Checkmate (The Cassano Series Book 5)

by Scarlet Wolfe

  “Yes, and you must’ve left them there. Grow a pair so you can finally find a woman.”

  “Wow, it only takes a five minute ride to remember what a dick you can be.”

  I don’t have to look over at Reg to know he’s kidding. We’ve been giving each other shit like this for years, and I’ve realized I shouldn’t have let Victoria come between our friendship.

  I stayed pissed at Aggie over something stupid, and it cost me years with her. I don’t want to make that mistake with Reggie, too.

  Once I’ve reached his place, I put my Aston Martin in park.

  “Thanks for the ride, man.” Reggie’s hand reaches for the door handle.

  “Wait. Listen … I know Victoria and you are good friends. I accept that now, so I won’t give you any more shit about her, and I was even thinking we could go back to hanging out if you’re cool with it.”

  Reggie shakes his head in disbelief.

  “It’s about damn time. Sure, we can grab a drink, or I could kick your ass at poker.” Getting out of the car, he leans down to smirk at me. “Give me a shout, and thanks again for the ride.”

  Sadie

  I’m not supposed to be at the university this evening, especially since I’m getting married in only a few days, but it was an opportunity for me to do some snooping while no one else was present.

  “The only key I’m allowed to keep on me at all times is the key to the main classroom,” I say to Victoria. “It’s because he’s often late and needs me to let students inside.”

  I unlock the door from the hallway of my university’s science building.

  “Remember, if anyone shows up, let me do the talking.”

  We enter the classroom, and Victoria surveys her surroundings. I leave the lights off and pass by the rows of desks.

  Opening a drawer to my professor’s desk, at the front of the room, I swipe the key to our main laboratory. I notice the notes from his last class are still on the massive dry-erase board, which fills the space behind me.

  “This key is to the main lab. I’m only to use it when Professor Edward hasn’t already arrived and unlocked it. His personal laboratory/office is in the back of it, and I’ve never been allowed inside that room.”

  Strolling inside the main lab, I flip on the lights and have Victoria follow me past all the workstations. “This is where the experiments are performed.”

  Next, I open the door to our storage room. “This is where we store most of our chemicals and safety supplies, such as goggles, aprons and gloves.” I also eye our waste containers at the back of the room.

  “What’s in those?” she asks, pointing to two tall black filing cabinets on the wall to the left.

  “They’re where we store purchase orders, documents for the chemicals we order, and safety training manuals; it’s stuff like that.”

  Upon exiting the storage room, I point to the back of the lab.

  “Professor Edward’s office is through that door, and I don’t know how we’ll break in. I’m nervous about this.”

  “It’s the only way we’re going to find out if he’s hiding something. I got this.” She pulls two bobby pins from her jeans pocket and goes to work reshaping them into tools.

  Without hesitation, she maneuvers the hairpins in the opening on the lock. I imagine the office is where he keeps his student records and assignments, but Victoria has planted a seed of suspicion in my mind, so I’m curious as to what else it holds.

  I hear the click as the door unlocks.

  “Yes!” my sister exclaims in a harsh whisper. Wow, that was fast. She steps aside, so I can enter first. I glance around the unfamiliar space to regard its contents.

  There is one workstation for experiments to the left, and his private desk is to the right as we enter. It’s a mess, piled high with paperwork. Victoria goes right to the lone grey file cabinet next to it and yanks on a couple of the drawers.

  “Damn, these are even locked.” She removes the hairpins from her pocket again and pops the lock at the top right, which allows us to open every drawer.

  As I suspected, there are many file folders with students’ graded assignments. A lot of what I find is years old and could likely be discarded.

  By the time we reach the second to last drawer, I’m feeling like we’ve wasted valuable time I could have used to mark off items from my wedding to-do list.

  I begin nosing through the drawer. There are boring manuals to our office equipment at the front, but I hit the jackpot when I pull out a folder full of personal information he had submitted to the university years ago.

  “Bingo. This one has a copy of his driver’s license, so it has his birthdate on it.” I hold the paper up for Victoria to grab.

  “Perfect.” Swiping it from me, she writes information on a tiny notepad she has pulled from her purse. “I’ll take down this address, too, and find out if he still lives there.” Once she finishes, I put the paperwork back where it belongs.

  After yanking on the hem of my tiny denim shorts, to ensure they cover me better, I sit on the floor with my legs spread wide and pull the fourth cabinet drawer open in front of me.

  “Damn, I’m already noticing a difference in how my skinny clothes fit. I hope I can find some stylish maternity wear.”

  After shimmying on my butt to scoot back, I remove a manila folder and begin leafing through it.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not finding anything else of value. This drawer is just full of purchase orders for chemicals we use during experiments.” I glance up at Victoria and find her chewing on her pen.

  “There has to be something; I feel it, Sadie. My gut is always right.”

  I stare back down at the purchase orders I’m holding.

  “Wait … the purchase orders are always stored in the filing cabinets in the storage room of the main lab. I’m the one who files them away. Why are these in this locked cabinet?” Because of Victoria’s certainty, I comb over a handful of them.

  “Shit, the delivery address is different. Victoria, what’s that address on Professor Edward’s driver’s license?” She reads it off to me, and it’s the same one that’s on the orders I’m holding.

  “Help me up.” I reach my hand out for Victoria to take. She pulls me up, and I take the file folders with all the purchase orders over to the workstation. I spread them out on the counter before us.

  “I do all the ordering for the lab, and I didn’t place these orders. For several years, he’s been having chemicals delivered to his personal residence, but why?”

  “Maybe he has a lab there, too.”

  “Maybe, but he doesn’t need one. He can come here anytime, and this stuff is being billed to the university. Damn, sis, you were right; something is definitely off here. What use could he have for these chemicals at home?”

  “You’re the scientist. You tell me?”

  Shaking my head, I go straight to the copier next to the file cabinet and copy each of the purchase orders while Vic watches the door.

  I shove all the originals back inside their folders and into the file cabinet. “I feel now more than ever that we’re in danger being here. Let’s go. I’ll research this from home.”

  We get the hell out of his office, and I lock up the main lab behind us. After returning the key to the professor’s drawer, we hurry out of the classroom, too.

  “Sadie.” I jump when I hear my name.

  Shit, Russell.

  Trying to remain calm, I lock the door and turn toward him. “Hi, Russell. How are you?”

  “Good. What are you doing here? Aren’t you busy getting ready for your wedding?” His eyes bounce between Victoria’s and mine.

  “Yes, and while my sister and I were doing some last minute shopping, it hit me that I might’ve left a hot burner on from an experiment this morning.”

  I tap my forehead. “I’m so absentminded these days because of all the wedding stress, so we came by to check but false-alarm. Russ, this is my sister Victoria. Victoria, this is Russ.”

/>   He reaches out his hand to shake hers. She drags her fingers along his as she bats her long lashes and gives him a grin.

  “Wow, I should go back to college. The men are so much more attractive than when I was attending.”

  Typical with Russ, his attention goes from the issue at hand to a dirty place. He soaks in the sight of Victoria before he licks his lips.

  “You’re definitely not too old for a college guy.”

  “Aww, that’s sweet. Then you tell pregnant girl here when there’s a party planned, and I’ll crash it in her place. I could probably teach you guys a thing or two.”

  Geez, could she lay it on any thicker? She’s proving tonight how excellent she was at her job. Now, if I only had a banana for her to eat in front of the perverted guy.

  “We better be going. I have a ton to do before Saturday. I’ll see you on Tuesday, Russ.”

  “Sure thing,” he says without taking his greedy stare off of my sister.

  I grab her hand, signaling it’s time to go. As much as I want to dive into this mess with my professor, it’s going to have to wait until my wedding is over. Monday is my recovery day, so I’ll work on it then.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Victoria

  “Reggie–food–beer,” I say in a desperate tone as I approach him in the sports bar that was once our second home. Much has changed since I met Adrian.

  “It’s nice to hear I come before food and beer.”

  “Barely, buddy.” I smack Reggie’s back before I have a seat across from him in the booth. I take a long drink of the beer he was kind enough to order for me.

  “So, long day?” he asks.

  “Long week already,” I reply with a smile, “but tonight I got to do a little PI work, so that was fun. We’ve been preparing for Sadie’s wedding, too. When we picked up her dress, I ended up trying on a couple dozen gowns for my own special day. Who would have thought?”

  “Not me. That’s for sure. What do you want to discuss? If this is about last night, I apologize that Cicely got you and Adrian involved.”

  “It’s not about that, but I’m glad last night happened.” I reach over to touch his hand. “Well, not the part where you were trashed and pathetic, but I’m glad it gave Adrian a chance to truly make amends with you.”

  “Oh, how kind of you. I wasn’t pathetic.” Reggie reaches for his glass of soda. I’m guessing he’s steering clear of beer because of his hangover. “OK, maybe I was bordering on pathetic, but I’m better now.”

  “Great, so how is work going?”

  “I never dreamed I’d say this, but it’s boring as hell without you.”

  “That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.”

  “Sarge is still treating me like shit, too. He’s never going to fully trust me after what happened with you.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. I mean, we were partners. He’s not going to get past that. He’s always going to think you were in on it, harboring secrets for me.”

  Taking a breath, I grab a handful of peanuts and grin at him, excited about my proposition.

  “Something’s up with you. Spill it.”

  “Would you consider a new place of employment?”

  “Where?”

  “I was thinking we could be partners again.”

  “And I’ll ask again … Where?”

  Reaching inside my purse, I pull out the thick white envelope and slide it across the table. Reggie’s forehead wrinkles as he views it.

  “You should open that discreetly.” The curiosity gets the best of him, and he swipes it off the table. He lowers it to his lap and opens it. His wide eyes fly up to meet mine.

  “Victoria,” he glances around to confirm no one is watching us, “how much money is this?”

  “Five grand.”

  “What is it for?” His tone is getting aggressive, so I guess I should give him the details.

  “I want to form a partnership with you. We’ll have a PI business. Adrian even offered up office space for us in his hotel.” I nod toward the envelope.

  “I’m aware of the future pension and salary you’d be giving up, so I’ll pay you five grand a week for four months. I’m hoping by then we’ll be making money.”

  He shakes his head. “Vic, this is nuts, and I don’t want a handout from Adrian.”

  I grimace. “That’s not Adrian’s money. I mean, yeah, he’s giving us the office space for free, but that’s my money you’re holding.”

  “That would be eighty grand total if you paid me this every week for four months.”

  “I know. I sold my car, and since Adrian insists on paying for everything in our relationship, I don’t need what I had in savings any longer.”

  “You sold your ‘57 Thunderbird?”

  “Yep. I got quite a bit for it, too.”

  “Christ, Vic. That car meant everything to you. I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “Say you’ll be my partner.”

  “You’ve genuinely put thought into this.”

  “I’m serious, Reg. This isn’t a joke. I want us to go into business together.”

  He slides the envelope back across the table.

  “I need to think about this. It’s a huge change and commitment, and I can’t believe Adrian’s OK with it.”

  “I’ll hold this for you until you say yes.” I shove the envelope back in my purse. “Adrian is happy over the decision, and he believes he’ll even have some work for us. His gesture this morning was his way of letting you know that.”

  “Damn. I still can’t believe you sold your car.”

  “I’ve changed. It’s ironic in a way. Adrian can give me anything my heart desires, but since meeting him, what I’ve learned to cherish most are the things money can’t buy.

  “Friendship, love and family … those are what matter to me. I miss working with you, Reggie. That’s more important than a hunk of metal; even one with sentimental value.”

  Tears prick his eyes and his head shakes. I had a feeling selling my car would have this effect on him.

  “This is too much.” He slides out of the booth and rakes a hand over his hair. “I have to get out of here, but I’ll think about it.”

  “Seriously consider it. That’s all I ask.”

  Kruse

  Moving the gear shift to reverse, I blow out a short, sharp breath, trying to get my shit together. I inch the Escalade back several feet before I’m shifting gears again and driving back into the parking spot in front of Aggie’s condo.

  I don’t even care if she’s watching that I’m struggling to leave her. I need to get my fucking bearings–gather my wits–will myself to stop being a fucking pansy. Whatever I need to conjure up to leave her, I’m not finding it.

  Fuck it.

  Jumping out of the SUV, I jog back to her door. Without having to knock, Aggie opens it and shyly smiles.

  “Did you forget something?”

  “Yeah, you.” I pull her in for a hug and hold her tight. “I had a great time,” I murmur before I kiss the top of her head.

  “I did, too.” Her face buries against my chest, and I hear her breathe in the scent of me, which has to be a concoction of her and sex.

  “Uh, the wedding. Simon’s.”

  “What about it?” she asks.

  “After the reception, will you come to my hotel room?”

  “Aren’t you sick of me?”

  Pulling back, I cradle her cheeks.

  “Not at all. Are you sick of me?”

  “No.”

  “Good. We’ll talk soon.”

  I don’t look back as I jog to the Escalade or even as I start it. I put it in reverse and get the hell out of there before I look like a lovesick teenager who fails to go to work.

  Aggie’s a fever I can’t shake. There’s not a number of cold showers I could take to lower the heat I hold for her. Like she hinted, she did have some surprises up her sleeve.

  She has an adventurous side, and every day with me she’s becomi
ng braver, exposing it in the most sensuous, exciting ways.

  More than once, she sucked me off better than any woman ever has. At one point, she whipped out a pink vibrator from her nightstand and began using it on herself, encouraging me to watch. I’d never witnessed anything so hot in all my life.

  The word pussy left her plump scarlet lips, and dammit my dick’s getting hard thinking about it. I push a hand down onto my growing cock, pissed at it for having so little restraint.

  But if I’m honest, it was the intimacy between us when we were simply talking that has my head all types of fucked up today.

  We finally had a real opportunity to share about our interests, pasts, and life in general. We cuddled, ate take-out in bed, took showers together, and watched movies.

  Never once did I feel bored or eager to leave. It was hours upon hours of perfect.

  Contentment.

  Of more.

  It felt like how I imagine love—

  I’m fucked.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sadie

  “You’re stunning,” Victoria says to me. It’s a rarity to observe her crying, but there are definite tears in her eyes. I gaze at myself in the mirror, and I do feel stunning.

  Jittery, I tug on the heart-shaped, strapless top of my wedding gown to ensure it’s covering my chest. It’s adorned with exquisite silver beading and meets a white lace bodice.

  The floor length bottom is satin with a thin floral lace covering. Nicole and Victoria spread out the flowing satin train.

  Since we couldn’t plan an elaborate wedding, Simon insisted I spare no expense on the gown. The second I saw myself in this one, I was certain it was made for me. It’s traditional, too, so my mom was pleased with that aspect. Her brother, Martin, is going to walk me down the aisle.

  I sigh when I think about my father. I miss him terribly, but knowing he had a fondness for Simon before his death helps me feel like he’s with us today, approving of our union.

  “Ready?” my mother asks after walking in the room we’ve been changing our clothing in. “Oh, my, Sadie. You’re so beautiful.” With her hand shielding her chest, her eyes become watery.