Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (21 page)

“I will make sure that
video is on every social media outlet in the world,” Therese lifted her glass.

“Give it your best shot.”
Karl nodded as
Toli
wrapped an arm around Emilie.
“Take her out to the car and go.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.” Karl
was still staring at Therese.

“Karl!” Emilie was
panicked and Karl momentarily glanced at her. “Go with
Toli
.
Everything is going to be okay.”

“You think you’re
smart, don’t you?” Therese chuckled. “She’ll never be able to show her face in
polite society again.”

“I can make that go
away. She’ll be embarrassed for a while, but it will blow over.”

“And your friend
Viggo
? You don’t worry about his career? He’ll never play
hockey again when I’m through with him.”

“
Viggo’s
a talented athlete and a grown man. He makes choices in the bedroom—that will
blow over as well.”

“My uncle can hurt your
mother.”

“Not if he wants to
continue practicing medicine. I’ve already put in a letter to the medical board
in Sweden. Anything happens to my mom, your uncle will be the first place they
look.”

She narrowed her eyes.
“You’ve thrown down the gauntlet, then?”

“You did that, not me.”
He cocked his head. “Now that we’re alone, what is this really about, Therese?
You can’t possibly still love me, not after all this time. What’s made you so
angry? Tell me the truth.”

She laughed. “You’re
not smarter than me, Karl, and you owe me.”

“For what? Breaking up
with you? Seriously?”

Her jaw tightened
angrily. “What’s wrong with me?” she demanded. “How can you want that, that,
dumpy little thing over me?!”

He sighed. “There’s
nothing wrong with you—I simply don’t love you anymore. I did when I was 17; at
27, I love someone else. That’s all. It’s not an insult, and it’s not even
personal. We were young and it didn’t work out. Why do you think you still love
me? You don’t even know me anymore! I’m a workaholic who thinks about hockey
24/7 during the season, and you like a lot of attention I can’t give you. I
hate to travel when I’m not working and would be perfectly happy sitting by the
pool with a beer the entire summer, while you hop from continent to continent
like a gypsy. I like a lot of sex, and we both know you were always miserable
when I wanted to do anything except go down on you. So why this sudden
determination to be with me? We have nothing in common.”

She scowled at him.
“That would change once we were married and had children! You’ll stop thinking
about intercourse all the time as you get older and—”

“You think I’ll stop
wanting sex?!” He burst out laughing. “I promise you, Therese, there are many
things a woman might be able to change about me, but that isn’t one of them!”

“I know women who will
do anything you want in bed—all that kinky shit you like to do? You could do it
to your heart’s content once we’re married.”

Karl desperately wanted
to tell her that he got everything he needed in bed from Kate, but he opted to
keep that to himself. “Why would I want to fuck other women if I was married to
you? I thought we were soul mates? Soul mates don’t cheat on each other.”

“It wouldn’t be
cheating,” Therese said impatiently, her eyes glistening. “Just a way for you
to take care of your baser urges.”

He fought the need to
roll his eyes; he really had no idea what they were talking about anymore.
“Look, this conversation has gotten tiresome. What do you want? I’m not going
to marry you and I’m not divorcing Kate. If you have some ulterior motive,
let’s hear it.”

“I haven’t come this
far in life not to get what I want,” she said quietly. “And I want you. I don’t
have to explain more than that.”

“Okay, well, I
don’t
want you.” He put several twenties on the table as he got to his feet. “And I
don’t have to explain that, either. Take care of yourself, Therese.”

“You’ll regret this,
Karl.”

“My only regret is
meeting you.” He turned and strode out of the restaurant.

Taking a cab back to
the hotel, he saw that
Viggo
had tried to call him
several times. He called him back immediately.

“Where are you?”
Viggo
asked as soon as he answered.

“L.A. Where are you?”

“Vegas.”

“What?!”

“I had to get out of
Sweden. Shit is already hitting the fan.”

“Like what?”

“Therese sent a video
of me and two guys to my coach and everyone on the team.”

“Ah, hell,
Viggo
. I’m sorry.”

“I feel bad for my
parents,” he sighed. “The rest is my own fault. Do you know where
Em
is? She’s going to be next.”

“She’s with friends of
mine here in L.A.”

“She’s safe?”

“Yeah.” Karl sighed.
“Look, do you have money? What do you need?”

“I have money, but I
need some place to lay low. Can I stay at your place?”

“Uh,” Karl hesitated.
“My roommate’s wife is pregnant. That’s not the best idea. But I know somewhere
you can go. Where are you now?”

“Bar on the Strip.”

“Hang tight.” Karl hung
up and drummed his fingers on his thigh. Most of his close friends were now
married and had kids, which wasn’t an optimal place for
Viggo
to lay low. That left Zakk, one of the younger players on the team, who was
single; he was also
Toli’s
roommate, so it was the
perfect place for
Viggo
to hide out. He didn’t
hesitate to call.

“Hey, it’s Karl. I need
a favor, man.”

“Whatever you need,”
Zakk spoke automatically.

Emilie was pacing like a
caged animal when Karl got to the hotel suite they’d booked. Emilie practically
vaulted herself at him when he came through the door, her fingers digging into
his shirt.

“Karl, what happened?!
What did she say? What are you going to do? Please tell me you’re not really
married!”

“Hey, take it easy.” He
gently pried her fingers from his shirt and moved her towards the couch.

Toli
and Drake sat off to
the side, watching them quietly.

“Karl, don’t you
understand what she’s going to do?” Emilie pleaded. “You can’t love Kate more
than you love me!”

He rolled his eyes.
“Seriously,
Em
? What I feel for Kate is completely
different than what I feel for you!”

“It’s because we’re
only half-siblings, right?” She folded her arms.

“What the hell are you talking
about?” he grunted. “That has nothing to do with it either! Jesus,
Em
, get your head out of your ass! It’s not my fault you
chose to get into a
freakin
’ threesome that somebody
taped and is using to blackmail you! I’m sorry she went after you because of
me, but if you didn’t do that shit, you wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Oh, like you don’t do
shit like that!” she shot back.

He nodded. “Yeah, but
I’ve been careful about who I do it with. I’m positive there are no videos of
me having sex!”

“Of course not! Saint
Karl never makes any mistakes!” She was glaring at him now, her eyes blazing.

“Saint Karl?” He held
up his hands, palms up. “What the hell have I ever done to make you say
something like that?”

“You’re the reason Mama
and Papa fight! You’re the reason—”

“Mama and Papa fight?”
This was the first he’d heard of this and he momentarily forgot all about
Therese. “About me?”

“Yes! Because of your
real father! Papa says that Mama still loves him and so she loves you more than
us!”

“That’s not my fault!”
he said, exasperated. “I didn’t even know about it until just recently!”

“Papa said you should
have gotten Sebastian a tryout for the Sidewinders.” She met his eyes
defiantly. “And you should be taking care of me. If I had money, I wouldn’t be
in this mess.”

“If you had a job, you
would have money.” He pursed his lips. “Sebastian went to fucking Oxford and
got a world-class education. You could have had one too. Anywhere in the
world.”

She rolled her eyes. “I
don’t like math and science and all that crap. College isn’t for me.”

“What do you like
then?”

“I’m a designer.
Clothes.”

“You could have gone to
design school. The Savannah School of Design is world-renowned.”

She hesitated for a
moment, obviously caught off guard, but then her face morphed back into its
perpetual scowl. “Your money can’t buy happiness.”

He raised his eyebrows.
“You just said the fact that I wasn’t giving you money was the problem. Now
it’s not? Make up your mind.”

“Do they have to be
here?!” she demanded, motioning towards Drake and
Toli
.

“Yes. They’re my
friends and the guys who got you away from Therese.”

“It’s not going to stop
her from releasing that video and ruining my life. Why can’t you just marry
her?”

“Why can’t you marry
Otto?”

“What?!” her eyes
bugged open. “He’s a pig! And all he cares about is hockey—we have nothing in
common! Why would I marry him?!”

“Therese is a gold
digger who’s only interested in the status of being an NHL wife. She’s flat as
a board and I happen to like big tits. And she hates sex. Seriously—she complained
every single time we had sex. For three years. We have even less in common than
you and Otto. Why would I marry
her
?”

They stared at each
other for a long time. Finally, she sagged against the couch, her hands folded
across her lap. “So you’re going to let her destroy me.”

“She’s not going to
destroy you. You’ll get past the sex tape. Yeah, it’s a little embarrassing,
but it’s one tape and a year from now no one is going to remember. You can
change your look a little, and we can enroll you in school under a different
name. No one will know who you really are, and you’ll just go about your life.”

“In disguise, not using
my real name, where no one knows me! How is that good for me?”

“It’s a way for you to
start over,” he said gently. “You can pick any school in the world and I’ll pay
for it. You’ll make new friends and follow your passion to be a designer. How
is that not a dream-come-true for almost anyone?”

She sighed, obviously
conflicted.

“
Toli
would like this deal,”
Toli
said, raising his hand
like he was in school. “Hockey is hard work now that
Toli
is old. You will pay for everything?
Toli
will go to
school. Somewhere with beach.
Toli
can have this
deal?”

Emilie scowled at him,
but couldn’t hide the smile threatening to break through. “Fine! Fine! But
seriously, Karl—she’s isn’t the kind of woman who takes no for an answer. Even
if I disappear, she’ll go after Kate, or our parents, or your friends.”

Toli
muttered something in
Russian.

“Even I know what that
means,” Karl snickered, shaking his head.

“But what do we do
now?” Emilie asked softly.

“We’ll go back to Vegas
and figure it out from there.”

“I’m really scared,
Karl.”

“I know, but you’ve got
to trust me. I’ll take care of you.” He held out his arms and without
hesitation she moved into them.

“I’m sorry I’ve been
such a bitch,” she whispered against his chest.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I
know it’s been hard on you, but everything is going to be okay now.” He said
the words but as he glanced at
Toli
and Drake, his
eyes said something else.

Sitting at the dinner
table the next night with Emilie,
Viggo
, Drake, Erin
and Kate, Karl had to mentally shake his head. It wasn’t quite real, his oldest
friend from Sweden, sitting with his best friend in the U.S. and their wives,
along with his sister. It had gone smoother than he’d been expecting, though.
Kate and Erin had cooked a spectacular meal that had impressed even Emilie, who
tended to eat like a bird.
Viggo
had filled his plate
three times, casually commenting that he now understood why men got married.
Conversation stayed light throughout the meal and it wasn’t until Drake and
Erin went to the kitchen to do the dishes that Karl was able to finally address
everything going on.

“The one good thing
from all of this,” Karl said, a bottle of beer in his hand, “is that she’s gone
after
Viggo
first but no one of any importance has
really noticed.”

“Thanks a lot!”
Viggo
chuckled, leaning back in his chair. 6’3” of pure
muscle, the burly Swede tended to take most things in stride. Though he hadn’t
planned for the whole world to find out he was bisexual, seeing the easy
acceptance from Karl and his friends reminded him that there were worse things in
life.

“I guess you should be
glad you don’t play for the NHL,” Emilie said quietly.

Viggo
shrugged. “I’d have
come out a long time ago if that was the trade-off.”

“When this is over,”
Karl said, “I can talk to management. I can’t promise you anything, but I can
probably get you an invitation to training camp in September.”

Viggo
eyed him. “If it was
that easy, why haven’t you done it already?”

“It’s
not
easy,”
Karl narrowed his eyes. “But I feel partially responsible for all this
bullshit, which is what I plan to tell them, and I’m hoping to be able to call
in a favor. Like I said, I can’t promise anything. I can only ask. You, on the
other hand, need to spend the rest of the summer working your ass off to get in
shape to try out for an NHL team.”

“How will I do that?”
Viggo
frowned. “I don’t have access to training at that
level.”

“You do with me.”

The friends locked eyes
and
Viggo
nodded. “You’re a good friend, Karl. Thank
you. Yes, I’ll do whatever it takes. Just the invitation to participate would
be amazing.”

“You’re welcome.” Karl
looked at Emilie. “What do you want to do,
Em
? Even
if you choose a school today, it will take some time to get your paperwork in
order and get you enrolled. In the meantime, you need a place to live where
Therese can’t find you.”

“Actually, I have a
possible solution,” Kate said. “I know it’s not ideal because you don’t know
him, but Therese would never find you in Philadelphia.”

“With Dante?” Karl
looked at her in surprise. “You asked him to let her move in with him?”

“Of course not!” Kate
laughed. “I told him what was going on and he offered. You know how he is.”

“Who’s Dante?” Emilie
frowned.

“Dante
Lamonte
.” Just for fun, Kate pulled up his picture on her
phone and handed it to her. “Philadelphia’s
baddest
bad-boy baseball player. Also one of my clients and a good friend to both Karl
and me.”

“Oh.” Emilie’s eyes
rounded. “He’s handsome. Look at those eyes!”

“I know, right?” Kate
grinned at her and the women exchanged knowing glances.

“You think Dante is
handsome?” Karl eyed his wife with a scowl.

She rolled her eyes.
“Yes. I also think Chris
Hemsworth
is hot. I’m not
cheating on you with either of them.”

Karl grunted. “Very
funny.”

“He doesn’t even know
me,” Emilie said after a moment.

“But he knows us, and
he has a huge house that’s empty a lot this time of year because he’s on the
road and his fiancée, Larissa, goes with him.”

“I don’t know if I want
to be by myself in a big house in a strange city,” Emilie murmured.

“His agent, Trey, would
be there and you’ll love him. He’s maybe 130 pounds soaking wet, queer as a
three-dollar-bill, and the funniest guy I know.”

“And I would just hide
out the rest of the summer?” She wrinkled her nose.

“You would have time to
research where you want to go to school, specifically what you want to major
in, and take care of all the paperwork that’s going to be necessary to get
records from Sweden.” Karl looked at her. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to
be anywhere near me—Therese can easily get to you if you’re here.”

“I know.” She sighed.
“It just seems strange.”

“We’ll figure out where
Dante is going to be in the next week or two,” Kate said. “And we’ll go meet up
with him. You can talk to him and Larissa—if you’re not comfortable, we’ll
think of something else.”

“Okay.”

“What about me?”
Viggo
asked. “I can’t stay with Zakk and
Toli
forever.”

“Actually,
Toli
found a place for you to live,” Karl said. “One of the
guys on the team, Vlad, is going back to Russia for the rest of the summer, so
you can stay at his place free of charge except for utilities. He’s pre-paid
the rent, so you would just pay electric and such. Maybe a few hundred a
month.”

“Really?”
Viggo
blinked. “Just like that?”

Karl smiled. “I have
really good friends here.”

“This is a good short-term
plan,” Emilie said after a moment. “But what about you? Therese isn’t going to
stop. I have no doubt she will escalate things once she realizes that you’re
married and can no longer be manipulated because of me.”

“That’s what worries
me,” Karl admitted. “I’m really worried about Mom and Dad. I can’t even send
them on holiday because Mom’s in the middle of chemo.”

“I talked to Mama last
night,” Emilie said softly. “She was really great about everything. Papa, not
so much.”

“He’ll come around,”
Karl said. “He loves you. I’m sure the video just made him uncomfortable.”

Emilie flushed. “Yeah,
me too.” She glanced at
Viggo
. “How come you’re not
embarrassed?”

He shrugged. “The only
part that embarrasses me is that my parents may actually see me doing that
stuff—parents shouldn’t have to see pictures of that kind of thing. Otherwise,
I’m an adult, everyone I’ve ever slept with has been an adult, and it’s always
been consensual. I came to terms with who I was long ago. I don’t advertise it
because I’m an athlete and guys tend to get a little weird about a guy who
swings both ways. But I know who I am and I’m a good person. The fact that I’m
attracted to both men and women doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me. I
donate to charity, I do volunteer work, I spend time with my family, and I have
really good friends. So what if I enjoy an alternative sexual lifestyle? I
would never in a million years sleep with a child or do something with someone
who wasn’t willing. What is there for me to be ashamed of?”

For a moment no one
spoke and then Kate leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I’m glad to have this
chance to get to know you,
Viggo
.”

He reached over and
squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot, but if Karl loves you,
that’s all I need to know—
you’re
family to me now
too.”

“Who’s ready for
dessert?” Erin came out with a huge cheesecake that made everyone in the room
groan.

“I’m stuffed!”
Viggo
complained. “But I can’t say no to that!”

“I do love cooking for
a guy who can eat,” Erin grinned.

“You’re killing me,
though!” Kate complained, laughing.

“We’ll work out for an
extra-long time tonight!” Karl winked at her.

“Are you going to the
gym so late in the evening?” Emilie asked.

Kate burst out
laughing. “Not likely. I think he has something
else
in mind.”

“Oh!” Emilie’s cheeks
turned pink as everyone chuckled.

Lying in bed that
night, Kate couldn’t sleep. Long after she and Karl had made love and he’d
fallen into a deep slumber, she stared at the ceiling wondering what she was
doing. She loved him more than anything in the world, but it felt like
everything was out of control and being married was not at all what she’d been
expecting. She didn’t blame Karl for the havoc with Therese, but there were
times when she just wanted to run back to her simple life in New York. They’d
been through a lot in a short time and sometimes she wished they could start
over and make things less complicated this time.

Staring at his profile
in the semidarkness, she felt that same mixture of love and unease that she
always felt when she looked at him. He was so good-looking it made her
uncomfortable sometimes, and though he’d never given her any reason to doubt
his love for her, she still felt like he was so far out of her league it wasn’t
feasible they would ever be happy. She knew she was insecure, but it seemed as
though every time she got her emotions on solid ground, something else happened
to put a chink in the armor.

Sitting up, she knew
she wasn’t going to sleep anymore. It was almost 4 a.m. so she would have to be
up in a couple of hours anyway. She started to move and was startled to feel
Karl’s big, strong hand close around her wrist.

“Where are you going?”
he whispered hoarsely.

“Can’t sleep, but you
don’t have to get up. I’m going to—”

“You’re going to come
right back to me,” he said roughly, pulling her up against him. “What’s wrong,
baby?”

“Nothing.” She didn’t
want to tell him about all the fear that was slowly building inside her and
making her doubt them.

“You were quiet tonight,”
he said. “Is it because Emilie is here?”

“No.”

“Talk to me, Kate.”

“It’s nothing, okay?”
She curled against his chest.

“Something is bothering
you.” He was more awake now, sensing that she was on edge.

“Everything has been an
uphill battle so far,” she admitted. “And I don’t want to have to fight
anything else. I’m afraid something is going to go wrong because it always
does.”

“Is that how you feel
about being with me?” he asked carefully.

She shook her head
rapidly even though that was partially a lie. “This whole thing with Therese
just has me nervous. I feel like we’re always looking over our shoulders.”

“I’m sorry. I’m doing
everything I can to discourage her.”

“Not your fault,” she
whispered, breathing deeply. Usually when his arms were around her, she felt
stronger and more in control, but that didn’t seem to be working as well
tonight.

“You’re not telling me
something,” he said, his lips close to her ear. “What is it, Kate? You have to
trust me.”

“I do.”

“But?”

“It’s like we go from crisis
to crisis, and never get a chance to just be together. I love you, more than I
ever believed I could love someone, but it doesn’t feel real.”

“What doesn’t feel
real?” He moved away and turned on his side so he could look into her eyes. “My
love for you?”

“No.” She smiled
tremulously as she reached out a hand to touch his face. “Your love is probably
the
only
part of this that feels real. It’s everything else. We don’t
have a home, we don’t know what we’re doing when hockey season starts, we’re
totally in limbo and it just doesn’t feel like we’re married!” Without warning,
Kate burst into tears.

“Oh, baby, I’m sorry!”
He pulled her close and started stroking her hair. Guilt gnawed at him and he
wasn’t sure what he could say; their life was complicated right now. “What do
you want me to do? I can’t leave Las Vegas permanently, you know that, but we
can find our own place to live. Or we can go back to New York until I have to
come back for camp? Tell me how to make this better?”

“I don’t know!” she
sobbed. “Everything is a mess and I had to give my trust fund back!”

“Is that what this is
about?” he frowned slightly. “You said the only time you ever touched it was to
start your PR business.”

“But it was there if I needed
it and now we don’t even have a joint checking account!”

“We can fix that
tomorrow,” he said softly. “I’m sorry—you’ve always been so independent it
never occurred to me that you feel insecure about finances.”

“Well, I don’t have
money anymore! I mean, I have my regular salary, but all my savings, my
back-up, is gone. And with the way my father and the attorneys worked it out,
it’s going to be a big huge mess to get it back!”

“We did that on purpose
so that Therese couldn’t try to extort or blackmail us.” He was gently rubbing
her shoulders. “You know all this, Kate.”