Till The Sun Dies: Checkmate, #2

by Finn, Emilia

  “Well, duh. I’ve been telling you this for ages.”

  “Jess… help me.”

  She turns to him. “If you don’t stop interrupting her, you’re going to be banished from our table. Then you can sit with the weirdos at table eight. They’re still bending the fork prongs together because they wanna look badass. Are you real badass, Bishop, or are you pretend?”

  “Blondie…”

  “Shush it.”

  His eyes narrow, but when he sits back and picks up a fork, I hold back my snicker and try not to feel bad for the badass that just got the sternest talking to he’s ever received from his girlfriend.

  “We’re going to the beach today,” I continue. “I just want to sit in the shade, drink something I shouldn’t, and mellow the hell out. Maybe while I’m there, I’ll tan my legs or whatever to get his attention.”

  “Works for me.” Jess slides her chair closer to Kane, because she can’t bear to hurt his feelings, and when Ang steps into the dining room in boardshorts and flip flops, Kane flashes a silly wink and pulls Jess into his lap.

  I pick up my coffee and get busy not talking about Ang’s dick.

  “Morning.” He drops a beaten-up novel onto the table in front of me so the cutlery rattles, then takes the final empty seat.

  The edges of the paperback are worn and frayed, the corners curled back so far, I can read some of the inside. The spine so cracked, I smile at the love this book has known.

  I pick it up and flip it over. “What’s this?”

  “They got a second-hand book store just one block over. I found it when I ran past, and figured you might like one while you sit on the beach today. I think it’s about some chick who lives secluded on an island and trains dogs.”

  “Sounds like the perfect life.”

  He picks up my half empty coffee and drinks. “That’s what I figured. The author’s name on the front is written pretty big, and the spine is folded to shit, so that kinda implies it’s a good book by a good author. I thought you might like it.”

  “I will. Thanks.” I set it in my lap and smile. “Truly, thanks.”

  “S’okay. Only cost me a buck, and the lady selling it wasn’t weird like the crystal shop lady.”

  “What are you guys doing today?” Jess asks. “Baby and I are gonna bake, read, and drink. What about you?”

  “I can drink cocktails.” Kane plops a kiss on Jess’ cheek. “I’m happy to bake and drink, too. You wanna teach me how to surf?”

  “Sure.” She winds her arms around his neck. “I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun to watch the waves dump you.”

  I laugh and accept my almost empty coffee mug back. “Thanks. I’m kinda dragging today.”

  “I told you not to stay up all night watching movies.”

  “I needed to know that Shadow was okay.”

  Ang knows I’ve seen that movie before. I know I’ve seen that movie before. But just like last night, it’s fun to pretend we’re both flirting idiots.

  “You knew Shadow would be okay, you knew Sassy was okay, you knew how that movie ended. You’ve seen it a thousand times already.”

  I laugh and finish my coffee. “Whatever. If a girl wants to drink wine in bed, eat chocolate, and watch Disney movies, then that’s her prerogative. Who are you to bring your hate to the date?”

  “No one, obviously.” He snags a piece of toast from my mostly uneaten breakfast and flashes a crumby grin. “I poured the wine Bishop paid for, I took more chocolate from the fridge, and I didn’t complain when you drunk snored.” He looks up. “How am I the bad guy here?”

  * * *

  “Hey, Ang?” Operation ‘Send him insane’ has begun. Because he’s right; he poured my drink, he supplied my chocolate, I know for a damn fact he played with my hair last night, and this morning, he was rocking a boner.

  For me.

  The same way he was rocking a boner at the gun range.

  Dark sunglasses have been pulled over his eyes for hours, and a cap shadows the rest of his face and hides him from me.

  Lazing on a sun lounge, he lowers a magazine and turns to me. “Yuh?”

  “Can you help with my sunscreen? I wanna turn over, but I don’t want to burn my back.”

  Straight out of the Girls Gone Wild Spring Break Playbook, I toss a tube of sunscreen into his lap and force him to help. He gets no choice until he admits he’s kinda into me.

  “You want me to do your sunscreen?” I can hear the way he nervously swallows. “Um…” When he looks around and remembers Jess and Kane are in the water, he lets out a deep sigh and picks up the tube.

  Not so long ago, I’d consider that a sigh of displeasure. Rejection, even. But now I consider it a sigh of ‘I’m so fucked.’

  I sit my half-read book on the ground beneath my lounge and flip over. When he makes noises at the back of his throat that I hope are in appreciation of my ass, I bring my hands under my face and smile when he slowly turns.

  His sunglasses hide everything important. They hide his eyes, and they’re usually my window into what he’s thinking, but the twitch of his lips is telling in itself.

  He’s shirtless, and wearing orange and black boardshorts that sit on his hips and show off a nice ridge where the V dips into his pants – a V I’ve admired at least a couple times over the years during the summer. His skin is mostly ink free, a direct contrast to the tattoos that cover Kane right up to his throat, but his bulging arms are distraction enough for me.

  His chest is broad.

  His stomach lined with abdominal muscles.

  If he had tattoos, I might catch fire.

  “Ang?” I hide my smile when his eyes shoot up in surprise. He was totally studying my ass. “Sunscreen?”

  “Yep.” He flips the cap open and squirts the white liquid into his palm.

  Fifteen-year-old me would giggle at the implication behind that squirt, but grown-up me simply giggles on the inside, because I’m mature and not at all taking pleasure in his torment.

  Straightening his spine and moving to his knees between our lounges, he leans into it and works his strong hands against tense muscles until I groan.

  The cold liquid actually feels nice on my hot skin, so my groan isn’t faked, but it definitely comes with added bonuses; like the way he practically squirms beside me. Or the way his shorts move – it might be the soft breeze, or it might be something else.

  His hands slide along my ribs until the tips of his fingers brush over the string holding my bikini up. “Are you enjoying your book?”

  “Yeah. It’s really good. Have you read it?”

  “No.”

  “Did you read the blurb?”

  “No, I just found it in the romance section, saw the name, saw the spine, and took a gamble. It’s good?”

  “Yeah. Loren, the main character, is hiding away on her island because she’s scared.”

  “Yeah?” His thumbs work magic against my tense muscles. This has turned from sunscreen to massage in the space of two heartbeats. “What’s she scared of?”

  “Um… Back home, wherever she was from, she was taken from her family and hurt. She was raped and cut, and when he was going to kill her, she ran away.”

  “Fuck, Laine.” My soothing massage turns to rough hands as he picks me up and half flips me. “Jesus, I didn’t know that. I didn’t mean to get a book about that. It was in the romance section, so I figured it’d just be a book about kissing and shit.”

  I laugh and wiggle out of his grasp, not because I don’t want him to touch me, but because I want more of the massage touching. “It’s okay.” I reach back and pull the end of my bikini strap. “I don’t want tan lines. Keep going, and I’ll keep telling you about the book.” As soon as his hesitant hands come back to my skin, I let out a deep sigh and hide my smile. “So this book; she was hurt, so she ran away to a whole new town. An island, even. You can drive around on the island, but you need to ferry back and forth to get in and out.” I practically purr when he sits on the edge o
f my lounge and goes to work with his strong hands. “Essentially, she secluded herself and started training dogs. But then this guy, Adrian, comes along, and he–”

  “Starts kissing?”

  I relax beneath his skilled hands and replace my groan with a snicker. “Not right away. She’s scared. She’s fucking terrified, to be honest, because that bad guy is still on the loose, and she’s scared he might find her. But the new guy is kinda charming. He smiles a lot.”

  I peek back and find his grin. “Yeah?”

  “Mmm. His constant smiling puts her at ease, and he doesn’t actually know her past. To him, she’s just a chick he likes to smile at, and because he doesn’t know, he’s not super gentle with her. Which is both exhilarating and terrifying for her.”

  “Do they…” His strong fingers move along my spine. “What do you mean not gentle?”

  “Like, she tells him to get the fuck off her island, but instead of leaving, he backs her against a wall and demands she admit she’d prefer he touched her.”

  “Isn’t she scared?” His hands shake. “A girl is hurt like that, isn’t she scared to be backed into corners like that?”

  “Nah. Mostly, she’s just too proud to admit she likes him, too. So instead of admitting her feelings, she barks back, swears at him.”

  “Whacks him with a skateboard?”

  My body shakes with laughter. “She’s not a skater, but she does the equivalent; gets her giant ass Rottweiler to growl and snap.”

  “That’s kinda worse than a skateboard.”

  I groan when he digs his thumbs into my lower back. “It is. Giant dogs scare the shit out of me. But whatever, it’s the game they’re playing; flirting is just a game, no? Those early days are just a battle of the wits; it’s a challenge to see who can be funnier, smarter, sassier. But they’re both winners, so long as they’re both cool and not abusive sacks of shit.”

  “Laine…”

  I’m projecting. I need to stop. “He doesn’t scare her, Ang… not like how you mean. I’m about halfway, and I think they’re gonna give in soon.”

  His husky voice right by my ear sends goosebumps down to my toes. “How can you tell? How do you know they’re close to giving in?”

  “Um…” I swallow to lubricate my suddenly dry throat. “She called her dog back. Told him to stand down.”

  “Her dog?”

  “Yeah. Every time he drives up to the house, she lets the dog out, which sends a clear message that she wants him to back the fuck up. But now she held the dog back, so I bet he’s gonna run inside and plow her like a field now.”

  “Plow her like a… Plow…” I stifle my giggles when he sits back and shakes his head. “Plow her like a field? What the fuck, Laine?” He leans down and snatches up the worn book in a sunscreen slicked hand, turning it over to scan the back cover. “What kinda books do you read? I thought there was just kissing?”

  I turn over and snatch at my book, and when my loose bikini top shifts, I slam my arm across my chest to shield children from any incidental side boob. “These books have all the good stuff, Ang. He’s gonna bone her till she limps before the last page. You watch.”

  “Till she limps?” He whips his sunglasses off and yanks the book back. “What the fuck? How can men possibly live up to this shit?”

  “They can’t. That’s why they tried to ban books a hundred years ago. Men should fear a woman that reads, because she knows all the good moves, and if he doesn’t measure up, she won’t be shy about teaching him.”

  “No way!” He tosses the book all the way across to Jess’ empty lounge.

  Lunging forward, I attempt to chase it, but two strong hands drop to my hips, pinning me down on my sizzling back, with my arm covering my boobs and my breath frozen in my lungs. When his silver eyes pin me, I squirm, and when he licks his lips, my eyes drop to the movement.

  “Umm…” Kiss me! Don’t kiss me. Do something!

  “Your sunscreen is done.”

  “Thanks…”

  “You need help tying your top?”

  “Ah…”

  Instead of waiting for my answer, he rolls me over and begins tying the loose straps.

  Minutes ago, he was massaging with all ten fingers and two palms and I was fine, but now, he slides a single finger along my spine, feather soft and only for a second, and I become a tingling mess.

  “All done.”

  “Thanks.”

  Cold breeze hits my leg and draws me back to reality. Where Ang sat a moment ago is now empty, and when I turn over, I catch sight of the muscles on his broad back rippling as he walks over the hot sand. Hat on, boardshorts framing strong thighs, he walks right to the edge of the water.

  I don’t know what I expect exactly – perhaps he’s just going to dip his toes, maybe Jess called out and I didn’t hear – but without stopping, Ang steamrolls right in until the water laps at his knees, then his waist.

  Jess and Kane stop fooling around and watch him walk shoulder deep, and then without looking back, he simply disappears under water and doesn’t reemerge.

  I flop back on my lounger and groan at my failure, but the wind and waves aren’t enough to drown out Kane’s mocking laughter.

  31

  Angelo

  Erase The Old

  “Mine’s on the left.”

  I nod. “Mine’s on the right.”

  “Don’t look at mine.”

  I bring my beer up and sip. “And you won’t look at mine.”

  The sun has set, and on the deserted beach some hundred yards from our fancy hotel, Kane and I lounge on chairs on the sand, and Jess and Laine dance around a bonfire they built all by themselves.

  The heat from the oversized fire warms my toes, but I’m not moving back, and apparently, neither is Kane.

  “Mine’s in black and white.”

  “Uh-huh.” It’s dark, but there’s no way in fuck I’m taking my hat off to reveal my watchful eyes.

  Laine giggles in a baby pink string bikini. A string bikini I helped tie eight or so hours ago and was tempted to eat straight off her fucking body.

  A man can only resist so much, and I’ve hit my limit.

  The hat stays on.

  “Mine’s in pink.”

  Kane wears a stupid grin while he watches the girls. He takes pleasure in their silliness, but they have so much skin showing, I want to claw my eyes out at the same time I want to snatch Laine up and take her somewhere where rejection isn’t a word, and fears aren’t something that might come between us.

  Matching blonde hair floats on the breeze and tickles their bare backs. Their arms are raised as they dance, and when Jess tackles Laine with none of the fear that sits in my chest, tan limbs roll in the sand until they sit up again and spit the sand out.

  “She ain’t actually yours,” Kane mocks from behind the lip of his beer. “You better make your move before someone else does. You know how many guys tried to break this party up in the last hour? How they thought they’d be big and bad and approach the pretty girls. Take your hat off, Alesi. They can’t see the murder in your eyes if you cover them up.”

  “No. No one’s jumping line.” I talk behind my beer, as though worried Laine has learned to lip read in the last day and might decipher my secrets. “I learned my lesson last time, so I’m sticking close from now on. I said I wouldn’t be the wolf on her doorstep, but fuck if I can step down. I won’t knock, but I swear, the second she steps out, I’m jumping.”

  “About fucking time,” he rumbles. “It feels like it took forever to get here. Did your mom drop you on your head seventy times a day? Because I swear, a sloth moves faster than you.”

  I swing my arm out and slam it over his chest. “Don’t talk about my fuckin’ mom, Bish. Don’t do that. Don’t cross that line.”

  “I’m just saying! It’s your own damn fault you’re in the friend zone. She’s on this trip to shake the shit off and have a little fun. She’s gonna have fun with someone, so you better make that someone you, Al
esi, or you can sit on the sidelines and watch another man make a move. It’s your choice, but keep in mind what happened last time you forgot to man up.” He glances past the fire and watches the girls. “She ended up in a two-year relationship that almost killed her. There’s only one man on this planet that’ll take care of her the way you will, the rest are just looking to fuck. You still willing to share?” His brow lifts. “Because if you are, then you aren’t a man at all, you’re a fuckin’ pussy, and I don’t associate with weak shits. Sack up or walk the fuck home.”

  “I’ve got it, Bish. You need to step down now.”

  He makes the ‘psht’ noise, but he drops it. “They sure make a pretty picture, huh?” His lips twitch when Jess runs, then when Laine springs to her feet and crash tackles her sister.

  Squealing giggles are like a siren’s call for every man in a hundred-mile radius, and like seagulls, they come closer to see what tasty morsel is up for grabs, but when they catch sight of me and Kane behind the flames, they back the fuck up and scatter.

  “Mine’s in pink. Don’t look. Don’t mix them up.”

  He scoffs. “Mine’s in black and white. And you don’t have one, so shut the fuck up.”

  “The guys called today.”

  He finishes his beer and tosses it onto the sand beside his chair. “What guys? And what the fuck do they want?”

  “The guys. My brothers. My best friends.”

  “Yeah?” His eyes come around to meet mine. “What did they want?”

  “They wanted to know what the fuck was going on and why I was double dating with Jess and the thug. These guys have been my brothers my whole life, which makes Jess and Laine my little sisters. Now I’m sharing a bed with one of them, and listening to the other fuck against the wall that connects my room to yours.”

  His lips twitch at the pain in my voice.

  “My whole fucking world shifted this year, Bish, so I can’t even blame them for being a little lost.”

  “Okay…” He gives a careless shrug and reaches to the cooler between us. “Fuck them. The girls are grown women, and those assholes don’t get a say.”