Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (25 page)

“What happened last
night? Is Kate okay?”

“She and Emilie are on
a plane right now, coming here.”

“Have you heard from
Therese?”

“Not yet.” He grimaced.
“But I’m sure she’ll pop up soon.”

“Karl, you and Kate—”

“I know.” He held up
his hands in surrender.

“Don’t let this go any
further. She can be stubborn—but she loves you. You have to be the one to break
down first. This time at least. She needs you to go after her and make her
understand that you love her even in the midst of all this drama and when she’s
being a pain in the ass.”

“I know that.”

“I know you’ve told her
repeatedly, but a few more times won’t kill you, and she’s worth it.”

He smiled and leaned
over to kiss her cheek. “I know she is. Don’t worry, I’m going to make things
right between us. Just as soon as she and Emilie get here.” He headed towards
his room. “I’m going to shower but I’ll leave my phone here. If
Viggo
, Emilie or Kate call, please pick up.”

“I’m on it.” She
nodded.

Kate knew the minute
Therese got on the plane and she silently cursed as she slid down in her seat,
pulling her baseball cap low on her head. She nudged Emilie, who did the same
thing, and they both groaned when Therese sat in the row in front of them. She
was a last-minute addition, coming in just as they shut the doors. Kate had
already turned off her phone and didn’t know if she could get service back
before they took off. Pulling a piece of paper out of her purse, she quickly
wrote a note for the flight attendant. She and Emilie were in first class, but
they had a better chance of remaining hidden if they could move to coach.

My husband’s ex-wife is
sitting in front of us; I’m afraid she’ll make trouble. I’m willing to trade
places with someone in coach. Please find someone traveling with a child—this
would be perfect for them.

The flight attendant
stared at Kate in surprise but nodded, disappearing down the aisle. A few
minutes later she appeared and motioned to Kate and Emilie, who got up quickly
and quietly. They settled into the small, uncomfortable coach seats and
exchanged glances.

“What now?” Emilie
whispered.

“We keep watch, make
sure she doesn’t see us.”

“What do we do when we
land? What if Karl is waiting for us?”

“I’ll call him the
second we touch down; hopefully I can
head
him off.”

“I’m really scared,
Kate.”

“It’ll be okay,” Kate
said, reaching out to take her hand. “We’ve got this. She can’t do anything on
the plane, but we have to make sure one of us is always awake, just in case she
tries.”

“No way I can fall
asleep now.”

“Four hours,” Kate
whispered. “We got this.”

Viggo
lifted the heavy weights
above his head with a grunt. Karl had been dragging him to the gym since Kate
had left but today he’d come on his own; there was something comforting about
pushing himself physically. He stayed in good shape as a professional hockey
player in Sweden, but he usually slacked off in June and July. Now, with the
mess he’d gotten himself into with Therese and Emilie, working out seemed to be
his only escape.

Emilie. God, with her
pale blue eyes and long, lithe body, he could lose himself in her all day long.
If only he didn’t have a thing for guys, too. If only he could stay faithful to
one person. If only he was capable of love. Well, he was capable of it; he just
wasn’t good at it. He knew he would hurt her, so he couldn’t let her know his
true feelings, but there were times that he thought maybe he could be with just
her. He’d never been faithful to anyone before, though, and he was damned if he
was going to experiment on
Em
. No way would he give
her a ring, a home and a couple of kids only to discover he needed to suck some
guy’s dick. No, that wasn’t who he was. He was a lot of things, but a selfish
asshole wasn’t one of them. Except that wasn’t true either. If he hadn’t given
in to having her just that one time, none of them would be in this mess. He hadn’t
known his fuck buddy Lars had been talking to Therese or that she’d been
watching them; if he had, he never would have given into a night with Emilie.

When his phone buzzed,
he glanced at it; Emilie. He picked it up hurriedly, concerned about both her
and Kate after he heard that Therese showed up at Dante’s.

“Are you in Vegas?” he
asked.

“Yes. Where are you?”

“At the gym.”

“Is Karl with you?”

“No. The place is
closed. A lot of the Sidewinders work out here so they have a key and can get
in any time.
Toli
gave me his so I could get out of
the house. Been going a little stir crazy.”

Emilie switched to
Swedish because Kate was with her. “Can I come see you? I miss you.”

“
Em
,
we talked about this.”

“I know you don’t
return my feelings, but I’m going away to school and you’re going back to
Sweden. I may not see you again for a long time. Please? You can’t tell me you
haven’t missed me at all.”

Viggo
blew out a breath. “Of
course I’ve missed you! You know how I feel about you, but I can’t give you
what you want,
Em
.”

“I know that. I just
need to see you—Therese has me really freaked out.”

“Okay.” He gave her the
address. “Have the cab drop you off here. I’ve got
Toli’s
truck so I’ll bring you home later.”

“Okay. See you soon.”
She hung up and looked at Kate. “I need to see
Viggo
.
Can you drop me off at the gym before you go home?”

Kate turned to her
curiously. “You guys have a thing, don’t you?”

Emilie laughed
bitterly. “No,
we
do not have anything. I have a thing but he doesn’t
share my feelings.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve asked him more
times than I want to admit.”

“And he says no?”

“He says he could never
be faithful to me, that his penchant for sex with men makes him unreliable and
he cares for me too much to do that to me.”

“At least he’s honest,”
Kate said gently. “Imagine being involved with him and catching him sleeping
with men on a regular basis. I mean, it doesn’t matter if he sleeps with men or
women, it’s just the fact that he sleeps with other people. That would hurt you
much more than this.”

“I don’t know,” Emilie
said softly. “I’ve loved him since I was 15. I knew he was bisexual but I
thought it was something he would get over. We’re pretty sexually liberal in
Sweden, not hung up on who’s gay or straight or whatever. I thought he would
want to settle down eventually. When we ran into each other at a nightclub, the
night we had the threesome, he was all over me. We’d both had a bit to drink,
so I decided to go for it. I didn’t care if he was bi or whatever—I just wanted
to be with him one time. I thought maybe I’d get it out of my system. Then I
realized there were going to be two of them,
Viggo
and one of his teammates, Lars…” Her voice trailed off and she stared out the
window. “I told them they had to both do me, not each other, and they agreed.
Until after they’d both taken a turn with me. They turned to each other and
just—” She paused. “Anyway, that’s when I knew it was hopeless. But we’re still
close friends, and right now he’s the only thing familiar to me, other than you
and Karl.”

“I’m sorry.” Kate
squeezed her hand. “You sure you want to see him? Seems like you’re just
setting yourself up to get hurt.”

“The hurt was months
ago,” she admitted. “Now it’s just survival until this thing with Therese is
over. If it’s ever over.”

“Karl will take care of
it,” Kate said with more enthusiasm than she felt. “I don’t know how, but I
know him, and he’ll do whatever he has to do.”

“She got crazy in the
last year,”
Emiie
said. “I don’t understand it. We’ve
been friends since they started dating, when I was 15. She was older so we
weren’t super close until about two years ago. She got me a modeling job with
her, and we started partying. We were traveling around Europe, meeting guys,
having fun. I actually forgot about
Viggo
and started
going out with lots of rich, fun guys. Then about a year ago she started asking
me about Karl. Like, all the time. Where is he living, does he have a
girlfriend, is he staying in Las Vegas? I didn’t think much about it, but the
night of the threesome I realized something was up. We went up to Lars’
place—he has this great penthouse in Stockholm. We had sex and, out of nowhere,
Therese came out of the fucking closet! It was surreal… She laughed, said she
liked to watch better than participate. It was creepy. Then I found out later
she’d taped the whole damn thing.” She closed her eyes. “Ugh. I hate that this
happened. I hate
her
.”

“I know. Somehow we’ll
find a way to make this better.”

The cab slowed to a
stop in front of the gym.
Viggo
was standing at the
door, waving, and Emilie turned to Kate gratefully. “Thank you. Go make up with
Karl.”

“I intend to.”

“See you later!” Emilie
kissed her cheek before jumping out of the car and running straight into
Viggo’s
arms. As the cab pulled away, Kate thought he
didn’t act like a man who didn’t have feelings, but she had enough to worry
about with her own relationship; she couldn’t think about theirs right now.
Staring at the diamond on her left hand, she ached to run into Karl’s arms like
Emilie had just done with
Viggo
. Being apart for five
days was killing her and she realized how foolish she’d been. She didn’t know
what was going to happen in the future, but she did know that he loved her. The
concern in his voice last night when he’d called told her everything she needed
to know; he was always there for her and she had to find a way to trust in
that.

There was an accident
up ahead and Kate shifted impatiently. Knowing that she was just minutes away
from seeing Karl made her want to scream in frustration as they sat on the
highway. She didn’t want to text him; she just wanted to see him. And touch
him. And tell him how sorry she was. Five days suddenly felt like an eternity
without him, but the time apart had definitely made her realize that living
without him wasn’t an option. She wasn’t going to let Therese, or anyone else,
drive a wedge between them.

She let out a huge sigh
of relief when they managed to get past the accident and pulled onto the street
Karl lived on. The condo he and Drake shared was in an upscale but quiet neighborhood
so they breezed past the lights and stop signs. She added a fat tip to the bill
when they arrived and she ran into the building. Tapping her foot as she waited
for the elevator to take her to the 8
^th
floor, she was practically
bouncing when she unlocked the door to the condo.

“Karl?!”

“Hey.” Erin came out of
the bedroom frowning. “How did you get here?”

“What do you mean?”
Kate faltered. “Where’s Karl?”

“He said Therese had found
you and Emilie and…” Her voice trailed off. “Oh my God. Something’s wrong.
Drake’s supposed to meet him at the gym! Call him! Oh my God.”

“Shit!” Kate dialed
Karl’s number but it went straight to voicemail. “I need to borrow your keys!”

“Drake,
Toli
and Zakk are already going down there—”

“I have to go too!”
Kate grabbed the keys and ran out the door. As soon as she got out of the
elevator, she dialed the number for
Lojack
. “Hi, this
is Mrs.
Martensson
. My husband called me and said he
was having car trouble, but his cell phone died. I’m really worried. Can you
tell me where he is?” She waited, digging a pen out of her purse. “South on…”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Yes, okay. No, I’m not sure why he’s still
moving. Do you think you can call me back if he stops? I’m really concerned.
Thank you so much.”

She pulled onto the
street and called Drake.

 “They’re gone!”
Drake said in frustration when he answered. “The gym is empty—looks like there
was a struggle of some kind.”

“Karl’s truck isn’t
there, is it?” Kate asked.

“No. They must have
made him drive.”

“I just called
Lojack
and they say he’s heading south on Carter, just past
Monroe.”

“Kate, you can’t go
after them! You don’t know what you’re going to find. Therese is dangerous.”

“Call the cops—I’m
closer to them where I am than you are at the gym. I’ll call
Lojack
back once I get closer.” She disconnected and hit
the gas. Using voice commands, she tried to call Karl again, but it went to
voicemail. A bad feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

Karl knew he’d made a
mistake in going to the gym alone, but he couldn’t wait for Drake and the
others to arrive. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been
to see Therese pointing a gun at his sister. He’d tried to diffuse the
situation but someone had come up behind him and hit him on the head. When he
woke up, a man he didn’t know was driving his truck, Emilie was beside him with
her hands tied in front of her and tape over her mouth, and
Viggo
was still passed out on the other side of her. Therese was in the front seat
talking quietly with the man who was driving, but Karl couldn’t make out what
they were saying.

He kept his eyes
closed, hoping to come up with a plan. A slow, brief exploration of his pockets
told him they’d taken his phone and when his eyes briefly met Emilie’s, she
shook her head, telling him she didn’t have one either. He squeezed her
fingers, hoping to reassure her, but he didn’t know what they were going to do.
It would be better if
Viggo
woke up, but without
knowing what they’d done to him, he wasn’t sure how badly he was hurt.

Keeping his eyes open
just enough to make out the street signs, he was surprised to see they were
close to the arena. He really hoped someone was smart enough to remember he had
Lojack
in the car so they could locate them. Kate, he
thought affectionately, would think of it, but he didn’t know how long until
she got back to the condo or figured out that something was wrong. She’d been
keeping her distance, both physically and emotionally, and he now regretted
letting her stay away so long. If Therese killed him, Kate would blame herself
for not being with him, and he didn’t want that for her.

Anger surged through
him and he slid a hand behind Emilie’s back so he could pinch
Viggo
; if he was awake but faking it, he would understand
Karl’s signal. Luckily,
Viggo
moved his arm, letting
Karl know he was awake too. Emilie moved closer to him and
Viggo
gently squeezed her knee. Karl really wanted to know how the hell the two of
them had gotten so close without him having a clue, but this probably wasn’t
the time to ask.

The truck was slowing
down and Karl recognized the street that led to the arena. Only a handful of
people worked at the arena in the summer; the crew that maintained the ice,
light security, and some of the sales and marketing people upstairs in the
business offices. Becca worked from home a lot during the summer since there
usually wasn’t a lot to talk about, but some of the guys kept her busy so there
was a chance she’d gone in. Other than that, he didn’t know what Therese had in
mind.

“Karl, wake up!”
Therese was shouting at him. She threw water from a water bottle on him and he
slowly moved his head, as though she’d just woken him.

He met her gaze across
the seats and she gave him a smarmy grin. “How do we get into the arena? Which
gate?”

He rubbed his eyes,
pretending he’d just woken up as he tried to buy some time.