Page 11 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

I lean around from the kitchen with a small pan and brush in my hands. Dropping a mix of kitty litter and cat food into the trash, I stand when Kit walks in, then take a step back when three other women follow her in.

Her best friend – five feet nothing and a match for me in the sass department, the woman I know as Tink – stops with her own bags of groceries and takes a look around the room. “Jesus, Andi. This place reeks.”

I scoff. “I actually forgot. I’ve become immune.”

“Ew.” She steps around me and pushes her bags to the counter with a grunt.

“Hey, Andi.” Izzy, Kit’s sister-in-law and Jimmy’s wife, steps forward and drops a kiss on my cheek. I don’t hug her, I don’t even touch her – because… cat shit – but I accept her kiss, then step out of the way when she moves past me with a box full of cleaning products.

“Hey, Tina.” I shouldn’t be surprised when the next Roller wife steps up with a mop and cordless vacuum. She rests them against the wall, then copies Iz with the kiss to the cheek. “It feels weird that I haven’t seen you guys in forever, and now you’re all here like it’s okay I called.”

“Itisokay you called. We’ve come to help.” Tina takes my forearms and smiles. “The guys are coming, too. Jimmy’s out the front already, unloading the wood. Bobby and Jack went to the homeware store. They said they wanted to buy some stuff, then they’ll be here. Aiden’s picking the kids up from school in a bit, then they’ll be by.”

“You’ve got a pig?” Tink’s squeal sets Nacho into a frenzy of excitement. She was sleeping in my pouch, smooshed in the corner of the kitchen between cabinets while I clean, but now she honks and wiggles her butt. “She’s itty bitty. Is she a baby?”

“She’s a few months old, I think. But she and I are only new, so don’t scare her.”

“I won’t scare her.” She picks Nacho up and hugs her close. “I’ve never in my life seen a mini pig. Like, not where I could hug her. She’s cute as shit.” Tink’s eyes come back to Kit’s. “I should ask for one.”

“No!” Laughing, Kit walks toward the fridge with a gallon of milk. “Don’t you dare. Jon won’t say no, so then we’ll all have to live with a pig.” She swings the fridge open, then slams it shut again with a squeak. “Jesus.” Heaving, she brings a hand up to cover her mouth. “I think maybe Riley made egg salad three weeks ago.”

Five sets of lips curl back.

“Gotta clean the fridge out before we restock it. Shit. Okay.” She points to Tina. “I’ll do the fridge. You guys do something else. The guys will start out front as soon as they’re set up.” As if on cue, Jimmy drops a massive pile of timber out the front and makes me jump. “The guys will deal with the outside. Girls inside. We’ll be done before dinnertime.”

Setting the milk on the counter, Kit reopens the fridge and drops the egg salad – bowl and all – into a plastic bag and ties the handles into a knot. “Holy hell. Three week old eggs are rancid, guys.”

“I can’t smell it over the cat shit,” Izzy grumbles. “This place stinks more than the gym.” Tying long mahogany hair back into a ponytail, she grabs the broom and begins sweeping the crap on the floor into piles so I can scoop it into the trash.

Placing Nacho back in her pouch, Tink blows kisses and walks into the living room. “Andi? The cat painted the rug with shit. Wash it or toss it?”

Snickering, Kit digs her cell out of her back pocket and drops it onto the kitchen counter with the music turned up. The beat helps us move, it keeps our spirits high when favorite songs come on. With their help, Riley’s home starts to transform back into the show space it was last time I was here.

He can’t come back to this, I can’t break his heart like that, so I scrub alongside the girls and keep my emotions locked up tight as I pass things that remind me of him; which is basically everything. The couch he fucked me against, the hat rack and the handcuffs he keeps as though they’re supposed to be a part of the décor, the kitchen stool I sat on and drank coffee from when I should’ve been running away. Instead, I hugged him and fell in love.

So foolish.

I end up hanging the rug over Riley’s back fence and using the high pressure hose I found in his garage to clean it. Standing in the barely-there sun and trying not to catch the cold mist off the hose, I spray the rug for ten minutes straight until the water running off the bottom transforms from dirt brown back to clear.

Cat shit or not, that rug needed a wash.

I decide I won’t bring it back inside any time soon. I’ll leave it outside to dry, then roll it up and put it away in the garage, because soon, Riley will be moving around on crutches, then a prosthetic leg, perhaps a cane. Rugs are a tripping hazard, so it can stay away until he notices its absence, then he can make his own decision.

Winding the hose back around the pressure washer, I lift the forty pound machine with a grunt and waddle from the backyard through the gate. Stepping toward the garage and turning through the small side door, I slam into a solid chest and skitter back like this is a slasher movie and I’m the dumb blonde about to bite the dust. Broad hands grab my arms, then bright green eyes lock onto mine and turn my screeching to embarrassment.

I clutch at my chest and laugh. “Jesus, Marc. You scared the shit out of me.”

More than six feet of tall, dark, and handsome, Marcus Macchio watches me with sparkling emerald eyes and releases my arms when I’m steady on my feet. He towers over me with his woodsy scent and hair that’s grown longer since I last saw him. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he takes a step back and draws my eyes down to a tool belt slung casually around his hips. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. You okay?”

“Yeah.” I frown at the flicker of light that reflects off a steel hammer on his belt. “Are you here working? I didn’t know you were coming.”

He shrugs. “Kit called me earlier, said to drop whatever I was doing and move my ass because we had shit to build.”

“You’ve been here the whole time?”

“Yeah.” He jabs a thumb over his shoulder. “Jimmy picked me up on the way through. So, listen…” He lets out a weary sigh and steps in closer. “Are you okay? This is a small town, and my sister just so happens to be a nurse. Rumor has it you went to see Cruz today… and it didn’t go so well. I didn’t even know you guys were together. I mean, I think it’s cute as hell, he’s a good guy, and you need someone that’ll keep you outta trouble, but I didn’t hear that rumor yet.”

“Not together.” I clear my throat. “We… had some fun. A few times.”

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