Faye glanced at him. “Why?”
“Because Stafford’s in the safest spot, and Vega’s in the worst. He can’t turn into him without giving something up, and that’s when Stafford finishes.”
Stafford got control from behind, pulled Vega down, and flattened him out so he couldn’t scramble up. Then Stafford slid one arm under Vega’s chin and locked his hands.
Faye covered her mouth. “What is that?”
“A choke,” I answered. “He’s cutting off blood flow. Vega either gets out of the hold or he taps.”
Vega fought it for a beat, his hands trying to peel Stafford’s arm away, but Stafford adjusted tighter.
Vega slapped the mat with his hand to submit.
The referee jumped in immediately and pulled Stafford off.
The place erupted. People stood, screamed, threw their arms up, and a guy a few rows down spilled his drink on himself and didn’t even care.
Faye stood too, staring at the cage. “He won.”
Dylan stood. “Yep. You two ready?”
I rose and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”
We moved with the crowd toward the exits, my hand in Faye’s, Dylan’s hand in her other so we wouldn’t get separated, and I kept my focus forward because the hallway was packed and people were shoulder-to-shoulder.
We were almost out when both Dylan’s phone and mine buzzed at the same time.
I pulled mine out, and Dylan did the same.
Marcos: Had to leave early. Call me!
Dylan stared at the screen, his jaw tightening. “Someone probably got a picture of us.”
“It’s always about a fucking photo,” I replied automatically.
30
Dylan
The three ofus wove through the crowd and reached the exit. No one stopped us or said anything, but that didn’t keep me from looking around and wondering if people were watching.
“Cab or rideshare?” I asked as soon as we stepped outside.
Jase shrugged. “Cabs are already here.”
I nodded and we walked toward the line of people waiting for taxis.
We were dropped off in front of the Aria Sky Suite’s entrance, and the second the private elevator doors slid shut behind us, Jase hit the button for our floor and exhaled hard. “Fuck,” he grumbled. “I’m getting really tired of other people causing problems and us having to figure out how to respond.”
Faye rested her hand on his arm. “Let’s just get upstairs and see what Marcos has to say. Maybe it’s not that bad.”
Once we got off on our floor, we hurried to our room. The suite door closed behind us, and I’d barely secured the latch before Jase was calling our agent on speakerphone.
Marcos answered immediately. “Where are you?”
“In our room,” Jase responded.
“With Dylan?”
