Page 99 of Sacrifice the Knight (Checkmate 6)

I slide my fingertips along the stupid hat that Eric always wore and wonder, with a hitch to my breath, why now, when the weather is appropriate, he’s not wearing it. Stupid man can’t get his seasons straight. He’ll sweat in the summer and freeze in the winter, and I really shouldn’t care, but I can’t seem to find it in my heart to stop.

I move through the small kitchen and stop at the entrance to the living room. Blindly groping the wall, I locate the light switch, but I take a moment before switching it on to prepare myself. It’s like I already know what I’m going to find. I know what he’s been hiding all of this time. And I know whatever strength my heart had regained the last two months of silence will now be irreparably broken.

Holding my breath and squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I flip the switch and open my eyes to smiles. So many photographed smiles. I walk into the living room and see stars. Not the good kind, but the kind that predict I’m about to fall on my ass. I move to the TV stand and pick up a family photo. Eric. A woman. And a child who is the perfect half-and-half blend of the adults who hold her.

“Oh God.” I walk backwards until my legs hit the couch, then I drop. “Oh my God. He has a whole family.” I sit forward with the silver-framed image in one hand, but I rest my elbows on my knees and press my fingers into my eyes. I need a minute. I need to breathe.

I need a whole new fucking life.

“I’m so sorry I never told you.”

I drop my hands and meet his eyes as he stands in the doorway. I didn’t hear him on the stairs. I didn’t hear the door open. But it doesn’t matter, because my heart still leaps for him, even while I hold a framed portrait of his perfect white picket fence family.

“What the fuck, Eric?”

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