Checkmate

“Ah ha! I found it!” she said, pulling a rather beautiful handheld skill saw with what looked like a fresh blade out of the toolbox. It would be perfect just as long as she got the angle just right and the saw didn’t shake too much.

“I-I really don’t think this is such a good idea,” Haley mumbled nervously as Zoe nodded in agreement.

She opened her mouth to point out once again that she knew what she was doing when two large arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind and yanked her clean from the truck, making her drop the saw and all three of them scream a bit hysterically. Before she could put up much of a fight, she found herself pulled tightly against a body that under normal circumstances she would have loved to touch, but the jackass had scared the living hell out of her and for that he would have to pay.

Unfortunately for her, he had her in a pretty good hold, but she wasn’t worried because she knew that her cousins had her back. They would kick his ass and make him pay for scaring them. She didn’t even bother to bite back the smug smile that played with her lips at the thought of the three of them kicking Co

Any minute now her cousins would come to her defense, she told herself as she waited for the ass whooping to begin. When a minute passed and she didn’t see any movement in the back of Co

“A little help here would be nice!” she snapped, ignoring Co

“Um,” she heard Zoe clear her throat and she tried to make the woman out, but it was too dark now to make out much of anything but a few shadows, “about that. I can’t really move. In fact, I think I’m stuck here so you might be on your own for a few minutes.”

She’d prefer Zoe’s help since the woman knew how to kick some ass, but that was okay. She still had Haley and even though Haley wouldn’t be her first choice in a fight, the woman always had her friends’ backs so she knew that she was all-

“If someone could help me find my glasses I would be more than happy to kick some ass for you, but I seem to have dropped them when Co

She really hated it when she lost to him.

Co

Haley let out a long put out sigh before she grudgingly said, “Fine. I won’t kick your ass.”

“I really appreciate that,” Co

“As you should,” Haley said with a sniff.

Feeling like an idiot just standing there, she quickly climbed back into the truck, thankful for the dim moonlight that stopped her from stepping on someone, and carefully joined the search. Zoe did her best to stay out of everyone’s way, only making a sound when she thought someone might step on her. Five minutes later, Haley had her glasses back and decided to commit the ultimate betrayal.

She ratted on Rory’s ass.

“She was going to cut her cast off with a saw!” Haley said, smartly moving behind Co

“Was she now?” Co

Haley on the other hand did manage to make a run for it.

Traitor.

“Um, if someone could help me up and off the truck, I’d really like to make my escape now,” Zoe said softly, probably wishing like hell that she could have made her escape when Haley did. Not that she could blame her friends for ditching her ass. She really couldn’t. She just wished that she could join them and get away from Co

“I’ll help you down in a minute, Zoe,” Co

For a moment she considered her chances of making a clean escape and although they were pretty good, she couldn’t just leave Zoe here. So with a sigh, she nodded and didn’t move, wondering, hell hoping, that Co

“Could you hold this light and keep it pointed on the toolbox?” Co

A bit curious, she watched as Co

“Do you trust me?” Co

Co

“Just be quick. I want to go swimming,” Rory said, hoping to do a little more than that actually.

All summer they’d been restricted in their activities because of her arm and tonight, tonight she wanted to go ski

“I don’t think that I can watch this,” Zoe mumbled, her voice shaking, but thankfully her hold on the flashlight didn’t waver.

“Are you ready?” Co

“No!” was Zoe’s answer, but she trusted her guy so with one nod, Co

She watched him work and was impressed by his focus and handling of the saw. He kept his cut straight and even, his hands steady. In a matter of seconds he was done, the saw was off and she was pretty sure that Zoe was mumbling something and hyperventilating a tad bit, but she was too excited to finally have this damn cast off to really pay attention.

“How does it feel?” he asked, once the cast was ripped off her arm.

“It feels good,” she said, sighing with relief to finally be able to move her hand and arm without that cast getting in the way.

“Um, actually it kind of hurts,” Zoe said, drawing their attention just as she leaned in to kiss Co

“What hurts?” Co

“The contractions. My water breaking didn’t feel great either, but the contractions definitely hurt,” Zoe said as Rory moved past Co