Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (10 page)

Do broken hearts heal?
I’m starting to think not.

The posts were usually
several times a day, sometimes about his mother, most often about his broken
heart, always in English instead of his native Swedish. She felt tears
threatening and willed herself not to fall for it; she wouldn’t let him hurt
her again. She was barely holding on to her sanity now.

Her new private phone
rang and she answered knowing it could only be Erin, Dante, Trey, her parents
or her sister; no one else had the number yet.

“Kate? It’s Dom.”

“Dom!” She was startled
to hear his voice. “How did you—”

“I’m sorry I called
this number, but it is kind of important.”

“Is everything okay?”
she asked automatically.

“Well, I was hoping you
would put out a press release for me. If you’re still my publicist.”

“Of course I am,” she
frowned. “But you haven’t really needed me…”

“Well, I was thinking
the world needed to know about my new son.”

“Your new—” she
shrieked. “Hey—she’s not due for another week!”

He laughed. “Well,
Brian Anatoli Gianni had other ideas!”

“Oh my goodness! I’m so
happy for you—is everyone okay?”

“Everyone is great.
Molly was amazing; she didn’t even need any drugs.”

“That’s wonderful,” she
said softly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

He was quiet for a
moment. “You know, he’s a mess without you.”

She sighed. “I’m not
the one who cheated or humiliated him.”

“He swears he didn’t.”

She swallowed hard,
fighting the familiar burning in her eyes. “I can’t talk about this, okay? If
you give me the details about the baby, I’ll get something out this afternoon.”

“You shouldn’t give
up,” he said softly. “True love is hard to find.”

Kate couldn’t even come
up with a response.

Life in Sweden had
become a monotonous routine. Karl worked out at the gym or skated at a local
ice rink for at least two hours every day. Then he would shower and go spend
time with his mother. In the evenings, he usually drank until he passed out. He
wasn’t proud of it, but it was easier than listening to his father or the twins
ragging him about how miserable he was. Time seemed to pass in a blur, and he
could barely remember what day it was. Limited contact with his friends back in
the States was killing him, but he didn’t know how to convince them that he
wasn’t the bad guy. If it hadn’t been for the quality time he was spending with
his mother, he might have lost his mind.

His mother was finally
healthy enough to start the next round of chemotherapy and Dr.
Anderberg
had given her heart a clean bill of health.
Therese had left for L.A. to start filming her show, so the last two weeks had
been peaceful. He’d been working on a plan to win back Kate, and now that he
knew his mother was okay, he was going to be on the first plane back to the
U.S. He knew she was living with Dante in Philadelphia, and Drake had warned
him not to go there, but he was going to get to her one way or another. He
wasn’t willing to let her go so easily, and since Erin and Drake weren’t going
to give him her new number, he was going to see her in person.

When the phone rang, he
was surprised to see Drake’s name show up on the screen. It wasn’t even noon
here, which meant it was 3:00 a.m. in Las Vegas and he felt a moment of unease
as he answered.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Drake’s voice
was subdued.

“What’s going on?”

“Listen, I have bad
news.”

“Is Kate okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. It’s
Dave.”

“Coach Dave?”

“Yeah. He, uh, he had a
heart attack earlier tonight. He died about 15 minutes ago.”

“Oh no.” Karl felt grief
washing over him. Everyone loved the team’s associate coach. He was smart and
funny, quiet and unassuming—the complete opposite of Head Coach Barnett or
Assistant Coach
Gagner
.

“It’s been a long
night. Me,
Toli
and Coach Barnett met Tiff here at
the hospital. They tried to operate, but they couldn’t save him.”

“Shit.”

“It might be good for
you to be here for the funeral and stuff. We need to stand together on this.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll
be on the next flight.”

“Call me—I’ll pick you
up.”

“Okay, thanks.” Karl
hung up and hung his head. He took a deep breath and tried to fight the tears
the threatened to break free. This was turning out to be the worst summer ever.

“Karl?” He’d forgotten
that his mother was awake and now she looked at him intently. “What’s
happened?”

“Coach Marcus…” His
voice broke. “Coach is gone.”

“Oh, darling.” She held
out her arms and he rested his head on her stomach as he cried. “You’re going
home now, aren’t you?”

He met her eyes
guiltily. “Mom, I don’t want to leave you but—”

“But you have a life in
America, and a woman who loves you.”

“I don’t think she
loves me anymore,” he whispered.

“Of course she does.”
Anya smiled at him. “Do you ever look at those pictures of her with Dante?”

“All the time,” he said
miserably.

“But you’re not
actually looking,” she said. She pointed at his phone. “Bring one up.”

He glanced at her
dubiously but did as she asked, cringing when he saw Kate smiling at Dante.

“What do you see?” she
asked.

“I don’t know.” He
looked at her sadly.

“Look at her eyes. Is
she looking up at him? Or is she just looking out at the cameras?”

He frowned. “I don’t
know—I guess she’s looking at the cameras.”

“In all the pictures
you showed me of the two of you, she was looking at
you
. She didn’t care
about the camera—she only cared about you.”

“So, what? You think
she’s just trying to make me jealous?”

“I think she helped him
over a very rough patch in his career so now he’s helping her over a rough
patch in her life. There is nothing there when she looks at him. She’s smiling,
but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Can’t you see that?”

He rubbed his face,
realizing he hadn’t shaved in days. “I can’t see anything, Mom. All I see is
you, sick, and my girl as far away from me as she could possibly be.”

“Go get on a plane,”
his mother said, squeezing his hand. “I’m fine. You’ve been here with me for
almost two months—it’s time for you to go home.”

“Mom…”

“As soon as I’m
finished with the chemo, I’ll come to visit. I’ll bet you a thousand dollars
you’ll be back with her before I get there.”

He arched an eyebrow.
“A thousand dollars?”

“Krona, pounds, euros,
whatever—I’m going to win.”

“I love you, Mom.”

“That’s why you’re my
favorite,” she smiled.

Stepping off the plane
in Las Vegas, Karl looked out at the bright sunshine and it felt like a huge
weight had been lifted. He knew he had a lot of work to do to convince his
friends that he hadn’t done what they thought he’d done, but he would find a
way. His career was too important, and even more important was Kate. He
couldn’t believe that she loved Dante. Despite what he read or the pictures he
saw, he knew the woman who’d told him she was in love with him was not the kind
of girl who jumped from one man to another, no matter how badly she was hurt.

Seeing Drake waiting
for him made him grin despite the sadness in both their faces. They embraced
for a moment and then headed towards baggage claim.

“Feels like you’ve been
gone forever,” Drake said finally.

“To me, too.” Karl shook
his head. “How’s Tiff?”

“She’s a mess,” he
admitted. “The girls have all been alternating staying with her, except Molly,
‘cause
of the new baby and all.”

“God, I didn’t even
send a gift.” Karl groaned. “My life is one big nightmare after another.”

“You planning on fixing
any of this shit?” Drake looked at his friend pointedly.

“Tell me where she is
and I’ll fucking drop to my knees and beg her to forgive me.”

“She’s going to be here
for the funeral,” Drake said quietly.

“Does she know I’m
going to be there?”

“Erin purposely didn’t
tell her. We wanted to make sure she came.”

“Thanks.” Karl felt the
first glimmer of hope.

“You have a lot of
groveling to do—and not just to Kate. My wife is
furious
with you.”

“I know.” Karl nodded.
“But I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Drake nodded too. “So
how’s your mom?”

“She starts chemo again
tomorrow. Once every two weeks, four times, and then she’ll get a three-week
break before she starts radiation.”

“Do they think it
spread?”

“It spread to her lymph
nodes, so they took them out when she had the mastectomy, but they didn’t see
it anywhere else.” He sighed. “They’ll be doing scans and stuff going forward.
All we can do now is get her through the chemo and radiation—it’s brutal.”

“I’m sure she’s getting
the best care available.”

“She is.” Karl picked
up his bag and followed Drake to the car. Even though he knew she was mad at
him, he couldn’t wait to see Erin. She and Kate had become an integral part of
his life in a very short time; losing both of them was like losing a limb. The
truth was that Sweden wasn’t home anymore, and without Kate, he wasn’t even
sure he had a home.

Karl knew he was in
trouble the moment he opened the door. Erin was standing in the foyer, arms
folded across her chest, and a menacing look in her sapphire blue eyes. He
glanced at Drake, but his burly friend had brushed past his wife with a kiss on
the cheek and kept moving.

Erin’s eyes met Karl’s
and she pointed to the couch. “Over there. You and I are going to have a talk.”

Karl swallowed. He was
6’4” and over 200 pounds, but Erin’s pregnant, 135-pound frame actually made
him nervous. Of course, she’d been a United States Marine for seven years, with
two missions in Afghanistan under her belt, and was still in the Marine Corps Reserves;
Karl didn’t know any women tougher than Erin.

He walked into the
living room and sat down, looking up at her as earnestly as he could. He knew
she was furious on Kate’s behalf, and he didn’t blame her, but damn, the cold
look in her eyes made him want to squirm.

“You knew all about
Kate’s weight when you met her,” she said quietly. Even five months pregnant,
Erin looked like she could kick ass and take names. “A one-night-stand the
night you met would have been fine; she’s an adult. A relationship that didn’t
work out would have been okay too; there are never guarantees. But this
bullshit on Twitter and Reddit? I don’t
fucking
think
so.”

“I didn’t do it,” he
said quickly. “I would never say something about her weight—not in private and
certainly not in public. Therese got my phone after I had too much to drink
and—”

“
Why the fuck
were
you drinking with Therese after what happened at the
last game of the season?” Erin demanded.

He sighed. “She showed
up at the house, it was late, I was already drinking and she just sat down. We
were talking and drinking, and then she made a pass at me. I turned her down
and I guess I passed out on the couch. But nothing happened, and I definitely
didn’t put that stuff on Twitter. Come on, I’ve got girls after me all day
long. I could have just broken up with her, like you said. I would never hurt
anyone publically like that. That’s not the kind of man I am. You have to know
that, Erin.”

She scowled. “And that
bullshit about moving back to Sweden? You never even mentioned it to her, but
Drake told me you’d been thinking about it.”

He sighed again. “I
hate being the back-up for Marco. I promised the Sidewinders two years but
Marco made some of this season hell. I was unhappy and I was entertaining a lot
of things.” He paused. “Until I met Kate. Because of her, I don’t
want
to go back to Sweden. In the beginning I didn’t say anything because we weren’t
serious. Once we got serious and I knew I wasn’t going to leave her there was
no reason to bring it up. That’s the truth, Erin.”

Erin stared at him. “Do
you have any idea how badly you’ve hurt her? If it hadn’t been for Dante, she
would have been the laughingstock of social media! She could have lost her
business, Karl—do you get that? She works with celebrities and they would have
been laughing at her if it hadn’t been for Dante.”

Karl felt like she’d
kicked him in the gut and he rested his elbows on his knees, hanging his head.
“I know, but I swear to God, it wasn’t me. I tried to explain but she changed
her number and you guys wouldn’t give it to me.”

“I have the power to
keep her from you,” Erin spoke in a steely voice. “I can make that happen. If I
don’t believe you here today, you’ll never see her again. And I’m not being a
bitch. Kate is the
only
reason I survived after I came back from
Afghanistan, and I will do absolutely anything to protect her from someone
who’s hurt her. Right now, I think she’s better off without you. To be honest,
I think Dante
Lamonte
can take better care of her
than you can.”

Karl’s mouth fell open and
he stared at her, a feeling of dread spreading over him. Although he knew Erin
was one of the kindest, sweetest women in the world, he also knew she owed Kate
her life and would protect her fiercely. Even in a situation like this, where
Kate didn’t really need protecting.

“Erin, I—”

“You have about two
minutes to find a way to convince me you’re for real.” Erin leaned against the
wall. “Otherwise, I call Dante and she won’t get on that plane for the
funeral.”

His eyes widened.
“Erin—”

“I’m serious, Karl.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Right now, I’m thinking I should call and tell them not to
come.”

“I don’t know what you
want me to say,” he said after a slight hesitation. “I love her. I made a
mistake that night letting my guard down with Therese, but nothing happened
between us. I issued a public apology for what she wrote on my Twitter account
and I’m here now, willing to do whatever it takes to make things right.”

“What it’s going to
take is to convince
me
.”

He swallowed. “Erin,
you need to give me a clue. I don’t know what to say to make you believe me.”

“Do you think she’s
fat?”

“
What?!
No!” He
looked shocked.

“Then why have all your
other girlfriends been tall, skinny and blond? Kate is short, dark and curvy.”