The Penalty Box (A Vancouver Wolves Hockey Romance Book 3)

CHARLIE WAS PREGNANT. No matter how many times I came to terms with this, it still shocked me. I sat on the couch and watched as she moved around the kitchen. She looked so damn cute with her bare feet and messy hair tied up on the top of her head. The second she opened the dog treat jar, Sasha came bounding towards her, all legs and tail. Sniper followed close behind.

“Sasha, sit.” She held the treat to her chest.

Sniper sat his ass down and stared at her with rapt attention. Sasha sniffed the cupboard, playfully nudged Sniper, got a whiff of something and started to nibble at some crumbs on the floor.

“Do you think he’s deaf?” She glanced up at me with an amused smile on her face.

“Selective hearing.”

She passed Sniper a cookie, which got Sasha’s attention.

“You have to sit if you want a cookie. Sasha, sit.” She lifted Sasha’s chin and pushed on his bum. His tailed wriggled deliriously as she turned to get him a cookie. He moved fast, putting his big paws on the counter beside her.

“Sasha, get down!” She gently tugged him back. “Now sit.”

He licked her hand, but he didn’t sit.

I loved this woman. I loved everything about her. I don’t know how it had happened, but she took up camp in my heart and now she owned the entire damn space.

I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. She constantly reassured me she was feeling good. Her doctor reassured me that the pregnancy looked great and that everything was normal and “within range.” Still, I spent a lot of time silently stressing about everything that could go wrong.

I didn’t talk about the baby. I didn’t even want to think about the baby. Right now, the baby represented a threat to Charlie, something that could potentially harm her. we carried on. We didn’t speak about the future. We didn’t daydream together about the baby. We didn’t pick out names. I took things day by day, working overtime to keep her safe because that was the only thing I cared about.

I WOKE up with a start and realized that a cold dog nose was pressed to my arm. I looked over the edge of the bed and Sniper whined softly, looking up at me with his big, black eyes.

“What is it, boy?”

He whined again and started towards the bedroom door, looking back at me. I checked on Charlie, who was curled up on her side.

“What is it?” she asked without opening her eyes.

“Sniper needs to go out.”

“Thank you,” she breathed.

Instead of leading me to the back door, Sniper led me to the front. He sat down and looked at me.

“What’s going on?”

Sniper wasn’t agitated or upset, but he wanted me to open the door.

I disarmed the alarm and swung open the door. Sniper stepped forward and sniffed something on the steps. I flipped on the lights.

“Sniper, sit.”

He moved to sit beside me. Whining, he looked up at me.

Fuck. At first, I thought it was a skinned cat, but on closer inspection, I realized it was a skinned rabbit. I debated calling the police, but guaranteed that fuckwad, Detective Wallace, would show up and do absolutely nothing but angle his story to make it look like I had done it. I took some photos with my phone before getting some garbage bags to clean it up. It left a stain of blood on the front steps. With rubber gloves and a hard brush, I spent another ten minutes scrubbing the stones clean.

What a nightmare. I thought we had put this behind us.

I sat back on my haunches, looking into the dark of the night, and debated my options. I could call Andrusha, although I wasn’t sure what the fuck he would do. I debated telling Charlie, but I didn’t want to stress her out.

I WAS WALKING out of practice when my phone buzzed repeatedly with texts.

Unknown: You’ve been a very bad boy, haven’t you?

Unknown: You told me you were going to tell your wife about us.

Unknown: Especially after our time together on your last road trip.

Unknown: The way you fucked me, you were so damn hot, Mica.

Unknown: Tell your wife about me, or I will tell her. That was our deal.

I stared in disbelief at the texts. WTF? I had no idea what was going on. If the person hadn’t used my name, I would have thought this was a wrong number. Rage filled my heart that they were talking about Charlie. I debated my options and then texted back.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: Cute. Pretending not to know.

Unknown: I’ll give you a hint. I’m your little addiction.

Me: Leave my wife alone.

Unknown: Come meet me and tell me that to my face. Then maybe I can sit on your face.

Me: Fuck off

Unknown: I’ll be in front of the antique-style clock at noon tomorrow

Someone was trying to mess with me. I couldn’t care less about these texts, but the fact that they mentioned Charlie had my blood boiling. No one would mess with her. This was going to stop now.

I would meet whoever was messing with us, and I would make this stop.

Their meeting place was a public place at a public time. There would be dozens of people around. What could go wrong?

I STOOD beside the antique clock and waited. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did, when I saw Sabrina saunter up to me.

I kept my hands in my pockets as I glared down at her. “What the fuck kind of game are you playing?”

She smiled up at me. “I knew you’d come.”

“What do you want?”

She stepped forward, pressing her body to mine. I stepped back. She put her arms on my chest. “I want you to fuck me.”

“You’re a crazy bitch. Leave my wife alone or I’ll go to the police.”

Her hand flew fast, and she slapped me across the face. It didn’t hurt, but it caught me off guard. The second time she tried to slap me, I caught her hand. I put my face in front of hers. “If you don’t fuck off, you’re going to be sorry.”

Without letting her say another word, I turned and walked away.

I STARED down at my wife, who was busy working her mouth over my cock. I groaned as I felt the tip of her tongue slowly circle on the bottom of my cock while she sucked perfectly on the tip.

“Touch your breasts.” I knew how sensitive her nipples were these days. “Tug on your nipples for me.”

Her fingers plucked her bare nipples, and she moaned, her eyes drifting shut.

“Now touch your pussy. I want you to come while you suck on me.”

Her mouth lost some focus when her hand slipped between her thighs, but I didn’t care. She was so fucking hot getting herself off for me. When she came, she sucked harder, and it was all I could do not to shoot my load down her throat.

“I want you to come,” she pouted.

I want to come too.

I hauled her onto her feet, spun her around, bent her over the bed and buried myself deep into her. She groaned so hard, a sound that went straight to my dick. I could feel her hot pussy tighten around me. Fuck, she made me hot.

“How’s that?” I asked, kissing her neck.

“I want more.”

“You want more?” I teased, drawing my fingers down her spine.

She shivered. “I need to come again.”

“My little wife is so greedy.” I spread her cheeks, sucked my thumb and slowly massaged her other hole. Her hands clawed the bedspread.

“You like it when I touch you here, don’t you?”

She cried out, her face buried in the bed. I slowly began to thrust into her. My cock was so hard, so big, filling her full. I pumped slow and hard, angling to hit her g-spot. She felt hot, tight, and wet, and it took all my willpower to keep myself in check. I circled her other hole with more pressure and began to pump harder.

“Tell me what you need.”

“Make me come,” she begged.

I found her clit, and she spasmed hard. Three more pumps and I was spurting into her.

She moaned as I slowly pulled out of her. She stretched and sighed with satisfaction. I debated taking her again, but I needed to go for a run and she needed to get ready for work.

I slapped her ass. “That was just a preview of what’s coming tonight.”

She sighed again. “I can’t wait.”

WHEN I CAME BACK from my run, Charlie was sitting on the edge of the bed, still naked, watching the news.

“What’s got your attention?”

She gave me a funny look. “Remember Sabrina?”

My throat tightened. “What about her?”

“She went missing yesterday. Apparently, she went to bed, and when her roommate woke up, she was gone. Without her phone, car, wallet or any ID.”

I looked up at the television. There was a shot of an apartment that I barely remembered. Police were putting up yellow tape and a police van was pulling up in front.

“That’s weird.”

The news reporter stepped in front of the camera. “As you can see, police are taking this missing person’s report very seriously. This young woman seems to have been abducted in the middle of the night. Her friends and family say that it’s extremely unlikely that she would go anywhere without her phone, and it’s reported that she didn’t take any ID or her wallet. At this time, the police are considering this situation highly suspect. This case is eerily similar to the Jody Cameron case. Jody is a young nursing student who went missing without a trace in the new year. Police are looking to see if there is any connection between the two women.”

Charlie looked worried. “I wonder what happened to her.”

I debated my options, wondering if it would be overkill to hire a full-time security team to watch the house.

She glanced up at me. “You dated Sabrina before me, right?”

I clarified. “She gave me a blow job once. I woke up to her going through my phone. That was the one and only time I hooked up with her.”

I didn’t like the look on Charlie’s face when I said the word blow job. “That was months ago. Way before I met you.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Fine. All water under the bridge, right?”

I WAS COMING out of the shower when Charlie walked into the bathroom. She had a scared look on her face.

“Mica, the police are here to talk to you.”

“What for?”

She swallowed. “They want to ask you about Sabrina.”

I got dressed and found none other than Detective Wallace, standing in my living room, looking out over the view.

“Quite the place you have here.”

“What do you want?”

Charlie moved to stand beside me.

Detective Wallace turned and gave me a benign smile. “Why are you always at the center of my investigations?”

“Shit detective work?”

“What do you know about the disappearance of Sabrina?”

“Nothing.”

“Did you have a relationship with her?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

He hummed. “So, can you explain why these text messages were the last messages on her phone?”

He started to read from his own piece of paper. “You’ve been a very bad boy. You told me you were going to tell your wife about us. Tell your wife about me, or I will. That was our deal. I’m your little addiction. I’ll be in front of the antique-style clock at noon tomorrow.”

Beside me, Charlie gasped.

Fuck my life.

I looked at Charlie. “It’s not what you think.”

Detective Wallace look pleased with himself. “Are you denying that you had anything to do with Sabrina’s disappearance?”

“She’s not part of my life. I had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

“Hmmm,” he hummed. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

AFTER HE LEFT, I followed Charlie into the bedroom. “Can we talk?”

She spun around and looked stressed. “What’s going on?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“Are you telling me you had nothing to do with her while we were married?”

Anger made my eyes narrow. “Are you really fucking asking me that?”

She flushed. “Answer the question.”

“I didn’t cheat on you. I would never cheat on you.”

But I could see the doubt in her eyes before she shut the bathroom door in my face.

IT PISSED me off that Charlie thought I could cheat on her, much less harm another human being. I drove her to work in silence, and she wasn’t exactly talking either.

When I pulled up to the front of her building, I tried once more. “Sabrina was a pest, but I didn’t cheat on you. Not once. I would never cheat on you.”

“What is going on, then? What about those texts?”

“She sent me those texts, and I told her to back off.”

“Why don’t the detectives see you telling her to back off in the texts?”

This conversation was going in the wrong direction. “I met up with her and told her in person.”

Charlie’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

“In a public place. I told her to back off and leave you alone.”

“She told me that was your pet name for her,” she cried.

What the actual fuck? “What pet name?”

“Your little addiction. She told me that is what you called her. She said that you flew her to your away games, and that she was with you when you called me.” Charlie was fighting tears as she tried to open the car door.

I grabbed her arm and forced her to look at me.

Desperation tinged my voice. “That never happened. There were no pet names, I never flew her anywhere. She is a troublemaker, and I told her repeatedly to get out of our lives.”

Charlie rubbed her forehead. “I have to get to work.”

I didn’t let go of her arm. “Do you believe me?”

“I don’t know what to believe.”

THIS MORNING WAS GOING to shit. I walked into the house after practice as my phone rang. It was Krista.

“Turn on your TV.”

“What?”

“Turn on your fucking TV, Channel 44.”

I turned on the TV. I could hear the echo of the same channel on Krista’s side.

A reporter was standing outside Sabrina’s apartment. “It’s come to light that Sabrina might have been in a romantic relationship with NHL star Mica Petrov. A source has reported that there were some highly suggestive texts exchanged between her and the player, who, incidentally, was married late last fall. Texts included phrases like, ‘You told me you were going to tell your wife about us’ and ‘Tell your wife about me, or I will tell her. That was our deal.’ We’ve reached out to his agent, who said that he wasn’t part of Sabrina’s life, but we recently received photos that indicate otherwise.”

On the screen flashed two photos. The first was of Sabrina standing and talking to me at the Valentine’s Day gala. She was staring up at my face with an anguished expression, and I was looking at her like I wanted to kill her. The second photo was worse. It was taken at the antique clock. Sabrina had a scared expression on her face and I was glaring down at her with my hand around her wrist.

That photo had been taken right after she had slapped my face. But it looked bad. It looked really bad.

“Someone’s setting me up, Krista.”

“I believe you.”

“How’s Charlie?”

“How the fuck do you think she is?”

I started to walk towards the door. “I’m coming down to your office.”

I swung the door open. There stood Detective Wallace and three officers.

Fuck. My. Life.

“Mica Petrov, you’re under arrest for the disappearance of Sabrina Christensen. You have the right to remain silent.” He continued to read me my rights.

“Krista?” I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

Krista breathed in my ear, “I’m calling my lawyer.”

Before I could respond, someone ripped the phone out of my hand and deposited it into an evidence bag.

THEY HAULED me down to the police station and shoved me into an interview room that was windowless except for the two-way mirror.

Detective Wallace came in and tossed a file on the table. “So, what do you have to say for yourself?”

I crossed my arms and shrugged. “Nothing.”

He pulled out a few photos. I leaned forward, glanced at them. They looked like photos of a journal, with feminine handwriting.

“You know what that is?”

“Never seen it before.”

“This is the personal journal of Sabrina. You know what she wrote about?”

I shrugged. “Do I care?”

“You. She wrote about you. Pages and pages of how you met, how you started cheating on your wife with her. Her guilt over that. The cities she followed you to for your away games, including tickets you bought for her. And how you made her promise to keep it all a secret.”

My heart started to pound. What the fuck was Sabrina up to? “That is a load of shit.”

He stabbed the file with his finger. “She details how violent you became with her when she begged you to end it with your wife. And when you said no, and she tried to leave you, you hurt her. You slapped her face and told her she would never be free of you.”

If this wasn’t so serious, the whole thing would be laughable. “Are you done reading your fairy tales?”

He picked up a photo and started to read. “Mica just called. He’s outside. He said he just wants to talk, but I am afraid.”

I shook my head.

“She wrote that the night of her disappearance.”

I was in way over my head. “I want to talk to my lawyer.”