Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic Read Free Page A

can’t
wait to see you. Coach says Andra is going to spoil us.”
    Dom laughed. “I can only
imagine—”
    His words broke off as a
loud scream tore through the air.
    “What was that?” Dom turned,
his eyes darting up and down the street. There were fewer people here near the
building than further up the street by the restaurant. There was an alley
across from his building that led to a parking garage, and they both darted in
that direction.
    A woman was crying, and they
could hear a man shouting.
    “You stupid cow! I should
throw your ass off the side!”
    “Do it!” the woman screamed.
“Go ahead—you’re the big man! I dare you!”
    There was the sound of a
thud and a muffled scream.
    Cody and Dom ran up the ramp
of the garage towards the sounds. A stocky man in his 40s was holding a woman
by the throat, pushing her perilously close to the edge of the railing. She
wasn’t fighting, her arms and head hanging limply despite the anger in her
eyes.
    “You dumb, fat bitch—you
don’t lie to me and get away with it! You understand me? I will kill you!”
    “I already told you
to—what’s the matter, Tim? You chicken?” Her body was limp but there was spirit
in her voice that belied her helplessness. “You don’t love me! You don’t want
me! You can’t stand to touch me—so go ahead!”
    “That’s too fucking bad!
You’re mine and you will not get off that easily!” He pulled his fist back and
smashed it into her stomach just as Cody and Dom got to the level they were on.
    “Hey!” Dom yelled, sprinting
toward the couple. “You need to settle down.”
    “I’m a police officer.” The
man turned, a badge in his hand. “This is a private matter. You don’t need to
involve yourself.”
    “I just saw you punch an
unarmed woman,” Dom shot back. “Where I come from, that’s not what police do.”
    The man turned and eyed
them, his eyes squinty and mean. “You need to turn around and mind your own
business. This is my wife, my business.”
    “You made it our business
when you went public with it,” Cody said, standing next to Dom with his arms
folded across his chest and his phone visible in his hand.
    “Just go,” the woman
whispered, sliding to the ground. “I’ll be okay. Don’t get involved.”
    “Shut up, bitch!” The man
kicked her in the side and she whimpered from the pain.
    “I’m not going to tell you
again to step away from her,” Dom said, moving into a threatening stance. He
was an imposing figure on or off the ice, and with shoulders as broad as a
truck and biceps the size of small trees, he wasn’t a man many would stand up
to.
    Cody had discreetly begun
recording the altercation. If there was going to be a fight with a policeman,
he was going to make sure there was video of it.
    “You need to just walk
away,” the man said. “This is between my wife and me.”
    “She needs medical attention,”
Dom said, taking a step closer.
    “She needs her ass beat so
she learns to listen when her husband tells her not to leave the house!”
    Dom had to force himself not
to react to such an idiotic comment. “She’s not a child or a dog,” he heard
himself saying. “And whatever it is she did, it’s still illegal to hit
her.”
    “Do you understand who I
am?” The man pulled his jacket aside and revealed a holster with a gun.
    “I’ve got 911 dialed into
the phone,” Cody said. “And I’ve been recording this whole conversation. You
need to find somewhere to cool down.”
    The men stared each other
down, the policeman looking from Dom to Cody and then back again. “You messed
with the wrong cop,” he spat. “And you’re going to be sorrier than she is.”
    “I think you misunderstood
the part where I don’t give a fuck who you are,” Dom said in a voice
that would have scared any other man. “Now step away from the lady and get out
of here.”
    “If this shows up on the
internet,” the man to his wife, “you’ll regret ever meeting me!”
    “I already