Page 53 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

Stepping back, Meg holds me at arm’s reach and checks me out. “I missed the shit out of your pretty face. How are you?”

“I’m decent.” I look her up and down and take note of her tight sweats and massive boobs. “You’re looking pretty fresh for a brand-new mom. Marcus buy you new boobs already.”

“No! These are milk boobs. Aren’t they amazing?” She cups her boobs and grins while every man in the room makes himself busy not watching her fondle herself. “I was so mad at Marcus for knocking me up, I totally thought he’d ruined my boobs, but so far, so good. They’re better now than they’ve ever been,andI never have to wash dishes again.” Turning back to her class, she adds, “I’m disappointed in you sissies. Today’s class sucked – get better, do better, be better. We’ll be back tomorrow, so I wanna see you touch your toes.”

“Our toes?” Bobby’s disbelief turns to a silentyes ma’amas soon as Meg’s eyes narrow. “Okay. Yep. Okay.” He nods like a bobble head and avoids her gaze. “I’ll work on it.”

“Good. I’ll be back at the same time tomorrow, even if it’s storming. I wanna see improvement.”

The room clears of men in a heartbeat. Even Aiden skedaddles when his brothers do, which leaves just me and the girls and a bunch of mocking laughter as the guys flee for their lives.

“Wow.” I turn to look around the large room, the red mats on the floor, the yoga mats rolled tight and resting against the wall, and a boxing bag shaped like a human hanging from the beams above. “Did you get a job at the gym, Meg? Or were you yelling at them just for fun?”

“Just for fun, mostly.” Laughing, she takes my hand and drops to the mats so we’re sitting with terrible posture. “I’m bored at home, so I came in here to visit. It took me three seconds to notice how inflexible some of these guys were, so I called a meeting.”

“It was a bait and switch,” Izzy laughs. “She wanted a meeting. Said it was serious and it needed all the guys.”

“Which got them moving,” Tink adds. “Because when a woman says something’s up around here, the men jump.”

“I got them in here, told them what was up and announced we would work on our flexibility today.” Meg blows on her fingernails. “They had no clue what was coming for them. Bunch of inflexible wussies.”

“Alright.” Glancing toward the clock on the wall, Tink nods toward Tina and Izzy to not get comfortable. “We’ll let you and Meg catch up. Kit’s finishing her class now, so we’ve gotta organize some stuff. But we’ll be around.” Bending, she drops a kiss on my cheek. “Come out and find us if you wanna hang.”

“Alright.” I reach up and take Izzy’s hand when she offers. She squeezes it in hello and goodbye. “Oh, Iz, your daughter was watching Mac train. You better get onto that.”

Her face turns angry in an instant. “We’ve talked about that. Dammit, I’m gonna have to whoop her ass.”

“Atta girl. Show her who’s boss.” Laughing, I fall back onto the mats and lie down, because sitting hurts my tailbone. “Talk to me, Meg. How’ve you been?”

Following my lead, she lies on her back and turns her head to study my eyes. The sound of the door closing indicates the girls left, which leaves the room almost silent but for a soft strumming coming over the speaker system somewhere. “Not much is happening in my world. Chance is getting bigger, but he hardly sleeps. He’s a boobie man and helps keep me plump. Marcus is kinda annoyingly perfect.”

I laugh. “Perfect is annoying?”

“You betcha! He doeseverything, and he does it so well. He’s never tired or frazzled. He changes most of Chance’s diapers, and the one time I tried to clip Chance’s fingernails, I made him cry, so now Marcus does that, too.”

“You’re mad because your man is perfect.” Staring at the ceiling, I rest my hands on my belly and laugh. “You’re insane.”

“I’m not mad.” She pulls in a long breath and lets it out on a contented sigh. “I’m so happy, Andi. I’m really, truly happy in a way I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before. My divorce is final, my son is healthy and started smiling, and my man is the most attentive, sweetest, kindest, unselfish man I’ve ever known. And now that I can have sex again…” She shakes her head. “Woah.”

My chest bounces on silent laughter. “And to think, I wasthisclose to bagging him before you.”

“Shut up.” She smacks my thigh. “You didn’t nearly bag him. He told me I was always the one.”

I roll my eyes, but it’s playful. “Ain’t that the truth. He was so stinkin’ in love with you, Meg. There I was, discussing six slice toasters and forevers, and he was off visiting you in his head. But it’s not like I had time to mourn the breakdown of my make-believe marriage, because Riley was prowling that party, staring, and making my tummy tingle.”

Turning to her side, she rests her hands beneath her cheek and studies my eyes. “How are you, Andi? I’ve never seen you so low before. We’re all over here worrying about you.”

I shrug, like her question doesn’t bring a lump to my throat. “I’m okay. I’m not the one that lost my leg.”

“But you kinda are.” She reaches forward and pushes stray hair out of my eyes. “If something like that happened to Marcus, then I’d be in mourning, too. When you’re with someone you truly love, their pain is your pain. His loss is your loss, and his bitterness cuts you.”

“Yeah, well…” I shrug. “I’m bleeding, Meg. He cuts me every day, and I’m dizzy from the blood loss. I’ve been in his home for more than a week, but he only comes out for a minute here and there. Sometimes that minute includes him yelling at me and telling me to fuck off. Other times, he says nothing at all, and somehow that feels worse than the yelling.”

Her brows pull close with concern, but she doesn’t offer the empty platitudes most would. She listens, accepts my pain, and takes my hand.

“He’s at the doctors today to get his staples out. Which, in my mind, is supposed to be an exciting day. Like, I know he’s in pain, and getting them out isn’t the end of this journey – in fact, it’s just the start – but I still felt like it’s an achievement, ya know? I wanted to do that with him, I wanted to be his cheerleader… but he shut me out.”

“Do you know why he’s shutting you out? I mean, there’s gotta be a reason, right? I didn’t shut Marcus out when I was healing after having the baby, and Alex didn’t shut Jules out after he was hurt at work. Mac got hurt last year, but he didn’t shut his mom or friends out. So what’s going on in Riley’s head? What’s the underlying issue?”

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