Thank you for your continued interest and support. I appreciate it. I do not own Glee or the characters, neither do I own Checkmate.

Mercedes sat in the padded chair, trying to hide her annoyance at being seated next to her nemesis, Sam.

She'd known a month ago when she placed her bid that he was going for the same job. And it hadn't been a big deal then, because they usually bid for the same jobs, unless one of them was already busy.

She didn't understand however, why Mr. Mc. Mann was handling their bids this way.

Usually, these things were handled more privately. She couldn't remember ever being in the room with her competition before when the client announced his decision.

The only thing she could come up with, was that the client was hoping to use their well known animosity towards each other to start a bidding war right here and now.

Well, it wasn't going to happen.

And as much as she would love to get her hands on Sunset View Hotel, she wasn't about to get into another embarrassing public confrontation with Sam.

The one they had last month at the strawberry festival still made her cringe.

Things probably wouldn't have gotten out of hand if their dates had just stayed out of it. But once Mya Porter decided to get in her face and Randy Lynch took it as his cue to get into Sam's face...things kind of went downhill quickly.

Okay, to be honest, she may have started trouble when she dumped the bucket of juicy mashed strawberries over Mya's head, but in her defense, she could only hear 'stupid bitch' so many times before she snapped.

She still didn't understand why the festival committee banned them for a year, especially after they paid for all the strawberries they'd wrecked.

At least she was still allowed to have a booth at next year's festival for her business, Contour Construction.

Granted, one of her brothers would have to man the table and that probably wouldn't go too well, but at least her company would be represented during the town's biggest event.

Sam shifted in his chair next to Mercedes', probably just as nervous as she was.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, annoying the hell out of her.

If he actually went along with this and tried to outbid her, she was going pants his ass on the way out.

Her lips twitched at the memory of the last time she'd done that.

It had actually been a week after he did it to her, but at least she hadn't been wearing pink boxers with hearts on them at a bar like a certain someone.

It really had brought such joy to her and her brothers' lives as they watched guys hit on Sam all night and send drinks his way. She'd been sixty percent sure that he was going to kill her with his bare hands that night...

"As you both know," Mr. Mc. Mann started, bringing her attention back to him, "We've had problems getting permits and the heavy rain season has pushed our plans back by six months."

They both nodded.

"I know you're both probably very confused as to why I've asked Contour Construction and Uplands Construction for a joint meeting." Thankfully, he didn't leave them in suspense. "My partners and I would like Sunset View Hotel up and running by November."

"That's five months from now," Mercedes blurted out before she could stop herself.

Sam threw her an annoyed look, probably for stating the obvious. Not that she cared if she aggravated the bastard. She could care less about that. What she did care about, was the fact that there was no way her company could get that hotel up and running in five months.

A year? Yes, and that was after hiring ten extra men and going overboard with overtime.

Five months was just not doable.

"Yes, it is," Mr. Mc. Mann agreed with a nod of his head. "As you know, the hotel needs a bit of work..."

Mercedes just barely stopped herself from snorting her disbelief out loud.

Sunset View Hotel was going to need a complete overhaul...meaning, it was going to have to be completely gutted and have all the electrical and plumbing refitted.

Those were just a few of the major things that needed to be fixed. She actually had a fifteen page list in her office of all the small problems that needed attention.

"...I know this is highly unusual, but we'd like to hire both your companies to work together and finish the project," Mr. Mc. Mann finished, shocking them both into utter stillness.

Mercedes stared at Mr. Mc. Mann. She wasn't even sure she was breathing or knew how to at that moment.

He really couldn't expect her and Sam to work together, could he?

They'd kill each other!

The entire town knew that. Hell, there were several betting pools over who would kill who and how.

This could not be happening.

And as much as she'd love to work on the project, she really wasn't sure she could manage doing it with Sam.

"If you're both able to do this and meet our deadline, you will each be paid a bonus of fifty-thousand dollars on top of the twenty percent we already decided to add to your bids," Mr. Mc. Mann announced. "As long as you both believe that you can work on this together...without any problems," he stipulated, giving them a hard glance.

Mercedes looked over at Sam to find him looking at her. And both narrowed their eyes at each other, deciding if that amount of money would be enough to stop them from killing each other.

After several tense moments they both nodded, slowly. Both agreeing to the terms.

For that kind of money, Mercedes was more than willing to do a lot of unpleasant things...like letting the life ruining bastard next to her live.

Sam walked into Mc. Bride's tavern, grinning. He really couldn't help it. Not only had he landed the most sought after project of the decade, but he was going to be getting a very nice bonus at the end.

He spotted five very large men sitting to the far right, glaring openly at him and he was reminded of the small problem he would have to quickly rectify.

The small problem being a certain little chocolate cupcake...who probably thought they were really going to work this project together.

That was just sad, because really at this stage of the game, she should know better.

This was his project and the sooner she figured that out the better off everyone would be.

Sure, he'd keep her around for appearances sake. She could fetch his lunch or something to make herself useful, but she would be staying away from his project.

And the use of her men would certainly be a nice little bonus.

Even he had to admit that he hadn't been looking forward to hiring temporary workers.

There wasn't time to sort through applicants right now and this project was definitely not something he wanted anyone green to work on.

He needed seasoned workers and he'd reluctantly...though silently...admitted to himself that Mercedes' crew was good.

His eyes darted over to the five men again, who looked torn between kicking his ass and eating their appetizers.

Having the Jones brothers working this project was like winning the lottery. Not that he would ever say it, but they were the best...even better than his team.

They worked hard, always finished their projects on time and their work was unquestionably the best in the area. But they were his main competition.

His boys were good, very good, but they didn't have that extra edge the Jones boys brought to each job.

What he wouldn't give to have even one of them on his crew...hell, running his crew.

Over the past five years he'd seriously considered risking war with Mercedes and going after one of her brothers on more than one occasion.

If he could get one, just one, he could probably lure the rest of them over to his side.

At that, his eyes drifted over to the oldest brother, Carson. He was the clear leader of the group. If he came over, the rest would follow.

How they managed to end up working for their baby sister, Sam would never know. Any of those men could easily have started up his own company and given him a run for his money, but they hadn't.

No doubt they worked for her out of fear of old man Jones. His boys might be grown men, but he still ruled the family with an iron fist.

He probably told the boys to help their sister and they jumped to do it, afraid the old man would kick their collective asses.

Hell, even he didn't turn his back on the sixty year old man. He wasn't that stupid.

Of course, if any of the brothers decided after working this particular project that they'd rather work with him, who was he to argue?

"Did we get it?" Noah, one of Sam's oldest friends and one of his foremen asked, as he joined them at the round tavern table.

The other four in the group stopped talking and sipping their beers to watch him expectantly.

"Hell yeah!" he said, grinning, looking towards the Jones brothers. "Maybe even more."

"Did you know Sam was gay?"

That question had Mercedes stumbling even though she'd changed into her work boots, jeans and customary gray tee shirt, to join her brothers at the tavern.

Before she went head first into the brick wall, her brother Silas reached out and grabbed her by the arm to steady her...which was actually impressive since he never took his eyes off the huge plate of food in front of him.

"Thanks," she said, taking the empty seat next to Benjamin.

"No problem," Silas said around a huge bite of his cheeseburger.

"Well?" Benicio, her other brother demanded, as he pushed a mug of steaming hot cocoa towards her, while Carson gestured to Lulu, their waitress.

"Well, what?" Mercedes asked, before taking a fortifying sip of cocoa. Not as good as hers, but still drinkable.

"Did you know he was gay?" Silas hissed as the waitress placed a large cheeseburger platter with extra fries, onion rings and coleslaw in front of her.

Mercedes snorted as she took another sip of cocoa and picked up her knife. Sam Evans, gay? That was actually laughable.

Just as she'd finished cutting her burger in half, Benjamin reached over and took half of it. And when she raised the bun of the remaining half, Josiah took her onions.

Silas and Benicio took her fries while Carson and Josiah split her onion rings.

When the only thing left on her plate was the coleslaw, each man in turn dumped his side salad with extra creamy French dressing onto her plate.

It took a few years, but she had them nicely trained, she thought, as she took a bite of her burger.

"Why do you think Sam is gay?" she asked, spearing a delicious looking, French dressing covered cucumber slice onto her fork.

"He keeps looking over here at us," Benjamin said, jerking his head in the direction behind him.

Sipping her cocoa, Mercedes leaned to the left to look between two of her very large brothers. Sometimes she felt like she had her own entourage of linebackers.

But having large muscular brothers did come in handy when she needed help moving or someone to open a pickle jar.

"He's doing it again," Josiah said, moving to the side so she could get a better look. And sure enough Sam was looking over at them.

Actually, so were his little buddies. They were talking and gesturing towards them.

No doubt the men were pissed at the news. So was she, but she was willing to suck it up as long as he stayed the hell out of her way, that is.

As if he sensed her thoughts, Sam turned his eyes on Mercedes and narrowed them dangerously.

She did the same and narrowed her eyes on him.

And everything around them disappeared as they glared at each other.

Sure it was childish, but she would not look away first damn it!

Neither did he.

Even when people walked between them, neither looked away.

The glaring was actually starting to make her feel dizzy though, but she would not look away first! Not this time! She would...

"They're probably just gloating. It's okay, baby girl, we'll get the next one," Carson said, pulling her attention away from the glaring jerk.

She looked away, but not before she caught Sam's triumphant grin.

'Bastard!'

"We got it," Mercedes said, taking a quick sip of cocoa.

Her brothers actually stopped eating to frown at her, which was pretty amazing since there was still food on the table and these guys loved to eat.

"What do you mean we got it?" Benjamin asked.

She shrugged.

"I signed the contract less than a half hour ago. It's ours."

The men looked over their shoulders and then back at her in unison.

"Then why do they look like they're celebrating? I can't imagine Sam being happy about losing to you," Benicio said, staring longingly at the piece of burger left on her plate.

So maybe they hadn't entirely forgotten about the food, she thought.

"Yeah, he looks damn happy for a man that just lost a million dollar contract," Josiah said, as his hand inched...almost as if it had a mind of its own...towards her burger.

But before he could touch her plate, Carson reached out and slapped his hand away.

Josiah gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug. She knew he couldn't help himself. It was something she understood even when they were kids.

Her brothers could eat their father out of house and home by the time they were six. And often did.

But, considering, that by age six, they were the size of twelve year olds that wasn't too surprising.

If it hadn't been for Carson, she would've probably starved to death. He kept his younger brothers in line and made sure that she had enough to eat.

"Yeah, well, he kind of sort of got the contract too," she said quickly, wincing in anticipation of their reaction.

But instead of cursing and slamming the table with their fists like she expected, they just sat there staring at her.

Finally, Benicio spoke.

"You're kidding, right?"

Mercedes shook her head, taking another sip of cocoa.

Again, her brothers looked over their shoulders and this time, Sam had the balls to salute them with his beer and a cocky grin.

She discretely flipped him off. And his cocky smile quickly turned to a tight frown as his eyes once again narrowed on her.

Her brothers turned their attention back to her, clearly wondering what she'd done. But she just gave them an innocent smile as she sipped her cocoa.

"I don't understand," Silas said. "How did you both get the contract?"

Darting her eyes away, Mercedes said quietly,

"We both got the contract. We'll be working with Uplands Construction on this job."

Stunned silence met her announcement.

She chanced a glance back up at her brothers, who were now looking at her as if she'd grown an extra head.

Nervously, she cleared her throat and continued.

"We each got the contract with a twenty percent markup and a nice bonus if we finish by the November deadline," she said, watching as the information sank in.

Each of the men cursed vividly as they turned and shot another scowl to the man, that once again smiled smugly in their direction.

Slowly, her brothers turned back to face her, glaring.

"Why didn't you tell them we could do it without Uplands Construction?" Silas demanded. And this time when Josiah tried to snag her burger, Carson didn't stop him.

'Great, the big babies are mad at me. Whatever. They'll get over it.'

"Does it look like I want to work with him?" she asked, making them frown. "I didn't have a choice. Even if we hire extra men we won't be able to train them in time for them to be useful. We wouldn't make the deadline. If we did this alone we'd also blow our profit on extra equipment. Extra equipment I might add that Uplands Construction has. All we have to do is go in, work our asses off just like any other project, meet the deadline and that's it. The only downside is that it will be with that jerk. But if I can handle it, then so can you!"

Mercedes' brothers looked thoughtful as they considered what she said.

Finally, with a shrug, Carson said,

"Fine, as long as he leaves us alone to do our job and lets us lead, we won't kick his ass."

Much love to you and yours. Stay safe!