Page 51 of Checkmate (Checkmate 8)

“Can we help you?” Sophia gets a little less ‘Welcome,’ and a little more ‘Get to the fucking point’. “What do you need?”

“My name’s Theo Griffin.” I solidify my voice, and use the very opportunity that’s been handed to me.So much for staying under the radar. “I’m your security tech rep for today.”

Sophia’s brows shoot high as she takes another scan from my jeans to coat. “Theo Griffin?” Her eyes flicker to my shoes. Then to my hands. “TheTheo Griffin? The dude whose name is on all of our shipping boxes?”

I shrug, forcing an air of nonchalance, but failing when that deep voice echoes again from the back. “It’s stupid! I don’t want this system anymore. It’s faulty.”

“It’s not faulty,” I murmur. “It’s intuitive, and I guess maybe your staff are not.”

Jess’ eyes widen when she picks up the arrogance and dismissal in my voice.

“I’m visiting some of my higher-spend accounts… ya know, a PR thing that my people said I should do.” I let my eyes slide along Sophia’s body. I push Libby out of my mind, welcome in my bitterness. I feed on it, then I step forward and block out the pregnant chick so I can zero in on the dancer. “I was thinking of getting a bite to eat tonight. You could join me, and we can discuss your security needs.” I lean against Dolly’s desk, present Jess with my back, and slide a finger over the ball of Sophia’s shoulder.

I want it to be Libby’s shoulder.

I want to leave this place and never come back.

“Dinner?” Sophia’s lips firm. She remains in place and allows my finger to move over her skin. “You’d like to get dinner to discuss our security systems?”

I reach into my pocket and pull out a business card. “I’m to select a representative from each of my accounts. We sit, talk.” I bite my lip and draw her eyes down to my mouth. “Have a drink or two. It would be fun, it’s a business expense, you get a free evening… with me. And I get to look into a beautiful pair of eyes while I talk shop.”

“Uh… Soph?” Jess’ voice should have been warning enough. “Can we talk a sec?”

“I’dloveto get dinner with you.” Soph’s smile is magnetic. She might not be my type, not in the way I consider short, stocky, policewomen my type. But she’s stunning all the same. “Tonight at seven?”

I grin. “Sure.”

“Sophia…”

“Club 188 does a good meal, they’re good people, good tables, good entertainment.”

Club 188 also used to belong to Frankston. This woman, this filth, disrespects me and has no clue.“I’ll get us a table,” I grit between my teeth. I let my most charming smile grow forced, fake, while the thud that my mom’s head made against Hayes’ desk plays in my brain on repeat. “Seven.”

“Sophia!” Jess’ snapped word barely registers past the gunshot in my mind. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk right now,” Soph chirps. “I’m doing business. Can you go out back and… I dunno. Get busy doing something else?”

“John!” Jess spins away from us as fast as her pregnant body allows. “John D Hamilton! You’re needed at the front desk immediately.”

“Wear something nice,” I continue when Soph’s eyes show absolutely no concern for Jess or her John D Hamilton. I look around this tiny office; not tiny by usual standards, but tiny compared to mine. “You never know, maybe you’d like a change of pace. Something new to look at when you glance out the window.”

“Yeah?” Sophia sidles closer and gives me the come-hither eyes I wish Libby would. “This town is such a drag sometimes. Can’t buy much of anything around here, and if you want it to come with a label, you have to take your ass into the city or order online and have it delivered. Even Griffin tech.” She drags her bottom lip between her teeth, and smiles when my eyes follow the movement. “Not a single store in town carries your products for the end consumer to buy.”

I lift a brow and let my cover slip. That information genuinely surprises me. I make a mental note to talk to Annaliese about that as soon as I get back to my room. We need more reps. More towns. “Sounds like our dinner would be mutually beneficial. I could talk to you about how Griffin can help Checkmate. And you can tell me of the… holes that need to be filled.” Her eyes widen. Her lips drop into an O. “In the market, of course.”

“Of course,” she purrs.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” That deep voice that shouted of faulty tech now grabs my shoulder and tears me around so my back is to Sophia.

Glittery black eyes. Strong, square jaw.

He looks like Colum, but in the flesh, he looks a hell of a lot like me, too.

“State your business, motherfucker. Then say goodbye to your momma, because I’m about to bury your body in the desert.”

Kane – a little broader, a lot meaner – steps up beside his brother with folded arms and an angrily ticking jaw. He says nothing. He does nothing. He simply stares until my gut nearly drops out of my asshole.

There will be no pissing contests here today, no shouting among men in hopes to win a petty argument. There’s just death; one man will win, and one man will lose.

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