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Vegas certainly wasn’t.
Neither was whatever had started between Ash and me.
But Doryu hadn’t brought me here because he’d overheard a grown man arguing with an irritating parent. Someone had demanded money after Ash told them to stay away from another person, and I had a very good idea who that other person was.
So I gave them the pieces that mattered.
I told them Ash’s father had appeared at the arena and that Ash had reacted so badly I’d known immediately there was history between them. I explained that Ash wouldn’t tell me what the man wanted, then repeated the text I’d seen. “Your captain seems very protective of you.”
Keegan’s expression hardened immediately, and when I glanced at Ignatius, the atmosphere in the room seemed to have changed completely.
“His father said that?”
“To Ash.”
Ignatius glanced up, and I could see the question forming before he asked whether Ash had shown it to me.
“I saw it when his phone went off.”
I didn’t particularly want to explain the circumstances, and something in my expression must’ve warned him not to push.
Doryu had already reached for his laptop, and the movement put me immediately on edge.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding out who his father is.”
My first instinct was to stop him.
Ash had asked me for space. He’d spent the entire day making it painfully clear that whatever was happening belonged to him, and I was already crossing a line by sitting here discussing it with four other people.
“I don’t think he’d want us doing that.”
Ignatius regarded me for a moment. “Probably not, but there’s a difference between investigating Ash and looking into a man who appears to be demanding money while threatening one of my nephew’s teammates.”
I knew Ash wouldn’t see much difference.
Unfortunately, neither could I pretend anymore that this was simply family shit.
Ignatius nodded toward Doryu.
“Find out what we’re dealing with.”
Chapter thirteen
Line - A group of forwards who regularly play together and usually change on and off the ice as a unit.
Max
It turned out that finding out what we were dealing with involved considerably more waiting than I was good at.
Doryu had been working for nearly half an hour, moving between public records, property information, and corporate registrations before disappearing down digital paths I couldn't have followed if he'd given me a map. I'd tried standing behind him for the first few minutes until Drake informed me I was hovering, and Doryu, without taking his eyes off the screen, agreed with him.
I considered objecting, but Keegan handed me another beer and suggested I sit down before Doryu deliberately took twice as long.
I sat.
Mostly.
