Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (3 page)

“So what do you think of the
desert?” Suze asked Dom.

“It’s hot. How do you like
it?”

“I love having a pool, and
the shopping is pretty damn amazing.”

“You had a pool at your old
house.”

“Yeah, but we could never
swim in it. It was in Toronto, for God’s sake—it was always freezing!”

“It was heated,” Cody
protested.

“Yeah, but the minute you
stepped out it was like having brain freeze all over your body.”

“The winters are pretty
harsh up north,” Dom agreed. “But I miss it. I miss Boston.”

“You’d go back to Boston?”
Cody glanced at him in the rear view mirror.

“Probably not to the Bruins.
I don’t have a lot of friends on that team, but I’d go back to the area.”

“Not me,” Suze said with a
shudder. “If I never set foot in Boston again it’ll be too soon.”

Silence fell over the car.

“Sorry,” Suze said after a
minute. “I didn’t mean to kill the mood.”

“It’s fine,” said Dom.

“So tell me about the car
hunt,” she prompted.

They fell back into easy
chatter all the way to Brad and Andra’s, but quieted again as they drove into
the gated community. The Barnetts had lived modestly in Boston, and Dom, Cody
and Suze were surprised to see how big their new house was, considering it was
just the two of them now.

They walked to the door and
rang the bell, all of them suddenly nervous.

“I haven’t seen Andra in
ages,” Suze murmured. “We’ve been here for almost two months, but I haven’t
made it over here.”

“We’ve been busy unpacking,
and getting CJ settled in school,” said Cody. “She knows that.”

The door swung open to
reveal a smiling Andra. “Oh, my goodness, look at my kids, home again!” She
threw her arms around Suze. “Look at you, still the prettiest girl on campus.”

Suze blushed. “If people
keep telling me that, I’m going to start to believe it.”

“As you should!” Andra
reached for Cody next. “How are you, handsome?”

“I’m doing great. Thanks so
much for having us over.”

“It should have been sooner.
I was just waiting until we got settled in.” Andra turned to Dom, placing her
hands on either side of his face. “Look at my Dominic. So grown up now.”

“I’ve filled out some,” he
replied, returning her embrace.

“Jesus, Andra, are you going
to invite them in or keep them in the hallway?” Brad bellowed from inside the
house.

“Come in, all of you,” said
Andra, taking Dom’s arm. “Let me show you around.”

They made their way through
the spacious home as Andra pointed out a few items of artwork and furniture. It
was clear how much work she’d put into making her home beautiful and welcoming.

They entered a warm, cozy
eat-in kitchen with a granite island bordered by six leather stools.

“Have a seat,” said Brad as
he uncorked a bottle of Chardonnay. “We’ll have a drink and chat before we
eat,” he added as he placed the bottle next to open bottles of cabernet and
pinot noir.

After everyone’s glass was
filled, Brad raised his for a toast. “To old friends and new beginnings.”

“New beginnings.” Everyone
touched glasses.

Andra brought out appetizers
and soon everyone was engrossed in conversation.

Dom wandered into the
adjacent family room and was joined by Andra. They stood before a huge
fireplace, looking at the framed photographs displayed on its mantle: Brian as
a child; Brad in his Montreal Canadiens uniform from his years playing in the
NHL; Brad and Andra’s wedding photo… and then the one that made Dom’s heart
thud in his chest. He could handle looking at Brian as a kid, but the picture
of the group of them celebrating after winning the Frozen Four just days before
Brian’s death, got him every time. They all were there: Dom, Cody, Brian, Brad
and Andra, Suze, Sergei and his then-girlfriend, Maria, and Sergei’s older
brother Toli.

God, they’d all been so
young and innocent. Brian’s face was alight with laughter as Toli made rabbit
ears behind his head. Suze’s head was thrown back, her long blond hair flowing
behind her. Sergei and Toli were grinning broadly, each with an arm thrown
around the other’s shoulder. Dom and Cody were flashing thumbs-up signs, and
Brad and Andra looked so much younger and happier. The haunted look he saw now
in her long-lashed grey eyes hadn’t been there that night.

Even as their team mom,
Andra had always been a beauty. Petite and trim, she was absolutely stunning,
with shoulder-length ash blond hair and the amazing grey eyes that she’d passed
on to her son. People always had commented on how much alike they looked: and
of course, Brian always had girls after him, but he’d never looked at anyone
but Suze from the day they’d met in their freshman English class.

“You look sad,” said Andra,
coming to stand beside him.

“That picture brings back a
lot of memories.”

“They should be good
memories. We had so many good times.”

“We did.” Dom looked down at
her. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around for you, Andra.”

“Oh, sweetheart, we’ve all
grieved in our own way.” Her eyes roved across the line of photos of her son.
“But life does go on, especially for you young people. Now that we’re together
again, we need to try harder. Brian wouldn’t have liked this at all.”

“I know.” Dom looked back at
the picture. “He’d be pissed that Cody and I haven’t been there for you.”

“It’s not your job to take
care of me. I’m the mom—I should have been taking care of you.” She glanced
over at Cody and Suze, who were laughing at something Brad was saying. “And I
certainly should have taken better care of Suze. She looks so sad.”

“It’s been a long time since
I’ve spent time with them, so I’m not sure.”

“Well, maybe now that will
all change.” Andra squeezed his hand. “I’m here for you. You know that, Dom,
don’t you?”

“I know.” He bent to kiss
her cheek. “I’ve always known. I just didn’t know how to reach out. And I was
scared.”

“That I was angry?”

Dom hunched his shoulders.
“It was my fault, even though I didn’t do it. I should have known something was
wrong and—”

“That’s the dumbest thing
I’ve ever heard!” She wagged a finger in his face. “You had no way of knowing
where he was going. He was a 22-year-old man who took a shortcut and ran into
criminals. That is not in any way your fault. So let’s move on from that
nonsense and go back to being a family.”

“I have a long summer ahead
of me before I can get back to anything.”

“Yes, I heard about the
anger management classes and the psychologist.” She paused. “Dom, have you
thought about being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder?”

He shook his head. “I’ve
been reading about it, and it’s part of what I’ll discuss with the therapist,
but it’s really more about being pissed off that it happened. They put me on
antidepressants for a while after Brian died, but they didn’t help. There’s no
real diagnosis.”

“So do you think you’re going
to be okay now?”

“I don’t have a choice. If I
get into any more trouble, I’m done with hockey, and that’s not an option.”

“We’re here for you,” she
said gently, squeezing his arm. “And I have faith in you.”

He smiled. “Thanks, Andra.”

“So,” Andra said with a
smile, “Tell me what’s new.”

Dom felt a twinge of guilt
as he realized how easily his thoughts had turned from Brian to Molly.
“Actually, there is something interesting that happened almost the minute I got
to Vegas.” He told her the story of how he and Cody had found Molly.

“And she’s at your
apartment?” Andra gaped at him. “Dominic, have you lost your mind? Is this
about sex? You could have had any number of puck bunnies without giving them
access to your credit card!”

He shook his head. ““It’s
not like that.”

“Okay. Then tell me what it
is
like.”

“I don’t know anything about
her. I can’t even tell how old is she is—she’s really beaten up; one eye is
swollen shut, and she looks kind of dumpy, but there’s something about her
eyes… I just couldn’t walk away. Her good eye is bright green, and when I
looked at her, I knew I couldn’t leave her there and let that asshole could
kill her. She’d given up—I saw it in her face—and I couldn’t let her do that.”

“Dom… Saving her won’t bring
Brian back.”

“I know—but it might make me
feel like I didn’t screw up again.”

“You didn’t screw up the
first time,” she reminded him. “But being kind to another human being is never
a bad thing.”

“She hasn’t said a word to
me since I brought her home. I know she’s terrified. You had to be there,
Andra. Cody was horrified too. That’s why he taped it on his phone, in case
that guy tries anything with his police friends. I don’t think he figured out
who we were, but eventually she’s going to have to either go home, or serve him
with divorce papers, and she’s going to have to show some sort of address…” His
voice trailed off. “I don’t even know what I’m talking about. Jesus, Andra, am
I in trouble already?”

 “No, sweetheart.
You’re being the kind, gentle Dominic I remember. Saving a woman from a
wife-beater is a good thing. You just have to go home and find a way to get her
to talk to you without scaring her, and make sure she’s on the up-and-up. Other
than that, you’re doing a good thing. Maybe it’s the best thing that’s happened
to you since Brian died.” She touched his face gently and then turned back
towards the others.

“Dinner time!” she
announced, and ushered them all toward the dining room.

It was a fun evening: filled
with laughter, good food and shared memories. When they left, Andra made them
promise they would come back soon.

There was a peaceful silence
in the car as they headed back towards Dom’s apartment. Finally, Suze turned to
look back at Dominic.

“Did you tell her?”

“No. Not my place. But you
have to, Suze, because she’s going to find out now that you live here.”

Her eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t know how.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Cody
immediately reached for her hand. “Come on, don’t cry. It’s been one big
misunderstanding after another, and now it feels like everything has come
together for us to do what we should have done years ago.”

“It could ruin your career.
Which could hurt Dom if you’re not here for him! It could fuck up everything! “

“It’s not going to hurt my
career,” said Cody. “I could go back to Toronto tomorrow if I wanted to—it’s
not like I committed a crime. If Brad wants me off the team for personal
reasons then we’ll deal with it, but now that we’re here we have to come
clean.”

“And then what?” Suze
whispered. “Are you going to leave me?”

“What? No!” Cody glanced at
her and then back at Dom. “Can we talk about this in private?”

“Why? I’m sure Dom knows
about what you do on the road and—”

“What I
did
.” Cody
emphasized the word. “I do
not
do that anymore. I was still grieving
too, and while Dom was beating the shit out of guys on the ice, I had sex with
a lot of women. I’m not saying it was right. I’m just saying I’ve been
faithful—and celibate—for close to two years.”

This time the silence in the
car was almost palpable, and Dom wished he could drown in the leather seats.

No one said a word until
they arrived at Dom’s condo, and he jumped out quickly after kissing Suze’s
cheek and nudging Cody’s shoulder.

“So, the gym at 9, lunch,
and then car shopping?” Cody asked as if nothing had happened.

“Yeah, I’ll see you in the
morning.” Dom was inside the building even before Cody pulled his SUV away from
the curb. Dom didn’t know what was going on between Cody and Suze, but he
wanted no part of it. He’d never been in a serious, adult relationship, and
theirs looked about as complicated as they came. No, he’d much rather deal with
the strange, abused woman who was hiding in his apartment than anything going
on with his friends’ personal lives.

When he opened the apartment
door, he could see a light coming from down the hallway, but everything else
was dark. Without turning on the lights, he headed towards his room, but
stopped when he saw a bar stool out of place… and a shadow in the recess
beneath the granite bar’s overhang.

It was Molly, with her knees
pulled tightly against her chest and her hair hanging down around her face. He
paused, unsure whether to leave her alone and just go on to bed, but something
about her was radiating fear. Slowly, he knelt in front of her.

“Molly? Are you okay?”

She didn’t say anything,
merely dipped her head in the barest nod.

“Did something happen? Why
are you sitting here?”

“Someone knocked on the
door,” she whispered. “I thought it was Tim.”

“He has no way of knowing
where you are. He could try going door-to-door at every condo on this street,
but this building has good security. Even a cop can’t get up here without a
warrant. You haven’t been out since you got here, so there’s no way anyone
could have seen you.”

For a moment she met his
gaze in the semi-darkness, then closed her eyes and let her head fall back
against the cabinets. She didn’t say anything else, and finally, not knowing
what else to do, he moved another bar stool and eased himself to the floor
beside her, making sure to leave several feet of space between them. He too
leaned back against the cabinets and was surprised to find it somewhat
soothing, despite the hard tiled floor.

For long minutes, neither
spoke. Finally, Dom couldn’t help himself: he needed to talk to someone, and
she seemed to be more in the mood to listen than to speak. “I had a stressful
evening. Cody and his wife Suze and I had dinner with my boss—his name is Brad.
He and his wife Andra have a beautiful house about twenty minutes north of
here.  There’s a lot of history between us, and I’m kind of in a weird
situation.”

Molly said nothing, but he
saw her glance at him.

“We were all in college
together in Boston. Brad was our coach. His son Brian and I were best friends.
Cody was on the team too. We were one big happy family for almost four years.
Then Brian died, and everything went to hell, even though Cody and I both got
picked up by the NHL. It was like I couldn’t stop being angry, so I took it out
on guys on the ice—fighting, unsportsmanlike behavior; you name it, I did it.
Now I’m on probation with the NHL, and this new Las Vegas team is my last
chance. No other coach wants to take me on, and the only reason I’m here is
because of Brad. He knows I’ve never forgiven myself for Brian’s death, so he’s
trying to let me know that he doesn’t blame me. But
I
blame me.” He
sighed, staring up at the bottom of the granite overhang.

“Why do you blame yourself?”
she asked suddenly, her voice soft but well-modulated and a little bit raspy.

“It’s a long story.”

“We’re not going out
tonight, are we?” She looked completely serious, and he would have laughed if
he didn’t think it might hurt her feelings.

“No, I guess we’re not.” He
shifted to rest his arms on his knees. “It started in our freshman year of
college. I was there on a hockey scholarship, and I roomed with a couple of
other players: a Minnesota farm boy named Cody Armstrong, and a Russian
brainiac named Sergei Petrov. Sergei is really smart, and he helped us with the
hard classes like chemistry and calculus.

“Second semester, we had one
of those massive lecture classes, World Literature, and sitting in the front
row was one of the most beautiful girls we’d ever seen. We all took the class
together because A, it was mandatory, and B, we figured if Sergei was with us
we’d do okay. Sergei always used to sit down front so he could see and hear
better, so of course we had to follow him if we wanted him to help us, and
there she was. Suzanne Conway, with this hot body, long blond hair that fell to
her ass, big blue eyes, beautiful smile, and tremendous tits. We fell all over
ourselves to get her attention, but she only saw Brian. Within days they were a
couple, and Suze, she was right there: drinking, trash-talking,
hockey-loving—she was one of us. That was the great thing about Suze—she fit in
with the crazy hockey players, all while painting her fingernails, getting
straight A’s and talking science and physics with Sergei.

“We had so much fun.
Sergei’s older brother Toli was already playing in the NHL, so whenever they
were in or near Boston we’d go hang out with the team. We were playing our
asses off. We won two championships in four years, and life was pretty great.
We spent almost every weekend over at Brian’s house—his mom and dad were just
amazing. At any given time, there were five or six of us sleeping over. I don’t
have any family, so it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. My dad died when
I was six and my mom became an alcoholic. She died when I was sixteen and I
moved in with my hockey coach. He was a bachelor, so I stayed with him until I
got my scholarship to Boston College. The Barnetts were the only family I’d ever
had.”

He stopped talking and
looked over at her. She hadn’t said anything, just watched him with her one
bright-green eye. Even in the darkness, he could see how beautiful it was. He
could tell she was older than he was, especially now with a big purple bruise
around one eye, several cuts on her lips; and she appeared completely shapeless
within his oversized t-shirt and baggy shorts. But her eyes were bewitching.
When she looked at him, he felt as if he’d known her forever.

“They sound wonderful,” she whispered.

“So, senior year,” he
continued, “Suze was planning a huge birthday party for Brian. His birthday was
April first, and we had just won our second championship. She wanted to make it
a big deal; combination celebration for the win, graduation, and Brian’s
twenty-second birthday. What she didn’t know was that he was planning to
propose that night. And Brian didn’t know there was a party planned, so Cody
and I were helping
him
plan his proposal and
her
plan her
birthday shindig.

“The night of the event,
Suze was a crazy woman. She had everything set up at this little bar where we
used to hang out. The setup was Cody and I were taking him there for a birthday
drink before he took Suze out for a romantic dinner. We were halfway there when
Brian freaked out because he’d forgotten the friggin’ ring. He told us to go on
ahead and he’d meet us there in ten minutes—our apartment wasn’t far. We tried
to go with him, but he insisted we go on, and there was no way to do it without
making him suspicious. When we got there, Suze was pissed that we let him go
back alone because he was notorious for getting sidetracked. He was always
forgetting things, showing up late, waking up late, going to the wrong place—he
was like that.”

Dom paused before telling
the hardest part of the story, the part that always made him sick to his
stomach. He wasn’t sure he could get through it—he’d never managed to before.
Not to Coach Brad, not to any number of therapists, not even to Cody, even
though Cody had been there and lived it with him.

“It’s okay,” said Molly,
gazing at him intently. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”

He took a deep breath and
continued. “After about half an hour, Suze sent us to find him, even if it
ruined the surprise. Brian wasn’t answering his phone, so we were a little
worried. Brian was scatterbrained, but he would never stand up his buds on his
birthday. Cody, Sergei and I headed back. It was still chilly in Boston, and
there had been snow the day before, so we were slipping and sliding down the
streets. We split up, and Cody and Sergei went back towards the apartment while
I went the other direction to follow a shortcut we always took when we were
drunk and wanted to get in the building without any of the R.A.’s seeing us.”

Dom’s mind whirled with the
details, even though it had been seven years. “Then I heard it. Men were
yelling, cursing in Spanish, and somehow I just knew Brian was involved. I
yelled for Cody, knowing he couldn’t be far off, and I just ran. I skidded into
that alley and saw Brian’s body on the ground; they were kicking him, over and
over.” He gulped in a breath. “I don’t… I don’t even remember what I did next.
I remember grabbing two of them and slamming their heads together and screaming
for help. I just kept punching and hitting…” His voice trailed off before
coming back as a whisper. “There was so much blood. All I could think about was
getting them off him.

“Cody and Sergei got there a
minute later and they say I had Brian in my arms. There were four of them,
gangbangers who’d been in the middle of a drug deal when Brian stumbled onto
them. He fought hard, but one of them hit him in the back of the head with a
pipe…” Dom felt the familiar wave of nausea, and had to lower his head so he
wouldn’t heave all over the floor. His heart was racing, just like when he
relived it in his dreams, and he fought to regain control. This was how he felt
on the ice sometimes, and that’s when he would hurt people.

He was barely aware that she
had inched over until he felt a gentle hand on his arm. “It’s okay,” said
softly. “You don’t have to tell me the rest. Unless you want to.”

“Yeah,” he rasped, trying to
breathe. “I do. I have to tell somebody. I’ve never told anyone before.”

“Okay.” She leaned over and
rested her head against his shoulder. “I’m right here. Those guys can’t hurt
Brian anymore. Or you.”

He felt his throat
tightening, as though he might cry, but he swallowed the urge and forced
himself to finish. “They hit him so hard his brains came out. When I finally
had taken all four of them down, I grabbed him and saw pieces of his brain all
over the ground. I tried to hold it together. I held him and begged him not to
die. He was still breathing, but we found out later that even though his heart
was beating he was already brain-dead. There wouldn’t be any way to repair that
damage, but I tried to keep his skull together. I wrapped his head in my scarf
while Cody and Sergei tied up the bangers. Then we all just sat there in the
alley, crying, watching Brian die.” He felt tears slipping down his face and
tried to wipe them away.

“Oh, Dom, that’s the saddest
thing I’ve ever heard.” Molly wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled
him close to her so that his head was buried in her shoulder. “Go ahead and let
it out—how long have you been holding that in?”

“Seven years,” he choked,
his tears soaking through her shirt.

She stroked his long, silky
hair but didn’t say anything. For a long time, long after his tears had dried
and he felt calm again, she held him against her. She kept stroking his hair, whispering
that he was okay now. She didn’t know what else to do for him, but for the
first time in more than a decade she felt someone else’s pain could actually
rival her own. She’d had a moment the day she met him where she had been
positive that the only solution for her was death; now she knew that couldn’t
be true. Dom had watched someone he loved die, and it was slowly destroying
him; somehow, it made her feel ashamed that he’d had to watch her try to goad
Tim into killing her. Death wasn’t really a solution for anything; the only way
to fix things would be to live. A few days ago she wouldn’t have believed that.

“Cody is the guy who was
with you when you found me?” she asked finally, sensing he was ready to talk
again.

“Yeah. He and Suze are
married now. They left Toronto to come here and play with our old coach.” He
explained the situation.

“So you’re back with your
friends. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It is, but it’s
complicated. Cody and Suze had sex the night of Brian’s funeral, and she got
pregnant. So they got married, and then he got picked up by Toronto. I went to
Buffalo and Sergei went back to Russia. We all went our separate ways and
although we’ve stayed in touch, it’s not like it was.”

“Of course not,” she said,
leaning back and moving slightly away from him. “You’ve all grown up.”

“Yeah, but we needed each
other and didn’t take care of each other. Brian was the glue that kept us
together, and without him, we fell apart. He’d be pissed.”

“He would know you did the
best you could under the circumstances.”

“Maybe.” Dom sighed heavily.
“I feel like I just ran a marathon.”

“Seems like it was a long
time coming.”

“Maybe,” he acknowledged.
“What about you? Are you going to tell me about you?”

She looked away. “What’s to
tell? A stupid 18-year-old marries her first boyfriend right out of high
school, finds out too late that he has a mean streak and then isn’t strong
enough or smart enough to leave him. Now I’m almost 40 years old, married to a
cop who keeps me under lock and key, and I’ve got nothing to look forward to. I
almost had him mad enough to kill me this time, but you stopped him.” She
paused to look at him. “At first I was annoyed about that, but now I’m glad,
because it meant I could be here for you tonight.”

“You really wanted to die?”

“I wanted the pain to stop,”
she said. “You have to understand that I’ve lived all of my adult life in
terror. I’ve had twelve miscarriages because of him beating me. My family is
mostly dead, and he doesn’t let me have any money or credit cards. Hell, he barely
lets me leave the house. I don’t have any friends because he uses them to
manipulate me. I’ve never been on a vacation, or had a party, or celebrated the
holidays. I’ve been married twenty-two years and I don’t think he’s ever made
love to me—I don’t even know exactly what that means. I’m thirty-nine years old
and I’ve never had an orgasm.” She laughed suddenly. “And I’m sitting here
telling all this to a complete stranger.”