by Emilia Finn
“Top dog…?” My eyes shoot from his, to Eric’s, then back to Kane’s. “Abel’s not at the top?”
“It would appear he was nothing but a soldier himself.” He shrugs. “He was but a pawn in someone else’s game. We all were.”
“So who’s at the top?”
“Dunno. Still looking. Your turn; what happened to your leg?”
“Infection after surgery. Took a bullet to my gut and leg. Allegedly my leg wasn’t healing up, so they took it.”
“Allegedly?”
I shrug. “I was asleep.”
“Rumor has it you took a bullet, too,” Andi says to Jess. Sitting forward with inappropriate excitement, Andi angles to get closer to the blonde. “I’m glad they didn’t take your arm. Can I see?”
Kane shifts to block Jess. “No.”
Andi scowls. “You’re still rude.” She turns to me. “Is this Nope?”
“Nope.”
Her brows draw together. “Nope?”
“Nope.”
Eric’s brows pinch. “Nope?”
“Jesus. Nope!” I pull Andi back. “Nope was Jay. His brother. Hush.”
She leans back into the couch, pressing her shoulder to mine, and points at Kane. “I prefer your brother. He was nicer.”
He gives a soft scoff, a laugh that carries absolutely zero humor. “Me too, Conner. Trust me, I prefer him, too.” His eyes come back to mine. “Anything I need to know while I was gone?”
“I didn’t hear anything. I quit the force and have been busy healing and telling my girl to get lost.”
His eyes come to Dee. “She didn’t listen.”
I chuckle. “She never does. I’ve learned she never ever does.”
“You quit the force? Why?”
I shrug. “It’s not for me. My boss doesn’t trust me anymore. I lied to him for a year, so it’s understandable. I don’t wanna sit desk duty, and I don’t want my life to be about patrolling Main Street and ticketing jaywalkers. I did the right thing by everyone and quit.”
“What are you gonna do now? How’s your leg?”
I extend my prosthetic and study it. “It’s okay. Dee and I work on it every day. I’m getting stronger, faster. I can jog… really fucking slowly,” I chuckle. “It’s coming along.”
“You’re going to physical therapy and shit?”
“Yeah, few times a week. And Dee and I work at home every other day.”
His eyes come back to Dee, he studies her, as though determining how competent she is. “What kind of recovery they say you’ll have?”
I shrug. “Doc says I should be mostly back to normal eventually. Depends how much I want it. I can work until the new leg is as responsive as my real leg.”
“And how much do you want it?”
It hits me in this moment, Kane Bishop is the first person to ever ask me how far I intend to take my recovery. How hard I intend to work at it to regain my old independence back. He’s the first person to make me see a future where I can still do something important, where I can still uphold the law and help people.
Before now, I would sigh at the prospect of work. Like, maybe I could become a mall rent-a-cop, where I’d slide cards under business doors to assure them I patrolled and their premises is secure. I imagined a desk, and towers of paperwork that I’d wish would topple over and smother me to death.
But now I see something else. Something a little more promising.
Squeezing Andi’s hand in my lap, I shrug. “I’ll take it all the way. I have a family to take care of. I have people depending on me.”
His eyes shoot to Andi’s. “Shit. You got a kid?”
She perks up and flashes a wide smile. “No, but I have a pig.”
Kane’s lips twitch. For the first time since we walked in, for the first time since months before I was hurt, his eyes show something other than rage. “A pig? You have a pet pig?”
“She wears tutus,” I add. “She probably needs a rhinestone collar soon.”
Chuckling, Kane stands and pulls Jess to her feet. Stepping forward, he extends his spare hand and pulls me up. “I’m glad you’re alive, Cruz.” He pulls me in for a hug and slaps my back. “You stood in front of my girl and took her bullets. That makes you a man I’ll forever trust, so when your pig needs a new collar, come to me. I’ll get you work worthy of a man.”
“Thanks, Bish.” We step back. “I’m glad to see you back. And I’m sorry about Jay. Truly. I considered him a really good friend, so I’m sorry he’s gone.”
Mirrors, opposites, Jess steps under Kane’s arm, and Andi under mine. It takes us a moment to see what’s right in front of us, then another for Eric to throw his hands in the air.
“I see how it is. I’m the extra again. Fuck you guys!” He turns on his heels and snags a hat from the pile of shit he threw on the floor when we came in. “You lot can go upstairs and have your orgy. It’s fine, my feelings aren’t hurt or anything. I’m going to the diner to get somethin’ to eat.”
21
Epilogue
Three Months Later
“Good morning, sugar. How you doing today?” The plump Miss Dolly jumps out from behind her desk and tries to railroad me against the wall. “It was such a long, lonely night all by myself.”
I bite my smirk and try to bustle past Checkmate Security’s enthusiastic receptionist as all three-hundred pounds – two-hundred and fifty of which take up residence in her ass – tries to seduce me again.
It’s a daily thing around here, though she’s not loyal to just me; she tries to bed Eric and Spence every day, too. It’s like she increases her efforts the higher up the chain of command she goes; she calls me sugar and tries to hump my leg. More often than not, she humps my prosthetic and giggles in a way that makes my balls retreat, and when she misses my leg, she gets the cane Andi got for my birthday; it’s metallic, with hints of green and tiny flecks of sparkling gold when in direct sunlight.
When I first unwrapped it, I reverted back to the asshole version of me; canes are for old folks, and I didn’t need that shit in my life. But it didn’t take long to learn it was better than the chair or crutches, and better yet, it can be used to whack annoying people with. All in all, I’ll take the cane and be happy with my lot in life.
In her pursuit of Checkmate domination, Dolly catches me in the hall four days out of seven. She touches Eric’s ass most days, and there was the one time she licked Spence’s chest. But she saves her best moves for Kane, because according to her, they were meant for each other, she’s just waiting for him to wake the hell up and drop the hanger-on; Jess.
“I love my girl, Miss Dolly.” I lift my hand and turn my face away when she crowds me against the wall. I wear my newest prosthetic these days; it’s still a temp, because my leg is still changing shape, but Linc has me on the dynamic-response foot now, and it does everything the website promised it would. It’s almost – almost – like a real leg. I can pivot and escape Miss Dolly most days, which, despite my new job, is the most agile I need to be.
She’s the most dangerous part of my job, but she’s funny and sweet, and the day one of us agrees to her crazy and say yes, is the day she drops dead of a heart attack.
She’s playing. And the comedic relief is worth every second of awkward humping.
“Dolly, I’m gonna need you to take your hands off me before Andi finds out. She’s a jealous one, and she’s explosive. You don’t want that mess.”
“Pssht.” She backs away with a roll of her eyes and gives me space. “I’d snap that little girl like a twig. These itty-bitty girls around here don’t scare me.”
“Oh, stop it.” Jess walks out with her twin sister by her side. I can tell Jess and Laine apart by attitude only; Jess is the queen of this castle, and she carries her title as she should, whereas Laine is the quieter, softer sister. She enjoys Dolly’s antics as much as the rest of us, mostly because Dolly leaves Laine’s man alone. “Those phones are ringing, girlfriend, but you’re flirting with the rook again.
Kane might fire your ass if you don’t get your shit together.”
“Excuse me, Miss Fancy, but you better watch your sass.” Dolly drops her hands to her hips and does the head bob every three-hundred-pound woman with attitude has perfected. “You’re just his temporary girl, so watch your back. Imma take your side of the bed soon.”
Jess shrugs. “Suits me. He’s a stubborn mule, anyway. He thinks he can boss me around and live with the consequences.”
“Blondie!” Kane stomps into the front reception of his new company with guns strapped to his body in ways X and Oz might take issue with, and points toward the front door. “Woman, you’ve been given your orders. Why didn’t you follow them yet?”
“Because I’m not a sheep who follows orders; I thought we’d already established that? We all know who’s really in charge around here, and it sure as hell ain’t you. You have no groundbreaking proof to back this up, and therefore, I’m not running away and hiding just because you’ve got a gut feeling.”
“My gut feeling has saved my life a thousand times, woman! Just do as you’re fuckin’ told. This one time!”
I was smiling at the shit-show that is this office. With Dolly on the phones, Kane at the helm, and none of the women listening when they’re told to do shit, it’s not a secret who runs this place. But now Bish is talking gut feelings, and his eyes twinkle with something that isn’t fun.
Out of habit, my hand drops to my hip. I don’t unclip my gun, but I’m ready. I’m waiting. “What’s going on?”
Kane turns to me. “Jess thinks I’m playing, but something is going on. Something doesn’t feel right, and until I figure it out, she’s been ordered behind the gates.”
“I’m not leaving you, dumbass. So try again.”
“Bish?” I wait for his eyes. Jess might brush him off, but I’m listening. “What’s the problem?”
He waves me through the front office, past a six foot plastic statue in the shape of an ice-cream cone – stolen – and away from the noisy Dolly and her unanswered phones. “Remember how your mom’s place had that lockdown recently? They said it was a routine lockdown, so everyone was up on the procedure?”
My eyes narrow as we enter the war room not a lot different to the one at X’s station. This one is bigger, grander, with smart boards instead of white boards and a coffee machine instead of hot water and coffee granules. It’s the difference between private money and state funds.
Turning when Eric follows us in, then Spence – Kane’s seven-foot monster friend who could break any motherfucker like a dry twig – I stand against the back wall on my right leg and take the weight off my left to give it a rest. When it’s an impromptu meeting with everyone, plus their girls, and they’re talking about my sweet momma, I know I need to remain standing, I need to rest when I can get it, then I need to break and run as soon as I get the word. “What about it?”
“Well, I’m starting to wonder if it wasn’t standard procedure after all.” Taking a remote control from the long table, Kane points toward a large TV and flips it on so we catch surveillance of the entire building we stand in, plus Kane’s house, plus the police station.
Alex won’t like that last one.
He drops the remote and pulls up a seat beside where Jess flops down. Her sister sits beside her, then the sister’s boyfriend, Angelo, drops down next. “We have eyes and ears everywhere, Rook, and I’m getting rumblings someone was searching that place for something. They were careful, they were quiet, and if they were searching for something, I don’t think they found it. But I sure as hell don’t like these rumblings. ”
“Why the fuck would someone search an old folk’s home? What are they looking for?”
Leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, he links his fingers together and shrugs. “I’m not sure who, I’m don’t know what, and I don’t know why. This was weeks ago, and I let it go, because it doesn’t make sense. But then this happened.” He picks the remote up again and brings one of the twenty or so squares of surveillance up so it covers the whole screen.
It’s Kane’s kitchen.
He presses buttons and rewinds the footage. I see snippets of Jess and Kane walking through. Coffee. Breakfast. Bringing the mail in. Sorting the mail so a few sit on the end of the counter, and others are tossed in the trash. “Watch this…” He presses play, so I train my eyes on the black and white image of his kitchen counter. I see the pile of mail. I see the coffee mug. I see a hair tie.
A minute passes. Then two.
My eyes go to Kane when nothing happens. “I don’t see it.”
“Watch again.” He rewinds it and slows it down.
A pile of mail. Half a dozen sheets of paper stacked on top of each other in a neat square.
A half empty mug of coffee.
A hair tie.
Then the footage blips. Just for a second, just the tiniest blip.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Watch it again, Rook. If you don’t see it this time, you need to find a new job.”
He rewinds it as every man in this room watches the TV with narrowed eyes. The twins aren’t as concerned. They watch, but they don’t have the same concern in their eyes as the men.
Kane presses play, and because I know I’m supposed to see something, I watch closely. I lean on my new cane and study the way the papers are lined up on the counter. How the neat pile has one or two sheets slightly off center.
The mug remains perfectly still.
The hair tie remains where its supposed to be.
Then the blip.
My eyes go to Kane’s. “The papers moved. They were a little messy. Now they’re perfect.”
“Give the rook a ribbon.” Kane throws the remote down and folds his arms. “Someone was in my home. They’re smart enough to blip the fuck outta my security system, and they knew I’d be watching, so they were careful not to move anything.”
“They fucked up with the paper.”
“They sure did. So who the fuck is smart enough to get past my security? Someone with serious hack skills. Someone with massive fuckin’ balls. And someone who knows how to climb wall after wall and walk away with their lives.”
“Abel’s people?”
Pushing back in his chair, Kane folds his left foot over his right knee and tugs Jess’ hand into his lap. He needs her close. He needs her safe; there’s a reason she’s here today, and not in her own office on Main Street where she should be. “I don’t know who it is. But whoever it is has access to my home as though it’s open for all. That’s why Jess has her marching orders until I figure this shit out.”
“I’m not leaving,” she huffs. “I’m not going anywhere unless you come with me. And since you insist on staying…” She purses her lips and shrugs. She’s not moving a single inch.
“So someone was in Bish’s house,” Spence rumbles. “They can get in and out without being noticed until long after the fact. We can’t know if they were in his apartment, since it’s a piece of shit and not under surveillance.”
“Same as my apartment,” Eric adds. “That whole building is falling down around it’s tenants, and nobody thought to go back and watch, so we don’t know if anyone’s been in.”
“My place is tricked out,” Spence adds. Standing at the head of the table near the TV, he folds twenty-one-inch biceps across a thick chest and scowls. “I have security up the wazoo, but I got the same blip.”
My eyes widen. “You got the blip, too? Fuck me.”
“I didn’t know it till Bish brought this to us. I wasn’t watching mine, I got no alerts, so I had no clue. I went back over it last night, and sure as shit, I see the blip. I can’t see anything of mine stolen or moved, but the blip is there.”
“But Lakeview feels kinda random.”
Kane shrugs. “Could be, but I’m tossing it all in the same basket until we get this shit figured out. None of us are safe in our beds until it’s sorted, so…”
“So we sort it out.” My heart slams aroun
d inside my chest and brings my thoughts swinging around to Dee. She’s at the gym this morning, and not due home for a while, so I shouldn’t worry, but… “Do I need to worry about my place? I don’t even have security. I don’t know if it’s necessary.”
“It’s necessary.” Kane points along the table. “Eric’ll be by this afternoon to have the whole place covered. Don’t worry; nobody will be watching to catch your girl in her panties. But I feel like this shit is important. Something’s going on, and I don’t like it.” He flips the TV back to the twenty screens, turns to toss the remote down, only to stop at the sight of Dee coming through the back garage.
“The fuck?” I push off the wall and step closer to the screen. This isn’t the first time she’s come here during work hours. It’s not even the first time she’s come through the garage. But Kane’s officially got my blood running hot, and my heart yearns to pull her close.
Just in case.
I push away from the table and head toward the door with my cane touching the floor every fourth step. “I don’t like this, Bish. I don’t fuckin’ like any of it.” I slam out the door and back into the office that bears a massive Checkmate insignia on the wall. Dee spent a solid month sketching that up and painting it. Turns out my girl can draw, and gets off on painting whole walls while Nacho honks around offices she shouldn’t be in and delights client and staff with her tutu’d ass.
Kane and Angelo are first through the door, on my heels like they know this is important, but Spence and Eric are just a second behind them. I walk through one office, then the next, and the next. This complex is long, so offices line one side, and a hall and amenities line the other. Walls separate each space, but apart from Kane’s, the walls don’t touch the ceiling. They’re just separators, for visual privacy, but we hear conversations from one to the next.
Like Dolly is completely incompetent – or enthralled by our actions – the phones ring incessantly while she moves to the war room doorway and blocks the twins from following us out.