Checkmate

“Ow!” he winced, stepping away from Rory as he rubbed the back of his head where it suddenly throbbed. He looked over his shoulder and found all five of her brothers watching them with i

“It was a squirrel,” Craig said, somehow keeping a straight face.

“Vicious little bastards,” Bryce added solemnly.

“You should really be careful,” Joh

Oh, this was going to be a long fucking day.

Chapter 34

“Can we stop at Henderson’s?” Rory asked, noting that it was almost six in the morning and the little di

Co

They yanked out the battery from Co

She knew that Co

“Do you want to go to Henderson’s or do you want to hit McDonalds when we get to the highway?” Co

“McDonald’s is a half hour away,” she pointed out, starting to feel giddy at the prospect of going to Henderson’s for the first time in years. It used to be her favorite store as a child and she’d missed going there every Sunday for a stack of pancakes, bacon and a cup of hot cocoa.

As much as she would have loved to blame Co

In fact, every ban and restriction in town had been lifted. People were still placing bets on them, but at least they could now go to whatever restaurant or store they wanted to without worrying about restrictions. They hadn’t had much time to enjoy the bans being lifted, but they did manage to grab di

“You just want to see if Henderson still has those little chocolate balls that you used to love, don’t you?” Co

“No, I’m just hungry,” she only partially lied because she pla

“Uh huh, sure,” he said, smiling that sexy smile of his as he handed her two twenties.

Frowning, she asked, “You’re not coming in?” and nearly cringed at how needy she sounded. She wanted to share this with him, to enjoy visiting her favorite childhood store with him.

“Sorry, baby,” he said, leaning over and kissing her, “but someone has to keep your brothers from going in there and getting you ba

She looked past him to see Craig’s truck parked next to them and when she saw the anticipatory gleams on her brothers’ faces she realized that the man had a point. They’d hound her in that store and do their best to talk some sense into her, which of course would a

“I won’t be long,” she promised with a pleased smile as she climbed out of the truck and made a beeline for the old familiar white door that used to welcome her as a child. Bryce almost managed to cut her off, but Co

Knowing that she probably only had a few minutes before her brothers managed to plow past Co

“You better watch your back, bitch,” Joh

As soon as her brothers saw her, they backed away from Co

“Are those donuts for us?” Brian asked, shifting anxiously as his greedy eyes locked on the bag in her hands.

“Nope,” she said, smiling when her brothers turned murderous glares on her. “I’d hurry up if I were you. They only have two bags left,” she lied, knowing that it was the only way to put some space between them, for a while at least.

Her brothers stood there a moment longer, obviously struggling with the need to keep a close eye on the two of them, but the smell of warm sweet donuts perfumed the air and took the decision out of their hands. In the end, the donuts won and the shoving match began. They didn’t stick around to see who won.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she handed Co

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, forcing a smile as he accepted the donut.

“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” she said, hoping that she’d kept the disappointment out of her tone while she said it. She wanted to go. She loved her family, missed them, but she loved Co

Co

“Are you sure?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip.

“Yes.”

She almost asked if this was about Andrew, but decided that she didn’t want to spend their first real day off together fighting. With the way that Andrew was acting she knew that it was only a matter of time before they came to blows over what to do. Until then, she just wanted to enjoy her time with Co