Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (20 page)

“Great.” Karl tried to
wrap his mind around everything. “So, are you worried about the video going
public?”

“I have a dude’s dick
in my mouth,” he grunted. “Not exactly the right image for a hockey player.”

“There are lots of gay
hockey players.”

“But they all stay
locked firmly in the closet.”

“So I’ll ask you again,
are you afraid for the video to go public?”

“Not if it helps
Em
, but I don’t think it’s me Therese is gunning for. There
has to be more. I just don’t know what it is.”

“All right, thanks.
I’ll talk to you soon. And if you talk to my sister, tell her I know and that I
want her to call me.”

“Yeah, all right.”

Karl hung up and looked
at Drake. “Well, you heard all that. My sister and one of my best friends in a
sex video with another guy and something we will call
items
.”

Erin blanched. “Yikes.”

“And Therese getting
paid to pimp
Em
out to other men.” He got up and
started to pace. “She has to know I’m going to stop it, but I don’t have to
marry her to do that. I’ll bring
Em
to the States and
she won’t be able to get near her. The tape is embarrassing, but it’s nothing
new and
Em
isn’t a celebrity. What else could she
have?”

“What about you?” Erin
asked carefully. “Have you ever done anything that is truly embarrassing? You
need to think before you answer—a threesome, another guy, anything, any moment
of weakness that anyone might have caught on film?”

Karl shook his head.
“Not that I can think of. Yes, lots of drunk sex, so I guess there’s a minute
possibility I had sex with a man—but not to my knowledge and I just, I mean,
you have to have a proclivity to that sort of thing, don’t you?” He looked at
Drake. “We’ve partied together—have I ever done anything so over-the-top that
someone could blackmail me with it?”

Drake shook his head.
“Not that I remember.”

“A sex tape isn’t a big
threat,” Karl said in frustration. “It’s embarrassing, but it’s not the end of
the world. Everyone does dumb shit like that!”

“Not me,” Erin said
primly.

They all chuckled.

“Where does this leave
us?” Drake asked after a moment.

“It leaves us with
nothing,” Karl said.

When his phone rang and
Emilie’s name flashed on the screen, he glanced at Erin and Drake. “My sister,”
he said before answering. “Hey,
Em
.”

“I need to see you,”
she said sharply.

“I just left Sweden,”
he said. “Can we talk on the phone?”

“I’m in L.A.”

“What?”

“Can you come to L.A.?”

“
Em
,
I just talked to
Viggo
and—”

“I asked if you could
come to L.A.!” Emilie sounded desperate and Karl hesitated.

“Not tonight, but I can
come tomorrow afternoon.”

Emilie told him where
to meet her and then abruptly hung up.

He told Erin and Drake
everything.

“I should come with
you,” Drake said quietly. “You absolutely shouldn’t be alone, even if I’m
hanging out in the shadows.”

“You should call
Toli
,” Erin said. “If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d kick Therese’s
ass, but since I am…” Her voice trailed off.

“Yeah, you’re probably
right.” Karl just sighed.

Eloping at the
courthouse was incredibly uneventful, Kate thought, as they walked out hand in
hand. It wasn’t how she’d pictured her wedding day, but Karl swore he would
make it up to her. She really didn’t care about the pomp and circumstance, but
she’d always dreamed of the romance, sharing the moment with her best friends,
and a honeymoon on a beach somewhere. Somehow, she and Erin had both lost out
on that and it was kind of sad. At least they’d both been there for each other,
and she hugged her friend tightly before they parted ways. She’d never cared
about the big wedding, but this was so far in the opposite direction, it felt
odd. Being married to Karl, however, felt right and she gave him a soft kiss
when they got in the car.

“What was that for?” he
asked, smiling at her before he started the engine.

“Because I love you.”

“And I you.” He touched
her face. “I promise we’re going to do this right as soon as I get Therese out
of the picture and make sure my sister is safe.”

“I’m good, babe.” She
squeezed his hand. “Except we just got married and you’re leaving me to go to
L.A. Aren’t we even going to have sex and consummate this thing?!”

He laughed. “You want
to do it here, in the car?”

She rolled her eyes.
“No, I want you to tie me to the bed and fuck the hell out of me for a few
hours! Duh.”

His eyes softened for a
moment, and he leaned over, his lips close to hers. “You know how much I love
you, Katrina Marie?”

“Tell me.”

“So much.” He touched
her face. “I want to give you the world. I’m so pissed off that we’re letting
Therese victimize us. I’m going to make it up to you.”

“Stop.” She looked into
the handsome face she loved so much. “I don’t care about all this other stuff—I
just want to make you happy. I know you’re worried about your sister, so go make
sure she’s okay and then we’ll work on us.”

“Promise me you and
Erin will go stay with Dom and Molly?” He knew Dom wouldn’t let anything happen
to them on his watch.

“Promise.”

“And promise me, no
matter what you see on social media or anywhere else, you won’t believe
anything unless it comes from me in person.”

“Promise.”

“Now let’s go home so I
can fuck you
real
good before I have to get on the
road.” His grin was mischievous and playful.

She grinned back.
“Promise?”

With Drake and
Toli
along for the ride, Karl felt better as he drove to
Los Angeles. He had a feeling Emilie was setting him up for something, but he
would have gone regardless. She was his sister and now that he knew that
Therese was blackmailing her with the sex tapes, he wasn’t going to let it
continue. No matter what she was planning, he was going to help her get away
from Therese. He’d also called his parents and told them everything that had
happened. He knew Emilie would be upset, but they had to be prepared. He hadn’t
been able to reach
Viggo
, but he’d left him a message
too.

“Normally I like L.A.,”
Toli
said with a grunt. “But I don’t think this trip
is going to be much fun.”

“Probably not,” Karl
agreed. “So I’m grateful you guys are with me.”

“It’s no problem,”
Drake said. “You’ve always had my back, so now it’s my turn.”

“You think your sister
would recognize me?”
Toli
asked. “I think maybe I
should go with you to the restaurant for dinner—I’ll sit close so I can see
everything.”

“And I’ll be outside in
the truck,” Drake said thoughtfully. “That way, you’ll have a getaway car!”

They chuckled together.

“Getaway car? This is
like in bank robber movies, yes?”
Toli’s
English had
improved by leaps and bounds since Molly had been teaching him to speak better,
but he still sometimes got confused by casual terms.

“Exactly!” Drake
laughed.

“Let’s assume we won’t
be needing a getaway car,” Karl muttered, shaking his head.

“You think Therese is
going to be there?”
Toli
asked.

“Absolutely,” Karl nodded.
“No doubt in my mind. I just don’t know what they think they’re going to
accomplish. I’m prepared for her tactics now, so if she moves towards me I can
back away from any attempts to kiss or touch me. Even if she has a camera crew
there, I can hold my own.”

“But what if Emilie
can’t?” Drake asked. “She’s obviously in a lot of trouble with Therese; what if
Therese has something planned for Emilie, and unless you do X or Y, she’ll make
her do it.”

“That’s what I’m
worried about, but I’ve already got a plan to extract Emilie from the
situation—even if she doesn’t want to go. If I have to carry her, kicking and
screaming over my shoulder, I will.” He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road.
“And if there’s a film crew around, I will make sure they know about the sex
tapes and that I was taking her for her own protection. I talked to Becca
earlier and she’s prepared for anything that might happen. Kate knows what’s
going on, and I warned both my parents and
Viggo
. Now
we just have to see which way Therese is going to go with this.”

“I think I am better
off single,”
Toli
said, his blue eyes twinkling.
“Every time you guys fall in love, bad things happen!”

“This isn’t Kate’s
fault,” Karl said quietly. “This is about my past, not hers.”

“Same thing,”
Toli
chuckled. “You are in love; now there is trouble.”

“Totally worth it,”
Drake said, leaning back. “Just wait, buddy. Your time is
comin
’.”

Toli
sighed. “
Toli
is not so lucky in love.”

“
Toli
is not supposed to talk in third person,” Drake murmured, holding back a laugh.
Toli
actually spoke excellent English, but when he
was tired, stressed or in a hurry, he forgot everything he was supposed to say
and reverted to half English, half Russian, and spoke in third person.

“Molly is not here!”
Toli
muttered.

“But I could tell her!”
Drake grunted as
Toli
reached over the seat and
smacked him in the back of the head.

They were still
chuckling as they crossed into Los Angeles County.

Karl walked into the restaurant
and saw Emilie right away, sitting at a table for four in the middle of the
restaurant. She looked tired, her face paler than usual and her shoulders
slightly hunched. He felt a moment of guilt, knowing that this was partially
his fault, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. His priority was getting
her out of Therese’s clutches; then he would worry about everything else.

Toli
had already gone in,
dark sunglasses covering his eyes. He’d wanted to wear a baseball cap but this
was the kind of place that required a jacket and baseball caps were definitely
not allowed. So he was sitting close to the entrance, by himself, his face
buried in the menu as Karl strolled over to Emilie. He leaned over to brush his
lips across her cheek, studying her face carefully.

“Hey,
Em
.”

“Hi.” She looked around
nervously. “Are you alone?”

“Of course. What’s
going on?” He sat across from her and opened his napkin.

“You have to get back
with Therese,” she whispered, her eyes downcast. “Please, Karl. You have to.”

“I don’t have to do
anything,” he said quietly, reaching across the table to take her hands in his.
“I know what she’s doing to you, and I’m going to stop it.”

“No! You can’t!” Emilie
jerked her hands away, her blue eyes wide and frantic. “She’ll destroy me!”

“
Em
—I
can protect you.”

“Karl, please, you
don’t understand—” she broke off abruptly, her face lighting into a smile.
“Therese! You’re here!”

“Hello, darling!”
Therese breezed in, swooping down to kiss Emilie’s cheeks. She moved towards
Karl but he was already out of his seat and pulling out her chair, thwarting
her plans to hug him.

“You didn’t tell me
Therese was coming,” Karl said, sinking back into his chair.

“She wanted to surprise
you,” Emilie said, her smile faltering a little.

“So what’s up, Therese?”
Karl arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t have to use my sister to see me, you could
have just shown up, like you did last time.”

“I thought we should
talk somewhere outside of Las Vegas,” Therese motioned to the waiter as she
spoke. “That way, you wouldn’t have your chubby little friend and the PR witch
around.”

“Becca isn’t a
witch—she has a job to do.” He took a sip of the wine the waiter was pouring.
“And Kate isn’t my friend—she’s my wife.” He hadn’t been sure when or how he
would tell her, but her comment irritated him and it was time to stop this
charade.

“Your wife?!” Emilie
looked more horrified than Therese as she gaped at him. “Surely you’re joking!”

“Not at all.” Karl
reached for a warm roll and slowly cut it in half, spreading butter on it as if
he didn’t have a care in the world. “We eloped.”

“Oh, don’t listen to
him!” Therese laughed, rolling her eyes. “He’s angry at me for what I said
about her on Twitter, so he’s trying to torment me.”

Karl shrugged. “Believe
what you want. There’ll be a press release tomorrow.” He made a mental note to
call Becca about that.

Therese narrowed her
eyes. “That better be a joke, Karl.”

“Why?” He cocked his
head. “I’m confused, so we should talk about this. We broke up six years ago.
Six
.
I haven’t seen or heard from you in more four or five, right? We fought like
cats and dogs the last six months we were together, and that’s why we broke up.
Yes, we had some good times in the beginning, but we were teenagers! I don’t
know why you’re suddenly determined to have me back, but I’ve moved on, and you
should as well.”

“That. Isn’t. Going.
To. Happen.” She put both her palms flat on the table and glared at him. “We
are soul mates. I’ve loved you all of my adult life and I know you love me too.
There is no way in hell you’re going to be happy married to that chubby little
heiress who’s going to look like a whale after a couple of kids.”

“Kate and I don’t want
kids,” he lied easily, his eyes meeting hers. “Maybe we’ll adopt one, much
later on, but for now we want to play and travel and work on our careers.”

“Karl.” Emilie was just
staring at him. “You can’t be serious. Mama will be heartbroken.”

“Mom will be fine.” He
looked from one to the other. “Can we be done with this now? Seriously,
Therese, I wish you all the best, but I’ve moved on. What is it you want,
exactly?”

“You.” She met his gaze
and didn’t waver. “Your ring on my finger, your babies inside me, your heart
completely mine.”

Karl had to blink a few
times as he stared at her. She didn’t look like it on the outside, but she was
truly crazy. He didn’t even know what to say at this point. He could see Emilie
nervously fidgeting in her seat, and he wondered what Therese had threatened to
do to her. It seemed like it was time to stop pretending and get this over with.

“I’m not sure how to
respond,” he said carefully. “I don’t love you and I’m already married. At this
point, I think talking is a waste of time.”

“Oh, Karl.” Therese
shook her head. “You’ll have to do something about your wife—if you’re really
married. Otherwise, bad things could happen to the people you care about.” She
glanced at Emilie.

“Karl!” Emilie’s eyes
filled with tears.

“I really dislike being
threatened.” He met Therese’s gaze without flinching. “Understand if you go
near my parents or brother, I will destroy you. Personally, professionally, in
any way possible. That is non-negotiable. Emilie, it’s time for you to go.”

“Go where?” She looked
around in confusion.

“She stays with me,”
Therese growled under her breath, her fingers clutching the tablecloth.

Karl raised his arm and
snapped his fingers.
Toli
stood up and immediately
walked over to him. “Take my sister,” was all Karl said, not even looking up.

Toli
inclined his head and
looked at Emilie. “Come.” He held out his arm.

“Get away from her!”
Therese hissed.

Toli
looked only at Emilie.
“Everything will be okay, just come with me.”

“Go,
Em
.” Karl didn’t look at Emilie, keeping his eyes focused
on Therese.

“I’ll release the
tapes,” Therese said.

“No!” Emilie’s hands
flew to her mouth.

“Go with
Toli
,
Em
.”

Toli
gently took her arm
and pulled her to her feet.