Laces and Lace (Assassins #6) (28 page)

Before Karson could answer, he heard his dad snatch the phone out of her hand and then said, “Karson, son, what the hell is your mother talking about?”

“Hey, Pops,” Karson said slowly.

“Don’t ‘Hey, Pops’ me. You got married? To whom? Did you knock her up? Did you at least get a prenup before you went and married some girl you don’t know?”

“At least they want to protect you,” Lacey commented with a grin.

“Who’s that?” his father asked. “My daughter-in-law?”

“Yeah, Dad, and it isn’t just some girl I don’t know. It’s Lacey Martin.”

“Lacey? Why do I know that name?”

“Because I’ve loved her my whole life,” Karson answered, cupping Lacey’s face. “And I married her, Pops. I couldn’t waste another second without her.”

“Wow. You sound like a damn pussy, Kar, get it together,” Karl grunted as Lacey snickered against his lips.

“Oh, he’s a character,” she whispered.

“You have no idea,” Karson laughed as he kissed her nose. “I’m in love, Pops!”

“Still, be a man about it. Smack her ass, tell her she’s pretty and that you love her. No need to get all sappy and shit,” he said, making them both laugh again. “But okay, congratulations and can’t wait to meet you, Lacey.”

“Can’t wait to meet you, Mr. King.”

“That’s Pops to you, honey. Here is your mother. Maybe she can process some info now, but is she pregnant?”

“No, Pops, no kiddos yet,” Karson answered, and he didn’t miss the way Lacey bit her lip, the worried look back on her sweet face. Lacing his fingers with hers, he kissed her knuckles as Karl said, “Here, Regina. He married that girl he was in love with from college, Lacey, and they aren’t pregnant. Just in
looooove
.”

Lacey laughed out loud before saying, “I already love him.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty loveable,” Karson laughed as his mother got back on the phone.

“You married Lacey? How? I thought you hadn’t seen her in years!”

“Yeah, I got in a cab in Chicago, Ma, and she was there. It was like time hadn’t even passed,” Karson admitted, and it felt good to say that to someone else. “I went and won the game for her and then asked her to marry me. She said yes.”

“Oh my God, how romantic! That is just darling. I’m so excited for you and her,” she said, heavy emotion in her voice.

“Thanks, Ma. Once we are settled, I want you to come meet her,” Karson said as Lacey grinned.

“No, you two come here. Your next game isn’t till Friday. You can come here before going home,” she insisted.

“Ma, we have to pack her up and stuff. I’ll fly you two out to Nashville.”

“But I want to meet her now!” his mom protested. “You didn’t give me the chance back then, and now that you two are married—which by the way I didn’t get to be a part of—I think it is only fair that you stop in. Even if it is only for a couple hours.”

“Fucking hell,” he muttered and Lacey chuckled beside him. “Hold on.”

Hitting mute, he looked at Lacey. “What do you think?”

“I mean, if we don’t, she’s going to assume I said no. We really have no choice.”

“I know. She is a sneaky little shit.”

“Yeah, let’s stop on the way home. I’ll call and see what I can do.”

“We have to deal with your family next; are you sure?”

She nodded, her face warm with love. “I like that you said
we
.”

“’Cause that’s what we are. A unit. I’m not going to sit back and let you take shit for this, Lacey. We both wanted this.”

“I know,” she agreed. “It’s just my family hates you with a passion.”

He nodded. “I get that, but in the end, they’ll see that I’m what’s right for you.”

Placing her hand over his heart, she kissed the side of his mouth. “I know that and that’s all that matters. Finish with your mom while I call the airline.”

“Okay,” he said, going to hit the mute button, but first he met her gaze and smiled. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

He knew she meant it, but something in her eyes seemed off. Deciding that he needed to talk to her more and ease her fears, he clicked unmute as he watched her go into the bathroom with the phone to her ear. He didn’t know what sent her to rush to the bathroom, but he was sure it wasn’t to call the airline.

Letting out a long breath, he said, “Ma, we are gonna see what we can do. I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, baby, I love you and congratulations. I know how much she means to you.”

Karson’s chest ached with love for his mother as he nodded. “She does. Thanks, Ma. I’ll call you.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

He had no doubt. Hanging up the phone, he got out of bed to follow Lacey into the bathroom. He found her leaning against the sink, the phone against her shoulder and, as he expected, her eyes were full of tears. When one slid down her sweet cheek, he took her hips in his hands, pulling her against him.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, holding her close.

She shook her head. “Nothing, give me a minute— Yes, I need to change our flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Mosinee, Wisconsin, please. Yes, can we leave out to Chicago same day? The following morning will be fine. Yes, thank you, charge the Visa on the account. Yes, thank you, goodbye,” she said, hanging up the phone. She then said, “Okay, so we leave out a little earlier, and we have to stay the night with your mom, but it’s no big deal, I think.”

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he demanded.

“Are you even listening to me?”

He nodded. “I heard every word, but I want to know why you are crying.”

Her lip quivered and she looked away, but as quickly as she tried to hide her face, he cupped it, holding her so that he could look in her eyes. “Don’t hide from me,” he said sternly. “I spent the last nine years imagining your face, and now that you are my wife, I don’t want you to ever hide from me.”

Tears rolled down her face and over his hands as her lips continued to quiver. “I’m so excited to meet your family, I am. But they are so happy to meet me, and that’s not the case for you. My family hates you, but yet, you still love me, want to be with me and everything when I can’t offer you what you are offering me from your family.”

Her eyes locked with his, and he could see the pain and stress this was causing. Moving his thumb to catch her tears, he took in a deep breath. “Lacey, you don’t have to offer me anything but your heart. I don’t need your family; I need you.”

“I know, but I just want it to be good the way I know it will be with your family. I mean, they already like me and they haven’t even met me.”

“Because you are amazing.”

“Karson,” she whined, her mouth curving a bit but then it fell. He tipped her face up and met her gaze. She was lying to him and he couldn’t believe it. Didn’t she know that he saw through her when she tried to lie? He could still remember the first time she had tried to lie to him. It was after he had been stalking her for almost a week, begging her to date him. She didn’t want anything to do with him, or at least that was what she told herself and him. Truth was, she wanted him but she was scared, and that was fine, he could ease her fears. He still remembered the way she looked him in the eye as her mouth formed each lie, telling him to stay away. He didn’t listen, obviously. He had one thing on his mind, and that was to love Lacey for the rest of his life.

And just like that moment, he knew that she was lying to him now. He didn’t know why, but he had every intention of finding out and then doing whatever needed to be done to fix it. She only lied when she was scared, and she had no reason to be scared. Not when he was in her corner, loving her with every bit of his heart and soul.

“This isn’t about your family liking me; we both know that won’t ever happen. What’s wrong?” he demanded, and like he knew she would, the tears came faster down her cheeks. He bundled her up in his arms, kissing her temple and whispered, “Tell me, baby. Let me fix it.”

She shuddered against him, wrapping her arms around him as she cried into his neck. Kissing her cheek, he nuzzled his nose in her neck, his stomach churning at the sound of her sobs. Holding onto him tightly, she took in a deep breath and then whispered, “I’m scared.”

His stomach dropped as his heart broke in his chest. He knew this had to do with her family, and he wished that he could fix it. The only problem was he didn’t know how. How did he make people like him when they had spent the last nine years keeping them apart? It seemed unlikely that he would succeed, but when those two words left her sweet mouth, he knew he had no other option but to try.

Lacey didn’t want to cry.

She wanted to be happy. She was married to the man of her dreams, his family was excited to meet her, and they were starting a life together, but all she could think about were the texts and voice mails from her family.

Rachel: Where the hell are you? Are you okay?

Rachel: you’re worrying me. Did Karson hurt you?

Rachel: are you alive?

Rachel: this isn’t funny. I went to your apartment and you’re not there! What is going on? You have an hour to call me or text me because before I tell Grady.

Rachel: only thirty minutes left. Please, Lace, I’m worried.

Rachel: okay, this is insane. I’m calling Grady.

Grady: Hey, what’s going on? Rachel is freaking out.

Rachel: I told him. You better answer now! Next is your dad!

Grady: Seriously, what’s going on? And what’s this shit about you being with that fucktard King?

Grady: Lacey Arielle Martin, I swear to God if you don’t answer my calls or my texts, I’m telling Dad. For real, you’re worrying us.

Rachel: seriously, we don’t want to get your dad involved, please answer us.

Grady: that’s it, I’m telling Dad.

Rachel: he’s calling your dad.

Then started the nasty voice mails from her father since Nate Martin didn’t text. He proceeded to tell her that he was going to call the cops, and then he did call the cops, but they couldn’t do anything until she was missing for twenty-four hours. He threatened to kill Karson, tear him limb from limb, and bury him in a hole with the help of Grady, of course.

She felt horrible for worrying everyone, but she was just caught in the moment. Wrapped up in everything that was Karson, and now her family was freaking out, calling cops and threatening Karson’s life. How was she supposed to just call and be like “Hey, we got married!”? It wasn’t going to go that easy; everything was bound to be a clusterfuck of hell once she made that call. She knew she needed to do it. It would be like ripping off a Band-Aid, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was scared of what they would say, what they would do. She didn’t want to lose her family, but she refused to lose Karson.

For a second time in her life, she felt like she was flying. Karson made her feel like that. Like she was lost in the clouds and never wanted to let her feet hit the ground. She didn’t want to go back to her life of nothing, her boring existence, only getting excited when she helped someone. Yes, her job was fulfilling, but her life wasn’t complete. But now that she had Karson, it was. Sure, they didn’t have anything figured out, but they would.

Because they had each other.

Lifting her face from his neck, she met his worried gaze and handed him her phone. “They are freaking out.”

He held her in one arm while his other scrolled through the messages. “I can see that.”

“I know I need to call them, but I’m scared, Karson. They ruined us back then, and I know they are going to try again.”

He tightened his arm around her and said, “But we won’t allow them. Maybe now that we are older, they’ll see we are serious. You need to call and tell them you are okay. If you want to wait to tell them about us, that’s okay, but at least let them know you are all right.”

She shook her head quickly, her heart aching in her chest. She loved him so much and couldn’t believe that he cared enough about them to have her call to ease their worries. They didn’t deserve his kindness, and they sure as hell weren’t going to get it from her. She refused to lie about them too. She was proud of her marriage, the man she chose; she just wished her family would feel the same. She could be wrong and they could surprise her and support them, but if they’d tried so hard to keep them apart, why would they just sit back and let her be happy now? Her father and brother were set in their ways and decided a long time ago that Karson wasn’t good enough for her, which was by far a mistake.