Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (8 page)

Hearing the door open, he
forced himself to relax. He had no right to be jealous, and he wouldn’t ruin
her new relationship, no matter how hard it was for him. He would try to figure
out how serious she was about Toli, and then he would talk to Toli if
necessary. In the meantime, he would go slowly.

He looked up as she stepped
in and locked the door behind her. “Hey!” he called out. “How was it?”

“It was glorious!” She sank
onto the couch with him. “We had so much fun! We walked all the way from Santa
Monica to Venice and back again. It was amazing.”

“Next time you should rent
rollerblades,” he said. “There’s a great trail that goes between the two
beaches.”

“Have you been?” Then she
laughed at her own question. “Of course you’ve been! What did you do today?”

“The usual. Worked out, all
that crap,” he shrugged. Unable to stop the jealousy eating away at him, he
stood up and faked a yawn. “Okay, well, I’m going to turn in. Do you need
anything?”

“No, I’m just going to watch
a little TV, if that’s okay?”

“This is your home, Molly.
What’s mine is yours.”

She looked at him with
something in her eyes he couldn’t interpret, but he just smiled and went to his
room.

As the NHL’s expansion draft
approached, Dom, Cody and Toli spent more and more time with the team’s
management. Meanwhile, Molly and Suze spent almost as much time together:
shopping, working out, and getting to know each other. It had been years since
Molly had had a real girlfriend. Suze too had been lonely, because even though
she had a lot of friends in Toronto, they all had been involved with the team
and sometimes she needed a break from hockey. Besides, there hadn’t been people
she could trust the way she did Molly. Suze could tell her anything, and Molly
was happy to listen.

Hanging out by the pool at
Suze and Cody’s house, Molly lay in the hot midday sun with a glass of ice
water in her hand. She and Suze had gone to yoga in the morning and then run
two miles before coming home to have lunch and lie by the pool. She was tired
and sore, but in a way that made her relaxed and happy. CJ was at camp for
another hour or so, and the guys had said they might be late. The expansion
draft was in four days and they were huddled over stats and the projected
performance of every NHL player. Of course, she had no idea what that meant,
except that they were busy.

“You’re quiet today,” Suze
commented, handing Molly the bottle of sunscreen.

“Am I?”

Suze laughed. “Just tell me
what’s up.”

“Dom is acting funny.”

 “Funny how?”

“I don’t know. Ever since my
date with Toli he’s been different: kind of distant, like I have a boyfriend or
something.”

“Are you still hanging out
with Toli?”

“Some.”

“You said you talk to him
every day.”

“We’re friends. I talk to
you every day, but I’m not dating
you
!”

Suze threw back her head and
laughed. “Girlfriend, you do understand that unless you
tell
him nothing
happened, he’s going to assume that you two are dating, and he’s not going to
do anything to betray his friend’s trust.”

“Wouldn’t they have talked
about that?”

Suze rolled her eyes. “You
don’t know much about men, do you?”

Molly narrowed her eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Men don’t talk like we do!
And if Toli thinks that Dom has a thing for you, he’s probably purposely
not
telling him that you two are just friends just to mess with him. Men are funny
that way—it’s all about their ego.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, I’m no expert, but I
think you’re going to need to give Dom some motivation.”

“I don’t want Dom losing his
temper, especially over me.”

“You could tease him a
little.”

“
Tease him?
”

“You know, come out of your
room half-dressed or something.”

“That might scare him away!”

“Would you stop?” Suze scolded
her. “You’ve lost weight just in the few weeks you’ve been here, and you’re all
tan and sexy with those green eyes of yours. Cody even commented how great you
look.”

“
Cody
thinks I look
good?”

“Of course he does. The only
person who doesn’t believe you’re beautiful is you,” said Suze. “Enjoy life,
Molly. It’s short.”

“The truth is, I have no
idea what to do. Dom is amazing—sexy and kind and good to me. Toli is a riot.
He’s not as good-looking as Dom, but he’s no slouch either. He’s also wonderful
to me, and when we’re together we can talk about anything. He’s still pining
for Tatiana, though.”

“So that leaves Dom, who is
completely single. What are you waiting for?”

Molly shrugged. “With Toli,
there is a
chance
—he’s closer to my age and not quite as hot as the sun.
He’s more down-to-earth and the biggest thing is, he already has a kid.”

Suze was surprised. “I
didn’t think he told anyone about Anton.”

“Yes. Anton lives with his
mom in Texas. Toli sees him pretty regularly—he flies to Texas, or they go somewhere
together in the summer. He’s almost 15 and plays hockey too, so they’re close.”

“I can’t believe he told you
all that.”

“We’re really friends. Just
like you and me, except we flirt a little.” She blushed. “But that’s all it is.
The truth is, Dom is probably going to want kids someday, and we both know that
isn’t going to happen with me.”

“You don’t know that!” Suze
protested. “You’ve never been pregnant without someone hitting you. Maybe a
pregnancy without abuse would be okay.”

“I’ll be forty this year. My
time is running out.”

“Then you should hurry up
and seduce Dom.”

“I’m not getting pregnant
unless I’m married. No guy would ever trust a woman in my position who got
pregnant.”

“Okay, but marriage isn’t
going to happen without you being a little proactive.”

“I don’t even know if I want
to get married again. I mean, I don’t know how I feel after what I’ve lived
through with Tim.”

“Most guys aren’t like Tim,”
Suze reminded her. “Remember, I married a guy I wasn’t in love with and we’ve
had a nice life. Yes, it could be better, and the all the cheating stuff made
me want to strangle him—but we had a whole set of other problems that make our
situation unique. Yet, despite all of that, if Cody and I were to separate, I
would get married again. Being married is great, assuming the person you’re
married to isn’t a psycho.”

Molly sighed. “It’s just
that my focus right now is on
not
being married anymore; Dom and I are
going to see a lawyer this week. Even though Nevada is probably one of the
easiest places in the country to get a divorce, Tim is going to fight me and
I’m not sure I can do it without a lawyer.”

“Cody still has that video
of him getting all crazy,” Suze pointed out. “That should help.”

“Yeah, we’re going to show
it to the lawyer. Maybe once Tim’s lawyer sees it he won’t fight me. I don’t
want anything except my share of the house—it’s only fair. I don’t even want
alimony. I just want him out of my life.”

“Amen to that.”

The meeting with the lawyer
was probably one of the scariest things Molly had ever done. He asked questions
she hated answering, and took a strong stance on the abuse, insisting they had
to make it public knowledge, or at the very least threaten to do so, which
could effectively end Tim’s career. But there was no way to file the paperwork
without listing an address, and Dom was adamant that they not list an address
where Tim could actually find her. Though Cody and Suze had offered to let her
use their address, Molly refused, saying that they had a child in the house and
she didn’t trust Tim not to try and hurt the Armstrongs. This was why she no
longer had any friends: on occasions when she didn’t do what he told her, Tim
had threatened the few that she had, and eventually she’d had to stay away from
them for their own safety.

“Use Toli’s address,” Toli
said that night at dinner at Cody and Suze’s house. “There are two bedrooms.
One will have some of Molly’s things—like situation in Dom’s apartment—but
Molly will never be there.”

“I would be putting you in
danger,” she said, shaking her head.

“Toli is big, strong Russian
hockey player. American policeman with small penis is not scary.” He folded his
arms across his chest. “Somewhere has to be address—and Molly must not be
there.”

She sighed. “Toli, if
something happens to you…”

“Nothing will happen.” He
put his big hands over hers. “Everything will be fine.”

“That’s the only address we
can use,” Cody said. “I think Toli’s place is set up perfectly for our
situation. There are security cameras in the building, a doorman, and special
keys needed to get up to each floor in the elevators. The doors to the
stairwells require keys as well.”

“Is settled,” said Toli.

Molly sighed. She hated
everything about this situation, especially endangering her new friends. She
didn’t know what else to do, though, because she couldn’t stay married to Tim
and still move on with her life. This was dangerous, but necessary.

“You okay?” Dom asked,
following her out to the pool, where she sipped a glass of wine.

“I hate putting Toli in
danger. You guys don’t know how dangerous Tim is.”

Dom blinked at her. “Do you
recall how we met? I know damn well how dangerous he is, but let’s be clear:
He’s only a tough guy when it comes to his smaller, weaker wife. You think he’s
going to be so tough against one of us?”

“I think he carries a gun
and has no qualms about using it.”

“Toli grew up in Russia and
was in the military before he got drafted by the NHL. He’s comfortable with
guns and Cody lent him one of his for this very reason. If anyone can handle
Tim other than me, it’s Toli. I have absolute confidence in his ability to keep
you safe.”

“You say that like he’s
responsible for me,” she returned. “We’re just friends, Dom.”

Dom glanced at her. “You
spend an awful lot of time together.”

“Because he asks me to do
things—we’ve gone to the movies, dinner, Los Angeles, all kinds of things that
I’ve never done thanks to my dillweed of an ex. If you asked me to go places,
I’d go with you.” She swallowed hard as she watched his face.

“I thought you guys were
dating.”

“We’re
friends
. He’s
all tied up in Tatiana—he still talks to her every day, so there’s no room for
me in that situation.”

“What about me?” he asked.
“Where do I fit into your life?”

“You’re my
best
friend,” she said, putting her drink down and taking his hands in hers,
channeling her inner strong, confident woman. “You’re my rock and support
system. Without you, none of this would have happened, and without you, I
wouldn’t have the strength to get up every day. Toli and Suze don’t hold my
hand when I wake up in a panic—you do. Toli and Suze didn’t sit on the floor
with me in the dark until I was strong enough to turn on the lights—you did. No
one else in my life holds a candle to you—and I don’t know that anyone else
ever will.” She hadn’t meant to say it quite that way, or to look at him quite
the way she was, but she couldn’t help herself.

“Molly…” He ran his fingers
over her cheeks. “There’s so much—”

“Uncle Dom! Aunt Molly!” CJ
came running outside, crashing into them and nearly causing Molly to stumble.

“Easy, kiddo.” Dom caught CJ
with one arm and Molly with the other, keeping her from toppling into the pool.

“CJ!” Cody came running out
after him. “Sorry about that! You okay, Molly?”

“I’m fine,” Molly was
laughing. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if I’d fallen in the
water. I do know how to swim.”

“Still, he needs to learn a
little more control.” Cody knelt before his son. “CJ, tell Aunt Molly and Uncle
Dom you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry.” CJ looked up,
his lower lip trembling. “I didn’t mean to make you fall, Aunt Molly.”

“That’s okay, sugar!” She
gave him a hug. “Everything’s fine. You just need to slow down a little.”

“Okay.” CJ glanced at his
father, who ruffled his hair.

“Go on inside, son.”

“Mommy said it’s time for
dessert!” CJ called over his shoulder.

“Sorry,” said Cody. “I tried
to grab him before he got out the door, but he’s a fast little bugger.”

“It’s okay. He’s a kid.”

“I know. He’s just so much
like—” He stopped abruptly and looked away. “Anyway, Suze said it’s time for
dessert.”

“So much for all the weight
I’ve lost,” Molly sighed.

“You look fabulous,” Dom
said in her ear. “You don’t need to lose any weight.”

She flashed him a smile.
“Flattery will get you everywhere.”

Toli was on the phone with
Tatiana when he heard his doorknob rattle. He moved into his bedroom, pulled
Cody’s .357 Magnum from his nightstand and stuck it in the waistband of his
shorts. Dousing the lights, he spoke quietly into the phone.

“Will call you back,” he
said in Russian, disconnecting. Tatiana would undoubtedly blow a gasket, but he
turned off the ringer and then typed in 911, though he didn’t hit send.
Waiting, he stood in the shadows listening. Someone was actually trying to pick
the lock on his door. He hit ‘send’ and waited for the police dispatcher to
answer.

“Someone is trying to break
into my home,” he said abruptly, giving the dispatcher his address. He had a
chain on the door, but he figured once they got the locks open, they would make
short work of the chain. Ignoring the dispatcher who was still talking to him,
he found a chair and quietly wedged it under the door handle. It wouldn’t keep
them out for long, but it would give the police an extra minute or so to get
here.

Strangely, he wasn’t afraid.
Knowing that this was probably the man who had been beating Molly for the last
twenty years, he was almost looking forward to an opportunity to put his fist
in the man’s face. Guns didn’t scare him either, although he wasn’t naïve
enough to think he could outshoot a man professionally trained to use a weapon.
He was proficient, but he wasn’t a killer, and the military had been more than
a decade ago.