24. Theias
24
THEIAS
I brush the messy hair off Ella’s face and can’t help watching her sleep peacefully beside me while the house remains quiet. Everyone fast asleep with no idea how dirty I fucked this sweet, innocent angel.
I buzz with energy in anticipation of my fight tonight and am ready to get on with the day. Oliver isn’t allowed at Lorde Arena due to my plans of killing both men who thought they could touch my woman. Cell phones and recording devices will be banned, so I’m not concerned about being exposed or caught. Not that I’ll kill either man in front of the audience. No, they will witness the downfall of Tank. He’ll be carried out, and afterwards, up in my suite, Blake will be invited to come have a drink with me. He won’t leave with any breath in his body.
I slide out of bed, and regret slams into me. Ella is so innocent; tonight might corrupt her. But she’ll know she’s safe, at least. The things I’ll do for her are unmatched by anything else in my life. I want nothing more than to give her everything she deserves, and if that means eliminating a few lives along the way, I’m okay with it.
After a quick shower, I meet my men in the kitchen where breakfast awaits.
“Oliver is still sleeping,” Owen informs me. “We stayed up late playing video games and shooting the shit.” I raise a brow at that as I take a long drink of coffee. “He had questions about Ella, some I couldn’t answer. But mostly, he wanted to ensure you were the right man for her.”
I let him know he did the right thing, then I look to Caleb. “I want you here with Ella today.” He sits up straighter, likely believing this is a punishment. “Today is a wild card. I need to know she’s safe. I can’t be distracted, and the best way to do that is to make sure you’re glued to her side.”
“Fine,” he grumbles, shoving a piece of bacon into his mouth.
“Owen, did you make the arrangements in L.A.?”
“Gambino’s men are all over it.” He grins, knowing I’ll be pissed but unable to do a damn thing about it so close to the event. “Parents will be here next week, too. They weren’t thrilled about leaving their jobs, but once I explained this is where Ella will be settling and that Oliver is likely to stay, they caved.”
“Good.” I’d hate for Ella to miss them and be sad. “Oliver ready to be set up in the suite at the hotel?”
While I don’t want him at the fight, I won’t leave him alone, either. I’m also not letting Ella unprotected in my suite. I don’t trust anyone else with her safety but Caleb, Owen, and Lucas.
“Justin and Patty will be staying with him. They’re setting up some gaming systems now and loading the kitchen with junk food,” Lucas responds, looking at his phone.
“Let’s get on the road, then.”
Lucas and Owen follow me out of the house. Caleb and Ella will drop Oliver off later at the hotel before coming to the arena for the fight. Which gives me nearly the entire day to miss her tight cunt wrapped around my cock, sucking the seed out of me and soaking into her walls. Damn , the woman has no idea how sexy she is with her head tossed back and eyes glazed with passion.
“Fuck,” I grunt, dropping my head back against the seat and closing my eyes. I squeeze my dick until it hurts so I don’t rub one out with Lucas and Owen in the front of the car and me by myself in the back.
The drive ambles on endlessly as I wait for the car to stop, to step out into the heat, and I wonder why the fuck I didn’t just take Tank out the morning he showed up at my mansion. I should have snapped his neck then and there. I’d be in bed between my future wife’s legs right now if I’d done that.
It was stupid to let him go.
“Boss, Adonis is on the line,” Lucas says, his eyes picking up on more than I want him to.
“Little brother.” I put the phone to my ear, amused to hear from the man who fought so hard to get out from under my shadow. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”
He sighs. “Cut the shit, Theias. Soren hasn’t heard from Ella, and she’s fucking concerned.”
“Ella.” I whisper her name as if I could conjure her out of thin air. I wish. “She is well. I left her in bed not long ago.”
“Guess their little plan worked. She’s the one, then?” There’s no mockery, just curiosity.
“Very much so. In fact, I have a fight tonight. Why don’t you, Nick, and your respective partners catch a flight in this afternoon? I’m sure Ella would love to see the girls, too; she has some exciting news.”
It’s the first time I’ve ever offered an invitation to anyone outside of my brother, and I’m sure he doesn’t miss the significance of that.
“Yeah, sure, I’ll look at chartering a flight.”
“Lucas is on it. I’ll set you all up in my hotel for the night as well.” I picture the man’s confusion through the line. I’m not often affable, but Ella has worked her magic on me, and I don’t wish to isolate her the way I have isolated myself.
“You’re being generous, big brother.”
“Take it while it’s available, then.” Adonis laughs before agreeing as I hang up. “Get him the details, Lucas.”
He’s already typing away on his phone as we pull into the arena's parking lot.
I step out of the limo, the morning oddly quiet, or maybe that’s anticipation I feel. I want to bask in the silence before the chaos cranks up to a roar, but I don’t get the opportunity as Owen and Lucas come up next to me. Lucas confirms he’s given flight and booking information to Adonis and Nick. Owen glances around, looking for trouble.
“Something there?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything.
“Not sure. I’m going to have a look around.” He’s gone before I can ask what he’s sensing.
Owen was always a good look-out. He spent a few years in the Marines as a sniper before we met over a decade ago. I trust his instinct; if something feels off to him, I don’t question it.
Entering the building I had custom built, I admire the industrial work in the daylight. I didn’t care for all the plaster and drywall the designer had wanted to add. I liked the old-school feel of exposed beams. Black and steel are the only shades in this section of the building until you hit the box office, my suite, and the locker rooms. Everything else is bare bones–how it should be.
People shouldn’t be too comfortable here. They’re not here to relax and chill out with friends and family. This place is about more than that. It’s about betting, allowing your vices to control you and, on more occasions than not, the bloodshed.
Taking the stairs down to the ring in the middle of the building, I enter, careful not to bother the crew erecting the steel around it. Tank doesn’t know it yet, but we’ll be locked in a cage. Just the two of us. No refs to interfere as I beat his dumb ass down until he chokes on his own blood.
Standing in the middle, I look up to where my suite oversees the arena. Closing my eyes, I imagine Ella standing at the glass, her fingers touching it, hand on her belly, as she watches me kill the man who spent too long tormenting her.
His seat is positioned so that he won’t see her until she’s escorted down to me by Caleb and Lucas. And when he decides to get ballsy and come barreling after her, which I know he will–men like him always do–I’ll be ready to snap his neck before he can breathe in her space.