Checkmate Series

Kane Bishop is everything women are warned about. He’s a professional enforcer for a dangerous cartel built upon drugs, guns, and violence, and according to the files littering my desk, it’s a sure bet he boasts a body count that has nothing to do with the women who’ve passed through his bed. I should know better than to step into his world. God knows my law degree vouches for the fact I have a brain and a modicum of common sense. And yet, here I am, hiding from my cop brother and half naked in Kane’s apartment while he stitches me up and we both pretend we aren’t desperate for a way out.

When the most important person in your world is hurt, a man learns who he is right down at the core. Will he protect her? Can he do what needs to be done to make it better? Is he willing to take it as far as it needs to go, or is he a p*ssy that talks a big game but has no guts? And if he chooses the second, then did he truly love her at all? No. The answer is no, because a man that loves with his whole heart won’t be stopped. There is no line. There’s no ‘too far’. There’s just her. And her pain is his responsibility to fix, even if she’ll never know it was he who stepped in.

Junior, baby-faced, rookie–Riley Cruz has heard it all. The youngest police recruit in town, Riley is thirty-one years old, but is constantly overlooked because of his youthful features and habit to keep his mouth shut when everyone else is loud. But not everything is as it seems. Not everyone is as innocent as they appear.

Everything we do, from brushing our teeth in the morning, until we climb into bed at night, is a series of choices. Sometimes we make bad choices, sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re made under duress, and sometimes they’re the lesser of two evils kind. Sometimes there’s no choice at all, but you’re still forced to do something, because the world refuses to slow for you. And sometimes, the one perfect choice stands right in front of you in a cop’s uniform and he asks you to feel what he feels.

Eighteen months ago, my world was tossed upside down amid horrified screams and merciless hellfire. I was thrown into the flames to burn alive, but now I stand on the other side, invincible, untouchable, and un-f*cking-beatable. Today, the ID in my wallet says John D. Hamilton. It’s the name I go by, the name the beautiful brunette sitting alone in Ginnie’s diner knows me as.

Katrina Blair is a single mom to a daredevil teen, which means she has no time for fruitless endeavors such as dating. Why? Because men are all the same: liars, thieves, and unreliable a**holes. Pregnant at fifteen and deserted by the father long before their son was born, Katrina learned her lessons early in life and has built an impenetrable wall that keeps the weak away. But Eric DeWhit isn’t weak, and he’s been lingering on Katrina’s side of the diner an awful lot lately.

Spencer Serrano is seven feet of f*cked up. He’s crude, flirtatious, and far more dangerous than his stupid jokes imply. Abigail Rosa lives her life inside a bubble, placed there by those who love her, kept there by the respect she has for them. She knows they mean well, but the day Spence visits her shop with his filthy mouth and lack of manners, is the day her world is flipped upside down. Abigail isn’t inclined to give the giant jerk a minute of her time, but he’s determined to conquer her in every way. Just as he’s beginning to make progress, Checkmate alarms are raised.

Bishop men are nothing but a plague on this planet, a disease that needs eradication before it spreads. They’re murderers. Liars. Thieves. The day I met Colum Bishop, I thought my life was finally turning around. I was led to believe he would be our savior. He was supposed to be our hero, a long awaited reprieve from the hardships life insisted on throwing at my mom and me. But in reality, he was the beginning of the very end. Instead of accepting us, he destroyed us. Instead of saving us, he had us murdered. But before my final moments, I met a girl.