Checkmate

by Lindsey Powell

  Joey is in my head, consuming every single part of me. I need to get him the fuck out before I crumble.

  I can’t crumble.

  I didn’t come here to lose the fight.

  Donovan frowns at me, but I just pull my shoulders back and fix him with my stare.

  “I’m not trying to fool anyone, Donovan, and I don’t need to explain myself to anyone either. I’m running the fucking show, and I don’t appreciate you questioning me.”

  “I’m not questioning you, Paige, I’m concerned for you,” he says, and I wonder why Donovan has come over all fucking soppy. He doesn’t do concern anymore. Last time he showed real concern was the day he picked me up off the street, but since then, he’s been hard, unforgiving, and showed me to look out for no one but yourself. It’s why we always got along so well, and why he is my right hand man. Because we take no shit, and we certainly don’t mollycoddle each other with soppy-ass questions that verge on having to discuss feelings.

  I take a step towards him, my eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “We don’t show concern, Donovan. Isn’t that the first rule you ever taught me? Show them nothing and then they have nothing to play with?”

  He nods.

  “Isn’t the second rule to never ever feel like you have to give them an explanation?”

  Another nod.

  “And isn’t the third rule to put a bullet in the head of the person that asks those questions and won’t let them fucking go?”

  His gulp is noticeable, but I know that he isn’t scared. He doesn’t do scared. I have no idea what the gulp is for, and I don’t fucking care.

  “Now, if you’re done asking me ridiculous questions, do you want to join me in scaring the shit out of these brothers?” I say as I feel a smirk tug at my lips.

  “Would love nothing more,” Donovan replies. He’s always up for a bit of retribution, and the Morgan brothers are about to get it in spades.

  “Good. Let’s go and have some fun,” I say as I lead the way to the basement where the jackasses are tied up, waiting to see what fate has in store for them.

  I’m going to enjoy taking my frustrations out of them.

  Just two more assholes off of the streets.

  It won’t stop the rest of them out there, but it will give me peace of mind that these two are never getting out of here alive.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Joey

  For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m going out of my damn mind.

  All I can think about is her. I can smell her scent around me, on me. I can hear her voice and see her when I close my eyes.

  Paige fucking Daniels. Yes, I said Daniels, because that is who she is, and that is who she will always be. She’s just hiding beneath a cover. I need to find a way to coax her out, get her back, make her mine.

  As I drive my car to the tip off that I have been given about Bobby fucking Morgan, I have to stop myself from thinking about my head between her legs, my tongue on her clit, and my dick in her pussy. I thought I had her back. I thought that I had climbed those damn walls and knocked the fuckers down, but of course that would be too easy. Paige is nothing if not a force to be reckoned with, and I’m going to do all of the reckoning that I can.

  I’ve given her a couple of days, and I’ll give her as many more as she needs until she realises that the only place to be is with me. And I know that she is going to fight me every step of the way, but I’ll fight back harder. I gave her up once. Never again.

  I pull up by the side of the canal path, turning the car off and waiting for Big Danny, Simon and Pascal to catch up with me. I drove alone, and Big Danny is driving the other car, bringing up the rear. I didn’t want company. I wanted time to myself. Lord knows I can’t get a fucking minutes peace anywhere else right now. Bobby being missing is putting doubt on what the fuck I can do. He’s side-stepped me for too long.

  I am aware that the Morgan brothers are Paige’s battle, but when she asked me to help, she brought me the fuck in. I can’t have people questioning whether I am incapable of serving up the damn goods.

  My goal to get out of this motherfucking world of crime and punishment is getting further away from me, but the pull of Paige doesn’t make that seem so bad anymore. My reason for leaving has changed. It was to leave it all behind, make a fresh start, maybe find Paige and settle down. But she’s in this world now, and there is no way in hell that she will run these streets without me by her side.

  I should have trusted her with my secrets all those years ago. I should have put faith in us, but I didn’t. And now I have to make up for that, even if it takes me a fucking lifetime.

  I see Big Danny pull the car up behind mine, and I get out, sliding on my shades and buttoning up my suit jacket. I came dressed to kill, literally. I have no interest in letting Bobby live. If Paige wants to get revenge on me for taking the kill from her, then so be it. Like I said before, I will fight for her, and I will fight against her in order to keep her in my goddamn life. Makes me sound fucking crazy, but whatever.

  “You ready?” I say as Pascal walks up to me.

  “Yes, boss.” He nods, and the other two mimic him.

  “Good. We are ten minutes away from his supposed hiding hole. Keep your eyes open, ears pricked, and don’t let the bastard get away,” I tell them. I’m determined to nail this asshole to the wall.

  I turn and start to walk, the crunch of my feet on the gravel pissing me off. It’s too noisy already, but I’ll move onto the grass verge when I get closer to the tip off.

  We walk for five minutes, and then I see the lonely canal boat up ahead. That is my mark. I swiftly move onto the grass and the others follow suit. They’ve already been prepped, I have no need to remind them of the protocol.

  I close in, keeping as quiet as I can. I jump across the canal path to land on the other side avoiding the gravel. There is no one else around, and as I come to the back of the canal boat, I crouch down. I move along, looking in one of the small windows that is edged in moss. The chipped paintwork and the rundown look of the boat makes me think that we have the right place. Bobby was always a dirty fucker, in life and in hygiene.

  I’m almost on my knees as I round the front of the boat, Pascal behind me, Big Danny waiting at the rear with Simon. My hand is placed on my gun as I hear footsteps on the other side of the boat. I crouch lower, I wait, I keep my eyes trained on the other side of the boat so that when the fucker reveals himself, he will have the shock of his life.

  Another footstep and I draw my gun.

  Another, and I click the safety off.

  One more and I get the shock of my fucking life.

  “Looks like you’re late to the party, boys.” The smirk on her face, the way her eyes sparkle, her long legs in those leather fucking trousers, and her hair tumbling down, framing her face. Paige fucking Daniels beat us to our mark, and I sure as shit am not going to complain.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Paige

  The look of shock on all of their faces is priceless.

  “What took you guys so long?” I goad, knowing that me finding Bobby’s hiding place first will be pissing them off. Good. It was my fucking mark anyway.

  “Nice play,” Joey says as he stands to his full height, towering tall, looking every inch the man I want to fuck but can’t. His words nearly knock me off my game. Nice play?

  “It’s amazing how quickly you can find someone when you get the right people to talk,” I say, raising one eyebrow, hitting home that he couldn’t get the Morgan brothers to squeal on Bobby.

  Joey raises his eyebrow in return and I can’t help my smile.

  “You can go, boys,” Joey instructs his minions without turning to look at them. His eyes are solely focussed on me. The boys do as they are told and scurry away, no questions asked. I would expect nothing less from them at this point. Word on the street is that Joey is one of the best underworld bosses to work for. Once you’ve cracked your way into his crew, you’re set for life, assuming y
ou don’t die in the process of course.

  Joey waits until their footsteps fade away.

  Neither of us say a word.

  We drink each other in, and I can’t help but have a flashback of us, in his office, fucking on the sofa, his hands roaming over my body…

  I mentally shrug the images off. I don’t need to be distracted by the thought of his toned abs and his rock hard dick. I’m here to finish business, and then I’ll never have to deal with Joey fucking Valentine again. It will be my personal mission to stay the hell away from him.

  I no longer have an interest in taking him down. It will come with time. I’m already on a fucking par with him anyway.

  It has been my mission to dethrone him for so long, but I can’t allow myself to do it. I can’t allow myself to be tangled up with Joey. My heart will be the one to get broken, and I won’t let anyone break it again. Once was enough.

  “So, how did you find out about Bobby’s hideout?” Joey asks, breaking the silence.

  “Now, now, Joey, you know that we don’t kiss and tell.”

  His eyes light up at the word kiss. Fuck. He’s looking at me like he wants to devour me, right here, right now. My sex begins to tingle. No, Paige, back it the fuck up.

  “If I tell you my secrets, then you’ll know how to hit me hard, and I can’t allow you to do that,” I say, needing to get the hell off this boat and the fuck away from Joey before I cave to my womanly urges and straddle him, right here, not giving a fuck who sees us.

  “Who says I want to hit you hard, Paige?” he questions, his eyes burning into mine.

  “Wasn’t that always the goal?”

  “I’m done playing games. I thought I made that clear the other day, in my office.” His voice is low, and it does things to me. Things that it shouldn’t.

  “I’m not doing this with you, Joey,” I say as I step forward and aim to walk past him, but he wraps his fingers around my arm. My eyes connect with his ice blues, and damn if I don’t turn back into Paige Daniels for just a second.

  “And I’m not fucking around, Paige,” Joey grits out, our lips so close that all I would have to do is push forward and our passion would be ignited all over again. “You seem to think that I have an agenda here, and I have no idea how to convince you that I don’t.”

  “Oh, please, Joey Valentine always has an agenda,” I say as I bite my bottom lip, my toes curling from the heat between us.

  “Not with you,” he says, and time just stops. It’s just us. Joey and Paige. Ex-lovers trying to figure out their shit.

  I don’t want to be her.

  I don’t want to be the Daniels chick that let a man be her downfall.

  I don’t want to show weakness.

  I’ve built myself up to be a cold hearted bitch who won’t stand for anything other than obedience.

  I’ve built those walls, and fucking Joey is knocking them down, again.

  I let him slither through the cracks the other night. Can I really let him slither in some more?

  My heart wants to. My heart is the one place that has never really let him go.

  My head tells me to remain strong.

  But what do you do when those two things are at war with one another?

  Do you give in?

  Do you fight back?

  Do you allow yourself another chance of happiness?

  Do you open yourself up to potential heartbreak? Or do you let it all go and move the fuck on with your life?

  I move my head, placing my lips beside Joey’s ear as I whisper, “Prove it,” before I shrug my arm free from his grip and walk away.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Paige

  “We need to act fast,” I say to Donovan, Rome, Bray and Tony. “We are two men down, so we need to work harder.”

  Miles is still recovering from the stabbing, and Trevor is still holed up with Grace in my house. I can’t risk them going anywhere until Bobby is found.

  I lied when I told Joey that he was late to the party. It turns out that I was too. Bobby had done a bunk, been tipped off, knew we were coming for him, and I need to find out how he knew.

  The other Morgan brothers are barely hanging onto their lives. I’ve done everything that I can think of to get them to talk, and now I’m resorting to my last bartering tool. The one thing that will show whether they are loyal or whether they are the fucking lowest of the low that we all believe them to be.

  “Bray, you, Rome and Tony will go and get Meghan Morgan.”

  “Do we know where she is?” Bray asks, ready to get the fuck on with the job. I can always count on him to be the one to get stuck in first.

  “She’s working at Morgan’s.” I roll my eyes at the originality of the name. Morgan’s is a restaurant owned by the three brothers. My sources tell me that Meghan has no ownership stake in the place, she just works there as the front of house, if that is what you can call her job title. It’s hardly the fucking Ritz. More like the pits.

  Meghan has been working there ever since she left school aged sixteen. She’s now twenty-nine. No home of her own, no husband or boyfriend, and no real friends to speak of. She’s like the Morgan brothers lacky, and she was also the one driving the getaway car when Miles was stabbed. I had to re-watch the security tapes about a thousand times to come to that conclusion. She tried to hide her identity, but she should have done a better job. It might have taken me a while to figure it out, but I always do eventually, and my confrontation with this bitch is overdue. I haven’t informed my boys of this piece of information yet, so it will be a nice surprise for them when I cut her at the throat.

  Even though the brothers make out that they would do anything to protect Meghan, my guess is that they don’t want anything to interfere with the setup they’ve got going on.

  I’m about to fuck that shit up.

  They don’t deserve to have a nice little setup. Not after everything they have done.

  “She there now?” Bray asks, looking at the watch in his wrist.

  “She is, and she will be there until eleven thirty tonight, but we’re obviously going to have her back here before then.” It’s not a request. It is a must-do. They can’t let her get away from them. She will have been trained to stay alert for any signs of danger, and my guys need to get in there quick, smooth and bring her back here for me to end this goddamn game of hide and seek.

  “Sure thing, boss,” Bray says before beckoning the other two to follow him out of the room.

  That just leaves me and Donovan. He watches me, and I arch an eyebrow.

  “You’re really bringing her into this?” he asks.

  “Why wouldn’t I bring her into this?” I reply.

  “Because she isn’t the issue here.”

  “She’s a Morgan, and she might just be the fucking answer to the question we’ve been asking.”

  He looks pissed off with my answer, but I couldn’t care less. The Morgan brothers have taken up too much of my time as it is. I don’t want to waste much more on them.

  “Is this about getting one up on Joey?” Donovan asks, and there it is. The question that he really wants the answer to, and it all goes back to Joey Valentine. He’s been prodding for days, wanting to know the real ins and outs. He knows me, so he knows there is more than what I have told him, but it is absolutely none of his fucking business.

  “Finding out where Bobby is has nothing to do with Joey,” I say, stressing each word. “If you remember, I originally went to Joey for help, so no, Valentine has fuck all to do with this.”

  “You haven’t been the same since you started speaking to him,” Donovan informs me, as if I fucking asked him to share his opinion.

  “And what exactly have I been doing differently?” I’m genuinely intrigued to know so that I can fucking change it.

  “You’re going soft, Paige.”

  I laugh at him. His response is ridiculous. “I am not going soft.”

  “If you’re not going soft, then why aren’t you forging ahead wit
h your plan of going after him?” Donovan asks. I told him, and only him, that I was dropping my vendetta against Joey, something I thought he would be pleased about, but apparently not.

  “I told you, I’m done playing Valentine’s games. They’re pointless, a waste of my time, and I have no intention of engaging with him.”

  “Bullshit. You love playing games, Paige. I’ve watched you run rings around men like Joey before, and you have never pulled the plug on a fucking target.” Donovan is right. I haven’t pulled the plug on anyone but Joey, and it’s doing nothing but opening up a can of worms that I could do without.

  “I no longer have an interest in taking what he has,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

  “Still not buying it.”

  “Well it’s all you’re getting,” I retort.

  “That’s not how we do things, Paige. It’s always been me and you against the rest. Why the fuck are you shutting me out now?” Donovan says, his voice raising ever so slightly.

  “Since when did you become such a fucking drama queen, Donovan?” I goad.

  “Don’t answer a question with a question, just be honest with me,” Donovan says, and I can see the worry in his eyes that I am keeping secrets, but they are mine to keep, and keep them I will.

  “I don’t know how many times I can tell you this before you start to believe me, but there is nothing to know about Joey Valentine,” I say between clenched teeth. Donovan is pissing me off, and so is Joey and he isn’t even here.

  “You keep playing that record, Paige, and one day I might not be here to listen to the truth,” Donovan says, his jaw ticking, his arms folded across his chest.

  I step closer to him, my eyes narrowing.

  “You threatening to abandon me?” I ask.

  “Total trust. We’ve always had it. It’s why we have come so far in such a short amount of time. If we don’t have that, there is no point in me and you anymore.”