Rumors & Roughing: A Slapshot Novel (Slapshot Series Book 5) Read online

  “I’m sure the airport bar has video tapes,” Alec pointed out. “Go ask the bartenders there. I wasn’t at the bar. I don’t even know what bar you think we went to.”

  “Obviously the Gulls Get Up and Go Bar,” Officer Kim said. “It’s your themed restaurant Ken Brown opened a few years back precisely in the airport. You guys just advanced to the next round in the playoffs, something you’ve never been able to pull off before. I don’t know about you, but I’m young, I’m single, I want to celebrate with the ladies.”

  “Yeah, well I’m not like that anymore,” Alec growled. His patience for the questions was starting to shake. Madison let out a slow breath through her nose, praying that God keep him patience, regardless of how difficult it was for him.

  “Why?” Brauer asked. “See, that’s my question. Why did Alec Schumacher, player and ladies’ man extraordinaire, suddenly give up the single lifestyle? It’s a question I’ve been wondering at for the past two years. What happened two years ago that caused you to finally grow up?”

  “Not that it’s any of your goddamn business, but Ken Brown was murdered two years ago,” Alec said through gritted teeth. Madison could feel the tension radiating off of him. “If something like that doesn’t force you to reprioritize your life, I don’t know what will.”

  There was a heavy silence. Madison bit back a grin. Alec was totally right. What could they say to that? Alec had always been close to Ken Brown. His death would have hit him harder than some of the other players.

  His death inspired a lot of change throughout the team, in fact. Matt Peters broke up with Katella Hanson, who then demanded to be traded to another team. Kyle Underwood settled down with Emma Winsor, who might or might not be pregnant. Nothing was confirmed and it was too early for her to show but Madison had a feeling something was up, especially since she was always running to the bathroom. Whether that was to pee or to throw up, Madison couldn’t be sure. She just remembered when her mother was pregnant with Rhine, she acted the same way.

  Seraphina Hanson stepped up and took responsibility for a team she didn’t know how to manage in order to ensure her grandfather’s legacy did not fall into her uncles’ hands or get sold to some stranger. And Alec found a serious side to life. Madison didn’t know if Brown’s death was the catalyst to sober up his less serious lifestyle or if she was exactly what he needed. To be honest, it was probably both. But even she had to admit that he had grown up as a result of that.

  “Listen,” Alec said, trying to maintain his patience once more. “What is this about? I just got home from Sacramento. We literally played our game a few hours ago. I’m tired. I want to take a bath. What more can I do for you?”

  “You hear this?” Brauer asked. Madison could imagine the officer looking at his partner with a look of incredulity. “This rapist wants us to sympathize with him. Can you believe it?” A pause. “Look, Schumacher. Just because you play for an NHL team doesn’t mean that gives you the right to rape women just because you fucking feel like it.”

  Alec’s eyes narrowed. “I never said it did,” he said through gritted teeth. “I would never do something like this. In fact, it sounds almost like defamation that you would even say something like that about me.” He looked between both officers. Madison watched him closely, still quiet, still holding her breath as best as she could. “Are you here to arrest me?”

  “We’re here to request your presence at the station,” Kim told him, his voice careful.

  Alec caught on to the specific use of language. “Does that mean I’m under arrest?” he asked.

  “Technically, no,” Brauer said. “But I’m sure by the time we’re through with you, we’ll have to book you.”

  “How is that even possible?” he asked. His voice was rising and Madison could tell his agitation was starting to win out over his patience. Not that he had ever been a patient guy before. He was one of the few skilled players quick to drop his gloves when he was called to do so and he didn’t tolerate the small things some players did in order to agitate the Gulls. He especially hated picks, which was subtle interference. Basically, an opposing player would purposefully get in the lane of a Gull in order to prevent a pass from occurring. They occurred all the time and were rarely ever called by the officials. “There’s no evidence. What, did you find physical evidence linking me to her?” The look on his face suggested he didn’t buy it.

  “We can’t discuss that,” Kim said.

  Alec nodded. “That’s what I figured,” he said. “You guys have nothing. You don’t have any physical evidence linking me to… who am I supposed to have raped?”

  “We will not disclose that information,” Brauer said. “You should know.”

  “Unless I’m being falsely accused,” Alec retorted. “Are you telling me that in all of Newport Beach, you’ve never had any false allegations of rape?” He crossed his arms over his chest, arching a sardonic brow. Madison hated that brow when it was directed at her. It made her feel like an idiot, even though she knew that wasn’t, exactly, his intention. However, she knew that he wanted to make the two officers accusing him of this atrocious act to feel stupid because Alec made a good point. False rape allegations happened a lot; why were they adamant that Alec was guilty? “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Why are you so sure that this woman is telling you the truth?”

  “Let me ask you a question, Mr. Schumacher,” Officer Brauer said, and Madison could picture the man crossing his arms over his chest and looking at Alec with skeptical eyes. “Do you have a mole on your left hip bone?”

  Alec tensed at the question and Madison clenched her jaw. He did have a mole there, but what did that matter?

  “What about a scar on the back of your calf from an old tattoo you had removed?” Officer Kim asked.

  “Those are things you can look up on the Internet,” Alec said with a roll of his eyes, though the confident tone of his voice had diminished slightly. “That doesn’t prove I raped her.”

  “Mr. Schumacher,” Officer Kim said, clearly ignoring Alec’s point. “We’re requesting your presence down at the station so we can ask you a few questions and hopefully sort this all out.”

  “What’s there to sort out?” Alec asked, his voice bitter. Madison had never heard him sound this way before. “You both think I’m guilty. You’re going to bring me down under the pretense of asking me questions, but once I’m there, you’ll probably arrest me.” Madison watched as he glanced between them. “Am I right?”

  “Sir,” Officer Kim said, more forceful than he typically spoke. “I’m going to ask you again: please come down to the station with us for some questions. You aren’t under arrest. There are just a couple of details we need to clarify. Having said that, should you refuse, we will not leave until we clarify these things.”

  “I don’t have to invite you in,” Alec said.

  “You don’t,” Brauer agreed, “but see over there, where our cars are parked? We don’t have to leave. And I’m sure the neighbors will start to wonder why the hell two police vehicles have been sitting in front of your house for so long.” A pause. “Your choice.”

  Alec clenched his jaw. In that moment, Madison knew what he was going to do. She wanted to reach out and stop him. But she couldn’t. Without even looking at her, Alec nodded his head, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door.

  Chapter 3

  Madison heard the door click shut and she pressed her back flat against it, staring at the ceiling. She had no idea what she should do. Her heart was hammering in her chest causing her breathing to shorten.

  Rape? Someone was accusing Alec Schumacher of rape?

  She was his alibi. She had been with him the whole time. Why would he lie about that? And then, on top of everything else, he denied her existence. She didn’t take it personally, but she could actually help him. Why was he pushing her away?

  What did he have up his sleeve?

  Madison knew without a doubt Alec Schumacher would never rape anyone. She wasn’t doubting hi
m. However, whoever this was that was accusing Alec of such a terrible thing must know him somewhat. They had to know that he used to have a reputation where he bedded girls frequently – a reputation that all but disappeared once Madison and Alec officially – though secretly – started dating. A reputation Madison did not like to think about because she would start questioning why he gave up everything for her and blah, blah, blah.

  Who would do this to Alec?

  Maybe the who wasn’t important. It was the why.

  Why would anyone do this to Alec? Were they upset that he wasn’t dating around anymore? Or was this person looking for quick, easy money? There was no way she could definitively prove he raped her. Alec might have had a reputation but Madison knew he wouldn’t cheat on her. So unless someone kept a sample of his sperm for over two years, there was no way they could prove actual intercourse beyond her word.

  The problem some of the time was the fact that a woman’s word was all it took. This wasn’t bad when it came to women who were legitimately raped, those who had nothing more than their word as legs to stand on. But true victims weren’t being taken as seriously anymore due to the fact that others who had something to gain by falsely accusing a man of rape – money, fame, notoriety, ruining his reputation – began to do this in droves so it was difficult to distinguish who was telling the truth and who was lying.

  This particular case was absolutely a lie.

  Madison had been at his home the minute he had returned. She jumped on him, wrapped him up, and couldn’t wait to celebrate that they ended up making love on his leather theatre seats in the living room. They wound up on the floor until they were interrupted by the Newport Beach police.

  She had no idea what to do. She wanted to scream. She wanted to pound her fist against the wall until it broke through. She wanted –

  She wanted to talk to someone about this. The problem was, this was such a sensitive case that she refused to share it unless Alec was okay with it, and even then, she wasn’t too sure about it.

  She could not believe…

  She shook her head.

  She needed to do something, anything to get her mind off what was going on. At first, she thought about taking a bath, but she knew the warm water wouldn’t soothe her. If anything, she would continue to remain tense, continue to think about what she could do in order to help Alec.

  She could watch television.

  Actually, maybe that was a good idea. At least it would tell her if any news outlets picked up the story. If this so-called victim was trying to get money out of Alec, it wouldn’t be surprising if she not only went to the police but to the press as well.

  After double-checking to make sure the door was locked and the curtains were drawn, Madison hurried over to flip on the television, keeping the volume low. She did not know if there were police cars watching his place – which didn’t quite make sense considering he was down at the station. She went through the various news stations, but as of right now, nobody knew anything about Alec. The girl who was accusing Alec was nowhere to be found, causing Madison’s stomach to gnaw with doubt.

  Not that Madison doubted Alec in any way, shape, or form. Rather, Madison thought she knew why Alec was being accused. An NHL hockey superstar making millions a year – three point five million to be exact, over a five-year period – just made the playoffs for the first time. Not only that, his team just advanced to the next round thanks to his game-winning goal. Certainly, if she didn’t want money, she wanted fame. Yet, no news outlets reported any breaking story regarding Alec’s detainment. And if fame and fortune were her motive, certainly she wouldn’t have waited to get the story out to the press.

  Unless, of course, the police specifically told her not to. And she was complying with that request. For now.

  This just didn’t make any sense.

  Maybe she should call Alec’s mom and let her know what was going on.

  She stopped herself even though she had her cell out and was dialing Diane’s number. No. Madison didn’t want to worry Diane with unnecessary phone calls that Alec needed to take care of himself. If he wanted his mom to know, he would tell her himself.

  All Madison could do was wait.

  Alec Schumacher rode in the back of the Ford Escape. He was not handcuffed, nor was he read his rights. Clearly, this meant he wasn’t under arrest. He would be taken down to the station as promised to answer questions he already answered.

  He remained silent for the short drive, his mind processing what had happened. He hadn’t known it was this easy to be detained by the cops, especially when this was the one night he actually headed home after a major win. Sure, he had been invited to party with Solis and some of the single guys. But all he wanted was to be wrapped up in Madison. To feel her legs coil around his waist like she was some goddamn anaconda. The way she threw her head back, causing her long dark hair to ripple.

  God, he loved her hair.

  He loved the color of her eyes when she looked at him. It didn’t matter if they were having sex or if they happened to catch eyes during a game and she was sweeping up the ice from the rink during a commercial break. There were times he wanted to shout about their relationships from the rooftops. He wanted to take her to these charity events because he was lucky she was with him and knew how incredibly gorgeous she would be on his arm and out of the skin-tight outfits she was forced to wear as a member of the Gulls Girls.

  To be honest, he had never cared about the outfits before. In fact, he liked how revealing they were. But now, he didn’t particularly care for how revealing they were, especially considering how much of Madison was revealed in these outfits. He knew it was part of their job to deal with harassment and leering – though whenever things got physical, Katella was quick to handle it, whether it was getting security involved, the police involved, or throwing somebody out – but that didn’t mean Alec liked that his girlfriend was put on display like some kind of Victoria’s Secret model.

  He wanted to keep Madison all to himself, which meant hiding her body away.

  Not that he didn’t support revealing outfits if that was what she chose to wear. He loved the confidence that exuded from her when she slipped on a particular pair of jeans or this one red dress she loved. But that didn’t mean he had to like it when guys feasted their eyes on her, like they had a right to.

  Once they got to the station, they led Alec into an interrogation room where they asked him questions and he gave responses. Based on the fact that he refused to out Madison and risk her place as a Gulls Girl, he had no official alibi. Somehow, that made it okay for them to arrest him.

  Questioning led to officially booking him, which meant he had to be searched, any property he had on his person – a cellphone, a wallet with cash, and his keys – was recorded and booked, he had to answer a slew of medical questions, and he had the opportunity to make three phone calls.

  He was tempted to call Madison but managed to refrain. He didn’t want these assholes to know about her. No doubt they would bring her down and attempt to question her for hours, ask her conflicting questions so her story wouldn’t add up, and painting her to be an untrustworthy witness. On top of that, it wouldn’t be long before Katella Hanson found out one of her girls was involved with a Gulls player – a strict no-no that called for immediate termination from the Gulls Girls. And he couldn’t do that. She needed this job and he wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it for her.

  Hell, if she actually waited for him and still wanted to be with him after this, then he would fall to his knees and thank the good Lord. Even though he knew he hadn’t raped anyone, that didn’t necessarily mean others would be so willing to forgive him. It didn’t help that he had a reputation with women.

  He shook his head and glanced up at the cement cell he was in. Instead of bars, there were sliding doors that prevented him from seeing out, though he knew there were cameras on him.

  These must be sobering cells or holding cells if an arrestee was going to be taken t
o Orange County Jail.

  Alec had been booked after confirmation of his mole and his scar, which meant he was right, they were always going to arrest him, they just needed proof that whoever this girl was, she was making some kind of accurate statement. He was fingerprinted and then led to a holding cell where his paperwork had to be processed before they could take him to Orange County Jail, located in Santa Ana, where he would have to spend the night. Then, he would go to court in the morning and get to enter his plea and bail out.

  Alec sighed.

  This was going to be a long night.

  His thoughts drifted back to Madison. He wondered if she was sleeping. He wondered if she could. He hoped she wasn’t tossing and turning. He knew finals were coming up and she had an important paper she was working on in her free time. This would just throw a wrench into everything. Including her focus on school.

  She was going to graduate with honors as well.

  He clenched his jaw. Why was this happening? Was it karma? What had he done to deserve this?

  Would she still be waiting for him?

  Was it wrong to hope that she would be?

  He closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. This was going to be the longest twenty-four hours of his life.

  Chapter 4

  When her phone rang the next morning, Madison immediately answered it, not even bothering to check the caller id. She just figured it was Alec, and he needed a ride from the Newport Beach Police Department. She hadn’t gotten a call from him telling her they were booking him; maybe they were still questioning him. Maybe they decided they didn’t have enough evidence to book him in the first place. Maybe he had chosen not to call her because if he had, it would give their relationship away.

  As much as Madison hated to admit it, it was probably the latter. Which meant she had no choice but to continue to wait for him.

  “Hello?”

  “Madison, it’s your father,” the gruff voice on the other end said, not bothering for a proper greeting. Her father had always been strict to the point where his daughters – Madison included – saw it fit to rebel in some way. For Madison, it was moving across the country to get away from him. For Rhine, it was dating someone he wouldn’t approve of. An awesome guy who treated her well, excelled in school and sports, and was an all-around nice guy.