Page 78 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

She snickers and rubs circles on the base of my throat. “I’m not sure I ever expected to meet the jealous version of you. It’s endearing in a ridiculously petty and juvenile way.”

“Shut up. You’re juvenile.”

“Uh-huh.” Sitting taller, she searches, then grunts when she finds my half full mug of coffee. Bringing it to her lips, she folds back into my lap and helps herself. “You got anything to eat?”

“I got gummies?”

She sips and thrusts a hand between us, palm up. “I’ll take them. I’m extra hungry, since I only slept a couple hours.”

She accepts the handful I literally dump into her palm, and tossing a bunch into her mouth, she gives a contented sigh and relaxes into my lap. “It’s still kinda dark outside.”

“Sun will be up in twenty minutes, you watch.”

“Mm.” Nodding, she tosses more gummies into her mouth, then chases them with coffee and a sigh. “You scared?”

“Of what?”

She shrugs. “I mean, everything. But I was talking specifically about Kane leaving town right now. You lost him for months, finally got him back, and now he’s just up and driving away. Is it bothering you?”

“I dunno. I can’t decide. I guess it might be a good thing that he’s leaving for a bit, because if anyone’s looking, they’ll be coming here. Him being away can only be a good thing. But if they find him while he’s there, and I’m all the way over here with no way to shield him… he’ll throw himself down for her, which makes her a liability. I don’t like it.”

“You’d throw yourself down for me,” she murmurs. “They might consider me a liability, too.”

I squeeze her tighter. “You’re not.”

“I know I’m not. We’re stronger together; we protect each other. So maybe we shouldn’t underestimate his girl; she went to bat for him that night in Abel’s club. She was ready to run any asshole down to save him.”

I can still feel Jess in my arms, the way she fought me as I ran down the melting stairs, and the fiery pain from Abel’s bullets slamming into my back and piercing my lungs. “She was going to war for him.”

“Right, so if they find trouble where they’re going, I don’t think she’s going to cower and run. She’ll sound the battle horns, then she’ll remove their heads.”

“And we all know, every man deserves a murderous, treasonous, impulsive, and psychotic woman in their lives.”

“Life just wouldn’t be complete without one,” she laughs. Quieting when a fire-engine-red Charger pulls up behind the Buick across the street, Soph sips my coffee and presses a firm hand over my mouth when Angelo climbs out and walks toward Laine.

“Good morning,” Angelo’s voice rumbles through my laptop speakers, confirming my GPS placement is working. He fuckingrumbles, just like his annoyingly awesome car.

“Hey.” Tucking her long hair back, Laine fights her giddy smile and does the girlyI’m so into you, but I’m gonna pretend I’m notthing. “What’s up with your hair?”

“It’s sexy,” Soph murmurs with a smile. “He cut it short, and it looksgood.” She lets the word roll out several syllables too long and sets my blood on fire.

“He looks fuckin’ stupid. Shut your mouth, Sophia Solomon.”

“Don’t hate on me, babe. You already know where my heart lies. Doesn’t mean I can’t like the dude’s new haircut.”

“It means exactly that.” I squeeze her till she gasps. “You’re not allowed to compliment him again.”

Twenty minutes after Angelo arrives, once Kane comes out of the house with Jess, and Eric follows, I catch words here and there about a business Kane is looking to start up.

“Checkmate Security,” Soph repeats just a moment after Eric does. “What do you think about that?”

“I think he’s looking for a way to hunt people, but now he’ll do it without going to jail,andhe’ll convince people to pay him for it.” Smiling, I accept the gummy worm Soph slides between my lips. “I actually kinda like it. It’s a genius solution, and safer for him than what weweredoing.”

“Have you thought about what you’re gonna say when this is all over? When you get to speak to him again?”

And now my smile is gone. “I haven’t.”

Secretly, I’ve wondered if that moment will ever truly come. There’s no real reason why it shouldn’t, but still, I don’t plan that far ahead. I’ll never escape the fact that I’m supposed to be dead. Maybe the universe wants me to stay dead. “I’m not sure what that day will look like; will it be a happy reunion? Sad? Will he shoot me? Will he be mad? WillIbe mad?” He’s already replaced me.

“He won’t be mad,” Soph whispers. “He’s mourning you. He’ll be so happy to have you back.”

“Doesn’t look like he’s in mourning to me.” I nod toward the crowd and swallow my bitterness when Kane and Jess climb into the back of the shiny Buick, laughing, joking, elated at life, then Angelo slides into the front with Laine. “They look like a pretty solid unit to me.”

“The girls are twins, Jay. Of course they’re going to bring the guys closer. But that doesn’t mean you’ve been pushed out.”

Soph sits in my lap for at least an hour after the group leaves and Eric heads back inside the house. She pushes her hand into the back of my beanie and soothingly scratches my hair, and only when she can’t handle living on gummies any longer, when she needs real protein or risks dying of hunger, she leaves me alone while I listen to the laughter coming through the GPS feed inside the Buick. They joke; they flirt, and for the first time in my life, I become a fly on the wall while I meet this new version of Kane. He was always my protector, our serious brother, the one with the weight of the world on his shoulders. But now he’s free, happy; he’s taking on some of my characteristics with his stupid jokes.

But eventually, he makes me want to weep when he speaks of me, the baby brother he thinks he failed, and his voice breaks when my name passes his lips.

Walking back into the living room with heaped plates of bacon, eggs, and toast, Soph drops a tender kiss on the back of my head and blows hot air against my scalp. “I told you he misses you. Nobody could know and love you, and not feel like their heart was ripped from their chests when they lose you. He smiles because his girlfriend makes him happy, but he mourns his brother. I smile because you make me happy, but it doesn’t mean I forget Ellie. I haven’t forgotten her for a single second. You’re loved, Jay. So stop breaking your own heart.”

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