Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (23 page)

“Because of 20 fucking
pounds?!” Karl yelled. “Are you fucking kidding me?! At your height, you are
20, maybe 25, pounds out of the size zero league that you seem to be so infatuated
with! Is that what our whole relationship boils down to? 25 God damn pounds?!”

“No, but—”

“I’m done arguing about
this!” Karl didn’t know if he’d ever been more furious with anyone. “You’re my
wife—I think maybe you need to look that up. Wife. Partner. Love of my life.
When you’ve actually pulled your head out of your ass, and thought about what
it means that we’re married, give me a call. Until then, I’m not having this
conversation anymore.” He disconnected.

“Oh, God.” Kate put the
phone down and buried her face in her hands.

Karl hit the bag
repeatedly. He pounded his fists into the heavy bag until his biceps burned and
sweat poured down his body. He knew
Viggo
, Drake,
Toli
and Zakk were watching him, but he didn’t care. He was
mad. He was
really
mad. It had been three days and not only had Kate not
come home, she hadn’t called either, and he was pissed. Although he would never
actually hit her, he really wanted to put her over his knee right now. He knew
Erin had tried to talk to her, but although Erin appeared to be on his side,
she wasn’t sharing what Kate had said either. So he was pounding his
frustrations into the heavy bag, wondering if any amount of punishment to his
body could make the pain in his heart go away.

He still couldn’t
believe she’d said those things, insinuating that she didn’t think she was
attractive enough for him. He didn’t even understand what that meant. Yeah, he
was a decent looking guy who played in the NHL, but what did that have to do
with anything? He would never be a superstar like Wayne Gretzky or a
multimillionaire; he was just a guy who played hockey and made an above-average
salary. Sure, he attracted women, but so did a lot of guys, and he knew for a
fact Dante had a thing for her. What was the difference? Why could she accept
Dante’s interest but not his? He couldn’t understand her state of mind, and
even Erin had been confused about that part of it.

“Okay, enough.” Drake
put a hand on Karl’s shoulder as he struggled to keep hitting the bag. “You’re
only going to wind up hurting yourself. Here.” He handed him a bottle of water.

“Thanks.” Karl drank
deeply.

“I think this is enough
for today,”
Toli
said, looking at him intently. “You
will accomplish nothing by hitting this bag repeatedly.”

“It’s all I’ve got
right now,” Karl said, wiping his face with a towel Drake handed him. “It’s
been three days. Three fucking days, and my wife hasn’t called or texted or
sent smoke signals.”

“Smoke signals?”
Toli
looked confused.

“Ancient form of
communication by American Indians,” Zakk told him under his breath.

“Oh.”
Toli
made a face. “You should go to her.”

“No.” Karl turned,
shaking his head. “She seems to think that she’s not pretty enough or some
bullshit about her weight and I can’t keep chasing after her over that. She has
got to come to terms with that shit on her own. I can’t make her stop feeling
fat, and the fact that she’s trying to put it on me, saying I’m out of her
league—that’s just fucked up.”

“What’s the
alternative?” Drake asked him. “You love her, don’t you?”

“Of course I love her!
I married her, like, a week ago!”

“So because she’s
insecure and stubborn you’re just going to let her go?”

“I’m not going to
fucking let her go!” Karl stalked off in the other direction, getting on the
treadmill and starting to run.

“Fuck, this is going to
be a long day,”
Viggo
said, heading in Karl’s
direction. He got on the treadmill next to him and started to run in tandem,
their legs matching paces. Karl glanced over at him after a moment and shook
his head.

“What are you doing?”
he asked him.

“Just trying to be a
good friend. Run a little. Sweat a lot. Die soon.”

Karl scowled but there
was a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “Just let it go, man. This is
how I deal with stress.”

“That’s bullshit, but
okay, we don’t have to talk.”

They ran for thirty
minutes, and
Viggo
finally slowed to a walk. He used
his towel to smack Karl in the arm. “Enough already. Let’s go get something to
eat.”

“Yeah, okay.” Karl
slowed down and started the cool down cycle.

“It’s going to be okay.
I know you’re pissed off, but she’s a woman. Sometimes they need to be shown
what they want.”

“You don’t know Kate.”

“I don’t have to. She
let you tie her up, yeah?”

Karl gave him a look.
“We’re not having this kind of conversation about her—she’s my wife.”

Viggo
shook his head.
“Listen to me—didn’t she let you tie her up? It’s not a probing question, it’s
a theoretical one.”

Karl scowled but
nodded. “Yeah, so?”

“And she liked it? She
liked letting you take control?”

Karl paused, intrigued
by what he was getting at. “Yeah, I think she did, but what we do in the
bedroom is separate.”

“No, it’s not.”
Viggo
put a hand on his arm. “I’m not saying you make her
some kind of submissive. I’m saying show her who’s in charge when she needs you
to—by loving her more than she loves herself. That girl adores you. She’s smart
and beautiful and fiercely independent. Whatever has happened in her past
relationships has obviously made her second-guess herself. You have to be
strong enough for both of you. She wants you to take control. She may not even
know it, but she’s testing you. She’s pulling away because she believes you’re
going to leave her anyway. Prove to her you’re not. This is your first
fight—don’t make it your last.”

“I won’t.” He would
have to think about it more; he definitely didn’t want to lose Kate. In the
meantime, he changed the subject. “Have you talked to
Em
?”

Viggo
looked startled.
“Yeah, of course. Why?”

Karl frowned at his
friend. “What’s with you? Why do you always look guilty when I ask about her?
You two have a thing or something?”

“No.”
Viggo
looked uncomfortable. “Unfortunately, no.”

“Unfortunately?” Now
Karl was startled.

“In
Em’s
case, she’s absolutely out of
my
league. Not because of what’s on the
outside, but because of who I am on the inside. I could never be faithful to
her, and she’s not the kind of girl you do that to.”

“Do you have
feelings
for my sister?” Karl was surprised.

“Since I was 17 and she
was 15.” He smiled faintly. “But I also have a thing for guys. Until there
comes a time when that’s not the case, she’s out of my league.”

“Does she have feelings
for you?”

Viggo
looked away. “I think
maybe she did. Until the night we had the threesome.”

“Why? You said she
wanted it.”

“She did, but I don’t
think it was what she thought it was going to be. She wasn’t prepared for the
reality of—
that
.”

“Of watching you with
another guy?”

He nodded. “And I saw
the pain in her eyes, like she didn’t really believe I was bi until that
moment. But it was too late for me to stop, or take it back.” He shrugged.
“Anyway, she has no idea how I feel and I pretended not to notice and I’m not
going to jerk her around. But you, you have a chance to make things right. So
go do it. Don’t let Kate go.”

Karl stared after his
friend as he wandered back to the others and wondered if Emilie shared his
feelings.
Viggo
was one of the best guys he knew, but
he didn’t know of many women who would be willing to share the man they loved
with other men, even if the relationships were just sexual. He shook his head
warily, wondering if anything ever worked out for anyone. He glanced at Drake
and it occurred to him that it did, if you wanted it bad enough; maybe that was
what he needed to focus on.

Emilie was having a
hard time sleeping. The first few days with Dante had been fun, but now that he
was on the road and she was home alone with Larissa and Trey, it was different.
Something about Larissa rubbed her the wrong way, and though Trey was very
sweet, he wasn’t around much. He didn’t seem to like being at the house with
Larissa any more than Emilie did, but Emilie didn’t have anywhere to go or
anyone to do anything with.

Sitting up, she slid
her feet into a pair of slippers and padded down the stairs. She was hoping a
drink would help her relax and she was just about to head towards the kitchen
when she heard voices coming from that direction. She frowned. There were two
women’s voices and as a peal of laughter rang out, she slapped her hand over
her mouth in horror.

“You’re a crazy bitch!”
Larissa was laughing. “I didn’t believe you’d come here!”

“Of course I came,”
Therese’s lilting accent was light and carefree. “You and I both have problems
to take care of, and if we work together, we’ll get what we want.”

“Well, your
homegirl
Emilie is making my life all kinds of
complicated,” Larissa continued. “I want her out of my house and away from my
man.”

“I can take care of
her—no problem. But I’ll need something in return.”

“You need me to get rid
of Kate.”

“Exactly. I’ll take
Emilie tonight and dispose of her, but then you’re going to have to deal with
Kate because Karl won’t let me anywhere near her now.”

“I can do that. Fat
bitch been
hittin
’ on my man, too!”

Emilie turned and ran back
down to her room in the basement.

Kate stared at the
ceiling for what felt like hours. She’d left dinner with clients two hours ago,
but sleep was eluding her. Just as it had every night since she’d left Las
Vegas. Four days and no word from Karl. She didn’t blame him, but it hurt.
She’d thought for sure he would call after he’d had time to cool off, but there
had been no word from him. Erin said he was furious, going to the gym and
beating the shit out of the bag the boxers used every day, until his friends
practically dragged him out of there.

It was nearly one
o’clock in the morning and she was still wide awake. She ached to call her
husband and tell him she was sorry, but part of her wondered if this was best.
Maybe everything that had happened was a sign that she wasn’t cut out to be
married to a guy like Karl—gorgeous, rich and famous. Maybe her mother was
right and she should have married
Romi
. The thought
was almost laughable at this point; how could she ever look at another man
after having been loved by Karl?

That was the killer in
all of this; he loved her. She knew it and was a little ashamed of the way
she’d behaved. It wasn’t his fault she was insecure about her weight and
pouting because the beginning of their marriage wasn’t going the way she’d
always dreamed about. He’d just been so focused on dealing with Emilie and
Viggo
, and she didn’t understand it. If he loved her as
much as she thought he did, why wasn’t he showing it now that they were
married?

Feeling like an idiot,
she reached for her phone. She pulled up his number and was about to connect
when the phone buzzed in her hands, making her jump. She saw Emilie’s number
flashing and she answered worriedly. “Hey, it’s late—everything okay?”

“Therese is here!”
Emilie was whispering.

“What?!”

“Karl didn’t pick up—I
don’t know what to do. I just climbed out the window of the basement, but I
don’t know where to go.”

“Get away from the
house! If you go to the right of the front gates, you’ll get to the guard
shack. When you get there tell them you’re having trouble getting a signal on
your phone and you need them to call you a cab. They might grumble, but use
your charm and they’ll do it. Make sure you stay with them until the cab gets
there. Do you have your ID and cash?”

“Yes and a little—maybe
$50?”

“Do you have a credit
card?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, get to the guard
booth. I’ll figure out where Karl is.” She hung up and called Erin, hoping she
was still awake.

“Hey, what’s up?” Erin
was yawning.

“Where’s Karl? It’s an
emergency—where is he?”

“I don’t know,” Erin
said in confusion. “He was going to watch a movie with
Viggo
.
Didn’t he pick up?”

“No! Emilie tried to
call him and said she can’t reach him, so she called me. Can you try to find
him and get him to call me? Tell him Emilie’s in trouble. I’ll explain in a
minute—I have to make sure she’s okay.” Kate hung up as she dialed Emilie back.

“I’m in a cab!” Emilie
said. “But I just told him to drive—I don’t know where to go.”

“It’s too late for you
to get a train or a flight to New York,” Kate said. “Dammit, tell me what
happened.”

“I was in bed and
wanted a drink. I got up and was coming up the back stairs when I heard two
women talking. As I got closer I realized it was Therese, and Larissa was telling
her stuff, about all of us. She told Therese she wants me taken care of and
Therese said she could handle that!”

“Shit! And Dante’s on
the road. Where’s Trey?”

“I don’t know—he had a
date tonight.”

“Okay—tell the driver
to take you to the airport—Karl’s calling. I’ll call you back!” She
disconnected and was almost in tears as she answered. “
Karl?!
”