Sacrifice The Knight: Checkmate, #6

by Finn, Emilia

  “I do have to do this! She’s not mine!” 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 deserve her, 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 of your girl. 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 were with you, 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.”

  “I can’t do it.” I don’t take my eyes off the screen. I can’t break. “I refuse to make her a target.”

  “You’re hurting her by staying away. You’re breaking her heart, and you’re breaking yours, too.”

  When I say nothing more, he shakes his head and expels a deep breath. “Whatever. The code is N-K-8-7-L-B-K-4-E. Login on your phone.” He waits for me to do exactly that. “You can watch around the clock.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Yeah.” He climbs off the stool and moves toward the other guys at the door, leaving the laptop open and on the counter. I sit down, and crush my palms into my eyes until I see dots and my jaw cracks from a deep yawn. I’ve hardly slept in five weeks, so when I snatched up a report today that contains Katrina’s name and the word assault, I was almost done. I’m so fucking exhausted, but I don’t get a choice; we keep moving forward, or we die.

  I move my hands away from my eyes and watch the apartment through the laptop monitor. I see most of Katrina’s living room: her couch, the broken coffee table that Jay begins picking up, and the broken door now sitting against the wall while Spence and Kane work on a heavy-duty replacement. Just as the last screw goes in and the lock is tested, my heart races out of control when a hesitant knock at the door brings all of our gazes up.

  Like bloodhounds on the hunt, all four of us lift our heads; we speak without words, and then we pretend to go about our business as Spence pastes on a smile and swings the door wide for Katrina and Mac. “Welcome home! Kiddddd.” Spence extends a hand for a knuckle tap, and only after a wary Mac obliges does he step back to allow them in. “We wanted to get you set up so you’re feeling a little safer.”

  “Zeke isn’t dangerous.” Katrina doesn’t see me here. For another second, I remain invisible. “Uh… I’m not sure why you guys are here. I mean, I see the door, but…” I watch her through the monitor as she looks around the room with wide eyes. She looks injury-free. Not a single mark or hair out of place from her ex. If there were, not even Turner’s cages could keep him safe. “Guys, Zeke’s an idiot with a bad temper, but he’s not dangerous.”

  Spence’s smile remains in place as Jay and Kane finish up and pack their shit away. “Even still, this isn’t the best area of town, so now you have a new door and a panic button. Just in case.” He leads Katrina across the living room and tries to block her view of me. But it’s impossible. I don’t move; I don’t do a single thing to draw their attention, but I still catch in the monitor the very second she notices me. Her face pales, and her knuckles turn white where she clutches the straps of her handbag. She’s blind to the busted table in the middle of the floor or the way Mac’s face burns with anger. She stares at my back, but I pretend I see nothing. I make no reaction when what I truly want to do is take her to bed and sleep for a long fucking time.

  I silently pray she’ll turn away, that she’ll pretend I mean nothi
ng the way I pretend that about her, but she’s stubborn, and despite Spence’s efforts to jockey her to the couch, she doesn’t move an inch until I swivel the stool around and meet her eyes.

  She’s so fucking beautiful, it hurts. So scared, she makes my heart ache. And so angry, I almost fear for my life.

  I say nothing. I wear my passive face as though I’m just a dude installing a system in a stranger’s home. I give her nothing more than I gave Jo when I handed her keys back and bid her good luck.

  Mac’s eyes flicker between me and his mom, but still, I’m impenetrable. Unbreakable. I will not fail them.

  “Come on.” Spence takes Katrina’s arm and leads her to the couch. When minutes pass and the tension in the apartment is thicker than butter, when the very last thing we ever said to each other was of love but is now stony silence, Katrina nods once and drops her bag on the couch with a huff. She’s as exhausted as I am, so she sits now with a grunt and says nothing when Spence moves across the room, snags my laptop, then drops down beside her so their thighs touch.

  He chuckles when the couch dips and she falls against him, then he opens the laptop on his legs and waits. He’s trying to be gentle for her, and that’s special in its own way. My seven-foot ranger brother is never gentle for anyone, especially not women. “Okay, you ready for an education, Miss Blair?”

  Her eyes remain on mine. So much fucking anger. So much hurt. When Spence clears his throat, she breaks the stare and turns to him. She’s done with me. “Yeah. What’ve you got?”

  “Okay. We got you set up on a security system that’ll show you outside the door, outside the building, and inside if you’re away from home and want to check in.”

  “Oh great.” Mac gives a fake laugh, but when I look up, I find murder in his eyes pointing right at me. “Just what she always wanted: security feed that’ll watch me while she works.”

  “Ever wanted a smart watch before?” Spence leans to the side with a smile and pulls out a small box from the cargo pocket on his leg. The image on the box looks an awful lot like an Apple watch, but the mechanics inside are worlds apart. “It syncs with your cell just like every other smart watch on the market. It’ll even notify you of your texts and shit. But on the side here…” He pulls the white-strapped watch from the box and turns the device to the side. “This is a button that’ll alert us if you need help.”

  “It’s a panic button?” Her cheeks pale. “You wanna give me a panic button?”

  “We don’t call them panic buttons,” he lies. “More like an instant text. Something wrong? You hit the button, and we’ll come investigate.”

  “So… it’s a panic button.”

  “It’s not for if you stub your toe.” He rolls right over her. “If you lock yourself out of your car, that’s a problem for Ang. If you’re feeling lonely, text your man.” He swallows audibly when her fiery eyes come back to mine. “Uh… but if you feel unsafe, hit that button, and we’ll come.”

  “What if I accidentally press it?” She releases me and holds her arm up so he can secure it around her narrow wrist. “What if it’s a false alarm?”

  “Hit the button again. Then send me an actual text letting me know it’s okay.”

  “What if it’s not a false alarm,” Mac asks, “but our bad guy knows the system, so he hits the button again to disable the alarm? Your system has flaws.”

  “If it’s truly not a false alarm, you hit that button and text me. We need a safe word of sorts.” He sets my blood on fire when he flashes a filthy grin. “Give me a word that makes you happy.”

  Again, her eyes flash to me for the barest second, then back to him. “Macallistar makes me happy.”

  Spence scoffs. “That’s a long word, babe. Give me something shorter.”

  “Um…” Her cheeks warm. “Okay. My mom’s name was Leah.”

  “Alright. Leah it is. If you accidentally bump the button, hit it again, then send me a text. You can tell me all the nice things, Hey Spence, that was my bad. I think you’re sexy. Maybe we could hook up sometime. I love your massive…” he pauses and grins, “biceps. But to truly shut it down, you gotta include Leah in there somewhere.”

  Mac’s frown mars his brow almost as deeply as Spence’s scars. “And if it’s a real alarm, but Zeke makes her hit the button to cancel it or whatever?”

  “Jericho.” Jay stops in front of the trio on the couch. “If you ever use that word, no matter the context, no matter the situation, no matter who the fuck is around, if you say Jericho, then we’re coming in hot.”

  “If Jess ever says it, don’t panic.” Kane stops beside his brother with a grin and says nothing when Katrina’s gaze comes up and focuses on Kane’s fat lip or Jay’s swollen jaw. Her eyes flicker to me, to my hands resting in my lap, then back to the guys. But she says nothing. We’re all going to ignore the elephant in the room. “It doesn’t mean what you think it means when Jess says it.”

  “Motherfucker, you turned it into a sex word, didn’t you?”

  “Guys?” Katrina tilts her head toward her son and lifts a telling brow. “It’s getting late. I appreciate what you’ve done for us, but are you finished?”

  “Yup!” Spence closes the lid on his laptop and jumps up. “We’re done. Your home is secure; your watch is charged; your life is now on my phone. I promise we won’t watch just for shits and giggles. There’s a motion sensor for the camera on your front door, so I’ll get a message for that. I’ll know how often you order takeout. But I won’t be watching inside just for fun. You have my word.”

  “Okay.” Climbing to her feet and pouring thick tension back through the room, Katrina pulls her son against her side, but extends a hand toward the guys. “I don’t want you guys to think I’m ungrateful, because I’m not, but I’ll probably spend the rest of my life paying this shit off, so fuck you very much. Please don’t spend my money again without my permission.”

  “It’s taken care of.” Jay moves around the room and collects the last of their shit. “Soph’s charity is all about helping single women and whatnot. You’re practically a tax write off for her.” He shoots a fast glare in my direction. “It’s all taken care of, so you won’t receive a bill. Promise.”

  “Um…”

  “Don’t sweat it.” Kane takes her arm but gives me the nod we’ve given a million times in the past. It says move it, and move fast, so I slide off the stool and pass behind Kane while he busily points things out to Katrina. I pass within inches of her and Mac, and I swear, I hear Mac’s threats in the air, but I slide through the crowd and stop in the hall before my heart leaps from my chest and I drop to my knees to beg for her forgiveness.

  Hatred is better than her death. I have to say it over and over again. Being apart is better than burying her.

  I stand at the end of the hall and listen in as the guys lead her to the door. “This looks like distressed mahogany,” Kane murmurs. “It looks pretty standard, but beneath that is thick steel. Inside the door is a heavy bar that slides into place the second it closes. Literally, if you lock yourself out, you’re fucked.”

  “Not really,” Jay chuckles. “This door doesn’t take keys. It’s fingerprint scanned and keyword operated. It’s gonna be a pain in your ass, because you need two hands every time. You gotta have your thumb on the sensor, and key your password in at the same time. We’ll set you and the kid up separately. Two fingerprints, two keywords. If anyone tries to get in and doesn’t have the matching print or keyword, their photo is taken and instantly sent to us and the cops. It might be kids screwing around, in which case, we leave it alone. But if it’s someone we don’t think should be here, we’ll take care of it.”

  “By take care of it, you mean…”

  “We’ll probably plant their nuts in the forest,” Spence jokes. “We’ll take care of it, whatever the situation is. Zeke will be kept longer this time, since he only just got out. I assume there’ll be an order for him to keep his distance from you guys. If it’s him at your door, I’ll come down person
ally and rip out his voice box. If it’s someone else, we’ll act accordingly once we figure out the situation.”

  “You’re safe, Katrina.” Kane’s tone changes. If I didn’t know better, I might be suspicious he’s talking to me. “We’ve got eyes on you, so you don’t have to worry about anything else. You won’t be hurt on our watch.”

  “Okay.” Their voices come a little louder as though moving into the hall. “Thanks for everything.”

  “No problemo.” I glance around the corner and watch Spence accept Katrina’s outstretched hand. They shake, then he turns away and walks in my direction as Jay and Kane do the same.

  “Eric.” Katrina’s voice is cutting. So fucking cutting. “Wait a moment, please.”

  My brothers pass me by with solemn expressions and drooping shoulders. Kane claps my back as he passes, and Katrina talks to her son for a moment at the door while I make myself visible again and step into the open hall. With hushed voices, it sounds as though mother and son argue, but it takes only a moment for her to push him through the new door and pull it shut.

  For the first time in weeks, we stand together, alone, and my heart still feels what it feels.

  “What the fuck, Eric?” She steps forward, literally rolling her sleeves up as though ready to throw down. “Like seriously, what the actual hell is going on right now?” She lifts a hand between us. “I love you, you love me, you’re beautiful, our stars aligned.” She mocks me with a deep voice. “Let’s dance, let’s make love, everything is so fucking perfect. Are you seriously that hard up for a woman that you’d spout that shit off to get laid? Really? When there are dozens of thirsty chicks in this town, women who would love to take a Checkmate man for a spin, women who you wouldn’t have to chase and convince you’re a good person. Out of all of them, you still chose me to fuck over?”