Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (17 page)

“I have no idea what I
want!” he protested. “Up until now we were seeing each other secretly—I need a
few minutes to make sense of everything!”

Tatiana made a face.
“Sergei, I don’t need to pressure you into anything—I’m fine without you.”

He grimaced, looking around
the table in frustration. “I’m sorry all of you had to be here for this—I
appreciate you just sitting there and letting us look like idiots.” He took a
breath. “But right now, I need some air.” He got up and strode out of the
restaurant.

“That went well,” Toli said
after a moment.

“You should go after him,”
Molly said finally. “He’s your
brother
.”

Toli sighed. “Brother needs
a kick in the ass,” he muttered, getting up. “But Toli will go.” He ambled off
in the direction Sergei had gone, leaving Tatiana at the table.

“I’m sorry,” Tatiana said.
“I wish that hadn’t happened here.”

Another uncomfortable
silence followed as everyone got up to refill their plates. Molly stayed behind,
still not finished with her first plate, and she picked at it as she sat at the
table with Tatiana. Neither of them spoke, allowing the noise in the room to
fill the silence. It was strange, Molly thought, to be so wholly immersed in
these people after such a short time. She felt as though she’d known them for
much longer than she really had, even Sergei and Tatiana. Toli spoke of them so
often she felt a kinship with them despite the situation.

“You must think I’m a
terrible person,” Tatiana said, meeting her eyes.

“You can’t control who you
fall in love with,” Molly said. “I just wish you hadn’t given Toli hope.”

“I didn’t know how to tell
him. We decided that we would get married when we were sixteen and eighteen. He
would play in the NHL and make lots of money while I went to school, and then
after he retired, I would make all the money as a doctor. It was a plan, and
for many years that’s what we did. Then we began to grow apart. We grew into
different adults than we were when we were teenagers, but he was always so
loyal...”

“And you?”

“I was always studying and
working,” she admitted. “I didn’t think about Toli too much—we had a plan and
that’s what I focused on. Two years ago I realized I couldn’t marry him,
because I didn’t feel anything but friendship when we were together, and Sergei
had always been around. We fell in to bed together the moment Toli and I
decided to cancel the wedding, but he was still seeing other women. That was
okay—I’m so busy all the time anyway—but we were careless. Now there’s a baby
whose father doesn’t want to settle down. I thought about terminating, but it
seems so senseless. I’m thirty-three and want children.” She toyed with the
food left on her plate. “Sergei said he loved me.”

“Maybe he does,” Molly said.

“I didn’t know he was
thinking about coming back to the US,” she said, her eyes watering slightly. “I
thought he was happy in Russia—with me. But it seems that both the Petrov
brothers are more drawn to the NHL than they are to me.”

“Maybe you need to re-think
living in Russia.”

The two women locked eyes
across the table. “Maybe.” Tatiana looked up as Dom and Cody came back, and
then she got up and headed off for the buffet.

Dom felt good as he skated
out onto the ice a few days later. He was strong, probably in the best shape of
his life, and ready to play. Though Saturday night’s party and Sunday’s brunch
had left him, Cody and Toli slightly out of sorts, they’d spoken briefly while
they’d been getting dressed and they were putting everything else aside as they
prepared for the last few days of camp. The three of them had no worries about
making the team, but they still had to make sure they played as hard as they
could to set the pace for the season. Coach Barnett was counting on them to
guide the others in the direction the team needed to go, and Dom was determined
to be a leader this season.

He’d always been something
of a black sheep on the teams he’d played for in the past, and this was his
chance to change all of that. With Molly’s help, he’d come a long way this
summer in overcoming his guilt and anger about what had happened to Brian, and
for the first time felt like he might be able to move on. The pain would always
be there, but now it was just a dull thud instead of a pounding ache.

Taking a pass from Cody, he
shot it towards the net where Marco stopped it with his glove and a smirk. Dom
mentally rolled his eyes as he skated off and took a seat on the bench. Cody
joined him a moment later and they exchanged a knowing look. Marco was a great
goaltender, but he was simply an asshole. He spent as much time as he possibly
could reminding Karl that he was only the backup, and though Karl had a good
head on his shoulders, Dom knew it had to be getting old. He was going to
mention it to Coach Barnett because if Marco was riding Karl before the season
even started, there was no doubt that Karl would look to get traded next
season, and they didn’t want that. Karl represented their future and that had
to be of equal importance as their present.

Chances they would make the
playoffs this year, much less win a championship, were probably close to none,
so they had to keep their younger players happy. The veterans were here to set
a foundation for the younger guys, but it was guys like Karl who would shape
this team going forward. And frankly, Marco was just a jerk. Dom hadn’t known
him before he’d arrived at camp, but he’d heard rumors. The Swiss net minder
was arrogant, self-absorbed and not known for being a team player.
Unfortunately, he was damn good at his job and until that changed, teams still
wanted him.

.

After the practice game was
over, they showered, dressed and waited for the coaches to arrive for their
daily post-practice meeting. There were only a few days left and they would end
training camp with a free scrimmage similar to what they’d done today, except
it would be open to the public. They hoped to get the residents of Las Vegas
excited about the sport and the team, so they had several community-friendly
events planned between now and the end of October.

Thinking about their first
road trip was the only downer for Dom. He knew Molly was far more terrified
about him leaving than she let on, and the truth was that he was nervous too.
She was hiding something, he could feel it in his gut, but he couldn’t get her
to open up. He had a feeling she was ready to run, and only her inability to
ask someone like Toli or Suze for the money to do it kept her here. He’d been
desperately trying to make her understand that he could protect her, but she was
more worried about him than she was about herself and that was a problem.
Whenever he tried to talk to her about it, she changed the subject or found a
way to get them in bed, and he was guilty of allowing it.

“Why so serious?” Toli asked
him as he and Cody walked out with Dom.

“Just worried about Molly.
She’s a nervous wreck about the start of the season and I don’t know how to
make her feel better.”

“Try harder,” Toli said,
putting on his sunglasses. “If you don’t, you will lose her.”

Dom glared at him. “What do
you know that I don’t?”

“She believes Tim will
strike as soon as we leave on the first trip, and she isn’t going to sit around
waiting for this to happen.”

“You mean she’s leaving?”
Dom was alarmed.

“I don’t know,” Toli
admitted. “But I do know she’s very afraid for
us
, and that makes her an
easy target.”

“How do I make her safer?”
Dom asked in frustration.

They all looked at each
other, but no one had a good answer so they all went their separate ways for
the afternoon.

Dom drove home thinking about
how to get Molly to trust him to protect her. He hated living apart and each
day only got harder. He understood her need to protect him and Toli, but they
didn’t need protection. It made him nervous that she was alone with Andra a lot
of the time, and even if Brad was home, he wouldn’t be able to take on a bunch
of police if they stormed the house with some bogus charge or a warrant.

He had to find a way to
convince Molly that she was safer with him, even when he was traveling. Maybe
it was time to leave the apartment and think about buying a house where he
could install top-of-the-line security and possibly even have guards on site.
He could afford it, and Molly was worth it. She just didn’t seem to think so,
which had begun to make him crazy.

Pulling up at Brad and
Andra’s, he paused for a moment, trying to figure out what he was going to say.
She was getting good at dodging the hard questions, so he was going to make
sure not to let her deflect. It was time they had a heart to heart; he was
already deeply invested in this relationship, and though he was sure she had
feelings for him, he didn’t know what she was thinking. He couldn’t start the
season worrying that she was going to disappear the minute he turned his back,
and it was time they talked about that.

Walking into the house, he
found Andra and Molly in the kitchen cutting vegetables. Molly looked up with a
smile, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him.

“Hey there!” Andra gave him
a smile too. “How was camp?”

“Good. I think Coach has
pretty much decided who’s staying and who’s going.”

“He won’t be home for
hours,” said Andra, “but you two should go spend some time together.” She
motioned with her head. “I’ve got this. Go do something fun.”

“If you’re sure.” Molly put
down the knife and quickly washed her hands. She dried them and then walked
over to Dom, leaning up to meet his kiss.

“Let’s go for a drive,” he
suggested.

“Okay, let me grab my
purse.” She picked it up off the chair in the corner and called out to Andra
before heading out to his car. Getting in, she buckled her seat belt and
glanced at him. “Where are we going?”

“My place?” He looked over
at her questioningly.

“Sure.” She smiled. “You
have plans for us?”

He chuckled.
“Yes—uninterrupted conversation.”

“Okay.”

They chatted amiably as he
drove towards home, and he told her about the players and what they’d all been
doing. They talked hockey and dinner plans until they were walking into the
apartment. Molly looked around wistfully, realizing she missed living here.
Brad and Andra had a beautiful home and had made her feel completely welcome,
but it wasn’t her house. More than that, it wasn’t where Dom was, and she
missed him. With their future up in the air because of the constant threat that
Tim would make a move, she didn’t know what else she could do, but it was
getting harder and harder to be away from Dom.

“Come sit with me,” he said,
pulling her towards the couch.

She followed, her hand in
his, and they settled on the couch with her resting against him. She put her
head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat and enjoying the firmness
of his arms.

“I want to ask you a
question,” Dom said.

“Okay.” She glanced up at
his face.

“What do you want? If you
take Tim and your divorce and all of that out of the equation, what is it that
would make you the happiest woman in the world?”

“You,” she said
automatically.

He couldn’t help but smile.
“Yeah, but how? Friends? Marriage? A family? What do you want in your
happily-ever-after with me?

“A family,” she said with a
faraway smile. “A big house that we could host dinner parties in, with a big
kitchen that I can cook in, and a little boy or girl with big dark eyes like
yours who would go running into your arms when you get back from a trip…” Her
voice trailed off. “But that’s not realistic.”

“Why?” He lifted her face so
that he could look into her eyes. “You know I want to give you the world,
right?”

“You can’t give me a baby,”
she whispered.

“Yes, I can.” He kissed her
gently. “We could try to get pregnant right now, and see what happens. We could
also harvest some of your eggs and have them put away for later, in case we
need to use a surrogate or we find out that you can’t carry a baby to term no
matter what. We could also adopt. We have a lot of options, babe.”

Her eyes filled with tears.
“You make me so happy,” she whispered, burying her face in his chest.

“I know you’re thinking
about leaving and I need you to stop.”

She closed her eyes and
squeezed them tightly. “I won’t be responsible for anyone else getting hurt,”
she said after a moment. “You know what that feels like, to be unable to help
someone you love. You of all people know how it feels.”

“He’s not going to hurt
anyone. I can take care of us, Toli can take care of himself, and Cody can take
care of Suze and CJ.”

“You don’t know him!” she
protested. “We’re always going to be looking over our shoulders, and we’re
always going to have to think about where we are and what we’re doing. After a
while, that’s going to wear on everyone.”

“You need to leave that to
me.” He shifted his position so that they were looking at each other. “I love
you, Molly. Do you love me?”

“You know I do.” Her eyes
misted over as she looked into his handsome face.

“Then move home. I need you
here, but if you’re afraid when I’m on the road you can go stay with Andra. Or
you could come with me sometimes. You can’t travel on the plane with me, but
you can come out to wherever I am and stay with me at the hotel. We spend a lot
of time in the west, so it could be fun for you to explore some of the places
we go. Suze could probably leave CJ with Andra sometimes and go too.”

“I don’t know,” she
whispered. “I want to come home—here, with you—but this isn’t over. I know it
as sure as I know the sun is shining outside. I still haven’t gotten the final
divorce papers, which means he’s screwing with me, and he’s going to do
everything he can to draw this out. It wasn’t supposed to take more than six to
eight weeks and we’re going on, what? Twelve?”

“Call the lawyer,” Dom said
firmly. “We’ll find out what’s going on and threaten to find another lawyer if
he can’t handle this.”

“Dom, I’m so scared!” She
met his eyes worriedly. “I want to be with you more than anything in the world,
but—”

“There can’t be buts
anymore,” he whispered. “You have to take a leap of faith, babe. I can’t keep
worrying about you leaving. I hate not waking up next to you or going to sleep
with you in my arms. It’s like our whole future is on hold, and it’s not fair
to either of us. Can you trust me to take care of you?”

“I do, but—”

“I’m not him,” Dom said,
starting to wonder if he was fighting a losing battle.

“I know!” She took a deep
breath and put her hand on his cheek. “The problem is, how do I go on if Tim
does something to you?”

“At some point, you have to
let go of ‘what if’ and just think about now. I could die of a heart attack
tomorrow, or you could get hit by a drunk driver. Are we going to stop living
because one of us is inevitably going to die first? Come on, baby—you’ve got to
give up this need to fix everything. Let me handle the hard stuff. I just want
to make you happy—that’s what
my
happily-ever-after looks like. Is that
so hard to understand?”

She shook her head. “I guess
not.”

“So will you move home?”

“Okay.” She wanted her
happily-ever-after more than anything in the world. It scared her half to
death, but Dom gave her strength she didn’t know she had. Maybe, for once in
her life, she could have her dreams actually come true. She had to believe it
because the alternative meant never seeing this man again. She didn’t think she
could live with that.

“You need a car,” Dom said
the next morning as they had coffee before he left for training camp.

“I do?”

“Unless you want to
constantly drive me places.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Yeah, but it would be better
if you had your own car,” he said. “I mean, at some point, I’m going to get
home from a trip in the middle of the night, or have to leave at the crack of
dawn and you’ll be without a car while I’m gone. That’s not fair.”

“Dom, it feels like it’s so much…”
She swallowed. “I mean, I was kind of hoping I’d get money from the house so I
could buy myself a few things.”