Sinful Secrets (Savannah Sharks Hockey and Mafia #2)

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

SPENCER

I follow the team through the tunnel to our locker room. Sweat pours down my face as I take my helmet off and throw it into the cubby.

Rhett Montgomery plops down on the bench next to me. “Fuck, that period was brutal.”

“You’re telling me. That’s the worst we’ve played all season.”

Chase Williams scoffs from across the locker room. “You say that as if we are already at the All Star break or playoffs.”

“It was a general statement about our shitty performance.” I bark out before grabbing my towel and drying my face.

“Yikes, someone is testy tonight.”

I flip him off, not bothering to waste oxygen explaining my reasoning. I’m met with a chorus of laughter.

My phone rings from behind me. As soon as I see who it is, my mood instantly perks up.

A smile grows on my face as I answer my phone. “I was just thinking about you.”

Her small laugh comes through the phone, sounding like the most pleasurable melody I’ve ever heard. “They were dirty thoughts, weren’t they?”

“They always are.” I tease.

Several guys watch me with wide eyes. I roll my eyes and flip them off.

It’s like the fuckers haven’t ever seen someone have a personal conversation.

They gave Rhett hell for it, too.

“So, what’s going on?”

Hopefully nothing too serious as I’m across the country right now.

“I sold everything this weekend.”

My eyes widen as I lower my voice. “What? That’s amazing.”

How did she sell everything in less than three days? Most guys take weeks to months to sell it all.

She sounds excited, like she’s literally jumping for joy. “Yeah, and I sold it for a lot more than the twenty thousand you said to sell it for.”

I turn away from the guys and whisper, “How much more?”

She whispers back, “I have twenty-five thousand dollars in the black bag right now. People here will pay top dollar for it. I think I can make even more profit if I target the right clientele.”

“Keep the extra five thousand dollars as well as my eight thousand.”

“I get to keep thirteen thousand dollars?”

I chuckle. “Of course you can keep it. You earned it. So this might be intrusive, but why do you need the cash?”

“To be completely honest, I lost my scholarship. I found out the day we talked in the museum.”

I interrupt her story. “How do you lose a scholarship after the semester already starts?”

Turning around to lean against the wall, I glance around at the full locker room. Several conversations are going on at once, but Joey and Rhett glance toward me, looking worried.

“I don’t know. Financial aid told me the alumnus in charge of the scholarship gave the scholarship to another student. I was supposed to have it for all four years of school. That’s one of the reasons I moved here and not New York.”

She lets out a sigh and continues.

“I have to pay the first quarter payment of fourteen thousand five-hundred dollars by the end of the month. Thanks to this weekend, I’m almost there, but I’m a long way off of having the fifty-eight thousand I need for the year.”

I could make a phone call and make her debt go away, but would she think I’m overstepping? I could make the financial aid office tell her the scholarship is back on.

Another idea pops into my head. “Do you still have the original document from when you were given the scholarship?”

“Uh, probably. It’s probably in the box under my bed.”

“Find it before I get back home tonight. If you were promised four years of a fully paid scholarship, then you are entitled to it. If you can find the document, I’ll make sure your tuition is paid for.”

If not, I’ll still make sure it’s paid. I don’t want her stressing over money. Not when I make millions of dollars a year and barely spend a fraction of it.

We say our goodbyes and I send Arturo a quick text.

The red-headed dancer at the club is done dancing for the weekend. The customers love her and want to see her more.

One thing I’ve learned about Arturo is he prefers direct talk when we are face to face but discreet texts. It makes sense since text messaging records can be accessed months and years later.

He immediately replies back.

That makes me very happy to know she is working out. I’ll send someone over shortly to give her more shifts and put her on the permanent schedule.

Even if I pay Savannah’s tuition, Arturo just made her a member of the family, whether she knows it or not. I need to call her to make sure she stays at the club for a little while longer.

Her phone rings and rings. When I’m sure the voicemail is about to pick up, she answers my call, sounding breathless.

“Hello?”

“Hey, is everything alright?” I ask while staring at Rhett and Joey. They seem to be in a deep conversation.

She chuckles. “Oh yeah, I was just talking with Emily.”

I check to make sure no one is paying attention to me before whispering, “My boss is very pleased with your work and is sending someone over to the club to pick up the money and drop off another bag discreetly.”

“Already? I just called you.”

“We move fast sometimes. Especially when you are this good. He’s going to put you on the permanent schedule. If you want out, just tell him or me and I’ll handle it.”

“Uh, yeah. I’ll work another couple of shifts until I can pay tuition and put some money away for savings. I’ve been waitressing here more than I’ve been dancing, so the extra income will supplement.”

“Make sure you take your cut out now before the guy shows up.”

The guys stand and start redressing, so I say, “Savannah, I need to go, but I’ll send you a message when I’m on the plane home.”

“Be safe.” She whispers before ending the call.

For a moment, my heart races. It’s like we are already past the dating stage and in a serious relationship. Why would I tell her I’ll message when I’m on the plane? And what was with her response?

None of my ex-girlfriends ever told me to be safe.

Is it because Savannah knows I delve into illegal activity? Or does she genuinely care about me?

Another text comes through my phone. Looking down, I see it’s from Arturo.

You’re doing a great job. Let’s talk more next week.

A smile forms on my face. It’s not me who’s doing a great job. It’s all Savannah. She’s the one selling the product, not me.

I grab my helmet and quickly meet up with the guys, who are already walking back down the tunnel.

The team athletic trainer William pats me on my back as I walk past. “Good luck in the third period.”

I roll my eyes.

We are losing three to zero. I think we need a miracle, not luck.

Joey pulls me to the side. “Me, you, and Rhett need to catch up and talk on the plane ride home tonight. Dad is giving me more freedom with operations, and I want the three of us to be on the same page going forward.”

“Yeah, we need to be on the same page because things are heating up and we need to solve the problems before they get worse.”

He gives me a nod before taking the ice. I follow behind him and take my place on the opposite side of the ice as the left winger.

The referee speaks to each center before dropping the puck.

Like every other game I’ve played before, I clear my mind and focus solely on the next twenty minutes. That’s all that matters. Everything else can wait.

Several minutes, and shifts later, Rhett is tripped while on a breakaway. The referee blows his whistle and calls a penalty for the opposing team.

Of course, they yell and think it’s unfair. They even try to say Rhett was embellishing, but it’s all bullshit. Rhett didn’t trip himself. Especially on a breakaway.

“We need to score on this power play.”

No shit. We need to score at least three goals to have a shot at getting one point. We need four goals to get two points.

Gage gets the puck and passes it down the ice to Rhett. Rhett is surrounded by opposing players, so he passes the puck back to me.

I don’t have a clear shot at the net, so I pass it back to Gage. The puck is passed between Gage, Rhett, Joey, Hall, and me as we try to find an opening in defense to score.

Gage gets the puck and moves further back toward the blue line before slapping the puck.

It effortlessly slides under the goalie’s leg into the net.

We congratulate Gage on his first power play goal of the season.

I get off the ice and take a seat on the bench, breathing heavily. Grabbing the bottle, I drink some water and wipe my forehead and visor with my towel.

Chase leans forward with a grin on his face. “Reed.”

“What?” I let the annoyance I’m feeling come through.

“What were you being so secretive about during intermission?”

As if that’s any of his fucking business.

“Mind your business and focus on the game.”

He laughs and turns toward the ice where a fight breaks out near Knox Anderson. “Ooh, you’re testy. What’d you do, get a woman for a few nights and now you’re having withdrawals from her?”

It’s been more than a few nights, but no one needs to know that.

“Shut up, Williams.”

He cackles from his end of the bench. “Oh yeah, he’s definitely in withdrawals. He needs to get laid.”

Someone else chimes in. It sounds like “Well, we did have two away games back to back. For someone used to getting some, this weekend has been hard.”

Chase continues to laugh. “Yeah, something is hard alright.”

I slap my stick against the board in front of me. “Shut the fuck up, you two, and keep your heads in the game. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re down by two. We don’t have the luxury of fucking around.”

I jump over the boards and take the ice when it’s time for my next shift.

There’s only a few minutes left in the game, but Coach Bobby doesn’t pull Anderson.

I guess he’s content with losing tonight’s game and starting over when we are back home.

The clock counts down to zero, and the scoreboard reflects our three to one loss. The crowd cheers for their team as we head down the tunnel to our locker room.

The locker room is quiet for a few minutes as we unlace our skates and take off our pads.

I jump in the shower and change without talking to anyone. After cleaning up my cubby, I gather up my bags and head out of the locker room.

The chartered bus is waiting outside, so there’s no point hanging out in the locker room.

There’s only one person I want to see, and it’s the fiery goddess of my dreams. I just have to take a plane across the country and sleep alone, but I’ll see her tomorrow.

“Hey, Reed. Wait up.” Rhett yells from behind me.

Turning around, I see him and Joey jogging toward me.

“What’s up?”

Joey waits until he’s at me to say, “We can talk on the bus while the guys take their sweet ass time changing.”

We throw our bags into the under the bus storage and head to the back of the bus, where we will have the most privacy.

“So what’s going on?” I plop down in a seat closest to the window.

Rhett sits down next to me and Joey sits across the aisle.

“Dad said you got another dancer selling? Isn’t that going to piss off Emily? The club is her domain.”

“As far as I know, Emily and Savannah work well together. In fact, she sold the entire bag this weekend, and she sold it for more than the asking price.”

Rhett’s eyes widen with shock as he opens a bottle of sparkling water. “No shit. So she’s the new Emily.”

“She’s only dancing and selling part time to pay for her senior year at SCAD. Although I am working with her on getting her scholarship back.”

Joey narrows his eyes at me. “You must really like her to bring her on board without asking.”

Is Joey insinuating that I jumped ranks? That I did something against the rules?

Rhett brought on Emily out of the blue without permission. Is he special because he’s dating the mafia princess?

I glance between the two men.

“First, I do like her. More than I probably should at this stage in whatever we are doing. Second, she doesn’t know anything about the family. She’s never heard of Arturo or the Marino’s. Hell, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know my last name and what I do for work.”

“Are you serious? How can you be dating someone and they don’t know who you really are?”

“I told her I was in customer service.”

Rhett spits out his water. “Oh my God. That’s fucking epic, man.”

“Well, the business technically is customer service.”

Rhett cleans the back of the seat in front of him. “Yeah, spin it however you want, but you’re going to have to tell her the truth.”

“I’m waiting for the right timing.”

Joey cuts in. “Speaking of timing. I’ve been trying to talk to Dad about having Gage come on board, but he’s hesitant.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Why?”

He sighs. “Dad thinks Gage is a hothead and doesn’t really think before he acts.”

“Well, yeah, maybe on the ice, but that’s literally his job. He’s an enforcer through and through.”

“Dad thinks Gage might cause problems and tension, and we can’t afford that right now with the Emerald City Reapers and the Rossis on the radar.”

“I get that. I really do, but he’s our friend, and he’s hurting and alone right now. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Until I’m in charge, my hands are tied. We don’t want to get on Dad’s bad side, that much I know.”

Rhett nods his head in agreement.

Fall in line and do as I’m told. That’s the way it is in the mafia. But that doesn’t mean I can’t talk to Gage and hint at what is going on. Maybe if we can get his anger under control, Arturo will change his mind.

Now that I have a plan in my mind, I need to find the best opportunity to execute said plan.