Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Sal just rolled his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She smacked him on his chest. “You ass! You only brought me a single Nutty Buddy when you saw me in jail!”
Defensively, he moved away from her smacking hands. “They wouldn’t have let you take them back to your cell.”
Hurt, she averted her gaze from him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Valerie, you want to make money by building a make-believe world. I make my money by building a world where no one knows who I am.”
Thinking that was one hell of a line that she needed to use in a video game, she wasn’t able to be too angry after he had helped save her life.
“Thank you, Justice and Vincent.” She gave them both a hug. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you both. I thought I was a goner, for sure.”
“And what am I? Chopped liver?” Sal scoffed, motioning to the bullet wound he had taken for her.
Valerie wound her arms around Sal’s neck before placing a tender kiss on his lips. “Oh, I know exactly how I plan to repay you.”
“Lucca is waiting outside the front of the Casino Hotel with his men,” Kent told him once they reached the casino floor of the Horseshoe with an armed escort, via a motorcycle club he represented that had currently also been staying at the Casino Hotel.
Sal had to give them credit; their weapons were putting the Caruso family’s to shame as he and Vincent now stared in envy.
“How did you manage to keep Lucca outside?”
“I called and told him I had it under control and to keep his men back, that I wasn’t going to spend the next five years defending him in court if he left the casino. Which one do you want?”
How he had planned to cover up this clusterfuck of a mess, Sal had no fucking idea, but he was grateful it wasn’t going to be the Caruso’s problem. He’d let Kent take the responsibility of cleaning up Valerie’s sticky situation this one time, at least considering he was certain Justice had orchestrated the Caruso’s involvement with Valerie in the first place.
“Is it possible for me to take the flash drive?” Sal’s interest had been piqued about what kind of bug it must contain.
Kent’s lips quirked into a smile at the endless possibilities The Great Salvatore might conduce with it in the future. “I don’t care how justice gets carried out, only that justice is done.”
Sal was grateful Valerie hadn’t heard Kent say that line. She was a few feet ahead, asking a man covered in facial scars that went by the name Jackal to model for her next video game.
Holding out a hand, he decided to let bygones be bygones. “Thank you, Kent.”
“Don’t thank me.” The lawyer happily accepted the handshake. “You were the one who had the bright idea of splitting up just in case she got off on the tenth floor.”
Shaking his head, Sal had to swallow his pride for what he was actually thanking him for. “Not that …”
“Oh.” Kent silently understood. “So, you no longer hate me for pushing you to buy that house next to Valerie?”
Hearing Valerie ask Jackal if he had scars anywhere else on his body had Sal giving the hand in his a death grip. “I wouldn’t go that far just yet.”
“I’m coming,” Valerie huffed out to Sal, waving bye to her dozen new motorcycle friends while he dragged her along toward the ambulance.
“We really got to step up our game.” Vincent also gave one last appreciative look back. Not at the men but their weapons.
“I’ll get Lucca right on it,” Sal hissed out, already planning on how he was going to use his new weapons to eradicate every good-looking man on Earth who came within a five-foot distance of Valerie.
As they crossed the street, Sal looked up at the blue moon one last time, grateful to still be alive.
“So, what’s the deal with you and a blue moon?” Valerie asked curiously, noticing him staring at it.
“For fuck’s sake …” Vincent just shook his head and rolled his eyes heavenward at the superstition that Sal hadn’t yet told her about.
“It’s a long story.”
TWENTY-SIX
MEN, GOD BLESS THEM. THEY WERE SO FULL OF THEMSELVES
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she flipped through a computer magazine she had found in the bottom drawer of the nightstand while Sal took his shower. He had refused to let her take a shower with him after she almost knocked him unconscious while convincing him to try a new sexual position they hadn’t done yet.
A while ago, when Valerie had first opened the drawer, she thought she had found his secret stash of porn. She’d heard all men had them. She’d decided to do some investigating in his room when she grew bored while he worked. Did Sal have any pictures or memorabilia from any of his former girlfriends he hadn’t gotten rid of?