock my bag to the floor. “Shot? Like with a gun?”

Her breath comes out on an explosive sob. “I thought you knew!”

“I didn’t know!” With shaking hands, I bend over and collect the shit that rolled from my bag. Lip gloss, tampons, cellphone charger, a packet of mint candies. “I haven’t talked to him in weeks. We… we had a fight, so he doesn’t take my calls anymore.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I haven’t talked to him in three weeks.”

“It’s been three weeks.” Her voice cracks on every second word. “Exactly three weeks.”

“Oh my God. He wouldn’t take my calls in all this time.” I stuff my things into my bag and stand on shaking legs. “He wouldn’t take my calls.”

“He couldn’t. He’s been in the hospital.”

“Hospitals allow phones, Lindsi!”

“He was shot in the stomach.” Her choked whisper breaks my heart. “In the stomach and leg. He got really sick, so he was asleep for ages.”

Tears burn the backs of my eyes and slide over my cheek. Grabbing my keys again, I bend toward the black satchel in the corner of my office and sling it over my shoulder. Pushing the door open and jogging toward reception, I pass Carla and completely ignore her cheery farewell as I sprint into the street and toward my car. “He’s okay, right? You said hewas;hewasshot, hewassick, hewasasleep.. Everything is past tense, so he’s okay now, right? You said he’s coming home.”

“Yeah… He’s being discharged soon. Oz is visiting with him right now.” And yet, she speaks in a tone that implies he’s dead.

“What’s wrong, Lindsi? What won’t you say?”

“Umm… nothing. It’s a miracle he’s alive, so we’re all focusing on that. The rest is just fluff.”

“Do you see him, Linds? Can you ask…” I stop at my car with a pounding heart. Leaning back against the door, I press my face into my hand and try to swallow the worry in my chest. “Can you ask if it’s okay for me to visit?”

“Visit?” She gasps. “Are you coming home?”

“I am now.” Turning, I whip the car door open and flop in. “Can I visit, Linds? I won’t take up much space.”

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