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)
I smiled, glad he couldn’t see me. It meant so much for him to say that.
“When do I get to meet this fiancé?”
“Soon.”
“You’re a damn good addition to this team as long as you have your head in the game. If you’d left after I’d turned in the lineup, we’d be having a different conversation. I’m giving you a pass on this one screwup, but if you pull a stunt like this again—”
“I swear nothing like this will happen again. I’ll find you first if some other emergency ever comes up. Hopefully it won’t.” I doubted that, knowing Vito’s lifestyle, but I couldn’t tell that to Coach.
“You’d better not be even one second late to our next practice and be prepared for an extra hard workout.”
“You got it, Coach.”
“Good night.” He ended the call, and I blew out a long breath. I walked back into the bedroom.
“Everything okay?” Vito asked.
“Yes. He’s not even going to punish me. I thought I’d at least have to miss the next game, but Coach said he was giving me this one screwup as a freebie since I left before he’d turned in the lineup. If I’d made them play a man down, things would have been worse, but I’d still have left.”
Vito frowned. “But your career is so important to you.”
I sat on the bed next to him. “Not as important as you. When Liam called and said Benito had you, it was clear to me. You mattered more than the game, more than anything. I wasn’t going to let him hurt you.”
“I’m supposed to be the one protecting you.”
“I think it works a lot better if we protect each other. Plus, I’m the one who started this whole mess. I wasn’t going to let my mistakes end up causing you to get hurt or….”
“I was such a fucking idiot. I should’ve waited for everyone, but I just felt like I had to make sure Benito was going to show up when he was supposed to. Then I ended up wrecking the plan.”
“He’s dead. That’s what matters.”
“Damn right it is,” Dom said as he walked into the room. Why had I left the fucking door open?
“What about everyone else?” Vito asked.
“Val is taking care of them with Devil and Angelo for backup.”
“I could have done that.”
Dom raised his brows. “You’re injured, you don’t have to do anything but heal. There’s plenty of stuff you do that Val could do and vice versa. You’re a good team.”
“Really?” Vito looked stunned.
Dom ran a hand over his hair. “I know I’m hard on you, but that’s because I know what this life is like and what it takes to survive. Jesus, if you’d ever met my father….”
“I’ve heard plenty about him.” Vito’s tone let me know none of it was good.
Dom nodded. “I don’t think he ever said anything nice to me my entire life.”
“Then you’ve already done a lot better than he did,” Vito said.
“Maybe I have. I love you, Vito, just like I love your brother. You are a part of this family, and you matter. We’ve got your back. You don’t have to do anything on your own.”
“So I’ve proven myself by doing exactly what I wasn’t supposed to do?”
Dom rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t say that exactly, but you’ve shown me a lot. I’ve learned from you and from Val, so that’s good.”
Vito held out his arms for a hug and his father embraced him. Tears stung my eyes as I watched the two of them. I wasn’t sure they’d ever hugged like that before.
When Dom pulled back, he turned away and brushed at his eyes.
“I need to catch Lucien up on the last of the men Val tracked down.”
“No one gave you any trouble?”
“They didn’t have a fucking chance after Val found out what happened to you. Did you think he was going to let any of them have time to get off a shot?”
Vito smiled. “No fucking way.”
“He might’ve been almost as fast as Zeke was with Benito.”
He rushed to my face, and I was sure my cheeks were turning red. “You heard about that?”
“I always get a very detailed report on what happens in an incident like this. Good job by the way. I think we’ll make a true Marchesi out of you.”
“Are you going to start coming to more games?”
Dom looked away for a moment, then he turned and faced me fully, even letting me see the scarred side of his face.
“I can’t promise to be there all the time, but I’d like to come see you play again.”
“I asked Zeke to marry me,” Vito said.
Dom’s eyes widened. “I guess when you know what you want you really don’t hesitate.”
“It was really because—”
Vito held up a hand, stopping me. “It was because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and if now is the best time for us to get engaged, then it is.”