31. Vito

31

VITO

T hat was Zeke’s voice. What was Zeke doing here? How long had I been unconscious? Was his game over?

I rocked the chair back and forth, banging it on the concrete floor, as I tried to scream for Zeke, despite the tape over my mouth.

I heard voices again. Zeke and Val and someone else. Maybe Joe? I needed to get this fucking tape off my mouth and scream so they’d be able to find me.

Their steps retreated, letting me know they hadn’t found the hidden door upstairs. If I remembered right from looking around after my fall, the door to the outside had been bricked over. I kept rocking the chair back and forth and doing my best yell. I needed to make as much noise as possible.

A few moments later, I heard Zeke again. It sounded like he was sobbing. “We can’t get in this way. There’s got to be another door.”

He was right there, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was going to make Benito suffer so fucking bad for this.

“Wait. Follow me,” Val yelled.

The voices retreated again then I heard more footsteps overhead. A few moments later the door opened, and they ran down the stairs with Zeke in the lead.

“Vito, oh God, are you okay?” He fell to his knees in front of me and ripped the tape off my mouth. “I didn’t know if you were… We weren’t sure….”

I had to clear my throat several times before I could speak. “I’m okay. I think my wrist might be broken, but I’ll be fine.”

Zeke made a noise that didn’t sound human. “I want to kill him. I want to fucking kill him.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Val promised as he worked to untie the ropes around my arms. “I’m trying to be as gentle as I can. Zeke you work on his ankles.” Val kept his voice low and soothing like he was talking to a crazy person. Zeke was only acting like the rest of us would in the same situation, but that meant he needed me as much as I needed him.

Val freed my hands, and I was trying to get the feeling back in my arms as Zeke worked on my ankles.

“Drop your weapons and stand back.”

Benito. I looked up the stairs, but I didn’t see him. Then Zeke pointed to a red dot on my chest.

“I won’t hesitate to kill him.”

Val brought a finger to his lips and backed away.

I needed to distract him. I had to keep his attention off Zeke. “I was prepared to talk to you, work things out,” I said.

Zeke’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move.

Benito snorted. “You were ready to fuck me over like the rest of your family.”

I could see him now. He’d moved from where he was hiding. I needed to keep talking. “You’re wrong. I came here to?—”

“Shut up.”

He was in the doorway now. Exposed.

Zeke moved so fast I barely comprehended it. He pulled a gun from a shoulder holster, aimed and fired. Benito fell backward, and his head made a sickening crunch against one of the stairs.

“Fuck. Did you just…?”

Val and the others rushed up the stairs, taking them several at a time. “He’s dead,” Val yelled as they hurried into the house, ready to defend us against anyone working with Benito.

I reached out to Zeke with my good arm. “Are you okay?” He was still staring at the top of the stairs as if he expected Benito to come back to life or for someone else to start shooting at us. “They’ll take care of anyone else. They’re really good at what they do.”

Zeke finally turned to face me. “I…I’m fine. No one hurt me. Your arm, how bad is it?”

“I’ll be fine. There’s nothing wrong with me that can’t be fixed.”

He frowned. “You’ve got a bruise here.” He brushed his fingers over my jaw. “What did they do to you?”

“It doesn’t matter. You can’t kill him again.”

His eyes turned fierce. “I would, you know.”

“You’ve never shot anyone before. It’s a big deal. Are you sure you’re all right?”

He shook his head as if dismissing the question. “I’m fine. He hurt you. and he would’ve killed you. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Of course you didn’t. You did exactly the right thing, and you shot him dead center in the chest. I thought you said weren’t a very good shot.”

“I’m not, but this counted more than anything ever has.”

I loved Zeke so fucking much. Before I could tell him that, there was commotion upstairs. We both froze, listening carefully. No one called out to us, and no one appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Look at me, Zeke.”

He did, and when I looked into his eyes, my heart skipped to beat. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I thought…I thought you were just obsessed with me, that you would get over it once the excitement died down?—”

I pressed a finger from my good hand against his lips.

“That was never going to happen. From the moment I first saw you in Vegas, I felt something that I’ve never felt with anyone else before. But I didn’t really understand how much I cared about you or how deep this went until I saw you with my family. That’s when I knew…I knew that I loved you, that I wanted to be with you forever.”

“Well, that’s good because you’re stuck with me.”

“They like you, you know. My family.”

“I like them, too.”

Val called down to us. “Everything’s clear up here, and there’s a cleanup crew on the way. We need to get you home, then track down the rest of these bastards.”

“He needs to go to a hospital,” Zeke said.

I shook my head. “We have a doctor who will come to us. I promise she’s really good and very discreet.”

Zeke looked up at Val, and Val nodded. “He’s telling the truth. I wouldn’t risk his safety any more than you would.”

“Shit. Your game. What happened? Did you win? What time is it?”

“I left before the game started. I told everyone I had a family emergency and took off. I couldn’t play knowing that Benito had you.”

“But how did you know he’d captured me? How did you know what happened?”

“Benito sent a message telling us he had you and we had until midnight to meet his demands if we wanted to see you again. But your family said he wouldn’t just turn you over.”

I smiled at Zeke and pulled him to me. “They’re right. But how did you find me here?”

“The tracker.”

I frowned. “What tracker?”

“You put a tracker in my jacket pocket, remember?”

“You took it out, didn’t you?”

I shook my head. “I realized maybe it was best for you to know where I was, so I left it in my jacket.”

“And then I wore it.”

“Yeah, almost like you knew you needed to.”

“We really do belong together.”

“Fuck, right we do. I heard you upstairs and then outside. I was so scared you wouldn’t find me.”

“Val remembered an uneven place in the kitchen wall, and when he found it again, he was able to find the release for the door, but I would have gotten to you if I’d had to tear the house down with my bare hands.”

“I love you so fucking much.”

“I love you too.” Zeke leaned forward to kiss me, but Val made a gagging noise.

“That’s enough you two.”

I huffed. “I’ve had to watch enough mushy shit between you and Liam. You can’t complain.”

“I can complain that you’re wasting time, and we need to be gone.”

Zeke took my uninjured hand. “Can you walk?”

“Sure, I’ll be fine,” I said, having no idea if that was true.

As soon as I stood, I swayed and nearly fell over. Zeke put an arm around my waist.

“We’ll take him out the basement door,” Val said, hurrying down the stairs to come to stand at my other side.

“There’s nothing wrong with my legs. I mean, my knee is a little bruised, but I can walk.”

“What did happen?” Zeke asked.

“I got caught in a trap out back. I hit a trip wire, and I was yanked up in the air. Benito marched me inside and ordered me to go down to the basement. When I refused, he pushed me down the stairs.”

Zeke glanced back toward the house.

“You really can’t kill him again. Trust me. If we had the power to bring him back to life, I’d do it for you.”

“Come on,” Val said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Zeke stayed by my side as the doctor examined my wrist in one of the guest rooms at my father’s house.

He was impressed that she’d brought a portable X-ray machine so she could get images of my wrist and my ribs. Fortunately, nothing was actually broken, but she did want me to keep my wrist in a brace and use a sling for several weeks. We’d see how long I could stand that, though I had a feeling Zeke was going to be very strict with me about my medical orders.

When the doctor left, Zeke insisted I lay down, and then sat on the bed beside me.

“What did your coach say about you leaving?” I asked.

“I haven’t talked to him. I told Johnson that I had a family emergency, but I didn’t give him any details. I didn’t know what to say, and all I could think about was getting out of there and finding you.”

“I need to have a word with whoever told you I was missing.”

“The fuck you do. Had I played that game, then found out you were missing, I would have gone after your whole fucking family, no matter how scary they are. And they only knew about the tracker because of me.”

I laid a hand on his thigh. “I just want to keep you out of harm’s way, and I never want to do anything to jeopardize your hockey career.”

“You haven’t, I made the choice to leave. But I’d better call Coach Martin. I need to check in.”

“You should’ve called him while the doctor was looking at my wrist.”

“No way. I wasn’t leaving your side until I knew the extent of your injuries.”

“It’s just like I told you, I’ve got a sprained wrist and some bruises.”

“I had to make sure you weren’t just trying to make me feel better and that things weren’t worse.”

I shook my head. “I love you.”

Zeke smiled. “I love you too, but now I’ve got to go deal with the consequences of rushing out before the game.”

“There have to be provisions for players to leave for a family emergency.”

“There are, but I should’ve talked directly to Coach before I left, and technically, you’re not my family.”

“Marry me.” The words burst out before I even realized I was going to say them.

Zeke’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“Agree to marry me. Then you can tell your coach we’re engaged. A fiancé has to count as family.”

“Wow, that’s… Talk about moving fast.”

“We can stay engaged for a while, if that’s what you’d like, but you and I both know this is a forever thing.”

Zeke studied me. “Are you only asking me so I won’t be in as much trouble with Coach?”

“No. Asking you now is just about convenient timing. Marrying you is about us belonging together. Also, I need you in my bed every night.” I gave him a slow once-over.

“Are you seriously horny when you just got your wrist bandaged and you’re all banged up?”

“Fuck, yes.”

Zeke rolled his eyes. “You’re really serious about marrying me?”

“Yes, baby.”

“Fuck. I…I didn’t expect that, but yes, I’ll marry you, and I’ll be in your bed every night.”

I smiled, feeling more at peace than I had in a long time. “Call Coach Martin now.”