Page 43 of On Ice

I shake my head at his surly attitude. “As a rule, I don’t bring people home, Evan. My family lives here. I don’t want strangers around them.”

“Then why the hell am I here?” He truly does look mystified.

“I don’t feel you’re a threat.” I highly doubt he’d be violent toward my family. Evan isn’t a violent guy.

His mouth thins. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Give me the chance and I can be a threat to you, Luca.”

I laugh. “I’m not worried.”

“Good, that will make you easier to get to.” His lip curls.

Irritation at how ungrateful he is eats at me. “Keep this up and I’ll make you sleep in the dog kennels.”

“I’m good with that.”

I do my best to appear unaffected by his rebellious behavior. “As much as I’d love to see you at my feet, wearing a dog collar, it’s late. You need to shower and we both need sleep.”

Pink touches his muddy cheeks.

I point toward the door near the dresser. “Bathroom is through there.”

He walks stiffly to the dresser and pulls open the drawers one by one. He chooses a pair of black sweats and a light blue T-shirt. Then he walks to the bathroom and slams the door shut. After a few minutes, I hear the shower turn on.

I grit my teeth, trying not to give into my irritation. As annoying as I find him right now, I shouldtryto be more understanding. This has been a very difficult night for him. He played a long, stressful hockey game, was almost executed, and survived a horrendous car wreck. Now he’s staying in my house, which is probably his worst nightmare. He still thinks I want him dead.

I head downstairs to the kitchen to find him something to eat. He’s probably starving and dehydrated. I’m no cook, but I make a mean prosciutto and avocado sandwich. I grab some sourdough bread, prosciutto, mayo, mustard, and an avocado from the fridge. I work quickly, not wanting him to finish his shower and try to make a run for it.

Once I have his sandwich assembled, I grab a bottle of water and some Advil and head back upstairs. He’s still in the shower, so I set the food, water, and pain medication on the nightstand, and perch on the edge of his bed. Bringing Evan here was the smart thing to do if I want to keep him alive. But I’m nervous about how my family will react to Evan’s presence. I’m sure they’ll be very surprised that I brought him here. I’m surprised I brought him here.

My family knows I bought the Ice Hawks, but they don’t know about my more personal relationship with Evan. There wasn’t supposed tobea personal relationship. Not that what I feel for Evan is anything meaningful. I’d just really like torecapture the chemistry we had the first night we met. I’m hopeful that he’ll be grateful to me for saving his life. I’m equally hopeful he’ll show me how grateful he is by sleeping with me again.

I never said I was a saint.

I finally have an idea of how to save Evan. It came to me while I was making his sandwich. He’ll loathe my idea with every fiber of his being, but I think it could work. The way to protect Evan is to change how he’s perceived. Right now, Evan is simply a pawn who disobeyed me. That makes him vulnerable. Expendable. But if I were to tell people he was my live-in lover, then my leniency toward him would be accepted more easily. My associates would understand why I’m protecting him. It’s not because I’m weak. It’s because Evan is my boy-toy and I’m not done playing with him yet.

My idea could definitely work. While me and my associates are cold blooded assholes most of the time, we all have soft spots for our family and significant others. Vincent has had the same mistress for six years, and Dmitri often picks girls from his stable who he sets up in apartments. Everyone has wives or side pieces that are given leeway to misbehave, unlike regular nobodies. If I tell everyone that Evan is my lover, odds are they’ll all back off. I might still have to cover some of their financial losses from the game, because business is business, but they’d stop trying to murder Evan. He’d be under the Barone Syndicate’s protection.

Excitement shivers through me as my mind explores all the things I like about my plan. I know getting through Evan’s armor won’t be easy. He thinks I’m a monster. It’s up to me to show him my gentler side. My protective side. That should help soften him toward me. After all, I’m risking my reputation to protecthim. I’m allowing him access to my home. That’s not something I’ve ever done before.

There’s something special about Evan. I felt it the first moment I met him. I’m not saying it’s anything that will last because I don’t believe anything lasts. But I do believe in chemistry, and Evan and me have that in spades. Even when I want to strangle him, I also want to fuck him. Just the sight of him sends heat coursing through my veins. My reaction to Evan is visceral, and I know he feels it too.

Now I simply have to convince Evan that my plan will work.

Because if he reject my idea, his chances of survival will be zero.

Chapter Thirteen

Evan

I don’t know how to get out of this mess I’m in.

My mind is spinning as I step into the glass-enclosed shower. The bathroom is as lavish as the rest of the house. The spacious shower has walls that are soft gray and white marble. One corner of the space features a built-in teak bench, its warm wood contrasting beautifully with the cool marble. I’m surrounded by beautiful things, but inside I feel like a corpse. I’m a walking dead man.

I close my eyes and let the hot water cascade down my sore body. The heat and steam chase away the chill of spending hours in the rain on that mountain. The accident replays over and over in my head. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. I really thought I was going to die tonight. First by Marco’s hand and then in that car crash.

But I’m alive. For some reason I’m still breathing.

I don’t trust Luca as far as I can throw him. He says he no longer wants me dead. He says he doesn’t want the other syndicate bosses to kill me either. Remembering how angry he was with me following the game, it’s hard to imagine he’s just going to let me get away with what I did. I’ve never seen anyone that mad. It was terrifying. He’s terrifying.

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