Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (8 page)

@KarlMartensson35 She’s
not fat, asshole—she’s beautiful. And better off without you.

Fuck
. Scrolling down he
found tons of responses, most of them telling him what a jerk he was, but a
handful saying terrible things about Kate and how he was too hot to date a fat
chick. Then he saw the picture taken of him playing hockey with Sebastian and
his friends, with a caption questioning his desire to remain in the NHL and a
link to a bunch of stuff on Reddit he couldn’t even begin to understand.

“Sonofabitch!” He
didn’t realize he’d spoken out loud until he heard his mother’s soft voice.

“What’s wrong,
sweetheart?”

“Mom!” He turned to
her, so glad to see her awake he momentarily forgot about the shit storm that
had just taken over his life.

“What’s got you so
upset?” she asked, her blue eyes cloudy from drugs and pain.

“It’s not important,”
he said quickly, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “How are you feeling? Shall
I call a nurse?”

“No, you shall sit down
and tell me what’s wrong.” She took his hand. “I’m sick—not dead. And until I’m
dead, I’m still your mother and your best friend. Right?”

“Right.” He forced a
smile. “It’s Therese—she said something really awful on Twitter that hurt Kate.
And someone leaked to the press that I’ve decided to stay in Sweden and play
for the SHL.”

“Is that true?”

“No. I have another
year on my contract with the Sidewinders—and even if I did want to leave, I
would have talked to management first.”

“You need to fix this.”

“It’s okay, Mom. Don’t
worry about anything except getting better.”

She almost laughed. “My
darling, I’ve been worrying about you since the day you were born—you don’t
think a little heart attack would change that?”

He squeezed her hand.
“I’ll take care of all that. I just want you to get better.”

“How can I get better
knowing that this is going on in your life?”

“You have to get better
to help me fix it,” he said simply.

“Take care of your
life, Karl. I’ll be right here resting.”

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too.” Her eyes
closed as she drifted back to sleep and Karl stared down at his phone. He
didn’t know where to start, but as much as he loved Kate, he had to make things
right with the Sidewinders before he could deal with anything else. Dialing a
familiar number, he waited for someone to answer.

“Sidewinders’ PR, this
is Becca.”

“Becca, it’s Karl.”

There was a slight
pause. “You know you are persona non grata around here right now?”

“I need your help,
Becca.”

“No shit!” she laughed.

“I need to issue some
kind of statement—I am
not
planning to play for the SHL next season.
This sprouted from a casual hockey game with a bunch of guys I used to play
with years ago. I have no idea who said what to whom, but it’s completely
untrue.”

“Lonnie Finch is fit to
be tied, and Marco is having a field day!” Becca usually knew everything that
was going on with every aspect of the team.

“Fuck Marco,” Karl
muttered. “I’m going to call Coach when I hang up with you, but I need to know
what to do.”

“Someone released a
picture—have you seen it? It’s you sitting on the bench with Otto
Hornqvist
, wearing an SHL jersey.”

“It was a pickup game
between old friends—they tossed me a jersey and I put it on! I didn’t even look
at it! I wasn’t even in net—I was playing forward.”

Becca was making notes.
“And what about the Tweet on your timeline about home being Sweden?”

“My phone was hacked,”
he said quietly. “One of my sister’s friends got ahold of it while I was
sleeping. We’d had a few drinks. I had no idea it was even there. Jesus
Christ.” Even as he told her the story he knew it sounded lame.

“This isn’t going to be
easy,” she said after a moment. “And the comment about fat women…”

“I didn’t write it!” he
growled, frustrated and angry.

“I believe you, doll,
but we’ve got to get the
public
to believe it, not to mention that sweet
girlfriend of yours.”

Karl winced, knowing
Kate had undoubtedly written him off the moment he didn’t show up at the
airport. He had to talk to her, but the situation with the Sidewinders had to
be dealt with first. “Can you work on something?” he asked.

“I can’t put anything
out until I hear from the powers that be, but yeah, I’ll start working on a
press release right away. In the meantime, you need to get things straight with
management.”

“Thanks, I’m on it.” He
disconnected and steeled himself for a long evening on the phone. He was
grateful it was still late morning in Las Vegas; he had time to start damage
control right away.

Later that night, he
pulled up to his parents’ house. He was supposed to be with his mother, but she
was sleeping and he had one thing he needed to handle immediately. After a long
talk with Coach Barnett, the team’s general manager Pierre Bouchard, and Lonnie
Finch himself, he’d managed to get everyone to believe that while he was in
touch with old friends and former teammates, he was not planning to stay in
Sweden. He’d even called Coach
Nilson
, who’d been
surprised but willing to speak to Coach Barnett and admit that though he’d
heard rumors as well, he and Karl hadn’t spoken personally. He still had a lot
to do to make things right, but at least he still had a job. Now, he had to
take care of the biggest immediate problem: Therese.

Walking into the house,
he saw everyone was up. His father sat in his favorite chair with a cigar,
watching television, Sebastian was on his phone, and Emilie and Therese were
looking through a magazine. The cozy scene was almost more than he could stand
and he stalked into the room ready for battle.

“Did you really think
that would work?!” he demanded, staring down at Therese.

She looked up at him
innocently. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said after a moment.

“The picture on my
Twitter feed—and your cute little hashtag about Kate?! Are you fucking kidding
me?!” He pointed. “And then leaking that shit on Reddit? What are you trying to
do to me?”

“Karl!” His father
stood up, looking around the room. “What on earth is going on?”

“While I’ve been
handling Mom’s medical issues, the twins here have been hosting a Let’s-Make-Karl-Move-Back-to-Sweden
campaign!” He turned to his brother. “It’s bad enough that Therese found it
necessary to say something hateful about my girlfriend on Twitter, but did you
seriously release that fucking picture of me in an SHL jersey?! Bas—this is my
career
we’re talking about! I almost lost my contract, my reputation, everything! What
the hell is the
matter
with you?!”

Sebastian swallowed
nervously. “It wasn’t me, bro, I swear. It had to be Otto—I was talking to the
guys about you wanting to move home, but I didn’t release any pictures or talk
to the press. I miss having you around, but I wouldn’t mess with your career
like that.”

“What did you do?”
Emilie faced Therese.

“I’ve been doing what
was necessary to get your mother the help she needs and get him back to
Sweden!” Therese snapped back at her. “Then I got him drunk and tried to get
him in bed with me, but he wouldn’t do it! Even half-unconscious, all he could
talk about was his precious Kate! So I put a selfie of us on Twitter—it wasn’t
a big deal!”

“It wasn’t the
picture!” Karl snarled at her. “What the hell was that bullshit hashtag? You
think it’s funny that the whole world is now using
#
nomorefatties
and the press has put two and two together and linked that to Kate? How would
you like it if I posted something like #
nomoreflatties
?”

She gasped, glaring at
him. “It’s not the same,” she whispered harshly. “I’m a successful model and
actress with a TV show—what the hell is she?”

“She’s the woman I
love,” he said quietly. “And the woman you’re going to apologize to.”

“Yeah, good luck making
that
happen,” she quipped, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

Emilie frowned at her
friend. “You made it look like Karl called his girlfriend
fat
on
Twitter? That’s not funny.”

“You said I should do
whatever I could to make him notice me!” Therese glared at her.

“I meant, walking
around the house naked or sneaking into bed with him or something—not going on
social media and making a fool out of him!” Emilie scowled at her friend.

“Oh stop playing innocent!”
Therese rolled her eyes as she lit a cigarette. “You were just as excited as I
was about us getting back together.”

“You weren’t supposed
to hurt him!” Emilie growled, lighting her own cigarette and blowing smoke in
Therese’s face.

“Knock it off!” Therese
pinned her with a look.

“I need to talk to
you,” Emilie said, setting her jaw. “Outside.”

“Whatever.” Therese
followed, a scowl on her face.

“Son, I don’t even know
what to say,” Wills looked from Karl to Sebastian. “The twins need to learn to
mind their own business. Your brother is a grown man, with a very important
career in the NHL. You can’t start trouble like this because you miss him. Your
mother and I miss him too—but he has his own life. What were you thinking?”

“I thought you hated
being the back-up?” Sebastian demanded.

“I do!” Karl snapped.
“But even if I was going to leave the NHL and come home, I wouldn’t handle it
this way. I would have talked to my coach and the team’s owners, and I would
have done things in a specific way. I’m a professional athlete. I can’t just
hop from league to league without looking like an ass. Once you start to behave
that way, no one wants you on their team.”

“So are you in
trouble?” Sebastian looked embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble,
Karl. The guys and I were just fucking around when we put that picture on
Twitter, but I swear we weren’t the ones who went to Reddit.”

“That was Therese,”
Karl grumbled.

“Karl, her uncle is the
very best,” Wills said after a moment. “Can you just placate her long enough
for your mum to get well? Then I don’t care, but right now, I don’t want
anything to happen to her!”

Karl sighed heavily,
running his hands through his hair.

“Just until your mum is
out of the hospital. Please.”

“Yes, of course.
Whatever Mom needs.”

“We’ll make everything
right, Karl. Just give your mum a week or so to get better. Okay?”

“Sure, Dad.” Karl
glanced outside to where Therese and Emilie seemed to be having a heated
argument and felt his chest tighten. His life had rapidly become a complete
nightmare and for at least the next week or so, he couldn’t leave and he
couldn’t get to Kate. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. He had to find a
way out of this mess.

Kate wasn’t sure how she
survived the first few days. She’d known losing Karl would break her heart, but
she’d never imagined anything could hurt like this. Even with Erin at her side,
Dante spoiling her with flowers, presents and attention, and her friends from
the Sidewinders reaching out with support, for the most part, Kate felt like
she was drowning in an ocean of pain. She would go a few minutes without
thinking about him, and then it would all come rushing back, leaving her almost
paralyzed with anguish.

When her mother started
to call, she knew she shouldn’t answer, but eventually she would have to. After
six voicemail messages, Kate finally answered the phone.

“Katrina, darling,” her
mother said sympathetically. “How are you?”

“I’m okay.” Kate
decided not to elaborate; she was sure her mother knew everything that had
happened.

“I’m sorry about Karl,”
Arianne said. “But you had to know this would happen. Guys like him aren’t
going to stay faithful to a chubby girl like you.”

Kate wanted to scream
with frustration, but opted to say nothing.

“Darling, I know it’s
hard for you—you weren’t graced with my metabolism, but really, if you would
just stop putting food in your mouth, you could control this.”

“Mom, I have to eat.”

“Yes, of course, but
small meals. Stay away from the carbs and sugar. Small portions, and for
heaven’s sake, limit your alcohol. You go to all those parties and entertain
your clients—just because it’s available doesn’t mean you have to partake.”

“I know, Mom.”

“Sweetheart, if you
don’t get control of this, you’re never going to find a husband. Do you want to
be alone for the rest of your life?”

Kate sighed. “Mom…”

“He called you fat in
front of the whole world,” Arianne said firmly. “Surely that had to have been
humiliating. The best revenge would be for you to lose weight and find someone
even more fabulous—like that Dante
Lamonte
!”

“He’s a womanizer with
a felony record. You’re really going to compare him to Karl?”

“Karl called you fat on
Twitter—I’m pretty sure Dante has never done that to any of
his
girlfriends.”

Kate pressed her lips
together, fighting the urge to cry. “Mom, I’ve got to work. I’ll talk to you in
a few days.”

“Take care of yourself,
and think about what I said.”

Kate couldn’t think of
anything else. Every time she looked in the mirror she cringed, wondering what
Karl had really thought about her when she’d let him fuck her without shame.
She was so embarrassed, both by what she’d let him do to her sexually and by
the way he was treating her, it took every ounce of strength she had to function
every day. If not for the lure of having Dante
Lamonte
as a client, and the subsequent success it was bringing, she wasn’t sure she
would have survived.

“Kate, you haven’t
eaten anything all day,” Erin was chastising her, again, and Kate sighed
heavily.

“I can’t,” she said.
“Everything I put in my stomach makes me feel sick.”

Erin narrowed her eyes.
“You’re not pregnant, are you?”

“No.” Kate shook her
head. “I’m on the pill
and
we used a condom every single time. It’s not
possible.”

“Then you’re starving
yourself because you think you’re fat.”

“Well, I am.” Kate
shrugged. “Just look on Twitter.”

“Kate, Drake thinks
there’s more to the story,” Erin tried to reason with her. “He talked to Karl
yesterday and he says his phone was hacked and then something happened to it
and he had to get a new one.”

“And that picture of
Therese in his arms was
Photoshopped
?” Kate turned
away. “It doesn’t matter. That picture tells me what I need to know—he couldn’t
even stay faithful for a few weeks and he lied to me about everything.”

Erin talked until she
was blue in the face, but Kate wasn’t listening anymore, and Erin finally let
it go. She only had one more day before she had to go back to Virginia, and she
didn’t want to fight with her. Kate was a total mess, and it worried Erin.
She’d cried until she got a nosebleed, and in the four days Erin had been with
her, she hadn’t seen her eat anything other than a banana and some yogurt. She
drank coffee day and night, but she wouldn’t eat much of anything and she
rarely slept. Her hands shook and there were now dark circles under her eyes.

“Are you coming with me
to my meeting?” Kate asked, coming out of the bathroom in a pair of capris and
a short-sleeved blouse.

“To see Dante?”

“Yes.”

“Why not?” Erin smiled.
“He seems like quite the character—and he’s sent you a zillion dollars’ worth
of flowers!”

“He’s engaged,” Kate
smiled. “He’s just being nice.”

“He called Karl an
asshole on Twitter—I think he likes you.”

“I’ve already started
to make him look like a reformed bad boy, so he’s grateful for my help.”

“If that was all it was
he would send you a fruit basket or a bonus check.” Erin pulled on her sandals.

“You’ll see. Come on.”

They took a cab
downtown to the office building Kate was now using regularly, and Dante and
Trey were already waiting.

“You’re early,” Kate
said.

“Damn, girl, what
happened to you?” Trey demanded. Dante smacked him on the back of the head and
Trey quickly backpedaled. “I mean, you look tired,” he amended softly. “Are you
feeling okay?”

“The nights are the
hardest,” she admitted. “But I’m okay. This is my best friend, Erin Riser.
Erin, this is Dante
Lamonte
and Trey Montoya. She
came to hang out for a few days.”

Nice to meet you.”
Dante shook Erin’s hand. “It’s good of you to come look out for our girl here.
It’s been a rough few days, but I’ve done my best to defend her honor on
Twitter.”

“You need to stay out
of it, Dante,” Kate shook her head. “We’ve finally gotten some positive press
for you, and you’re on fire at the plate. Let’s not negate that with rumors
that you’re sleeping with your publicist!”

“I don’t give a shit
about rumors.” His caramel eyes sought out hers. “You understand I got where I
am today in spite of myself, not because of it?”

She laughed. “Yes, I do
understand that, but it looks bad for my business if you go back to being a bad
boy! So, please, for me, don’t worry about my honor.”

“Somebody has to,” Trey
remarked, folding his arms. “Your pretty-boy hockey player isn’t.”

Kate took a breath.
“Okay, can we not talk about Karl? It’s still raw, and I’m terrified every time
I leave the house someone is going to take a picture of me and label it
#
nomorefatties
.”

Dante blinked at her,
his face as serious as she’d ever seen it. “You listen to me,” he said evenly.
“If Larissa hadn’t wound up pregnant, you would be
mine
right now. You
got that? Dante
Lamonte
would be fucking you up one
side and down the other—there is nothing ‘
fattie
’
about you. ¿
Me
entiendes
?”
Do you
understand me?

Kate’s mouth fell open
but she snapped it shut when Trey and Erin started to giggle. Kate whirled on
them, her eyes blazing. “You guys! This isn’t funny!” She looked back at Dante
accusingly. “And now you’re teasing me!”

“Teasing you?!” Dante
stood up and walked over to where Kate was sitting. He leaned over until his
face was inches from hers, staring at her intently. Then he kissed her, his
lips parting hers before she even realized it. He slipped his tongue in her
mouth and flicked hers for the briefest moment before pulling away. “
That
was a tease.” He turned and went back to his chair, leaving Erin and Trey
staring in wide-eyed delight.

“Why would you do
that?!” Kate demanded. “Larissa—”

“Larissa’s pregnant
with my kid,” Dante said evenly. “That doesn’t mean I love her. I’m doing the
right thing—for her, for the kid and for my career, but don’t ever mistake
Dante
Lamonte
for a traditional guy. All the PR in
the world isn’t going to make that happen. When I want something, I take it.”

“You can’t just take
me
,”
she said, scowling. “We work together and I’m—” She closed her eyes to keep her
voice from breaking. “My heart is broken in a million pieces right now. I can’t
handle this. Please.”

“I’m sorry, baby girl.”
He gazed at her with the expression that Kate had come to know meant he was up
to something. “I was just telling you the truth. So let me rephrase,
if
you were interested, you would already be mine.” He smiled. “Better?”

She couldn’t help but
smile back. “Yes.”

He inclined his head. “So,
I need you in Philly with me tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Big game, against the
Mets, and last time we played it was ugly. I might need some damage control.”

She squinted at him.
“Dante…”

“Come on, you can stay
at the house with Larissa and me—you know you’re safe with her in the house!
And like you said, I’ve been on a roll lately, since you started handling my
PR. I’m thinking you’re my good luck charm.”

“You should go,” Erin
nudged her. “I’m going back to Virginia anyway, and you’re going to be all
alone. It’ll be good to get out of New York, away from everything, for a few
days.”

Kate hesitated, but
finally nodded. “Okay, why not?” She really didn’t feel like doing anything but
curling up in a ball and sleeping, but that wasn’t an option. So she was going to
Philadelphia.

The days passed in a
blur for Karl. He spent his days with his mother and his evenings handling
things that were going on back in the U.S. He’d left dozens of messages for
Kate, but she never returned his calls and Kate’s assistant Lana had asked him
to please stop calling. He still tried, every single day, but realized that she
simply wasn’t going to call him back. He’d had his ass chewed by almost
everyone he knew; Drake had been as furious as Karl had ever heard him. He’d
finally convinced him that he didn’t sleep with Therese and definitely hadn’t
made that post, but Drake had made it clear that his return to Las Vegas wasn’t
going to be pleasant if he didn’t find a way to undo the damage that had been
done.

The Sidewinders
released a statement about his lack of interest in playing for the SHL at this
time, including confirmation from Coach
Nilson
that
they had never discussed it. His career seemed to be back on track, but his
reputation as a woman-hater was off the charts and, much to his dismay,
#
nomorefatties
was all the rage with the club and social
media set. Karl had apologized on Twitter, explaining that his phone had been
stolen at a get-together where his ex-girlfriend had posted a picture out of
context and left a post without his knowledge. As far as he knew, Kate either
never saw it, didn’t care, or didn’t believe him.

He’d also begun to
update social media on his mother’s condition, wanting to be clear that his
time in Sweden was related only to being with his mother during her illness,
and not because he was leaving the NHL. It was exhausting keeping up with
everything, and he was torn between staying with his mother and going to find
Kate.

“Karl.” His mother held
out her hand and he went to her.

“How are you feeling?”
he asked her.

“A little better.” She
smiled faintly. “But you, my darling boy, look terrible. You’re not sleeping,
and I can see the strain on your face. What’s going on?”

“It’s not important.”
He shook his head.

“How is Kate?”

Karl looked away.
“Undoubtedly heartbroken and very angry with me.”

“You need to go to
her.”

“I can’t leave you,” he
said. “Dad is a wreck, and you know Bas and
Em
are
useless to him in a time of crisis.”

“I don’t need anything
except to know that you’re happy—I’m in the hospital getting the very best
care. You should go back to the U.S. and talk to Kate.”

“I’ve called, sent
flowers and left dozens of messages. She doesn’t want to talk to me.” He sighed
heavily. “I’ll fix it, but not until I know you’re okay. After the wound heals
and they think you’re strong enough to start chemo again, I’ll go to her.”

“You know you’re my
favorite, right?” Her eyes twinkled up at him; she’d been telling him that
since the twins were born, when he was just two years old, but it was their
private joke and he never tired of hearing it.

“I know.” He smiled,
happy to see her more like herself and determined not to let her see just how
miserable he was.

Kate had never been a
big fan of baseball, but she had to admit watching Dante play was fun. He had
personality on and off the field and the home crowd ate it up. He smiled for
the cameras, pointed to the stands when he was up at bat to signify he was
going to hit a home run, and basically would have been a complete nuisance if
he wasn’t so damn good. When he hit a grand slam at the bottom of the ninth,
winning the game and breaking some kind of home run record, she’d been cheering
along with everyone else. Bad boy or not, there was something enigmatic about
Dante. She would have been lying if she said that his kiss hadn’t been
interesting, but at the same time, she hadn’t really
felt
anything. The
earth hadn’t moved the way it did the first time Karl had kissed her.