Page 5 of Check Mate

My nostrils flare and I feel my face heat with frustration, or maybe annoyance. I’m not sure what’s triggering this reaction. Brooks and I roast each other constantly. Perhaps it’s because Isabella’s in my house.

It’s definitely not the fact that Brooks is flirting with her.

Isabella finishes her cake and walks toward me to pick up her cat. Mo is a large cat, most likely a Maine Coon. I may have googled cat breeds out of curiosity. He’s fluffy and orange with light orange stripes. Like a baby tiger. He looks huge in her arms. Her small stature makes him seem even larger than normal.

“Thank you for the cake. I need to get this guy back home.” She nuzzles him with her nose. “Yes I do,” she baby talks to Mo.

I sigh and withhold an eye roll. “On your walk back, why don’t you stop and trim the English ivy creeping up on my side of the fence?”

“Sorry, I would… but for some strange reason, my beautiful English ivy shriveled up and died. Almost makes me wonder if someone sprayed them with poison?” she says sarcastically, then gives me an accusatory glance.

I keep my expression neutral but feel secretly satisfied that the English ivy died… in my defense; I was only trying to kill the ivy on my side of the fence, but the entire plant keeled over. And I’m not a monster… I didn’t spray poison on them because I wasn’t sure if it would hurt Mo. Ugh, I cannot get used to that name. Vinegar worked just fine—perhaps a little too well.

Isabella turns to leave. Before she’s out of eyesight, she stops and looks at me over her shoulder. “Oh, and happy birthday, David.”

As soon as we hear the front door close, my family explodes with comments and questions about the tiny spawn of Satan, who lives next door to me.

“Duuuuuude! You never mentioned she was a smoke show,” Brooks says, then fans himself like he’s on fire.

Sophie chimes in, “Yeah, even I can admit she’s hot.”

Odette nods in agreement. “She also seems really sweet!”

Drew and Madden are quiet, but they’re smirking at me like they know something I don’t.

“What?” I ask Madden, irritated at his smug face.

He rolls his lips together like he’s trying not to smile. “You like her.”

“He totally does,” Drew agrees.

Rolling my eyes, I walk over to the cake and serve myself a big slice, then use a plastic fork to shove a big bite into my mouth. I close my eyes and savor the sweetness. But once my eyes are closed, my neighbor’s eyes pop into my mind, the same color as the chocolate I love so much. I groan. Now she’s ruining chocolate for me, too!

The only way to cure my irritation is more chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

Odette rattles something from across the room, getting our attention. “If you don’t like her, then what are these?”

I look at the container she’s holding that’s clearly labeled cat treats.

Everyone waits for me to answer. I take my time chewing and swallowing the cake, trying to come up with a suitable answer.

“Her cat always seems to end up inside my house… how else would I get him out than by enticing him with treats?”

Odette sets the container back inside the cabinet she found them in and crosses her arms. “But why take the time to label them?”

I walk over to the cabinet and open both doors for everyone to see. The shelves are lined with glass containers, each one with a matching label. “Everything in my pantry has a label.”

Sophie walks over and peeks inside the cabinet. “Wow. Can you organize our pantry next?”

“Fine,” I tell her with an annoyed sigh. But I love using my label maker, so I don’t really mind.

Brooks grabs a cookie and takes a bite. “I dunno, Soph,” he says around the cookie. “He’s going to be awfully busy doing all that unpredictable stuff.”

“Brooks!” Mom hands him a napkin and grabs the cookie out of his hand. “Use your manners.”

I withhold a groan and wonder when I can kick them all out without coming across as rude. All I want to do is enjoy my birthday in my clean, quiet house and watch a documentary while sipping some bourbon.

The annoying thing is, they’re not completely wrong… I don’t ‌like Isabella, but I can’t deny her beauty. What hot-blooded male could?