Chapter 18
Miller
I have never been so scared in my life, being on that call with Dani to hear her being sexually assaulted by a violent man. A man who just happens to be her ex. Fuck, my body starts shaking with anger every time I think about it, which just happens to be all the time.
What the hell would have happened if I hadn’t called Dani? Or if I hadn’t gotten there in time. Fuck, I know exactly what would have happened. That bastard would have raped my girl, would have taken away her innocence, her light. He would have taken away everything she has fought to get back, which he stole from her in the first place.
And all I did was knock him out. Shit, I should have put him down like the animal he is.
I stayed with Dani all night after the cops had left. She fell asleep pretty quickly in my arms and I can’t even explain how happy I was that she still allowed my touch after everything she had been through. What cut me to pieces though was how she slept in my arms, waking up every 30 minutes, jumping in her sleep in fear as her unconscious mind dreamed about the events from the night and if I didn’t have my girl in my arms I would have been down at the hospital waiting for that dickhead to wake up, just so I could knock him out again.
She woke up this morning looking like she hadn’t slept a wink, which she really hadn’t. She sat down with Sophie and had a coffee while they both sobbed, then got dressed and headed down to the station together to press the charges and get the paperwork sorted for the restraining order while Tank and I headed out for training.
I skate along the ice with my mind clearly not in the game as I miss shot after shot with Tank clapping me on the back each time, urging me to continue on. I grow more and more frustrated with myself as the session goes on. I drop Jaxon twice after shooting me with sloppy passes and lose my shit at a few of the boys.
Coach sends me off the ice for ten minutes to calm down and asks to see me at the end of the session.
We’re about twenty minutes from the end of training when the two cops from last night make their presence known.
Coach calls for us to stop and I make my way over, my gut already knowing exactly why they are here.
“Officer Nathans, Officer Samuels,” I say by way of greeting.
They each give me a tight smile. “Mr. Cain,” Office Nathans says with a nod. “We need to take you down to the station. You’re being charged with assault,” he adds regretfully, clearly thinking that this shouldn’t be happening.
I nod in understanding and make my way off the ice with Officer Nathans following me into the locker room.
We come out moments later to find Coach, red in the face, drilling Officer Samuels on what the hell is going on. “Sir, you need to stand down,” she warns.
“Coach,” I say interrupting. “It’s ok, I’ll come by when I’m done with this and explain what’s going on.”
His lips tighten as he studies me, trying to work out what kind of trouble I’ve gotten myself into, then glances at Tank who has his mouth zipped shut. Coach should know better than that, there is no way Tank is going to talk. “This needs to stay quiet,” he demands, glancing from the officers to all the players.
“I’ll be back, Coach,” I promise as I follow the Officers out the door, they discreetly usher me into their vehicle, knowing the kind of bad press something like this could do and I mildly wonder how Dani would approach this from a PR angle, though I know, whatever it is, she would do it excellently.
They drive me to the station and I’m surprised to find Dani still here, though she is in the middle of picking up her things and about to leave. She pauses when she sees me being ushered in, her eyebrows pinching together. “What’s going on?” she asks.
“It’s ok, babe. Brett is pressing assault charges,” I explain.
Her face drops instantly. “What? Are you serious? After everything he has done?”
“Don’t worry,” I calm her. “It won’t stick and if it does we can fight it.”
She nods in understanding but the worry doesn’t leave her face as she clutches her things to her chest and takes a seat once again. “Don’t wait around babe, this could take a while and you’ve been here all day,” I say. “I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“Ok,” she says with a frown, allowing Sophie to drag her out the door.
“You two seem to be getting dealt a shitty hand at the moment,” Office Samuels says quietly from beside me.
“Tell me about it,” I agree.
She takes me out the back where they explain in further detail that Brett is indeed pressing assault charges, however after the charges pressed against him and the restraining order together with both mine and Dani’s statements, it’s more than likely the judge will drop the charges.
After signing a few papers, I’m out of there an hour later and make my way back down to the ice rink where I find Coach Harris waiting in his office. I make my way in and sit down in the chair opposite his desk.
He looks up at me with a mix of emotions in his eyes. “Out of all the guys, you’re not the one who I’d expect to be having trouble with the law,” he comments.
“I know, Coach,” I tell him. “I’m being charged with assault,” I say, giving it to him straight.
“What?” he snarls. “How stupid can you be? An assault charge is enough to throw away your whole future, the NHL won’t even consider someone with a criminal record,” he growls, pushing out of his chair and pacing his office. “You have 5 minutes to explain how the fuck you got in this situation.”
I do exactly that, giving him the full rundown of what had happened last night and a brief history of Dani’s past, where Brett is involved.
“Fuck,” he whispers, his face falling as hears more and more of the story and it's clear how much he has come to care for the girls, Dani in particular. “How is she doing?”
“Ok,” I tell him. “She’s putting on a brave face but I know she’s hurting.”
He nods in understanding and moves around the front of his desk and takes a seat directly in front of me. “Look, I can’t condone violence,” he says, leaning forward and placing a hand on my shoulder. “But had I been in your position, I would have done the same thing. I think you handled yourself remarkably well,” he commends.
“Thanks, Coach,” I say feeling slightly uncomfortable accepting any sort of praise in this situation.
“Now, what have you been told about the charges?” he asks, getting back on track.
I give him a full rundown, letting him know the likelihood of the charges being dropped. He seems wary but still accepts that this is the best possible outcome in such a shitty situation.
He sends me on my way and I stop by the locker room to collect all my hockey gear. I make my way out to the parking lot and dump my bag in the back, pulling out my phone and bringing up Dani’s number.
“Hey,” her beautiful, worried voice says. “How did it go?”
I relax at the sound of her voice, hating that it is worried but still thankful that it is her. “Ok,” I tell her. “Are you home? I’ll come by and explain.”
“Yeah, I’m home,” she says.
“Ok, I’ll be there in five,” I tell her, hanging up and sliding the phone into my pocket. I climb into my truck and make my way to her place, counting down the minutes until I can feel her safe in my arms once again.
I pull up to find Dani and Sophie hovering around the open door with a hammer and screwdriver hanging from Sophie’s fingers while Dani reads through the instructions of the deadbolt lock she holds in hers.
“You need a little help with that?” I ask, pleased they are proactively looking out for their safety.
Dani looks up at me from the floor. “No,” she says, getting a groan out of Sophie. “We can manage.”
“Ok, sure. I’ll just sit over here and wait till you’re done,” I say, indicating to the outdoor lounge that sits by the door, giving me a perfect view of Dani’s ass as she tries to work out the lock.
“Excellent,” she smiles sarcastically, giving me a bit of her usual sass. I realize the restraining order must be giving her a feeling of security and I couldn’t be happier.
I sit by the door for at least thirty minutes, extremely amused as I watch her fumble around the door. “Need some help?” I ask with a smirk.
“No, I don’t need help,” she tells me. “But if you’re offering to do it, I’m not going to say no.”
I laugh as I get up off the chair and make my way over to the door, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her lips and picking her up. I dump her in the lounge and I make myself comfortable on the floor in front of the door. I undo everything she has just attempted to do and have the lock installed two minutes later.
She huffs as she watches me in frustration. “Whatever,” she grumbles to herself.
I get up off the floor and join her on the couch. “Ok,” she says. “Tell me all about it.”
I give her the rundown, the same way I had just done with Coach Harris.
“So what does this mean for Hockey?”
I let out a deep breath and curl my arms around her. “If the charges go through, I can kiss my hockey career goodbye,” I tell her honestly.
“Shit,” she says. “I’m so sorry, this is all my fault.”
“Like hell it is,” I tell her, grabbing her waist and turning her to face me. “Not one bit of this is on you. You’ve done nothing wrong except for being the sexiest damn woman I’ve ever met.” She gives me a soft smile. “It’s going to be ok and if it’s not, we’ll fight like hell until it is.”
“You’re too amazing for me,” she says.
“Yeah, I’m pretty damn great,” I tell her.
She relaxes against me as she breaks into laughter. “Come on,” she says. “It’s been a long freaking day, let me cook you dinner and go to bed.”
“No,” I say a little too quickly. “I’ll cook, you go relax.”
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There is no better feeling than being on that ice and looking up into that grandstand to see the woman of your dreams staring down at you, wearing your name on her back and cheering for you as you score goal after goal in some of the most important games of your life.
I push forward, flying past the referee and a few of the opposing skaters. I narrowly miss getting shoulder charged and have to add a bit of footwork to keep control of the puck. I flick the puck over to Tank to avoid losing it to the opposition. Tank easily keeps up with me and flicks it straight back, moments before he is slammed into the boards. I catch the puck against my stick and push forward, flying towards the goal. I pull back and slam the puck forward, it sails across the ice, slides straight past the goalkeeper and slams into the back of the net.
The crowd get to their feet and cheer, breaking into their fourth chorus of the dragons war cry. I skate around the back of the net as my boy’s crowd around, clapping me on the back and cheering my name. I push past them and quickly check on Tank who seems to be fine.
“Nice one, bro,” he says, pulling me to clap me on the back.
“Couldn’t have done that one without you,” I smirk.
“Yeah, that one and the four before it,” he laughs.
“Good point.”
I glance up to the audience to find my girl, up on her feet, arms in the air, screaming my name like an absolute lunatic. The biggest grin creeps over my face as I take in her little performance. Yeah, I could definitely get used to this.
The boys and I make our way over to Coach, who does his best to keep a straight face but it’s pretty damn obvious that he is extremely happy right now. “Ok boys, we’ve got three minutes left. You’ve already won the game but let’s keep it strong. Show them who own this town,” he smirks.
We all break and head back to the centre of the ice to do just that.
Three minutes later and another two goals more, the buzzer sounds, declaring us yet again the undefeated Kings of Denver.