17. Theo
Theo
The Prodigal Son
L ibby stalks my hotel room in a Griffin shirt and panties.
Her legs look magnificent from this angle – “this angle” being me in bed, leaning against the headboard, with a cup of coffee in one hand, and both eyes trained on her ass while she nervously wrings my shirt and dials a number on her phone.
I should be nervous. I mean, inside, my heart is racing, and sick sludge coats my stomach, but on the outside, I focus on Libby’s perfect body.
Her nerves are enough for both of us, and her face is so fucked up, I’m finding it hard to focus on my own problems when I have her right here in front of me.
“Dolly?” Lib stops in the middle of the floor and meets my gaze with dread in her eyes. “Uh, hey. Officer Tate here.”
“Mmm.” I grin and watch Lib’s face burn red. “ Officer Tate . I never thought that would turn me on. But here we are, and I’d let you use your cuffs.”
Lib bats at me, despite the fifteen feet of space between us. “Yes, the chick cop. I was hoping Kane was in? I’d like to speak with him… A warrant?” Lib’s brows furrow. “No, I’m not questioning him… Dolly, do those boys make you ask for a warrant every time the police call?”
I chuckle and take a sip of my cooling coffee. I’d like to think that’s a sign of guilt and another strike in their column, but I have a general dislike for the boys in blue too, and I can’t say I’ve ever spoken to a single one without asking the same question.
Except Libby. She’s an exception to every rule.
“No, no one is in trouble, but I was hoping to have a meet with one or both Bishops. When?” Her eyes shoot to me.
“Uh… as soon as they’re free.” She begins pacing again as Dolly the receptionist talks in circles.
“Both of them are free at eleven?” She gulps.
“Five-hundred-dollars-an-hour consultation fees? Woman! I will get a damn warrant and take them to the station.” She throws her hands up.
“I don’t know! I’ll find a crime and prove it was them. ”
My soft chuckles turn to a full laugh. They really don’t like the cops.
“Book me for eleven.” Her eyes come back to me again. “Yes, the women can be there. I don’t mind. I’m not bringing trouble. Boardroom at eleven. Alright. See you guys then.”
She hangs up and stops for a full minute. She stares into the space ahead of her, holds her breath and lets her chest shudder, then she lets it all out again and turns to me. “Fuck, Gunner.”
“It’s gonna be okay.” I climb off the bed to snag her hand, and pull her with me until I lay back and she straddles my thighs. I set my coffee cup aside and hold her down when anxiety pulses beneath her skin. “Why are you so nervous? This technically has nothing to do with you.”
“I don’t know…” Her green eyes flicker between mine.
Her left side is as beautiful as always, but the right is dark purple and makes me want to rage against the prick who is still in the cage a mere few miles away.
“I agreed to letting the girls come because, I mean, I’m coming, and you wanna ask Soph stuff anyway.
It’s only right to say Jess could attend too. ”
“It’s a whole family affair,” I insert dryly.
Her fidgeting hands stop. “Right. But Sophia is smart. She’s genius smart.
Jay is the hothead, and Kane is the true soldier.
If you want to know which one is most like Colum, it’s Kane.
” She shakes her head when my body turns rigid.
“That’s not to say he’s bad. He doesn’t hurt people.
But he’s the most soldier-like. He can turn his feelings off and get a job done.
He’s quiet, watchful, extremely protective of those he loves, and if the rumors around the station are true, the coldest.” Her voice turns quieter.
“He doesn’t hurt innocents, Gunner, but I know for a fact he slit a man’s throat when the guy was going to hurt Jess. Nobody fucks with his family.”
“Okay…” I know she said she wouldn’t share their information, but she’s already begun, so I file it away for future dissection. “Jay is the fighter. Kane is the soldier. Sophia is the brains on legs. And Jess?”
She pulls in a deep breath until her chest expands.
“Jess…” She exhales again. “Well, she’s the queen.
She’s the heart of Kane’s world. And Kane’s world is the only world that matters.
Now she’s full-term with Bishop babies, which makes him vulnerable.
And a vulnerable Kane is the most dangerous of them all.
I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if she’s not at the meet today. He might not let her.”
“And everyone else at Checkmate?”
“It’s a brotherhood,” she whispers. “It’s an army, yes, but they form their army with love, not threats or pain.”
“Must be nice,” I grumble. It bothers me that not being in that club bothers me.
It’s insane to even consider it, but the exclusion annoys me almost as much as their connection to Colum.
“I wonder if maybe you should stay away from this today.” I catch her hands when she winds up to argue.
“If Kane keeps his girl away, then that means he’s ready for violence.
And you…” I cup her face. “You need to rest.”
“Absolutely not. I made the call. This is my meet. I’m not watching you walk in there and hoping you come out again.”
“You don’t expect me to come out alive? You think they’ll attack?”
“No, I think you’ll attack, and then they’ll be forced to react.
I’m going there to make sure you behave, because if shit goes bad, it’ll be because of you.
Because you hit on their girl, or because you made a threat.
Because you are vulnerable right now, and a vulnerable Bishop is the most dangerous of them all. ”
* * *
We woke at seven.
Libby let me have her body again, despite the pain I know she feels in her head today.
At nine, she made the call and organized the meet.
At ten, we ate, despite the fact neither of us were particularly hungry.
Now it’s eleven, and I’m reconsidering everything Libby talked me into overnight. I came to this town with a cover, with a name that connects in no way to Colum Bishop, with a story, and an ability to take my enemies down without anyone knowing who or why.
Then Libby begs me to walk through their front door and announce myself. She makes it all seem so logical and easy, and when she’s in her underwear, she can convince me of just about anything.
Olly reported in via telephone while Libby and I were eating, so I told him most of my plans today. I told him I was going to Checkmate, that I had a meet with them, and that I wanted him close by just in case.
But I don’t tell him the minute details. I don’t tell him that I’m scared, or nervous, or freaking the fuck out that I’m willing to give all of my plans and cover up on the word of a girl I met when she was nine.
I pull up in the same parking space I was in yesterday.
Without telling them of my Bishop connection, I know I’ve worn out my welcome by touching Sophia.
There will be no warm welcomes, there will be no more Griffin and Checkmate collaborations.
There is only suspicion, and it’ll get worse once we get inside and talk.
“It’s going to be okay.” Lib looks away from Checkmate’s front entrance and lays her hand over mine. We went back to her apartment so she could change her outfit, but no shower, amount of makeup, or new clothes will hide the damage to her face.
It enrages me to see her hurt. It’s a thousand times worse than it ever was back in Abel’s club two decades ago, but it still makes me go back there in my mind. It lays down a sense of foreboding, and the fact I’m willingly walking toward Bishops today does nothing for my heart.
“If shit gets messy, I need you to stay back.”
“It won’t get messy.” She squeezes my hand, then looks out the windshield toward the building ahead and draws in a deep breath.
She was hiding me last night, but today, she walks to the front line beside me.
She’s making a huge sacrifice, selflessly blowing whatever cover she had in my absence, and showing the Bishops her connection.
“It’s going to be okay. They don’t shoot first and ask questions later.
It might feel that way, but it’s not. My chief trusts them, so that means something. ”
“And you? Do you trust them?”
She continues to stare at the entrance. “I don’t know them.
I know you don’t believe me, but I truly don’t.
I know who they are, of course. I know whose sons they are, I know their dad’s connection with mine.
I know they were federal agents until a year or so ago.
I know they have a reputation around town as the enforcers around here.
They run a security company where regular folks come in and order security cameras or whatever for their homes.
But I also know that people go to them for much more serious reasons. ”
“Serious?”
She nods. “Like, there was this guy a couple months back that was beating on his girlfriend. She wanted out, but she was terrified of what he might do about it. Word spreads in small towns, and when she heard that someone might be able to help, she hired a couple Checkmate men to escort her in and out of the home she shared with the dude. He got mouthy about it,” she grins, “ allegedly . And because of his big mouth, he ended up in a dentist’s chair, needing a new set of teeth. ”
“And you don’t call that criminal behavior?
” I sit back to rest against the door. She stares at the Checkmate office with fear in her eyes.
She’s facing her demons today too. “You’re a cop, you swear your squad is clean, but your chief allows this vigilante justice in his own town and no one is being arrested? ”