by Finn, Emilia
“Jay?”
“Bishops are like cockroaches. You can have us shot in the fuckin’ head, but we jump back up and keep moving.”
Just on time, Alex and Oz’s police cruisers light up the air with their sirens. Dirt clouds above their cars, and rocks spit out as they speed down the single mile they were parked away.
“I don’t…” Colum spins and squeaks when he finds Kane barely three feet away with un-bound hands and a Glock pointing at his face. “No! This isn’t what was–”
“We never liked you, but we respected your position of power,” Kane rumbles. “Only a truly committed patriot could work his way so high and keep that position for so long. So we understood that where you lacked as a father, you made up as a leader. You created soldiers out of us, and though you did it harshly, you still gave us the skills we enjoy today.”
“But then word hits that you buy and sell girls,” Jay seethes. He doesn’t turn when police cruisers skid to a stop and the cops jump out in full tactical gear and their guns drawn. “Word starts spreading that the girl who would have been my sister-in-law was murdered before she was old enough to kiss boys.” Bringing his rifle up and positioning the scope in front of his eye, Jay grins and sends his father into a spiral. “Any last words?”
“Drop your gun, Colum Bishop.” Alex Turner moves forward at a sprint and places himself between Jay and Colum. “Drop the gun and lift your hands.”
“No.” Colum spins to Kane, to Alex, then to me. “No! This wasn’t part of the deal!”
“Prison ain’t so bad.” Memories of Ellie flash through my mind: her dancing, her leap, her infectious laugh, and the way she’d throw her head back and create a double chin when she wanted to be silly. She had plans to become a famous dancer, but not more famous than me, because just like Jay will happily spend his life being Kane’s second, Ellie had that same hero worship for me.
Summers at the beach and her floating hair pass over my mind, and that summer when she was fourteen and she finally started showing interest in boys. She was always so smart and sensible, so nobody gave her the talk or told her to be careful. Her summer fling was a sweet boy who held her hand and showed her what her future could be.
“We had a deal!” Colum screeches when Alex tries to come closer. He swings his gun around in warning and thrusts the USB forward. “We had a deal!”
“And my sister had a scholarship. Sometimes deals just don’t pan out.”
A feral rage overtakes Colum and sends him forward on a roar. Gun poised and his finger moving toward the trigger, I close my eyes and wait for the blow, because I always knew this was coming.
Before I met Jay, I hoped this would be the outcome.
One shot, then two.
The breath bursts from my lungs when I slam against the hardpacked dirt, but it’s not a bullet that takes me down. There’s no heat radiating through my body, no spilled blood. Jay lies on top of me, shielding my body, and tries to shield my gaze as I turn to my left and find myself staring into Colum’s Bishop’s dead eyes.
A trickle of blood slides from his forehead and drips onto the dirt, and another spreads from his shoulder and stains his shirt, gushing forward and pooling just beside my hand.
Voices scream in my ear; Eric shouts that their target is down. Spence shouts that Jay is down. Alex and Oz scream for everyone to stop shooting. And all the while, Jay drags my face back to his and cups my cheek. “Don’t look over there, Sugar Plum.”
“Are you okay?” Scrambling out from beneath his heavy body, I race to my feet and drag him up. “Jesus, are you okay?” I grope at the stupid suit and try to find the blood. “Did he hit you, Jay?”
“Only two shots,” Kane says in a low voice. “Both are in Colum’s body. He didn’t even get a shot off.”
“Fuck!” Alex rages at Kane. “Fuck! You weren’t supposed to do that, Bishop!” Alex storms across the space and contaminates his scene. “You weren’t supposed to shoot! You’re supposed to stay clean for Jess.”
“I didn’t make the kill shot, Chief.” Kane lets his Glock dangle by the tip of his finger. “I was only disarming him. You made the kill shot.”
Epilogue
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From: KingOnD8
Subject: Dear Sophia
Today’s the big day, huh?
I’m just writing to tell you that I love you, that I’m proud of you, that I enjoy when you let me touch your butthole, and that you still suck a D like a high-priced hooker.
Okay, not the last two things. They’re true, of course, but mostly I was writing to tell you I’m proud of you.
I’m in my seat in the front row, I have my flugelhorn ready, and I’m gonna holler and throw dollar bills till I can buy an hour of your time.
Also: can I have more money? I ran out.
Don’t break a leg. Don’t break anyone else’s either. We all know you can get a little feisty when you’re hungry. Eat up!
I love you. Probably gonna marry you soon.
See you when you come out in your tutu!
Don’t be leotardy!
Love you always and back again,
John D. Hamilton
Hitting send, I sit back beside my brother and shove my cell into my pocket. My girl will be front and center in a matter of minutes; she’ll probably be wearing a tutu, and then I’m probably going to fuck her stage left, because I won’t be able to stop myself.
“She nervous?”
Kane sits to my left, and Jess sits beside him. Jess’ sister sits beside her, and the rebound bro who I’ve decided since that day in the Checkmate basement is kinda cool sits beside her. Eric is on my right, and Spence sits a little further along the row with a police-issue megaphone in his lap and a wicked grin on his face while he waits for my girl to show her ass.
I know he didn’t pay for that megaphone. And I know Alex Turner is missing a megaphone from his storage cabinet.
I’m just saying, it could be a coincidence…
“Jay?” Kane smacks my leg and brings my gaze back around. “She doing okay?”
“You feeling a little protective of my prima ballerina? You think you get to push me aside and keep all the pretty ladies?”
“No. Shut up.” He leans back and pulls Jess closer. “I just know she was kinda panicking about this. I don’t want her to panic.”
“She’s gonna be okay.” Lifting my ankle onto my knee and settling in for a couple hours of perfection, I smile when the lights begin to dim.
We sit in the auditorium of the newly outfitted and totally funded by Colum Bishop Ellie Solomon Dance Studio. Soph doesn’t want to go back to the city – any of them – and she doesn’t want to leave this new family we’ve created here, so settling in and funneling a little cash that doesn’t belong to her, she’s created a non-profit dance studio that has essentially become a safe haven for girls who feel like they might be in a dangerous situation.
All anyone has to do to become family is knock on the doors. Just knock, and you’ll be welcomed into a supportive family, given a meal, a bed, blankets, and a ride to the local police station if that’s what you need.
Ellie Solomon lives on through the studio dedicated to her, and now Sophia dances again, because she finally feels like she deserves it.
Things are settling in this little town now that clubs like Infernos and all the types of men associated are being eliminated. We’ve rid the world of monsters, but I don’t regret the blood on my hands. Dozens of them are gone, and thousands of girls won’t be torn from their families and brutalized at the hands of greed and power.
All because a seventeen-year-old girl was determined to avenge her sister’s death.
When the lights are dim and a spotlight shines on the stage, Dolly – Kane’s robust receptionist with big hair and a bigger ass – steps out in leopard print and a wolfish grin. “Good evening, folks, and welcome to the Ellie Solomon Dance Academy for the very best dancers in the whole wide world. Th
ank you for buying a ticket to tonight’s performance, because every dollar raised goes to help someone a little more in need than the rest of us.
“Those of us here at the Ellie Solomon Academy work hard to provide a safe space, a warm hug, and a little slice of peace while we serve pie and milkshakes, and hit pause on the rest of the world while…”
“I can’t believe your girl stole Dolly.” Kane leans in close and whispers, “She was mine first.”
“Suck a dick, bruh. She’s mine now. Besides, she’s part-time. We have her on time-share.”
“She doesn’t work even when she’s in the office,” Jess hisses. “She files her nails and yells at anyone who calls and interrupts her.”
Kane sits back and rolls his eyes. “You’re just jealous, Blondie, because Dolly wants your side of the bed. This is what happens when you fall in love with the sexiest guy on the planet. Bitches are gonna get crazy.”
“Can you all shut up?” Laine growls. “Dolly is speaking, and I’m trying to listen.”
“Someone found their sass,” Spence grumbles. “What happened to the quiet chick who minded her own business?”
“She bought a revolver and learned how to shoot,” she hisses. “Wanna test me?”
“Excuse me?” Dolly shields her eyes from the spotlight and glares right at the front row. “Do y’all need to be removed? Because my size eights are ready to start kicking ass. Don’t be so damn rude!”
The auditorium is filled to the brim since this is the first recital this town has ever hosted, and each person in attendance covers their mouths and works to hide their snickers – lest Dolly zoom in and tear them apart.
“Shut the hell up in first row, or get out! Where are your damn manners?”
“Okay.” The curtain moves, and a tutu’d Sophia rushes out amid long, long legs, long hair tied in a bun, and the sexiest tutu I’ve ever seen in my life. “That’s enough. Why don’t we just get started?”
“Woooo!” Shooting to my feet, I pump my fists in the air and holler for my girl. “Let’s go, Sophia Solomon! Show me what your momma gave ya! Stand on your toes, baby!”
“Can someone remove the man in the first row?” she mumbles. “Please have him escorted off the property and detained in another state.” Shaking her head and trying her damnedest to hide her smile, she turns to the high-tech sound system off to the side of the stage and starts music I know far too well.
I’ve heard it every single day since Soph decided her school would be a reality. I heard the bass rumble through my ceilings forever ago.
It’s the music that’s a little hip-hop, a little choir, and a whole lot of fucking attitude.
Hitting another button while the bass bounces in my chest and makes me smile so wide it hurts, the curtains open on an automatic pulley system and reveal twelve five-year-old girls in tiny pink tutus and the cutest ballet slippers ever.
Lifting to her toes and turning to her troupe, Soph leads her preschoolers in a routine even I could dance now, since I’ve watched her practice it a billion times. They’re pretty terrible at it, and not one of them are in time with Miss Sophia, but Soph’s moves make up for it. My eyes are drawn to her, and when she dances as though she’s on her famous stage dancing like Anna Pavlova and seducing the world over, I settle into my chair and fall a little deeper into love.
I was a dead man once. Long before I ever took a bullet through my head, I was still on death row.
But now I live. Soph lives. And because of Soph, Ellie lives on through a beautiful legacy that’ll never be forgotten.
Turning to the couple who will one day become my in-laws, I smile at Douglas and Althea Solomon while they watch their daughter with tears in their eyes and peace in their hearts.
They live too. Finally, Soph made it so everyone could breathe again.
Acknowledgments
That was FUN! Wow, I’m sad it’s over.
Some books are really hard to write, but then sometimes, they’re soooo much fun that I smile the whole time. Coincidentally, I smiled for Kane and Jay – so now we’re calling it the Bish Effect.
I want more Bishops!
I know there was a lot of secrecy surrounding this book – but I didn’t want to spoil anything for you. So I hope when Jay and Soph sat in that diner and he told her she can call him J, you bounced in your chair with excitement.
I know I did!
I want to thank my closest friends for their help. Without them, I’m not sure my books would be what they are.
Kelly, thank you for your detailed, thorough, and amazing feedback. You always go above and beyond for me.
Arelis, thank you for always reading and falling in love.
Debbie and Siddhi; I know I rushed you guys on this one. I know I set suuuuper tight deadlines, but as always, you come through for me.
Krista, my new editor. Thank you so much! You nailed it, so thank you.
Amy, my cover designer. You ALWAYS nail it. I appreciate your work!
To the Crew; I love you crazies like crazy. Thank you for cheering me on. Thank you for making me laugh. Thank you for the HOTD posts. #KeepToniFree
Thank you for everything you do. I check in with the crew every single morning; before getting out of bed, before getting coffee, before opening my laptop. You guys make me smile, so I keep coming back.
Thank you!
To my husband; you’re the real MVP. You always are. Thank you for supporting my crazy ideas. Thank you for running me a bath when I’m about to tear my hair out. And thank you for cooking when I’d rather write and starve.
I love you and the babies so much.
Also by Emilia Finn
(in reading order)
The Rollin On Series
Finding Home
Finding Victory
Finding Forever
Finding Peace
Finding Redemption
Finding Hope
The Survivor Series
Because of You
Surviving You
Without You
Rewriting You
Always You
Take A Chance On Me
The Checkmate Series
Pawns In The Bishop’s Game
Till The Sun Dies
Castling The Rook
Playing For Keeps
Rollin On Novellas
(Do not read before finishing the Rollin On Series)
Begin Again – A Short Story
Written in the Stars – A Short Story
Full Circle – A Short Story
Worth Fighting For – A Bobby & Kit Novella
Looking To Connect?
Website: www.emiliafinn.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmiliaBFinn/
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2YB5Gmw
Email: [email protected]
The Crew: https://www.facebook.com/groups/therollincrew/
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