Page 83 of Torrid Love
Roark is laughing his head off at something Victor Bakhmeteva—the Slovenian former hockey superstar of the Los Angeles Kings turned upscale sports bar owner—says when we make our way to our table.
“Ha, the drummer and roadie,” Victor says when he sees us approaching.
Loki’s cousin Jace was one of the four members of my former rock band. Loki isn’t a singer or a musician, but there’s no way he was going to be left behind. He followed us across the country—and the world—as one of our roadies.
“Hey, Victor,” I say taking him into a bro hug.
“Rod,” he says patting my back. He pulls away from our embrace and turns his attention to Loki. “Are you keeping him out of trouble?” he jerks a thumb in my direction.
“I wasn’t gifted with such superpowers,” Loki sneers.
“That bad?” Victor asks.
“You know when they say God works in mysterious ways?”
“Yeah.”
Loki shifts his gaze towards me. “This one is a lost cause.”
Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence.
“Good one,” my brother says, exploding in laughter.
“Har, har, har.” I’m not nearly as amused as my brother.
“No, seriously, I’m not trying to be funny,” Loki says. “After today, I’m sure even God washes his hands of him.”
“Sounds like the three of you need a few stiff drinks and a lot of good food,” Victor says.
“Well, it would be a start,” Loki says with feigned affliction.
As the two commiserate, I slide into the seat across from Roark.
He greets me with a cocked eyebrow.
I shoot him a,‘What?’look.
“In that case, you’re in luck,” Victor says. “I just received a shipment of Stoli Elit Himalayan edition vodka. Only three hundred bottles are produced each year and I snatched ten of them.”
“That sounds expensive,” Loki says.
“Worth every penny,” Victor quips. “I’ll also get your waitress to bring over a platter of smoked salmon—also straight from Russia.”
“Russian vodka it is!” Roark cheers.
“Done deal,” Victor smiles.
“You’re a good man,” Loki pats Victor on the shoulder.
“My pleasure. I have to go, but enjoy.”
“Thanks,” all three of us say in unison.
“What'd he do this time?” Roark asks Loki the second Victor walks away from our table.
Loki sits next to my brother. Both of them are facing me.Great.Over the next fifteen minutes, I listen as my business partner recounts the entire day. He even talks about how tense things were between Dom and I, well before she left for her training. I cringe internally.
Am I embarrassed?
