Page 8 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

“To the hospital? No, baby.”I’m not welcome here.“But what are you having for dinner? I might crash it.”

“I’ll cook something.” Ben steps closer, but his nearness sends Nacho into a squealing rampage. Like she can smell him, or sense him, she screeches in my bag until he takes a step back and lifts his hands in surrender. “Ohhhkay.” His eyes shoot between mine and the bag when she calms down. “I won’t touch. Umm… I was just saying, come over tonight. I’ll cook. Seven o’clock okay?”

I know my eyes are pink, I know I have tears on my cheeks, but I paste on my brave face and nod. “I’ll be there. I can’t wait. I’ve gotta run out for now, but I’ll see you later, okay?”

“I’ll walk you out to the car.”

My eyes shoot up to Oz’s, like I need his permission to take his kid away from this room. He doesn’t argue; he nods and offers a set of car keys. “You can drive my truck for today, I’ll ride in Lindsi’s car.”

I accept the keys with a shy smile. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s department issue, so if you crash it, Alex will be up your ass like nothing you’ve ever known. If you so much as touch the radio or buttons, I’ll hurt you. Be responsible. Don’t abuse my truck.” Then he whispers, “Don’t make this situation worse than it already is.”

I roll the keys in my hand and nod. “I’ll be good, I promise. I’ll be at your place for dinner at seven.”

Accepting Lindsi against his side when she reemerges and pretends she wasn’t just crying in a bathroom, he nods and takes a step back. “Seven. We’ve missed you stinking up the place, so welcome back.”

“Can I come with you, Aunt Andi?” Ben’s ocean blue eyes study mine. “I wanna come wherever you’re going.”

“Not this time, baby. Walk me out to the truck, help me find where Oz parked, but then you gotta come back to your mom.”

His eyes narrow. “Andi…”

I lift a daring brow. “Old rules still apply; you drop myAunttitle, I give you an uppercut. No special treatment. Now let’s go.”

I let Ben walk me out of the waiting room, back into the elevators, out the doors, and across the emergency driveway. He slides his arm through mine – because God forbid I trip in the street and die on his watch – and doesn’t let go again until we stop on the second level of the parking garage beside a shiny black truck. The top of the wheels are higher than my stomach, the door handle higher than my head.

Boys are so stupid with how they lift their trucks.

Grunting, I let Benny help me climb up like I were a toddler trying to get up to the kitchen table, which provides us both a second of reprieve from the turmoil brewing in the hospital behind us. It’s all so dark, so helpless.

“Hey… Aunt Andi?”

“Yeah, baby?” I set Nacho on the passenger seat and look down into Benny’s sad eyes. He’s so big and strong, all grown into a man’s body but with a teen’s mind. He’s not my little baby anymore. Not the sweet child that shared my tiny apartment for so long. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Um… Officer Cruz…” He scratches the back of his neck. “I know he’s your friend. And I know he just yelled at you.” Graciously, he ignores the fresh tears that spring to my eyes. “I just wanted to check that you were okay. That was a shit show in there. You came all this way to visit, and he threw you out, which was a dick move on his part.”

“Not a dick move, baby. His whole world has just changed. I didn’t know he was hurt, then I rushed here without thinking, so turning up unannounced was really insensitive. I’m going to run some errands now, and hopefully I’ll be able to make this a little bit easier on him. I’m okay.” Reaching down, I cup Ben’s sweet face and smile when he leans into it. “Riley Cruz is a good man, Benny. One of the very best. So I won’t hold today against him.”

“He was protecting Jess and Laine when it happened,” he whispers. “He stood in front of them and was shot.”

Of course that’s what happened. Of course he was standing in front of someone else, protecting them, saving their lives. “That makes him a hero. And I heard Oz and Alex were heroes that night, too. You’re surrounded by amazing men. That’s something to aspire to, huh?”

Nodding, he steps up to the truck and accepts a gentle kiss in the center of his forehead. As soon as he turns and walks away, I drop my head to the steering wheel and weep for the angry hero inside.

So much pain, so much bitterness.

He didn’t want this.

Every victim needs someone to blame. Their world has spun out of their control, so they need someone, something to pin the shit to in an attempt to regain some semblance of control.

I’m Riley’s shit.

All because I freaked out on him and didn’t know what to do with my feelings. We fought, his anger was fresh in his mind when he was hurt, and now I’ve been branded in his soul as the bad guy.

It’s not fair. None of this is fair.

Pushing back and swiping a hand over my cheeks, I push the keys into the ignition and try to formulate a plan. I need to help him. I need to make this an easy transition, so I pull out of the parking garage and head toward his house.

I have no keys, but I have an uncanny ability to get up to no good, and an aptitude for sneaking into places. This will be like child’s play.

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