Thin Ice

by April Cronin

  She'd heard his bike, though at first, she assumed it was her imagination again, but she'd checked the window anyways, gasping as she'd watched him pull into her driveway. Her heart began to flutter, then thump wildly under her breast as she watched him swing his leg over the side of the Ducati, how his jeans had constricted, tightening around his groin.

  He'd unzipped his jacket, his t-shirt underneath giving the barest hint of his hard packed abdominals as he'd reached for his helmet and took it off, shaking his head of unruly blonde hair, the wind whipping through it. And when he'd looked to her doorway, his eyes as cold as ice, his full lips compressed into a frown... God, he'd looked so dangerous. He certainly had that brooding thing down.

  But it only made her tremble in excitement. Despite the tabloid fodder, and the wild accusations of one girl, Harmony had to admit that the sight of him was more than just a little arousing. Her entire body tingled, it was as if he'd been standing before her, his fingers deftly removing her clothing, and she suddenly felt very constricted in her baggy sweater as she had watched him approach. Surely staying away from Peter had been the right thing to do.

  Then why did she feel this way? It was like watching her soldier walk up the drive after a long deployment overseas. It had only been a couple of weeks since last she'd laid eyes on him, but seeing him now, it seemed as if a year had passed. Why had she kept him at bay? Because he didn't trust you. Her subconscious berated her. Oh. Right.

  But she'd let him in anyways. And Lupus, having been outside, rushed in through the doggy door, throwing himself at Peter, he rolled onto his back, wiggling and panting like a little puppy, begging for attention. Peter scratched him absently as he continued to look over Harmony, who was now standing with her back braced against the closed door.

  Her body raged with a fever that only he could break, so she kept her distance. Harmony feared that if he touched her she would fall at his feet and beg. She had to gain control of herself, and she needed to do it fast. Her resolve was weakening every time their eyes met.

  “Can we talk?” he said after a minute, the tension in the air so thick he was nearly choking from it.

  “What's there to say?” Harmony crossed her arms over her chest, unwilling to move away from the door for the moment.

  Sighing, Peter sensed her hesitation and pulled a chair out of the kitchen placing it in front of her, and grabbing a second one for himself. She sat down only when he did as well, crossing one leg over the other and folding her hands in her lap.

  “Why do you not believe me?”

  The question was simple, however, the answer was anything but.

  Harmony squirmed under his intense gaze, gripping the arms of the chair as if to gain some sort of support, he cocked one eyebrow trying to encourage a response. She had none. She'd tried to think about things logically and rationally, and then she'd tried to consider her own intuition. Everything so far pointed to Peter's innocence, so why was she so damned determined to believe the word of a complete stranger over the man she had come to love?

  “Tell me what happened that night Peter.”

  Peter took a deep breath, his eyes never wavering, but Harmony noticed how his hands clenched into fists at his sides, he stood, pushed the chair away, and began to pace. If she could have shrunk away from him at that point she would have. Harmony felt so vulnerable as she watched him stride around the room, his muscles tense, his energy hovering to an almost dangerous degree. But she wasn't afraid. Harmony knew that despite his heritage and his obvious strength, Peter would never hurt her, but his panther-like grace should have frightened her nonetheless.

  “I went to the bar with Andre. After a couple of beers, I leave, he was with some girl by then. So I went home. Outside of bar two girls come up to me, ask me for autograph.” He stopped, shrugged, then paced again. “I say no problem. Give to them. Then the one girl wants a picture. Again, no problem. I give to her, and I leave. I get home and let Sadie out, she comes back in covered in mud, and jumps all over me, so we take a shower, and then you show up. I never see that girl again, and I certainly not touch her other than simple hug for photograph.”

  As Harmony absorbed his words, going over the chain of events, and taking into account how she had found him, how his mood had been, again, it all added up to the same conclusion she'd come to in the beginning. Peter was innocent.

  “What about the first time you met her? Andre said you guys saw her before.”

  Peter stopped pacing again, stood in front of her, his eyes narrowing as a flicker of jealousy popped into them. “Andre was here? When?”

  His nerves were obviously strung as tight as her own, he teetered dangerously close to the edge of a powerful storm, she could all but feel the lightning as it simmered around him, and as the sexual tension she felt herself began to climb to new heights, spurred on by his reaction to Andre having come anywhere near her, she had to fight to maintain control.

  “He tried to convince me that you were innocent.”

  “But you do not want to believe even him? Why Harmony? Is this anything to do with that man in your past? Can you no see the difference between he and I?”

  “Tell me about the first time you met her.” She interrupted, refusing to answer his questions just yet.

  Peter scoffed, folding his arms against the broad expanse of his chest, the hem of his shirt lifting ever so slightly to reveal his hard packed abs as it scrunched up in his tightly folded forearms, his muscles constricting as his fists curled. He was so spectacularly made, even now with his face contorted in anger, his features were that of a beautiful warrior.

  She wanted to go to him, to wrap herself around him and feel his body go lax. She could imagine how it would be, he would crumble under her soft touch, then he would gather her into his arms, and he would press kisses to her face and neck.

  Shaking her head mentally, Harmony blinked. Her mouth was near to watering, how was she supposed to think rationally or logically when he looked so damn sexy? It was all she could do not to give in to her sexual urges.

  He spoke then, pulling her from her shameful thoughts. “I do not remember the first time. Would not have Viktor told me about it, I would not have known at all. I was with Andre and Viktor that time. At same bar. She and her friend, I think it was same one, they come to us, and I leave. Andre tell me later that he took girl home with him. That they end up talking about me and my contract.”

  “Contract?” she blurted, this was news to her. Andre hadn't said anything about a contract. True, he'd said she was obviously after money, but he'd never really gone into detail.

  “Da. Yes, contract.” Peter turned away from her, his back now to her as he went on, perhaps as though talking about money made him nervous. Did he think Harmony was only interested in his money? “I have, how you say, extended deal with the Slashers. Eight years for six million each. Andre is due to make similar deal, but has not yet. Said he and the girl talked about these things, and maybe that is why she came after me. Is useless though. I will not pay her anything.”

  Stunned by his revelation, Harmony pushed a button that she would quickly regret. “Not even if it meant she'd go away?”

  Peter whirled on her then, his hands coming to either side of the chair arms that she sat in. She could see the raw energy in his eyes, sparks snapping like an exposed electrical current. “I am innocent!” He shouted, his breath hot on her face, she tried to make herself smaller, afraid of him for the first time. Sensing how he was making her feel, he pulled away quickly, rubbing his hands on his jean-clad thighs to prevent them from balling into fists again.

  “Why would I pay someone if I did not do what she would accuse me of?” he asked more softly, though not waiting for an answer. “I have done nothing wrong, net. I will not pay for a mistake I have not made. Having a beer in a bar is not a crime no? Giving autograph to fan is not a crime, no? I will not pay for her to lie, would perhaps only encourage her to do it again.”

  Her mouth still open in shock a
s she leaned as far back into the chair as possible, she flinched when he approached her again, boldly skimming a finger down the side of her cheek. “I am sorry if I have scared you. This has been so hard for me. I need you Harmony, can not you see that?”

  She shook her head, worrying her lower lip with her teeth as she gulped audibly and waited for him to make his next move.

  He did not. He took a step back instead.

  A shiver ran through her as his hands dropped back to his sides and the contact ended. And she could swear one side of his mouth quirked upward for the barest hint of a second, though as her eyes focused on him, she couldn't find any trace of amusement on his clearly pained face.

  Sighing again as he watched her guarded expression, Peter said. “I will go.”

  Before she could say anything though, Peter moved around her and walked out the door. Harmony took a deep breath, willing herself to move, but by the time she managed to get out of the chair and open the door, he was straddling the powerful motorcycle, the engine roaring to life as he backed it slowly out of the driveway.

  Harmony called out to him, but as he was looking over his shoulder the whole time, he didn't see her, and couldn't hear her over the noise of the bike. She wanted to run to him, but her feet wouldn't move.

  Had she blown her chance with Peter?

  He shouldn't have gone there. Peter knew that now.

  But he wasn't mistaken, she cared for him, at least there was that. For whatever reason, Harmony was having trouble admitting that she both cared for and believed in Peter. He figured it had to do with her ex-boyfriend, though why she couldn't see the stark differences between them he wasn't sure.

  Peter had been honest from the start. While he hadn't told her what was going on, he had said he was innocent, and that she just needed to trust him. Trust the system. The law, though taking their time, was working through things, and in another week or two the results from the DNA test would be back, and his name would be cleared.

  The press, though they still hounded him for an interview, had stopped crucifying him in the news. It seemed as if the whole world was holding their breaths, waiting for those damned test results. Hell, Peter could almost live with the fact that his life was never going to be the same. He knew he'd get booed by fans of other teams, the Slashers were the Stanley Cup winners, and because other fans hated them for that, they would latch onto this and run with it.

  Peter might even be pelted with garbage, though that merely served to make the fans themselves look bad, and he could handle that too, but he couldn't live with the fact that Harmony didn't trust him. He needed her, couldn't she see that? Yes, he thought so. She'd been unusually quiet in his presence, but he heard loud and clear the things she hadn't said.

  The way she'd looked at him, as though he were a tall glass of water and she as thirsty as if she had just come from a walk in the desert. Or how she had trembled when he'd touched her. Her eyes pleading with him. Harmony was not immune to him, if even only in the physical sense, he had an effect on her. He'd take that for now, because though he'd only been with a few women, he was more than confident in his ability to pleasure a woman, and with enough physical loving, perhaps Harmony would allow her heart to feel as well.

  He hadn't pushed her then though. He would need to know that she believed in his innocence first. He sincerely hoped she wouldn't need the physical proof though first. He would, of course, give it to her if that was the only way, be he knew it would hurt. If she couldn't take him at his word, it would probably crush him.

  Harmony spent the rest of her day cursing herself and her stubborn pride. She believed Peter, at least, she thought she did. She was just so caught up in the past, and perhaps in the betrayal she felt when he refused to trust her, to tell her right away what had happened, that she couldn't seem to bring herself to accept the fact that Peter had done nothing wrong.

  Unable to stand even her own company any longer, Harmony turned in early.

  The next morning, Harmony let Lupus out the front door to grab the paper, she was surprised however when she heard a low throaty growl emanating from him as he stood at the edge of the driveway and proceeded to bark.

  Calling to him, she saw a black sedan parked on the other side of the road, a tall thin man running in the direction of it. Lupus gave one more loud protest, then snatching the paper off the ground he trotted back inside depositing it at her feet. She had no idea who the man was, or why he was running in the opposite direction of her home, but she was glad just now for Lupus and his protective instincts.

  She didn't give it another thought though once she closed the door and took the paper into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. After adding a fair amount of cream and sugar to her mug, Harmony sat down in her favorite chair in the living room, turned on the news and opened the paper. Her mouth dropping nearly to the floor as she read the latest about Peter and the assault case.

  If she really had any doubt about his innocence, surely there was none of that now. But how had the reporter gotten this information? Surely Peter couldn't have known these things? Could he? No. And even if he had, Harmony was certain he wouldn't interfere in such a way. She had no doubt the Slashers organization would frown upon hashing things out in the media. They were a high-class group as it was, and would likely find the negative publicity damaging to their reputation.

  Of course, all the writer had said was a source close to the hockey star, and a source involved with the accuser. Accuser, that's what they were calling her at this point, she wasn't even the victim anymore. At this rate, the next article published would be one where the writer would try to convince readers that Peter was the true victim here, and it certainly looked that way.

  Harmony was confused, she hadn't wanted to believe Peter capable of such a thing to begin with, and the “facts” hadn't really added up as they should have, there were too many holes, and yet, reading this, the truth blindly staring her in the face, she still wasn't one hundred percent satisfied. Not that she had any doubts about Peter's innocence now, but the hurt was still there, the pain in the knowledge that he felt he couldn't confide in her.

  That she had to hear of it from the morning news was a betrayal of her trust. She didn't give a damn that it had still been an investigation at that point, she wasn't a member of the press after all. Had Peter thought she was going to expose him? Had he honestly felt she wouldn't have believed him? But she hadn't had she? No, not at first. So maybe Peter had every right to keep it from her. Gosh, this was too much.

  Grabbing Lupus' leash, she clipped it on to him and headed out the door, she needed some air.

  Chapter 16

  Andre's Revenge

  Amanda couldn't believe it. That leech had turned on her! How dare he! Hadn't she promised him a huge payday? But no, the sniveling little bastard couldn't hold his liquor, had blabbed in his drunken stupor to the first person willing to listen. The press! How fucking dare he! She needed to do some damage control, and fast. But she didn't know how.

  Her lawyer was still drawing up the necessary documents, preparing for a courtroom battle, Peter was to be served in the next day or so, but perhaps she should widen her net a little. Maybe it was time she squeezed another set of rich balls in her vice like grip. She wouldn't doubt that Andre had had a hand in this. Peter certainly hadn't. She'd been right about him; he wasn't the kind of guy that was going to go head to head with her. He was too private, too subdued.

  She didn't doubt that once she served him with the papers that he would call his lawyer and set up a meeting with her, get this over with and pay her whatever she wanted to just go away. And she would. Amanda would gladly rescind the whole thing if only he would pay her. Of course, she was hoping that would happen before the DNA results came back. She knew she didn't have a case, but she was counting on the bluff to work.

  Looking at the article again, she sneered, and ripped the paper in half. That rotten bastard. He had better hope he hadn't ruin things by running his stupid mouth.r />
  “Hey Allen,” Darla said, sliding back into the passenger seat and handing him a coffee, spreading a newspaper paper out in her lap. “What do you make of this?” she asked.

  Allen took a sip from the Styrofoam cup she gave him, wiping the residue from his lip and putting it in a holder before taking the paper and looking it over for himself. “Harrumph,” he grumbled under his breath. “Looks like piss poor reporting to me.”

  Darla laughed for once. Ever since the case had been set on the back burner, pending DNA results, their partnership had progressed to something more comfortable. “I agree with you there, but that's not what I meant. Do you buy any of it? Or is it just the hockey player trying to tarnish her credibility, ruin her chances of filing suit against him?”

  “Are you really asking me for my opinion?”

  She shrugged, “you were right. I should have listened to you, but I was so hell bent on him being guilty.”

  “I'm surprised you even bothered to admit that.” Allen said, placing his hand over his heart, “And I'm touched that my opinion matters.”

  Darla smacked him playfully. She'd come to like the soggy old detective. She would be sorry when his partner came back from maternity leave and she was assigned to someone else. “So, what do you think?” she asked again after a slight silence fell between them and Allen continued to study the article.

  The article in question was of the tabloid variety for sure, having been picked up as “associated press” but there was likely some truth to it if she were honest with herself. After talking to the hockey player’s teammate, Darla knew the girl's story was a lie. There were pictures to prove that she had met him, but Darla would almost bet that he had never laid a hand on her otherwise.