Page 86 of Sacrifice the Knight (Checkmate 6)

“No. I think maybe I got dirt in there. It feels sticky when I walk. What’s up?”

“Why am I up? You ran your ass in here and said I’m up.”

“Oh yeah, Blairs need a Gladiator. Like, right now. I talked to the chief about it; he’s on board. Talked to Spence; he thinks it’s a good idea too. So we’re getting the Gladiator set up.”

“When can we access the property? You said they’re still at the gym?”

“Yeah, we’re going now.” Riley slides his leg back into place and looks up. “The door is busted the fuck up. She needs it fixed tonight, then she needs security.” Déjà vu rolls like an oil slick in my stomach. “She’s yours, so you get the lead. We’re your soldiers tonight, boss.”

“Yeah…” Those dots want to fill my vision again. The whooshing in my ears wants to take me down, but I don’t let it. I’m not going to let history repeat itself. “Yeah, I want the lead on this, but she ain’t mine. Neither of them are mine.”

I snatch up my keys and turn toward the back hall to exit, only to be stopped by Kane’s hands and a lifted brow. “Come again, DeWhit? She’s not what?”

“She’s not mine. I’m not laying claim.”

“Motherfucker, you’re in love with her! You sleep with her; you stayed in her home; you laugh with her kid and ask for the same fucking meal three times a day just to be near her, but now you’re saying she’s not yours?”

“That’s what I’m saying. It’s what I’ve been saying for a month. I’m taking the lead on this, but this will be a standard job, in and out, set it up, and there’ll be no fucking kiss at the door.”

“You don’t have to pussy out on this, Cap.” Jay snatches the papers from my hands and holds them between us. “She’s yours. She wasalwaysyours, and Aren is locked up tight. Soph has eyes on him; she has eyes on Katrina; she has control of the situation. You don’t have to keep doing this.”

“I do have to do this! She’snotmine!” I shove him back until he slams into his brother. I stalk forward and snarl in his face, “If you tell anyone they’re mine, I’ll kill you. She’s not in anyone’s scope, because what we had was private. It was behind closed doors and not for public discussion. If you change that, you’re dead to me.”

“You’re a fuckin’ pussy.” Jay steps forward so we stand chest to chest, and rage sizzles in his eyes. Pointing in my face, his nostrils flare as he speaks. “You don’t need to ghost on her, Cap. You don’t have to keep brushing her aside because you’re scared. The past is the past, and you deserve happiness; you deserveher, but you’re bringing it in here and ruining a good thing.”

“The past is right fuckin’ here, Bishop! The past left voicemails on my machine and spoke ofyourgirl. Of Kane’s girl and his babies. Of Cruz’s girl. How are you all not doing more to protect them?”

“We are!” he roars. “We’re doing what we need to do, but we’re doing it without breaking our hearts in the process. If Katrina werewithyou, Zeke wouldn’t have busted her door tonight. If she were protected by you, he wouldn’t have come anywhere near her home. You say you’re protecting her, but all you’ve done is left her to fend for herself. I’m disgusted with you, Cap. You’re scared, but instead of owning it, you’ve left her to the wolves.”

“Fuck you, Jay.” I snatch the papers back and turn toward the garage. “I’m doing the right thing by them. Until you watch your wife and daughter being executed in your own home, shut your mouth about shit you don’t know.”

“That shit won’t happen to me, because I’m not a fuckin’ pussy!”

Spence races through the hall like a thundering elephant just as Kane slips around his brother and steps in front of him in protection, but I don’t really notice these things. I don’t consciously make the decision to snap. It’s like an elastic in my brain; it just breaks with Jay’s words and ends with my fists slamming down on Bishop’s face, though I can’t know which Bishop exactly. A red haze blinds me to the rest of the room, so all I see are Gemma and Callie’s faces.

I feel the rage course through my veins and move the arms I wish I could have laid down on Derrick Ireland and Aren Aristov’s faces. We crash to the floor in a pile of limbs and grunts, and thud against the desk corners with crunching bones and muffled swears until the solid desks grind back. Spence’s thick arm wraps around my throat and pulls me back until I’m standing, panting, and the haze washes away to reveal both brothers on the floor.

Jay sits up and watches me with a hand on his jaw, while his brother spits blood from his mouth and swipes a hand over more blood trickling from his lip.

“I’m sorry.” Jay’s dark eyes soften as he watches me fight Spence’s hold. “I’m sorry I said that.”

“Fuck you, Jay Bishop! Go to hell.” I break out of Spence’s choke and move toward the storage locker at the back of the office. Silence remains in the air as I snatch up a brand-new Gladiator system. It’s contained in a heavy-duty black plastic suitcase and includes the cameras, electronics, and all of the accessories that come with it. Thirty grand, sitting in a plastic suitcase. And soon it’ll be installed in Katrina’s home so I can keep her safe.

* * *

For hours,I work in her apartment in steady silence. The guys followed me, of course. Because we’re brothers; Checkmate is a family, and a Gladiator is almost impossible to install alone. So I work side by side with men I’ve hurt, with dried blood on my knuckles and fire burning in my gut, but I do it, and when Jay silently claps my shoulder and meets my eyes in silent apology, I don’t push him off or tell him to jump off a bridge.

Because he spoke only truth.

He would never know what I know because he does his job properly. He’s not an idiot like me who thinks they’re the special snowflake who deserves different treatment.

My eyes ache from exhaustion, and my heart feels enlarged and hurts as it beats, but I do my job with machine-like precision because I won’t fuck this up twice. I work on screwing a camera to the bracket that will hold it to the wall, and Jay sits at the kitchen counter with a heavy laptop opened in front of him while he works that end of the system. It takes hours to get it going, but when I connect the final wire and switch the power back on at the breaker box, Jay sits back with a grunt and stretches his spine.

I left the office around six. It’s now past eleven, and I’ve neither stopped nor eaten, but the only thing I can truly focus on is the fact Katrina and Mac aren’t home yet. Are they still with the Rollers? Are they safe? Are they coming back tonight?

Will I ever see her again?

I make my way toward Jay after I pack away the last of what I was working with and watch over his shoulder as he works though the set-up sequence. His eyes are dark as he works without emotion, his fingers sure as he passes through security points and firewalls. “You don’t have to be scared,” he murmurs so only I can hear him. Spence and Kane work across the room installing a brand-new door. “I know you’re scared, and I know why, but we’re going to protect them.”

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