Laces and Lace (Assassins #6)

by Toni Aleo

  “Auntie Lacey, you’re moving?” one of them asked, the taller of the two.

  “Yeah, buddy, but I’ll visit all the time,” she said, bending down and hugging them both close to her.

  “But we don’t want you to go,” the smaller one said with his lip out.

  “You won’t even know I’m gone. You two are starting hockey soon and are so busy with school. When summer comes, maybe I can convince Mom and Dad to let you guys come stay with me and Karson.”

  Saying his name must have brought attention to him because both boys’ heads whipped back to look at him. Standing, Lacey wrapped her arms around his waist and said, “This is my husband, Karson. Karson, these fine, strapping boys are my nephews, Flynn and Zander.”

  “Hey, guys,” Karson said, fist-bumping both of them. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You play hockey?” Flynn asked and Karson nodded.

  “I do, for the Assassins.”

  “Ew, that team is wack,” Zander said with a look of disgust on his face. “You chose the wrong team.”

  “Did I?” Karson scoffed.

  “For sure, the only team in the NHL that’s worth anything is the Blackhawks,” Flynn said, crossing his arms across his chest, looking so much like Grady it was scary. “My daddy plays for the Hawks.”

  “I know who your daddy is, and didn’t we just beat your team the other night?” Karson asked, poking fun at the little hard-ass.

  “Sure, but didn’t we beat you for the Cup two years ago?” he asked with a smug little grin. “And don’t we have more Cups than years you guys have even been a franchise?”

  Little shit.

  Glaring, Karson nodded. “Touché.”

  “Well, then,” Lacey said, taking Karson’s hand and messing Flynn’s hair up, a nervous laugh coming from her. “My nephew is sort of hard-core about his hockey, just like his daddy. And, by the way, where are the parental folks?”

  “Kitchen. Mom is acting crazy about something.”

  “Great,” Lacey muttered before grinning at the boys. “All right, go watch TV. I’ll visit with you in a few.”

  The boys ran off and they followed them through the massive and gorgeous home. It looked straight out of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, done very modern. He remembered Rachel being very OCD, and by the looks of the house, that was still very much in play. Nothing was out of place. There were no toys, no nothing. It was impeccable, not something he was used to. He loved a house to look like it was a home. Lived-in. Not a showroom.

  Reaching the huge, state-of-the-art kitchen, they found Grady and Rachel leaning against the butcher-block island.

  “Hey,” Lacey said with a wave, but both of them just stared at her. It was a little awkward. Wringing her hands together, Lacey said, “Okay, do you want me to go in there with the boys? Why are you two looking at me like that?”

  “No. Hey, how are you?” Rachel said, coming over and hugging her tightly. “Sorry, I just don’t know why this is happening.”

  “Because I got married,” Lacey said as they parted. “You remember Karson.”

  “Of course,” she said, meeting Karson’s gaze. She didn’t look pleased to see him, and he didn’t understand that. They were cool back in the day.

  “Beautiful as always and awesome home,” he said with a grin. “It’s great to see you.”

  “Thanks,” she said before turning her gaze to Lacey. “Please don’t go.”

  Well, then.

  Lacey shook her head and then said, “He makes me happy, Rachel. Don’t ask me to do something I can’t do.”

  “But we make you happy.”

  “You do, but I have to follow my heart. Don’t you want me to be happy? You, out of everyone, you know how unhappy I’ve been.”

  Karson watched as Rachel’s eyes filled with tears and then she nodded slowly. “I know.”

  “Yeah, so please be happy for me,” Lacey pleaded.

  “I am,” she said quietly. “But that doesn’t mean I agree with it, or that I don’t think you are making the biggest mistake of your life.”

  Moving his hand to the small of her back, he watched as Lacey’s eyes glazed over with tears, but she didn’t allow them to fall. Taking in a deep breath, she looked up at him and smiled. “You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

  “I am, but this is insane. You are going to regret this.”

  Lacey slowly shook her head. “Okay, then. Karson, let’s go sit with the boys for a little bit and then we’ll go.”

  He nodded, but he could see the devastation in her eyes. He was sure she thought that Rachel would be on her side, and it destroyed him that her best friend wasn’t there for her. What was wrong with all these people? Lacey was the light in the sky for him. The missing piece to his heart. He loved her with all the bones in his body, unconditionally; why didn’t they? Had she really been living with only these kinds of people? What happened to loving someone, no matter what?

  Turning back to Rachel, she said, “We have to get back to the apartment for the movers and then dinner reservations and also an early flight to catch. So excuse us.”

  “What about the business, Lacey?”

  “What about it? I’ll run it from Nashville. Nothing will change.”

  “Just that you won’t be there.”

  “I’m a flight and a phone call away. It will be fine.”

  “I sure do hope so. You’re throwing everything away.”

  “I am doing no such thing.”

  “The business will suffer.”

  “Over my dead body,” Karson said, receiving a look that told him to shut up from Rachel. Too bad he didn’t listen well.

  “He is clouding your judgment.”

  “Rachel, let it go,” Grady muttered, his eyes locked on the side of her face. “She is an adult.”

  Lacey nodded toward Grady. “Listen to your husband because you have no clue what you are talking about. We are done here,” she said, setting her with a look. “Now, excuse us.”

  She laced her fingers with his and they walked toward the living room, but when she stopped in the hall, away from the kitchen and living room, Karson wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Her body was so tense and rigid with emotion.

  “They will come around,” he whispered against her cheek. “I’ll prove that this wasn’t a mistake.”

  “We will,” she whispered back, sucking in a deep breath.

  “Huh?”

  “We will prove that it wasn’t. We are in this together, like you’ve said from the beginning,” she said, meeting his gaze.

  “You’re right. Don’t worry.”

  Nodding slowly, she bit into her lip and met his gaze. “Give me a few minutes with the kids and then I’ll be ready.”

  “I’m ready when you are. Take as much time as you need,” he said, threading his fingers in the back of her hair.

  When a tear leaked out of her eye, he caught it, wiping it away before kissing the spot he had just rubbed. “Thank you.”

  “Always,” he whispered before kissing her forehead. “Now go on.”

  She sent him a weak grin before turning and heading to where her nephews sat. As he watched her, he knew this was a huge risk for her. Leaving her family, her business, and starting over somewhere new. He just hoped when she remembered this time, all the pain and heartache caused by choosing him, she would think it was all worth it.

  That he wasn’t a mistake.

  It felt good to be home.

  With his hand locked with Lacey’s, they made their way through the Nashville airport with ease. It was an earlier flight, so it wasn’t that busy, thankfully. Karson needed to get Lacey back to his apartment because he had to hit the ice with the Assassins by seven a.m., which meant he had an hour. Having hired a car service, Karson helped Lacey in before getting in himself. He was dragging ass a little. He had spent most the night making sure she slept well. After leaving Rachel and Grady’s, Lacey was a mess. She cried the whole way home and it kille
d Karson.

  He just couldn’t grasp what the fuck the Martins’ problem was. Didn’t they realize how much they were hurting her? And if they did, what assholes! Who hurts someone whom they allegedly love? It was insane and drove him up the wall with irritation, but he couldn’t change it. He couldn’t make it better, and that left him feeling lost.

  Once they got back to her apartment last night, she cried for a little longer and then finally fell asleep. As he watched her tear-streaked face as she slept, guilt ate away at him. Maybe this was a bad idea? He was uprooting her from her home, everything she knew, and taking her somewhere brand-spanking-new. What if she got to Nashville and hated it? It petrified him to the core, but that morning when she woke with a bright smile, he figured maybe it would be okay. He wasn’t going to let her family ruin her homecoming. He was going to make this the best he could. Or die trying. He wouldn’t see his wife cry anymore. He refused to.

  Sitting back in the car, he smiled over at her. “Isn’t that cold here, huh?”

  “No, it’s bearable,” she said with a big grin. Ever since they’d landed in Nashville, her grin could light a room and it warmed him to the soul. The excitement was coming off her in waves, and he couldn’t wait to show her the city, to make this city her home. He just wished he could get rid of the guilt.

  “So where are we going?” she asked, lacing her fingers with his.

  “My apartment.”

  “Cool.”

  “Yeah, then I have to go to morning practice. Sorry to leave you when we just got here.”

  “It’s fine,” she said, waving him off. “I think I’m going to take a nap. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “Yeah, how are you feeling?”

  She shrugged. “Tired but excited. This is a new start.”

  “A great one.”

  “For sure. So you go to practice, I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”

  “Awesome. I’ll be back before you know it. You won’t even miss me,” he said, kissing her temple.

  Looking up at him, she gave him a sneaky grin. “Of course I will.”

  He kissed her lips then, basking in the feel of her sweet lips against his before snuggling her close. The ride to his apartment was short, and when they arrived, he hurried her inside after paying the driver. Throwing the door open, he carried their bags to his room, tossing them down on the ground. The movers would be there later that afternoon, and he wasn’t sure where he was going to put all her things, but they would figure all that out later. He only had thirty minutes to get to the rink and get ready. He hated to leave her, but he really had no choice. He had to go.

  Coming back into the living room, he found her wide-eyed as she looked around his dump of an apartment. It was nice when it was clean, but, unfortunately, clean was the last word to describe his little apartment at the moment.

  “In my defense, if I had known before I left to go to Chicago that I would find the love of my life, marry her, and then bring her home, I would have cleaned.”

  She laughed nervously. “This is disgusting, Karson.”

  He looked around at all the takeout containers, pizza boxes, and beer cans. Along with that, there was equipment everywhere, and yeah, it looked like a bachelor pad for sure. There were even Playboys sitting on the table with a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues. There was also a smell. When her eyes settled on the tools of male masturbation, his face turned red.

  “I promise I’ll clean when I get back. My room is clean.”

  She laughed. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah,” he said with a nod. “The sheets are clean and everything. I usually sleep on the couch.”

  “Okay,” she said, slowly shaking her head, her eyes still grazing all over the room and then the kitchen, which was ten times worse. Fuck him, why didn’t he call JT to clean or something? Oh, he was too busy getting married and having lots of mind-blowing sex.

  When another nervous giggle came from his bride, he looked up as she said, “My hands are twitching. I want to clean.”

  He laughed before coming toward her. “Please don’t. It’s my mess, I’ll get it clean.”

  Kissing her lips, he brought her in against his strong chest, his mouth devouring hers and hoping to distract her from his disaster of an apartment. When they parted, since he knew that time was against him, he smiled against her lips. Looking into her sweet green eyes, he was mesmerized by them as his chest ached. She really came home with him. She was really married to him. She was his. They were going to do this.

  “I love you, sweetheart,” he said, his voice rough with emotion for this gorgeous woman.

  She smiled, her cheeks warming with color as she slowly moved her fingers through the stubble on his jaw. “I love you, even if you are messier than hell.”

  He chuckled before kissing her nose and then letting her go. “I’ll call you before I come home in case you’re hungry or something.”

  “Sounds good. Bye, have a good practice.”

  “Thanks, babe,” he said, flashing her a grin before running out the door. Something about saying goodbye to her as he left for practice really pleased him. While he didn’t want to leave her, he liked that she kissed him goodbye and wished him well.

  It was real, married people shit, and he liked that. A lot.

  Rushing to the arena, he couldn’t stop thinking of Lacey. He worried about her being alone but then pushed that aside. His lady was strong, and he had no doubt that she could take care of herself. He wouldn’t even be gone that long, and then he and JT would clean the shit out of that apartment, get ready for the delivery of her stuff, and then he would need to call the Realtor to find them a house. While he loved that his apartment was so close to the arena and everything else he needed, it wasn’t big enough for Lacey and her office and then him and JT.

  Arriving at the arena, he looked at the line of cars of his teammates and knew he was late.

  “Fucking hell,” he said, rushing to park his truck before sprinting toward the door. The last teammate always did extra laps per Shea Adler’s rules. While Karson could probably use the extra cardio since the only cardio he had been doing was sex, he really wasn’t in the mood. When he entered the locker room though to see all his teammates, almost all dressed, he knew that laps were in his future.

  “Thirty extra laps,” Shea said as he passed Karson. “Welcome back, by the way.”

  “Thanks, Cap,” Karson said, his shoulders falling. Everyone chuckled and razzed him as he headed toward his locker, shaking hands with the men who were not only his teammates, but his brothers.

  When he got to his locker, JT glared at him. “Hey, fucker.”

  Chuckling, Karson said, “Good to see you too.”

  “Whatever, asshole. Where have you been? Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” Karson said, pulling his shirt off as he toed out of his sneakers. “Everything is great.”

  “What happened?” JT asked, annoyed. “Obviously, I’m not asking to get some generic answer.”

  Setting him with a look, Karson said, “Aren’t you a ray of sunshine this morning?”

  “Fuck you, where have you been?”

  Karson really need to reevaluate his relationship with his asshole, but meeting his best friend’s gaze, he could tell that there was genuine worry in his eyes.

  “Aw, Jordie Thomas cares about me,” Karson teased, batting his eyes, but that just pissed JT off more.

  “King, stop fucking around,” he warned and Karson laughed.

  “I got married,” he said like it wasn’t that big a deal, even though he knew it was.

  Talking stopped around him as thirty pair of eyes cut to him.

  Apperently none of them saw his facebook.

  “What?” JT asked. “Did you say you got married?”

  “Yeah,” Karson said with a grin, dropping his pants and boxers before putting on his underwear that had his cup built into it. He should have felt weird with the whole team staring at him with his
cock out, but he was in a hurry to get ready.

  “To who?” Phillip Anderson asked. “I didn’t think you were seeing anyone.”

  “I wasn’t,” Karson said, pulling his body armor shirt on. “I dated her about ten years ago, we met up in Chicago, flew out to Vegas, and got married.”

  “’Cause that’s something sane people do,” Erik Titov said, receiving a few laughs.

  Karson chuckled as he nodded. “Sane people don’t push away the mother of their child when they love her, but who’s judging?” Karson said, and that shut Erik right up.

  “For real?” JT asked. “You really did it?”

  Holding up his hand that held a black metal wedding band, he grinned. “Sure did.”

  “Holy shit,” JT gasped with a shake of his head.

  “Well, I guess congratulations are in order then.” Shea’s voice boomed through the locker room. Holding up his Gatorade bottle, he said, “To King’s new marriage.”

  “To King,” the whole room toasted and Karson smiled in appreciation.

  Then Shea said, “We’ll have to go for beers one night. First round’s on me.”

  “I’d like that, thanks, Cap.”

  “No problem. I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

  “She’s amazing.”

  Shea laughed. “She has to be to get you to fly to Vegas to marry her.”

  Karson’s face warmed as he nodded. Bending down, he taped up his socks just as Coach yelled, “Did King finally decide to show up to play?”

  Karson’s head snapped up and he said, “I’m here, Coach.”

  “My office, now!”

  Oh shit.

  “Ha, you’re in trouble,” JT teased as he laced up his skates.

  “Fuck off, Thomas,” he said as he followed his coach into his office, his stomach churning with nerves. What did he do? Elli said he was good until today. Was he not? Fuck!

  Shutting the door behind him, he fell into a chair in front of his coach’s desk as Coach Baxter filled his cup with coffee. “Have a nice vacation?”

  Karson squirmed in his seat. “Wasn’t really a vacation. I got married.”

  “Oh,” he said with a nod. “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you.”