Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (20 page)

Tiff laughed. “Honey, we’re
hockey wives—we make nuisances of ourselves just by existing. But our group,
this group at least, has no desire to make any headlines or cause any trouble.
So if you’d like to hang out with the boring faction of the team, that would be
us.”

Rachel actually smiled.
“Sure. I’m not going to be able to make all the games because we’re shooting my
show right now, but I wanted to be here tonight and for the home opener in
October, so it will be nice to know some of you.” She followed Tiff back to her
original seat and Tiff introduced her.

“Are you going to stay in
L.A. or will you move here?” Tiff asked.

“I’ll be commuting back and
forth for now. I’ll keep my condo in L.A., but we’re going to start looking at
houses here. It depends on what happens this season, though. We don’t want to
buy a house if he’s not going to stay.”

“It’s a great place to
live,” Molly said.

“Molly’s a native,” Suze
laughed. “She actually thinks the desert is cool.”

Molly stuck her tongue out
at her. “Go ahead and move back to your winter wonderland in Toronto,” she
laughed. “I’ll be here in shorts and a t-shirt while you’re shoveling snow.”

“Okay, you got me there.”
Suze grinned. “I’m not going anywhere that cold ever again!”

“Are you one of the coach’s
wives?” Rachel asked Molly.

Molly glanced at the woman
and raised her eyebrows. “No, I’m Dom Gianni’s girlfriend.”

“The enforcer,” Rachel said
with a small smile. “And he’s got the cougar thing going on—very cool.”

Molly wasn’t sure if she’d
just been insulted or not, and she glanced at Suze with an unspoken plea for
help.

“Actually, she’s got our bad
boy so settled down, I don’t even know if he’s capable of being an enforcer
anymore,” Suze said.

Rachel grinned. “There is
nothing wrong with being a cougar,” she said. “It wasn’t meant to be a dig. I
think it’s awesome—in my business, by the time you’re thirty-five they want you
to play a grandmother, so I’m all about staying as young as possible, inside
and out.”

The women fell into easy
conversation after that, and before long, the guys were taking the ice. Molly
searched for Dom and finally spotted the number 16, clapping her hands together
with delight when they introduced him.

“He looks huge out there!”
she whispered to Suze.

“They’re three inches taller
in their skates!” Suze whispered back. She’d spotted Cody immediately, familiar
with his body under the uniform and the way he moved on the ice. He wore the
number 27 and she smiled to herself as she thought about their afternoon
quickie before she had to iron Sergei’s dress shirt and then leave to pick up
CJ. Though it was too quick for her after so many years without sex, there was
no helping that today. He’d needed to rest before the game and she’d needed to
pick up CJ, but there was the promise of a lot more where that came from.

“Hello, ladies!” Sergei slid
into a seat in the row behind the women and grinned at them. “Can I sit right
in the middle of you?”

They all laughed and moved
to make room for him between Tiff and Suze. He grinned like a cat that had
swallowed a canary and he waved down at his brother, who had just been
introduced and looked up in their general direction. He lifted his stick in
acknowledgement and Sergei nodded his head.

“Sergei, this is Rachel,
Jamie Teller’s girlfriend,” Suze introduced them.

“We watch
Vampire Legend
on
Netflix in Russia,” he said, nodding at her. “The guys are dying to find out
what happened after last season’s finale. They’ve got to wait a whole year!”

“Everyone dies,” Rachel said
with a wink and they laughed.

“That’s a bummer,” he said,
flashing his most winning smile. Women tended to love him, and he knew it. He
was a really good-looking guy, his eyes bright and blue, with thick, wavy blond
hair. While Toli’s teeth were crooked and gave him a look of perpetual
mischief, Sergei’s were almost perfectly straight, making him seem older and
more mature. Toli was an inch taller, but Sergei was twenty pounds heavier, all
of it muscle. They were built the same way, though, with long arms and legs,
lean shoulders and muscular torsos. From the back, they were almost identical,
and on the ice, you had to know them really well to be able to tell them apart.

They’d always been close,
until Sergei started sleeping with Tatiana, and guilt weighed heavily on him
now, especially tonight. He’d purposely avoided talking to Toli before the game
because he was afraid it would affect his level of play if they argued, but at
the same time, he needed to clear the air. Even if it meant giving up Tatiana,
he couldn’t imagine living the rest of his life being on the outs with his
brother.

Realizing Molly was talking
to him, he leaned over. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you?”

“Did you talk to Toli?” she
repeated softly.

“No.” He got up and moved
down several seats so he could sit on her other side. “I was afraid we would
argue, so I wanted to wait until after the game. I texted him that I was coming
and asked if I could stay the night so we could talk.”

“Oh, good,” Molly smiled.
“He’s been really out of sorts since you and Tatiana left for Boston.”

“I don’t like fighting with
him,” Sergei admitted. “Believe it or not, we’re very close. The last couple of
years have been hard, but I’m going to try to make things right.”

“So she went back to
Russia?”

“Yup.” He sighed. “I have to
talk with Toli before I talk to her, though. Even though I’m crazy about her, I
don’t know that she truly returns my feelings, and I can’t be with her if it
means losing my brother.”

“What about the baby?”

“The last thing she said to
me before she left was that she probably wasn’t going to have it.” He looked
troubled. “But I know she wouldn’t have an abortion without talking to me. She
was trying to piss me off, and succeeded, but she wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m glad you’re here,”
Molly said softly. “I can hear the hurt in his voice when we talk, and I don’t
think it’s because of her.”

“I’ll wait for him by his
car in the lot,” Sergei said. “And we’ll straighten this out.”

“I’m glad.” She touched his arm.
“He misses you.”

“I miss him too.” He smiled
back at her, thinking that she was a lot prettier than he’d initially thought.
The more he talked to her, the more he understood why Dom and Toli were both so
attracted to her. Though he and Toli hadn’t spoken much when he’d been here
last week, he got the impression his older brother would go out with this woman
if given a chance. Unfortunately, she had eyes for no one but Dom and that left
Toli firmly in the friend zone.

“Stand up for the national
anthem!” Tiff called out.

Everyone got to their feet
and Molly watched proudly as Dom stood in the middle of the ice with his
teammates, many of them singing. She was happy to see him in his world, eager
to start the most exciting season of his career. Personally, she’d never felt
so loved or content, as if everything had simply fallen into place. She knew he
felt the same way; their coming together had been cathartic for both of them.
He was moving past his grief, and she was walking away from a lifetime of abuse.

As the anthem ended, the
girls started to cheer, yelling at the top of their lungs. The guys skated off
to their separate benches. Dom was playing on Cody’s team, with Jamie, Drake,
and a bunch of guys no one knew, with Karl in goal. Toli was on the other team,
with Matt, Zakk Cloutier, more guys they didn’t yet know, and Marco in net.
Dom’s team represented the home team, wearing royal blue jerseys with black and
gold accents. The other team wore their away jerseys, white with royal blue,
black and gold accents. The colors were distinct and eye-catching, Molly
thought, watching the activity on the ice.

Things happened quickly, and
she struggled to keep up with the action once the first puck was dropped. She
watched intently, but couldn’t seem to keep her eye on the puck. How on earth
did these guys move so fast? She knew they were all in great shape, but
watching them fly down the ice was mesmerizing. She’d never seen anything like
it.

“You look flustered,” Suze
whispered to her.

“It’s so fast,” Molly
breathed. “I can barely keep up.”

“It’s exciting. I’ve always
loved watching the game. Even before Brian, I was a big hockey fan, which was
strange for a girl from South Carolina. But something about it always turned me
on.”

“I think it turns me on
too,” Molly snickered. “Although those uniforms are kind of dorky.”

“I just think about what’s
under
those uniforms,” Suze said with a grin and they laughed.

The game finished too soon,
with the home team beating the away team. The guys seemed to be having a good
time on the ice, and when it was over many of them handed out pucks or sticks
to fans in the crowd. They were trying to establish a rapport with them, and
this was one of many events they would be holding to do just that.

Sergei stood out in the parking
lot next to Toli’s SUV, and glanced at the time on his phone. It was getting
late, but he hadn’t wanted to get caught up in the media storm going on after
the game, especially since he and Toli hadn’t talked yet. He was happier to
wait for him out here. It also gave him the opportunity to sneak a cigarette.
Tatiana had been trying to get him to quit for years, and he was down to only a
couple a day, but he’d started smoking at twelve and the truth was that it
calmed him when he was nervous. He barely smoked at all during the season, but
over the summer he picked it back up. So far, it didn’t affect his ability to
perform, but he figured his smoking days were numbered now that he was going to
be a dad; his gut told him Tatiana was having the baby.

Checking his phone again, he
pulled up his email as he took a long drag from the cigarette he’d lit. Nothing
from Tatiana. He sighed heavily. He missed her, but he was tired of being
caught between her and Toli. Although she didn’t want to marry Toli, she didn’t
seem to want to completely break away either. Sergei had gone after her like a
horny teenager when she’d confessed she didn’t love Toli two years ago, and
she’d been more than willing to fall into bed with him. She’d promised him she
was calling off the wedding, but it had taken her more than six months to do
it, and then when Toli had told her he was moving back to the U.S. she’d
actually told him she would consider marrying him if he came back. It drove him
crazy to think that she was playing games with them, and he couldn’t figure out
what she was doing. He didn’t understand her and was tired of feeling like a
fool.

Once he talked to Toli, he
was going to give her an ultimatum. Either she wanted to be with him or she
didn’t, but he was done waiting and he wasn’t going to stay in Russia. Although
he would have preferred to be married to the mother of his child, he would find
a way to take care of his kid no matter what happened with them. He took
another drag of his cigarette and guiltily put it out. He couldn’t smoke once
there was a kid in the picture, and even if he lived thousands of miles away,
he still wanted to be a good role model. Assuming Tatiana hadn’t already had an
abortion. The thought made him a little sick, so he was startled when he heard footsteps
behind him.

“Toli?” A deep voice called
out in the darkness and Sergei turned. He and Toli were often confused,
especially from the back, and he expected to see one of the players. Instead,
he saw a uniformed security guard squinting at him.

“Can I help you?” Sergei
frowned slightly. He didn’t see the stun gun until he felt the excruciating
jolt of electricity in his chest. He slid to the ground thinking he was going
to kill someone for this. The pain was horrible, and he struggled to breathe through
it. Somebody had shot him with a fucking stun gun and he thought his insides
were going to explode. He tensed as he saw the man leaning over him, but he
couldn’t control his limbs. He saw the man’s fist moving towards his face, but
was helpless to defend himself. Then everything went black.

Molly woke up to the smell
of fresh coffee and rolled over, stretching lazily. She and Dom had come home
from the exhibition game last night and made slow, sexy love until she’d fallen
asleep in his arms. Every morning when she opened her eyes, she looked forward
to seeing his face and smiled now as he came into the bedroom with a steaming
mug of coffee.

“You are the best boyfriend
ever,” she said hoarsely. She’d screamed so loud at the game she’d almost lost
her voice.

“You sound pretty sexy when
you’re hoarse.”

She rolled her eyes as she
sat up and took the coffee. “Oh, that’s good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He sat on
the edge of the bed, his long hair tousled and sexy. He’d showered when they
got home last night so he’d slept with wet hair and now it was sticking up all
over. She reached up to smooth down a few errant pieces and he made a face at
her.

“Is it bad?”

“Nah, it’s pretty hot.” She
winked.

He chuckled. “I think you’re
biased.”

“Maybe I am.” She raised her
eyebrows. “You got a problem with me thinking you’re hot?”

“Not at all.” He leaned over
to brush his lips over hers, his tongue briefly flicking her bottom lip before
he pulled away. “But right now, I have to get dressed and get to a meeting.
Some of the guys that are being sent down to the AHL were called in this
morning and let go. So we’re having a meeting with everyone that’s left. There
are still a few guys who won’t make the cut, but they’ll get to play the
official pre-season games first.”

“Aren’t you already on the
team?” She frowned. “I’m confused.”

“Basically all of us that
are already playing at the NHL level have contracts and we’re on the team.
However, there’s always a chance that a younger guy from the AHL or even one of
the rookies who were drafted this year, could earn a spot. So no matter what
your contract says or how much experience you have, you still have to earn your
place on the team. I’m pretty sure the core guys are all good—me, Cody, Drake,
Marco, Karl, Jamie Teller, Zakk Cloutier, Matt Forbes—but there are a few guys
who are going to have to fight for it. Why do you think Cody and I work out so
hard over the summer? If you don’t, you’re going to get your ass handed to you
during the regular season.”

“Does it worry you?”

“Nah. It’s what I’ve been
doing since I was sixteen. Besides, now I have you, so hockey or no hockey, my
life is pretty damn good.” He kissed her one last time before getting up and
going into the bathroom.

“What time will you be
home?” she called after him.

“Not sure,” he called back.
“Probably lunch time. The first pre-season game is tomorrow night and Coach
doesn’t want to tire us out or risk injuries. I’ll call if I’m going to be
late.”

“Okay.” She got up and
pulled on one of his t-shirts. It was almost a dress on her but she loved
smelling his aftershave. Taking her coffee cup, she took it with her out to the
kitchen and sat on one of the stools. She checked her phone for messages and
was disappointed to see Toli hadn’t called or texted. She’d been dying to hear
what he and Sergei had talked about, and she knew he would tell her. When the
guys teased him that he gossiped with Molly just like a woman, Toli always just
laughed.

“I’ve got to go,” Dom said,
kissing her cheek as he brushed past her.

“Hey, tell Toli to call me
after practice!” she laughed. “I’m dying to hear what Sergei said!”

Dom rolled his eyes. “I
swear to God, you and Suze are going to cost him his man card!”

Molly laughed again. “I
doubt it—he’s just more in touch with his feminine side than you are.”

He shook his head, grinning.
“Love you!”

“Love you too!” She was
still smiling as the door clicked shut behind him. She finished her coffee and
an English muffin, and then got up to start getting ready. She usually met Suze
on Tuesdays for yoga, so she pulled on yoga pants, a tank top and socks. She
brushed her teeth, put her hair in a ponytail and stuck her backup cell phone
in the small pocket on the inside of her yoga pants. She put her regular phone
in her purse and grabbed her keys, which now included the keys to the SUV as
well as Dom’s new convertible.

She’d never heard of an Audi
R8 until they’d looked at it, and she’d almost fainted when she saw the
$119,000 price tag, but Dom hadn’t seemed bothered at all. He’d simply given
the man a credit card for the down payment and made arrangements for his
accountant to handle the rest. She didn’t know if she would ever get used to
spending that kind of money, but Dom had laughed and told her she’d better. So
now he drove the fancy convertible to practice and she drove his SUV. He’d
offered to let her drive the R8 but she wasn’t comfortable driving something
that expensive or that fast. Not yet anyway.

Yoga lasted an hour and they
packed up to go once it was finished. Normally they ran errands together or
went for lunch, but Suze had a meeting at CJ’s school, so Molly got back in the
SUV and headed towards the grocery store. She usually shopped at Trader Joe’s,
but today she just wanted to grab a few things and get home to wait for Dom. She
got what she needed and was in and out in less than five minutes.

Balancing the bag of
groceries and her purse in one hand, she pulled out her keys with the other.
She hit the button to unlock the doors as she heard a familiar voice hiss in
her ear, “Keep walking or I’ll kill you right here.” She felt something hard
and metal against her side and forced herself not to react.

“Tim, what are you doing?”

“You need to shut up and
keep walking, or one phone call will put an end to your hockey player boyfriend.”

“What are you talking
about?” she cried, turning to face him. The next thing she knew something
burned in her side. It was so painful she couldn’t move, though her body tensed
up so badly she thought she might be having a seizure. Once the initial pain
stopped, she was so weak she couldn’t stop herself from sliding into his arms.
He picked her up and tossed her into the back seat of the SUV, taking her keys
and purse from her as he got into the driver’s seat. Her eyes closed against
the pain as she felt him pulling onto the street. The pain was like nothing
she’d ever felt and she was afraid she was going to black out.
No, no, no,
she thought helplessly before her eyes started to close.

Dom was the last guy to
skate off the ice after practice. He handed his stick to one of the equipment
managers and walked back to the dressing room feeling like it had been a good
day. They’d worked on plays and tried out a few different lines before coach
had called it a day. They would have an optional morning skate tomorrow, and
then go up against the L.A. Kings in their first-ever pre-season game in the
evening. He couldn’t wait to get out there for real; it had been a long summer
and he was anxious to get back into the game he loved.

He sank onto the bench and
pulled off his skates, wondering what Molly was doing. Remembering what she’d
asked him, he looked up and found Toli towel-drying his hair.

“Hey, Molly said you’re
supposed to call her,” he called out. “She wants to know what happened with you
and Sergei last night—
you fucking girl
.”

Toli instinctively shot him
a bird but then glanced up with confusion. “Sergei did not come over last
night—there is nothing to tell.”

“What?” Dom paused. “Are you
sure? Cause she and Sergei sat together during the game and they talked. She
said he was anxious to clear the air with you—he wouldn’t talk to Tatiana until
after he made things right with you.”

Toli frowned. “Really?”

“Just call her!” Dom
shrugged. “That’s what she told me.”

Toli dug his phone out of
his locker and froze. “Dom.” His voice was quiet and stilted.

“What?” Dom looked up in
annoyance; he hated being in the middle of this situation with Toli and Sergei;
he was close to both of them.

“Check your phone.”

“What?” Dom gave him a funny
look.

“Dom, your phone!” Toli
barked out the order loudly this time, making a couple of the guys around them
jump.

“What the hell, Toli?” Dom
reached for his phone and hit the button to turn it on. Then he froze too. “No,
fucking no.” His voice came out in a ragged whisper.

“You have the message?” Toli
asked.

Dom felt the blood rushing
to his head. “
Fuck
!”

“Do not panic.” Toli was
yanking on his jeans.

Dom turned and ripped off
his jersey, tugging at the equipment he wore underneath.

“Hey, guys!” Brad, Dave and
the new assistant coach, Yvon Gagner, came into the dressing room. “It was a
good practice today. I think we’re going to look good tomorrow against the
Kings. Remember, win or lose, this is a learning experience for all of us…”

Dom wasn’t even listening as
he yanked at his clothes.
666
. The text had been sitting there for over
an hour while he’d been trying to be a god damned team player, lingering on the
ice. He’d programmed Molly’s backup phone so that she could send out a text to
him, Toli and Suze by only having to punch a few keys. It was a group text with
a pre-assigned speed dial number so she would only have to hit two buttons to
bring it up, type in
666
and send. Three people would get the message,
and hopefully at least one of them would see it immediately. They’d even done a
test run to make sure it was easy and worked.

“Dom!” Cody came running in,
his eyes wild. “Suze just called—what’s going on?”

Dom realized Brad had
stopped talking and was now staring at them.

“Coach, it’s Molly!” Dom had
pulled on shorts and a t-shirt and was throwing everything out of his bag as he
struggled to find his keys. “He’s got her. Jesus fucking Christ, he found her!”
Dom pounded his fist into the wall in frustration.

“Easy, son.” Brad moved to
his side, and stopped his arm from swinging again with a firm but gentle grip.
“Dom, look at me!”

“Coach, that lunatic
has
her
.” Dom could barely choke out the words.

“How do you know?” Brad’s
eyes were alert but compassionate. They’d all come to love Molly this summer
and though he didn’t remember all the details, he knew Molly came from an
abusive marriage.

“We had a prearranged text
message set up if anything ever happened, and we just got it.” He was
practically hyperventilating as he imagined what Tim could be doing to her.

“We go
now
!” Toli was
already moving towards the door.

“Wait a minute!” Yvon Gagner
spoke sharply. “What are you talking about? You guys can’t just leave!”

“I’m sorry, Coach.” Dom
gripped his keys. “We have to go.”

“Wait for me!” Cody called
out, pulling on a shirt.

“What are you boys
thinking?” Brad asked, looking around.

“We’re going to go get her!”
Dom said gruffly.

“You can’t go blindly into
this—especially if he’s dangerous!” Brad looked nervous but was trying not to
show it; he’d lived through something like this once before with these boys and
he didn’t want to go through losing someone close to him ever again.

“We have to go…” Dom met his
coach’s gaze squarely. “We will
not
be too late this time!”

“Wait, what’s going on? Did
something happen to Molly?” Drake Riser had been across the room, but stood up
now, his amber eyes narrowing with concern. “Do you need backup?”

“Yes!” Cody yelled, stepping
into his sneakers.

“I’m coming too,” Karl, who
was already dressed, stood up and grabbed his wallet.

“I don’t understand what’s
going on.” Marco looked around the room, clearly annoyed. “You’re going to go
do, what, exactly? Your girlfriend is with her ex and you’re going to ride in
like the cavalry?”

“Fuck you, Rousch!” Dom
didn’t have time to deal with idiots like Marco right now.

“Seriously, Martensson?”
Marco called out to Karl. “You think going out and kicking some poor schmuck’s
ass is going to help your career? You don’t ever want to be the starter here,
do you?”

Karl turned briefly, his
blue eyes darkening dangerously, but he didn’t say anything.

“Shut up, Marco,” Brad fixed
the redheaded goalie with a glare. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Where the hell are these
guys going?” Yvon demanded, his bald head glistening with sweat. “We have a
game tomorrow. We don’t have time for this personal nonsense and we’re in the
middle of a meeting. If you walk out that door—”

“Enough, Yvon.” Brad held up
a hand. “Go on, boys. Go get her and bring her home.”

“Sergei isn’t picking up his
phone either,” Toli said from the doorway. “Do you think…” His voice trailed
off.

“He was supposed to wait for
you by your car last night,” Cody said, looking even more nervous.