Page 60 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

“So you’re all set. Shower. Move.”

“Fuck you, Jay! You didn’t give me orders yesterday, and you sure as hell don’t start giving them today. I’m not your pretty little dancer when we work this. I’m Ace; Ace is your superior, and I demand the respect that comes with that.”

“Ya know, I never fucked my superior before. That offer still open?”

“No!”

“Now?” I push away from the bed and grin when her attitude turns to laughter.

“No!” She darts toward the shower and flips the taps on. “I’m showering. Go away. You go to Ginnie’s, get us food, bring it back.”

I follow her into the bathroom and study her seductive body under the hot spray. The bruising she’s yet to mention stretches from her shoulder to her hip. There’s a limp to her walk and the way she favors her toes over flat feet. He hurt her last night, which is precisely why I twisted that fucking knife.

“You won’t get a chance to say goodbye to Gin if you don’t come down. I thought you were pals?”

“I’m not saying goodbye!” she shouts over the water pressure. “We’re not leaving! I’m staying right here and continuing what I started a long time ago.”

Sheisleaving, because I’m not wrong about this. Kane’s out; he’s unprotected, and he doesn’t know he’s in someone’s sights, which means all the arrows will point back to the tiny town where all of this started for me. I’m going there, and Sophia will come even if I have to tie her up and shove her in the trunk.

“A couple days alone time oughtta give you thinking time.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, beautiful. I’m going to get food. Back soon. I’ll tell Gin you saidpeace out.” I walk away from Sophia’s naked body and head back to the bed. Swapping my sweats for jeans, and pulling boots on over thick socks, I search for my coat in preparation for the cold outside. It’s easy to forget I was freezing so recently. I shamelessly mooch Sophia’s heating and get smacked in the face each time I walk back into the hall and remember the rest of the world isn’t a warm oasis.

She pays exorbitant heating bills with gangster money… I couldn’t be more proud.

Pulling my beanie low over my eyes and shoving my nine millimeter into the back of my jeans, I swing out the apartment door and grin at the sound of Sophia humming in the shower.

She says I’m the most annoying person she knows, but she smiles when I’m around.

I don’t believe for a second that she dislikes my company.

Jogging down past my apartment door, stomping on the third floor, then swinging out the glass entrance at the front, I head left and salivate at the thought of a Ginnie burger. She’s fast; she’s good, and I’m starving.

Digging my hands into my pockets and finding Kane’s blade in my left, I feel more than just gummies in my right. Pulling my hand out, I grin at the protein bar Soph must’ve left for me. I rip the foil wrapper away and take a large bite until my jaw aches. She cares about me. She pretends not to, but I’m not stupid, and I have a protein bar to keep me strong.

I practically skip along the street with a goofy grin and no worries for the first time in… years. Decades, even.

We still have a lot of shit to deal with, a lot of grief to work through, a lot of fuckers to maim and kill in search of revenge. But for the ten minutes it’ll take me to get a burger and flirt with Ginnie, I allow myself to smile and go with it.

I get to see my brother in just a few days.

And I might be finding a little of the light of my own.

“Good morning, handsome.”

I flash a wide smile when I step through the diner door and catch a load of Ginnie cleaning her counter. “Morning, beautiful.” Shoving the rest of my protein bar in my mouth, I pocket the foil wrapper and stop at the counter so Gin can take my hands. “I’m so hungry, my hungry is hungry.”

“As usual.” Her eyes flash playfully. “Burger and fries?”

“Times two! Soph is back home, and she’s hungry too.”

Shetsksand turns away to put my order in with the cook. “Big bad wolf, you are. She’s just a good girl, trying to sit alone in a diner while she filled her belly, but you just had to swagger on in and make her smile for you, huh? The challenge was just too much for you to walk away.”

“But she’s so pretty, Gin.” I laugh when she whips her hand towel out and the tips slap my hand.

“You’re so bad. And you’re so handsome, I know why she couldn’t resist you.”

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