Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“Already lined up your post-game fuck?” Johnson asked.
Luca, our center, snorted. “I seriously may need to get into this gay thing.”
Vince slapped him. “Disrespectful.”
“Yeah, whatever, but he and Johnson get laid all the time.”
“True,” Luca said, “but Johnson will fuck anything that walks.”
“As long as it’s got a dick,” Vince agreed. I was thrilled that Johnson had the reputation of being the sluttiest guy on the team so that didn’t follow me from Vegas.
“Fuck off.” Johnson flipped us off as he headed to the shower.
I showered and changed back into my suit, checking one more time to make sure there wasn’t any blood on it. Those moments in the alley started playing in my mind again. I’d come damn close to not being at this game at all.
Vito had arranged a place to pick me up where there wouldn’t be a crowd. I congratulated all my teammates again, then slipped out, hoping no one noticed who picked me up. I knew Johnson would have questions. He’d interrogate me tomorrow, but for now I wasn’t going to think about that.
19
VITO
When I got to my seat I was shocked to see Pops there along with Valentino. Val had told me he’d take one of our family’s seats, but he hadn’t mentioned Pops was coming too. I never thought I’d see him out an event like this. He rarely even left his house.
I made my way past the group seated on the aisle and took my seat. Val clasped my hand, and I leaned over and placed my other hand on my father’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you here.”
“I wanted to keep an eye on things.”
There had been plenty of times when it would have been great for Pops to come and observe what we were doing. There was more to his presence than that, but I wasn’t about to question him. “Seen anything of note yet?”
Val nodded. “Three rows back and two sections over are two men we know Benito has worked with before. We saw them do a loop of the arena before coming and taking their seats.”
Fuck. “You know what happened on the way here, right?”
“We got the word from the cleanup crew. That’s part of what motivated Pops to join us instead of me bringing my own security.”
“No sign of Benito?” I asked.
“No, but with tens of thousands of people here, it would be easy for him to hide.”
“True, but the others aren’t trying to hide, and it’s not hard to figure out where our family has seats.”
Val nodded. “Especially since we have them exactly where you’d expect us to: in a prime location.”
“Right. How many men do we have around the place?”
“Ten in the most strategic spots.”
I nodded. “And they’ll let us know if there’s any sign of Benito or any of his other potential allies?”
“Of course.”
“Okay. I don’t want Zeke out of our sight. Someone needs eyes on him at all times. They’re going to use him to get to us.”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Pops said.
Once the players came out, I focused on the ice. I loved watching Zeke show off as he warmed up, and I couldn’t have been happier when he scored the first goal, but when the first period ended, the goons two sections over stood up and started to head out.
Val rose. “I got this. You stay put.”
I glanced at my father, and he nodded. “We’ve got your back.”
My chest tightened and my throat constricted. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to speak. “Thank you.”
He nodded, then focused his attention toward where Val had just exited, following Benito’s associates.
A few minutes into the second period I got a message from Val saying the men were in our custody, and they would be waiting for me to question them after the game. I watched Zeke take a shot before I responded. I wanted to take him home as soon as the game was over, but I also wanted to question these assholes myself.
“Can you hold them until I’ve had time to celebrate?”
“Sure. They got nothing to do but sit here. They’ll wait as long as you need them to. I’m going to see if I can get them talking about where to find Benito, but I’ll be sure to keep them alive for you.”
Before the game ended, Val returned and let us know he had the information we needed to track down Benito. He’d learned that Benito was part of a crew that had taken over a criminal enterprise in Las Vegas. We’d been right that he chose to deal with Zeke personally because he wanted a chance to gather a few more allies and get revenge on our family.
“We are going to bring this problem to an end as quickly as possible. Pops said he could have everything ready by tomorrow night. Take this time with Zeke.”