Page 74 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

Chuckling, Kane moves to the discreet power box I know hides and controls the surveillance on his home. He works the buttons, and while he does, his system fights to kick me out.

He doesn’t know we watch. He’ll never know. But deep in the dark backstreets of his surveillance system, the bots know we’re here, and they’re trying to kick us out.

He presses a code into his screen and shuts the girls out, and in the process, glitches our end for just a moment. Jay panics beside me, afraid of losing sight of his brother, but I know what’s happening, so I take his hand in silent reassurance and wait for the screen to clear up.

“Done.” Kane steps back around with a filthy smirk. “We’re in the cone of silence, Ninety-Nine. What’s up?”

I turn to Jay. “Get Smartfans?”

“Yeah.” He presses a hand over my mouth to shush me. “They’re talking.”

“You’re going on this road trip with them?” Angelo asks, only to be met with the exact kind of scoff Jay gives when I say something stupid.

“It’s insulting you think otherwise. No way in hell am I letting her go on her own. Plus, I wanna go to the beach too. Picture it,” he raises his hands to make a frame, “blonde hair, itty bitty yellow polka dot bikini, smackable ass, and sass for days.” He flashes a Bishop grin and makes Jay do the same. “And I didn’t even get to Jess yet.”

“Dude!”

“He’s funny,” Jay chuckles. I don’t comment on the fact his voice cracks or his hand squeezes my leg unbelievably tight. He can have his secrets, and later, when we’re in bed, I’ll try to soothe some of his hurt.

“I’m kidding,” Kane laughs. He jokes the way Jay jokes – it’s always wildly inappropriate, but in the same breath, is endearing when it really shouldn’t be. “I don’t look at yours; you don’t look at mine. But seriously, bonfires, the beach, days and days of driving. Sounds like fuckin’ heaven to me.”

“I wanna come,” Ang demands. “Make it so I can come.”

In the top right corner of Jay’s screen, my eyes are drawn back to the living room as the twin blondes start bickering. Kane and Angelo can’t see or hear them, just as the girls can’t see the guys, but Jay and I see everything. And when Kane’s girlfriend pushes Angelo’s, we both smile and fling our eyes from one surveillance box to the other.

“Just tell them, dumbass. It’s really easy – clap your hands and say ‘Road trip!’” Kane says. “They have no clue I bamboozled them. I already told you at Greg’s place – attitude is half the fun. Act like you already have an invitation, and they won’t question it.”

“Who is Greg?” Jay turns to me. “I don’t know that player.”

“Greg is actually Graham, but your brother likes to disrespect people by screwing up their names.”

Jay snorts. “It’s fun being a dick sometimes.”

“Graham is the blonde’s ex, the one who made her a club whore.”

“Motherfucker deserves to be neutered.”

“Well…”

“It’s not so easy for me, Bish,” Angelo pushes back. “You’rewithJess, but I’m just a friend. I can’t demand shit.”

“Yes he can,” Jay mumbles. “She hangs out with you every day, dumbass. She’s yours; you gotta demand everything.”

“Shechoosesto hang out with you every damn day, idiot.” Kane says exactly what his brother says. Unknowingly, and only twenty yards apart, their thoughts are still in sync. “Why wouldn’t she want you to come on this trip?”

The girls draw our attention back to the top right corner when their tussling turns to full wrestling, and a tall lamp smashes to the ground just by their heads.

Panicked, Kane and Angelo shove at each other to be the first through the door, to be the hero who saves the blondes from themselves.

Shaking my head, I close Jay’s laptop lid and cup his jaw. “They’re going out of town. They’re going to have a little fun.”

“That’s our fishing spot,” Jay pouts. “I wanna go to the beach with my brother.”

“After.” Pushing his laptop to the side, then setting mine on the coffee table, I move into his lap and cup his cheeks. “Soon, babe. Soon you’ll be free again. You’ll have your brother back; then you can shove that other dude aside.” I press my lips to his slowly, a single peck here, another in the corner, and a third on his jaw. “We’re going to make it all better soon.”

“Get me some GPS dots to put on their car. I need to know where they are on this road trip, since I can’t go.” His strong hands massage my ass, but then he stops and catches my eyes. “I can’t go, right?”

“No.” I laugh. “You can’t just hop into their car and go without some kind of prelude that you aren’t deceased.”

Mockingly, he sighs and leans in to nibble on my neck. “Get me GPS, and sound. I wanna hear them while they’re gone.”

“Okay.” I groan when his teeth pull the skin behind my ear.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good.” Reaching between us, he pushes his sweatpants down so his hardened dick jumps free, then he reaches back and pulls mine down. “Sit on my cock, Sweet Sophia. My heart hurts.”

“I can make it better.”

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