Page 52 of Deadly Ruck
"But I do." I pulled a small knife out of my pocket, flicked open the blade and drove it straight into King's chest, right through his heart.
His eyes bulged, mouth dropped open. He lowered his arms to his sides before starting to fall forward. All three of us grabbed him and lowered him the rest of the way down to the floor.
"Now who's dripping on the carpet?" Chelsea asked. Blood was trickling from King's chest, pumping a couple of times before his heart stopped completely.
"That would be him," Frost said as he opened the door and stepped in behind us. He seemed slightly disappointed to get here after we killed King. No doubt he'd had fantasies of his own about doing exactly that. Honestly, I would have waited for him, but I was done with King and his bullshit. And the way he was looking at Chelsea like somehow she might still factor in his future plans, even if he was a lackey.
"He's not looking too well." Storm followed Frost in, his eyes on King.
"I don't know, he looks fine to me," Atlas said as he ushered Jay in with him. "Just right." He patted me on the shoulder.
I managed a small smile. "He got what he deserved. That's all."
"Yeah, he did," Storm agreed. He wrapped his arms around Chelsea and held her close. "It looks like we going to need a new GM. Again. I vote we get a better one this time."
"Coach can come back now." Frost looked excited. Apparently he had already recovered from his disappointment at not being the one to kill King. Frost was resilient if nothing else. We all were. What choice did we have, living this lifestyle? And they thought playing football was tough.
"After we get this mess cleaned up," I said. I pulled out my phone and sent off a text. "They shouldn't be long. Let's get Chelsea home."
I gave King a last look before herding everyone out. King's assistant was gone when we walked past her desk. By the look of it, she'd cleared out and bolted. Under the circumstances, that was a wise move. If I was her, I'd be long gone. Along with anyone else who worked for Jones.
Finally, we could reclaim our team and get back to living our lives. With our perfect, beautiful mafia princess. I silently corrected myself. She'd gone from being a reluctant princess to a queen. Our queen.
"Home sounds good," I said. "I could use a workout. "I grinned when Chelsea looked back at me, a frown on her brow. "Not overdoing it. I promise." I intended to keep that promise and many more. Including going to therapy. We'd faced down a lot of demons in the last few weeks, I could deal with this one. After all, I had my family to support me and help me through.
What more could a guy want?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chelsea
"It's longpast time we christened this space," I said as we filed down the stairs to the basement.
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing," Frost said.
We'd left the stadium right before the story of Max Stanley's return broke. At some point, the press would learn about the tragic drowning of Otis Skinner, and the mysterious demise of Dominic King. That was a problem for the future. For now, we were focused on being together and mending any of the bridges that got damaged in the last while.
For the most part, we got out unscathed. Although, I might not go in a swimming pool again for a while.
"We've been busy," Ramsey remarked. He seemed more relaxed than I'd seen him before.
In fact, now I thought about it, all of the guys were more relaxed than they'd been. So was I. Relaxed and looking forward to getting on with my life.
"Where do we start?" Frost looked around at all the toys and apparatuses in the basement.
Storm let out a laugh. When we all turned to him questioningly, he pointed. "An industrial size bottle of lubricantwith a pump. I like it. You really did think of everything." He put an arm around Frost and loudly kissed his cheek.
"To be honest, that was the first thing on my list," Frost said, blushing slightly. "I figured we'd need it."
"You figured right." Atlas placed his hands on Jay's shoulders and steered him over to the sex couch.
Before anyone else could move, Dallas grabbed my hand and tugged me over to the swing in the corner.
"I've always wanted to try one of these," he said.
I smiled. "You're in for a treat then." I let him help me out of my clothes and did the same to him, while the others stripped off.
Storm and Frost headed over to the side to check out the array of toys and Ramsey leaned against the wall, watching Dallas lift me onto the swing and get me comfortable.
