Page 116 of Sacrifice the Knight (Checkmate 6)

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Eric

“Mac!” I knock on his bedroom door for the third time in ten minutes. “Kid, you gotta get up or you’re gonna be late. Your mom’s blowing up my phone asking where you are.”

“I’m coming.” Deep grunts come from inside his dark bedroom. It’s going on ten in the morning, but the curtains are still pulled closed, the lights out. “Time is it?”

“Late! The early cards have already begun. You’re gonna be late for your own fight, dummy.”

“Not late.” He tosses his blankets back and sits tall in the middle of his bed. Yawning and stretching his arms wide, joints pop, but his yawn turns to a grimace when he scratches a hand through his messy hair.

Groaning, he trips to his feet in boxer shorts and long socks and stumbles past me into the hall. He closes the bathroom door with a slam, takes a piss and flips the shower on, and ten minutes later, he makes his way to the kitchen where I sit with a steaming mug of coffee and wait.

“Your hair is still stupid.”

He rolls his eyes and moves to the fridge to take out the carton of juice. “Shut the hell up, FuckWhit. You don’t get a say.”

“Looks to me like you didn’t get a say, either. Your head get stuck in a weedwhacker?”

“Shut up.” He slams a heavy fist against my shoulder so hard that the pain radiates through my old injury. “Stop talking about my hair. The girls think it’s sexy.”

“Did they fall into a barrel of acid… eyes first?”

He cocks his arm back for a second shot, but I jump up with a laugh and bounce away. He works hard in that gym, which means his shots hurt me as though he were full grown. “Stop hitting me. Grab something to eat, then let’s go. You’re gonna make us late to your own shit.”

“What time’s Mom gonna get there?

“She’s working till noon, then she’s coming down and bringing her pompoms.”

He stops with a line of juice dribbling over his chin. “Don’t let her wave pompoms, Cap. Don’t let her be that mom.”

I lift my hands. “I don’t control her, kid. I’m just the innocent bystander. Plus, she’s cute in her cheerleader uniform.”

“Mm.” He tosses the container back in the fridge and slams the door. “Don’t ever say that again. Let’s go. I’m ready.”

“Grab something to eat,” I repeat. “Grab a protein bar or something. You can’t fight on an empty stomach.”

He sighs but does as he’s told. “I’m not hungry. I think I’m nervous. Which is just weird,” he adds. “I never lose, so why would I get nervous?”

“Your confidence will get your ass beat someday.” Laughing, I follow him out the door and into the hall. The locks noisily snick into place, then we turn and move as Mac’s gym bag hangs over his shoulder and his protein bar is open in his hand. The kid I swore had a never-ending appetite only nibbles now as we move down the stairs. “How’s your leg?”

“It’s fine.” He slowly moves down one step at a time. “Little stiff, but normal. The snow makes it hurt.”

“Make sure you warm up well before you go on. I don’t wanna bring you toast when you bust your leg again.”

He rolls his eyes and grunts when we reach the bottom of the stairs. Moving through the building doors and into the biting breeze, we slide into my truck and pump the heat up as soon as I switch on the ignition.

“Feeling good? You seem a little out of it.”

“Just tired.” He shoves his bag under his legs and places his hands in front of the heater as I pull out of the lot. “I trained extra hard for this one. They moved me up a weight category, so I’m gonna be the little fucker in today’s fight.”

“Only fight worth winning is against someone better than you. No point pounding on a little kid.”

“I’ll remind you that you said that the next time you’re going toe-to-toe with Spence and crying like a little bitch.” He turns to me as we drive through the single set of traffic lights in town. “You wanna be ringside? Benny will be there, and Bobby. But maybe you wanna be there too?”

“Umm…” My heart pounds with elation, surprise, arrogance because I’ve been asked, and Zeke wasn’t. “Your dad not gonna be there?”

“Zeke dropped off the planet again. He asked me to hang out at his place, mentioned how he’s earned it, and Mom can trust us now.”

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