Thin Ice Page 6

  After a few seconds had elapsed, Amanda grabbed her friend and yanked Cassie along with her in the direction that Peter had just taken.

  “What's with you?” Cassie demanded, tugging free of her grasp and looking a mite pissed off.

  “Shh...shh!” Amanda whispered, looking left and right to make sure no one was around. “I'll tell you in a minute. Just let me make sure he's gone.”

  “Make sure who's gone?” Cassie squeaked to no avail as her friend walked further down the side street, leaving Cassie to lean against the back of the bar.

  Amanda came back a few minutes later, a Cheshire cat like grin on her face, “he's gone.”

  “Who's gone?”

  “Peter.”

  “Okay, so what? What's this all about Amanda?”

  “It's about getting rich of course,” Amanda smirked, as she turned to face her friend and began ripping the top and bottom of her blouse.

  Cassie gasped. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Amanda wasn't listening, after seeing that the tears in her shirt looked just right, she crouched down and began rubbing dirt from the ground on her face, arms, and clothes, then reaching into her purse, and scrounging around for several seconds she came up with a broken pencil and lifted her skirt, where she made a two-inch gash down the inside of her right thigh.

  “Amanda!” Cassie nearly shouted, “What the fuck?”

  “Shh!” Amanda hissed. “Shut your mouth, will you? Just listen. Andre told me that Peter just signed some big contract, and since I can't convince him to sleep with me, I figured I might still try and get something out the bargain.”

  Cassie was stunned. “Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” She asked, hands on her hips as she stared at her friend in disbelief.

  “No. I'm thinking quite clearly, thank you very much.”

  “And just how do you expect this little scheme to work?”

  Just then, Amanda let out a long, loud wail. Piercing the midnight air with a scream so loud everyone within a two block radius was sure to hear it.

  “Amanda!” Cassie sputtered.

  Amanda just laughed. “Relax. No one's going to come back here, but once the police start questioning people, they'll say they remembered hearing someone scream.”

  “This is never going to work.”

  “Of course it is,” Amanda assured her with a long-suffering sigh. “Look, we're going to go to the hospital, I'll get one of those rape kit thingies done and then we'll call the police.”

  “Oh? And what then Amanda? How are you going to fake DNA? I mean, shouldn't there be DNA if he raped you?”

  “No no no. You're thinking about this all wrong Cassie.”

  “Then explain it to me. Now.” She huffed, the more she heard, the less she liked this whole thing.

  “Okay, so I'm not going to say he raped me, that way, there's no need for the full out rape kit.”

  “Come again?”

  “Must I explain everything?” Amanda asked, continuing as Cassie just stared at her blankly. “Here's the deal, we met Peter out front, got an autograph, took some pictures, and then he invited me back to his place. You decided to leave, but needed to go to the bathroom first. Meanwhile, we start heading back to his place, and once he gets me behind the building, he pushes me against the wall and starts to have his way with me. I freak out, try to shove him off, he rips my top, I fall down, he pins me to the ground, and starts pulling up my skirt, scratches my thigh, I scream, you hear it, and somehow just know it's me, so you run back here, and scared of being caught, he takes off. Got it?”

  Cassie stared at her open mouthed. She had no idea what to say at this point. “This is never going to work.” she finally managed.

  “Of course it will.”

  “Alright, for one crazy second,” Cassie began, waving her hands around for effect. “Let's say the police buy this story, with me backing you up. I am NOT and I repeat, NOT going to go into a courtroom and lie for you Mandy.”

  “You won't have to.” Amanda sneered, getting pissed off that her friend was being such a pansy. “It's never going to get that far. Look Cassie, guys like Peter, in his position, they'll just want this whole thing to go away, he'll pay me off, and that'll be the end of it. No way will he want to play this out in front of the media. No way!”

  “Yeah, okay Mandy, because this whole thing worked out so well for all the other women that accused athletes of crimes just like this.”

  Amanda huffed, throwing her hands up in defeat. “Just trust me okay?” she said, a pleading look in her eyes. “Look, we need to go. Too much longer and this'll look staged.”

  “Because it is staged.”

  “But they don't know that!” Amanda exploded, grabbing Cassie by the arm and leading her back around the building.

  Once they neared the front, Amanda threw Cassie's arm around her shoulder and made it look like her friend was helping her as she limped towards a cab parked at the edge of the sidewalk. People stared as they passed, but no one seemed bothered by her appearance.

  Bunch of assholes! She thought to herself, what if I had really been hurt?

  Cassie helped her into the cab, and told the driver, who didn't seem the least bit concerned himself, to take them to Memorial Hospital. God, how did she let Amanda get her into this mess? This was going to blow up in their faces, she just knew it!

  Peter made it home within ten minutes of leaving the bar, fifteen if one counted the brief interlude with his fans. As he unlocked the door, two mutinous beasts immediately overtook him, barking and jumping at him like a couple of lunatics.

  Peter walked to the back door, letting the crazy animals go out and do their business, then headed to the refrigerator and grabbed himself a beer. His mouth working over the neck of the bottle in sure, slow gulps. The cool liquid slid down his throat easing his parched mouth. He didn't know why he felt this way, or why beer seemed to be just about the only thing that made even the slightest bit of difference in his mood. He probably should have just stayed at the bar, at least then he wasn't drinking alone.

  But no, he'd done his duty, his wingman duty.

  Peter had pretended not to understand an attractive young lady that was so blatantly hitting on him, and allowing Andre to act as though he were able to translate for him. They had played that routine more than once, and it worked quite frequently. Especially tonight, the woman had been so impressed by Andre that Peter was instantly forgotten, so he'd finished his beer, paid his tab a second time and took off. No need to hang around and be a third wheel.

  It wasn't really even that Andre needed help, he was a good looking guy after all, what with his thick brown hair and his handsomely crooked grin, not to mention his charm. One might not realize it looking at him, he was still pretty young, and certainly looked it, but he could charm the wings off a butterfly. This way was just more fun though, or so Andre had said. Until the day when they eventually got caught!

  Peter chuckled, walking back to the door to let the chowhounds back in. Dasha rushed in first, skittering across the hardwood floors and rounding the corner into the living area before disappearing into Viktor's downstairs master. He had to call for Sadie, who after a couple of seconds finally trotted inside, proud as a peacock with a bone in her mouth, and covered in mud.

  She took one look at Peter and decided to share her find with him, jumping up and covering him in dirt as well.

  “Ugh,” Peter grumbled, pushing Sadie back and shaking some of the loose dirt off onto the floor. “You little wench!” he scolded the dog in Russian, then grabbed her by the collar and hauled her upstairs where the two of them took a quick shower together.

  Peter left Sadie shut up in his room to dry, and made his way back downstairs, pulling a broom and dustpan from the utility closet and sweeping up the rest of the mess that Sadie had made. Just as he closed the door after putting the broom away, the doorbell sounded.

  Looking at the clock in the kitchen, it was nearly 11, Peter wondered who the hell w
ould be coming over at this hour. He opened the door slowly, only to find Harmony standing on the other side of it.

  “Miss Harmony?” He asked surprised, stepping aside so she could come in.

  Harmony smiled, “I uh, I was just in the neighborhood.”

  “Is nice to see you.”

  “Yeah, it is isn't it?” she agreed, looking around the room as she entered.

  “Would you like I show you around?”

  She was about to answer, had hardly gotten the first word out, when Dasha decided to investigate, running across the house like a madwoman and skidding to a stop in front of Harmony, tail wagging crazily, tongue lapping at her hand in a frenzy as Harmony bent down and tried to scratch behind the scruffy little dog’s ears.

  “And who is this adorable little creature?” She laughed. “Another one of yours Peter?”

  Peter shook his head, “Is Dasha, she is Viktor's dog.”

  “Viktor, right, your roommate.” She stood, the little dog still jumping at her feet. “Well, let's take a look around, shall we?”

  Peter spent the next ten minutes showing her around the townhouse, the place wasn't all that big to begin with, something like fifteen hundred square feet, but it was home all the same.

  Harmony liked the look of the place, with its hardwood floors and simple decorations. There weren't many pictures to be seen, a couple of the team, taken last season and then again this year after they had won the cup, but nothing of friends or family. Though she supposed the team was their friends and family.

  The kitchen was open to the dining area, with the standard appliances, in black and butcher block counter tops, with a breakfast bar on one end and a granite island in the middle. The dining room held a small square table, nothing fancy, and the living area pretty much followed suit. The furnishings were neutral colors, over-sized and comfortable looking, there was also a big screen TV. Off the back of the dining room was another door to a utility room complete with washer and dryer, and a sliding glass door off the kitchen that led into the small backyard, and then a door off of the living room that Peter said led to the downstairs master, which Viktor occupied.

  To respect his privacy, they didn't go in. He took her upstairs instead, showing her the loft where they played video games on another big TV even bigger than the one in the living room, as well as a pool table and a small wet bar. Down the hall were two bedrooms and a large bath. One room was empty, he told her that it had been Andre's and they were still debating between turning it into a workout room or an office, and then there was the bathroom. Pretty standard stuff as well, although it did have a door that connected to the room Peter used.

  Sadie bounded down off the bed the instant the door was opened, jumping at both Peter and Harmony as they entered the room and before either one could brace themselves, Harmony fell back against the bed, and Peter nearly on top of her.

  The breath whooshed out of her the instant his body weight pinned her into the mattress, and looking up into his piercing gaze, she could see the embarrassment there, along with something else. Yearning? Her skin tingled as he slowly turned and backed off of her, a sheepish grin across his face. She was almost sorry he had decided to get up.

  “So sorry,” he remarked, turning to Sadie and pointing at her with a frown. But Sadie just sat on her haunches, a little doggy smile on her face as she panted and looked from one to the other.

  Harmony laughed, “it's okay, really.”

  Peter nodded, and held out a hand to help her off the bed. There was no shock this time however when they touched, but a slow heat crept through her body just the same.

  Harmony wondered, not for the first time since getting there, just why she had come. And every time Peter looked at her, despite the iciness of his gaze, that heat spread through her, only intensifying her fears, as irrational as they seemed.

  A few years back, just out of high school, Harmony had fallen for a guy she worked with, Hector. Thinking back on it now, she wondered if she maybe had a thing for foreign men…nah. It was merely a coincidence, besides, Hector was Latino, whereas Peter was Russian, two completely different kinds of foreign.

  Hector was from Cuba, well, his parents were, he was born in the US, New York to be exact, and had moved to the area when his dad took a job at one of the local law firms, being a lawyer and all. Harmony was just barely 18 and completely taken with Hector who was a couple of years older at 21. He took a job on the nightly stock crew and set to work seducing Harmony right away.

  Didn't take long either, she was pretty impressionable at the time, still was really, but there was a layer of suspicion and weariness now, thanks to Hector. He wasn't her first of course, she'd been with a guy in high school, but since it was nothing serious and had only happened a couple of times, Hector may as well have been the first. He was the first guy that stole her heart anyway.

  The relationship hadn't even lasted that long though, so how he could have had such an impact, she wasn't sure. Okay, scratch that, she knew why. It was because of the things he did, the trouble he could have caused her.

  See, Hector wasn't on the up and up, he was into some pretty shady stuff, and his father being a criminal defense attorney only made matters worse. He was a wealthy man, and though new to the area, he was pretty powerful among the legal community, often smoothing things over any time Hector found himself getting into trouble with the police. Which was often.

  But Harmony hadn't realized that at first. He lavished her with attention and gifts, distracting her from asking any incriminating questions. Such as how he had all this money when he only worked part-time at her father's grocery store. And why his friends were like a revolving door, he pretty much never hung out with the same person more than a couple of times, or if he did, it wasn't on a regular basis, more like once a month or less.

  And then it happened.

  She and Hector were out for a drive one night, and had no idea the back tail light was out. At least, not until they had gotten pulled over and the cop told them it was. Hector had been driving, even though it was Harmony's father's car they were in, and when the officer asked to see his license, he found out it was suspended, asking to search the car.

  Hector tried to tell her not to let them, but she figured, why not? Her father was no criminal, there was nothing to hide. Unbeknownst to her though, Hector had thrown a duffle bag into the trunk when she had picked him up, and inside was something very incriminating indeed.

  The bag had been filled with stolen electronics and drugs, lots, and lots of drugs. Some ten thousand dollars’ worth of cocaine and heroin. She was flabbergasted, she couldn't believe he could do such a thing! It had all made sense after that, the money, his behavior, everything. How he had been able to so easily dupe her though, she didn't know, didn't want to think about it.

  Lucky for Harmony though, Hector's last act before prison was a noble one and he told the officer that the bag was his, that she had no knowledge of it whatsoever, which was the truth, but if he hadn't admitted it, she could have gone down right along with him. So she was at least thankful for that. Not that she ever spoke to him again though. No way! And she was much more careful about the men she chose to date afterward. Feelings and gut instincts be damned.

  Until Peter.

  Harmony was having a hard time getting a reading on him. One minute he seemed so damn shy, and the next, he was bold and kissing her like their lives depended on it! She wasn't sure what to believe. Not that she knew him very well to begin with. Well, she knew he was a hockey player, and she knew his background, but she didn't really know him. Guess there was only one way to find out.

  They walked back down the stairs together, Sadie having taken up her spot on the bed again and opting not to follow, and sitting down on the couch in the living room, Peter turned to her.

  “Would you like me to turn on the TV?” He asked, seeming quite nervous himself.

  Harmony shook her head. “I uh, I came to talk to you about last night.”

&
nbsp; “Oh,” he said, looking to the floor. “I am sorry if I hurt you miss Harmony.”

  “Hurt me?” She nearly choked out, “Peter, you didn't hurt me.”

  He looked up, a faint smile touching the corners of his mouth. “But you left so fast. I thought for sure..”

  He had thought he had hurt her! How sweet was he? Harmony smiled at him, placing a hand on the side of his face and stroking his cheek gently with her fingers. “Peter that kiss..” she began, trying to find the right words, and fumbling as his smile grew wider, his eyes deepening in color. “It was amazing Peter.”

  “Then why did you leave?” He asked, his smile dropping as the confusion set in once more.

  “Because it scared me.”

  Harmony dropped her hand back into her lap, as his head cocked to one side. Breathing deeply, she looked down and picked at her fingernails.

  “I dated this guy once,” she said, still refusing to look at him. “He was a bad man Peter, and he hurt me.”

  “He hit you?” Peter asked, his voice soft but laced with steel.

  Her head flew up, she looked him in the eyes and began to shake her head, “no Peter, he didn't hit me.” Peter seemed to relax a little, nodding even, and laid a hand on her knee, as though to comfort her and allow her the courage to continue talking. She smiled to reassure him. “He was into some pretty heavy stuff, and he got into a lot of trouble for it. I was devastated, I trusted him you know?”

  Peter placed a finger under her chin when she would have dropped her head again, “I would never hurt you Harmony. Is promise.”

  And somehow, she knew he meant it. Which scared her even more.

  “Thank you Peter,” she said in a low hushed voice, choked up with emotion. “I just wanted to clear the air, I think I should be going now. It's getting late, but..” Harmony started to say, trailing off as he leaned away from her, his eyes devoid of emotion, pulling at her heart strings.

  So Harmony did something she knew she'd later regret if she thought too much about it. She grabbed Peter by the shoulders, and she crushed her lips against his, taking him by such surprise that he grunted, before finally wrapping her in his arms and leading the kiss in new directions.