Page 53 of Blood on Ice

And Vito wanted that for me. He wanted me to be happy. He was a psychotic stalker and a loan shark, but he wanted me happy. I wanted that for him too.

Why was that any crazier than me having made it to where I was?

We managed to hold the score at 2-1. When the final buzzer rang, we jumped on each other, hugging and cheering along with the crowd.

When we were back in the locker room, Coach Martin gave us the obligatory “good work, but don’t let it go to your head” speech. “We’re just starting out. You’ve got to keep this energy. I expect you to be working double time tomorrow.”

We all promised to as we scattered to shower and dress.

Everyone expected me to head out with the team, but I said I had someone special coming by my apartment.

“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.”

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