Table of Contents
Cage's Misconduct
Copyright
Also by Nikki Worrell
Dedication
Glossary of Hockey Terms
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Acknowledgments
Cage’s Misconduct
By
Nikki Worrell
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Nikki Worrell
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Cover design by David Goldhahn
(www.davidgoldhahn.com)
Editing by Jonathan “J.K.” Miller II
(www.jkedits4u.com)
Also by Nikki Worrell
Captain, My Captain (Novella - Prequel to NHL Scorpions Series) – April 2014
The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions Book 1) – May 2013
Goalie Interference (NHL Scorpions Book 2) – November 2013
Stories for Amanda (Novella) – October 2013
What Mother Doesn’t Know (Novella) – April 2014
Dedication
To my faithful hockey hottie lovers. Thank you for reading and still wanting more!
Glossary of Hockey Terms
Five hole: The area right between the goalie’s legs.
Backchecking: Checking in the defensive zone when the opposing team is attacking.
Boarding: Checking a defenseless player against the boards, usually causing their face/head to hit the boards first.
Checking: Using the hip or body to knock an opponent against the boards or to the ice.
Deke: When a player handles the puck in a way that makes the opponent move out of position, allowing that player to get past.
Faceoff: The method used to begin play. One player from each team fights for the puck as the official drops it to the ice between them.
Forechecking: Checking in the offensive zone in order to get the puck.
Game Misconduct: Penalty which results in being ejected from the game.
Gordie Howe Hat Trick: Getting a goal, an assist and having a fight all in one game.
Hat Trick: Three goals in one game. Fans traditionally throw their hats on the ice.
Major Penalty: Five minute penalty.
Minor Penalty: Two minute penalty.
Misconduct Penalty: Ten minute penalty that does not leave the team short-handed.
Offsides: When a player crosses the blue line in the offensive zone before the puck.
Penalty Kill (PK): The period from which a team becomes short-handed due to one or more penalties until they are at full or even strength with the opposing team.
Poke Check: Poking the puck away with the stick.
Power Play (PP): Results in the one team losing a player for two minutes or more, giving the other team an advantage to score.
Slew Foot: Sweeping or kicking out a player’s skate causing them to fall backwards. Usually results in a match penalty (removed from the game and assessed a five minute penalty for statistical purposes).
Trapezoid (Trap): Area behind the goalie’s net (behind goal line) where the goalie can play the puck. This is the only area behind the goal line that the goalie can play the puck without receiving a penalty.
War Room: Office in Toronto where video is sent to review a questionable goal.
Chapter 1
Cage Booker
So, there I was. Cage Booker—Dalton ‘Cage’ Booker to be exact—standing in the home of Vlad and Zoe Bejsiuk, taking in the sights while the happy couple celebrated their marriage with a casual gathering. I, however, being more interested in the party guests than the bride and groom, was on the prowl for my conquest of the evening. I’d already dismissed a bunch of the girls looking my way. I was kind of tired of redheads, but that seemed to be the popular color these days. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I didn’t like them—I’d had a bunch of redheads over the past six months or so—I just felt like it was time to change things up.
I was just about to stroll up to a leggy brunette standing by the French doors leading out to the deck when I caught a flicker of blue out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to get a better look, hardly noticing the small group of my teammates walking my way, talking amongst themselves. My gaze was riveted to that ice blue dress, and the beautiful creature who inhabited it.
Keith Lambert, the captain of our hockey team, the San Diego Scorpions, snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Yo. What’s got you looking like a deer in headlights? Hello? Booker?” Keith followed my line of vision, but there were too many people milling about for him to pick out exactly what had so captured my attention—and then the crowd thinned.
Keith whistled in alarm. “Oh no. Booker, not her. Listen to me, man. Do you hear me? Not her. Pick anyone else in the room, but leave her alone.”
A look of disbelief on my face, I spared Keith a quick glance, and then put my eyes right back on the buxom blonde. “Are you crazy? Look at the tits on her. And Christ! That ass is more than a handful. You know how I love a lush woman with curves. Yeah, I’ll be taking a bite out of that tonight.”
Keith looked around, swearing. “Cage, I’m telling you, man, quiet down. Shut your mouth and look away. Aw, shit.”
“Too late,” boomed a voice I belatedly recognized. Jody ‘Chief’ LaGrange, former enforcer for the Scorpions, had little patience for me. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t stand me, and at six-foot three, two-hundred thirty pounds, Jody was not someone to mess with.
Before I even had a chance to turn on my own, Jody whipped me around and planted his fist in my face so hard, the bone cracking sounded like a clap of thunder. It was attention grabbing to say the least.
Forced to the floor from the strength of the unexpected blow, I sat on my ass with blood pouring from my freshly broken nose. I was stunned that Jody had just decked me for absolutely no reason—and at his best friend’s wedding reception, no less!
“What the fuck, old man?”
Jody was signaling for me to get up. “Come on; get up so I can knock you down again.”
“You broke my fucking nose, you dickhead. What’s your problem?” I didn’t particularly want to get hit again, so I stayed down. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn’t completely stupid.
“Those nice tits and ass belong to my baby sister, douche bag. You stay the hell away from her.”
“Jesus, is that all? I talk about all the chicks like that. Christ, it’s nothing personal.”
Keith looked at me in utter wonder. In hindsight, I’m sure he was wondering how I could be that dense. As captain of the team, he tried to keep the peace, but damn, I admit that I made it hard for him sometimes. “Cage, man. You’re making it worse. Just sit there quietly and bleed, will you?”
Vlad sauntered over to our little gathering and clasped Jody’s shoulder. “Hey, Chief. You, ah, think you could do this some other time? My new wife isn’t real happy about the display of muscles on her wedding day.”
“Ah hell, Vlad. I’m sorry. You know this asshole gets under my skin. I caught him talking about Karen’s, ah, attributes.”
Vlad and Jody were both former NHLers, Vlad as goalie, Jody as an enforcer. Now they worked together coaching a youth team for the Scorpions’ franchise. They also shared a lack of tolerance for me. I was Vlad’s backup when he was with the team, and yeah, sometimes I had a chip on my shoulder not being number one in the rotation.
We were drawing a crowd as people heard the commotion. The bride, looking incredibly fuckable herself in a very non-traditional red dress, poked her head through the circle of players. “Would someone like to tell me why Cage is bleeding in my kitchen?”
Vlad pulled Zoe aside and told her what had happened. He hadn’t wanted to have their celebration at the house in the first place. “I knew we should have had the reception somewhere else.”
Zoe stared at Jody in horror. “Seriously, Jody? You couldn’t have at least taken him outside? In his defense, Karen’s a beauty and it’s Cage. You know how he pants after the curvy ones.”
I still hadn’t gotten up, not sure that Jody wouldn’t punch me again. “Look. I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t mean any disrespect, but my God, look at her.”
“Cage!”
“Jesus!”
“Shut up, man!”
There was no shortage of incredulous exclamations from my teammates standing around us at my inability to keep my trap shut. Anyone who’d ever known Jody knew he had a, shall we say, a protective nature. He tended to go a little overboard if you asked me; however, it was part of what had made him a great enforcer.
“I’m going to kill him. Out of my way, Vlad.”
Karen took that very opportune moment to step in front of her brother so he couldn’t get to me. “What on Earth are you doing, Jody? Is that Dalton Booker?”
“Yeah. He was lecherously admiring you, and I’m convincing him to look elsewhere. Right, Booker?”
“Huh?” All I heard were background voices as I was busy openly staring at Karen, my tongue all but hanging out of my finally unmoving lips.
“You hit him? Jesus, Jody. I’m so over this big brother thing.” She looked down at me and offered me her hand. “I’m really sorry. He’s a little over protective. Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Jody pulled her hand back. “No you won’t. He’s fine, see?” He leaned over, and quick as could be, placed his thumbs on either side of my nose, re-aligning it with an audible crunch.
“Fuck!” My hands flew up to my face to cover my formerly broken nose.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” Karen pushed Jody toward his wife. “Lacey, please do something with him.” She put her hand out to me again, and I took it. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry. Come on, I’ll drive you home.”
Jody was about to make another physical protest, but Lacey gripped his arm. “Leave it, Jody.”
“Fine, but if he lays one hand on her, he’s mine.”
***
Karen LaGrange
At twenty-eight years old, I’d only been out of college for a few years. I loved my job working with special education children, but the school I worked in was being redistricted, and since I was one of the last employees hired, I was one of the first to be let go. I wasn’t even able to stay until the end of the school year. My time was up in mere weeks, and it was only March. That was actually why I was here. Jody knew I was upset when I got the news and insisted on flying me out to California for a long weekend. So I took my last two vacation days, packed a dress for the wedding, and jumped on a plane. And I’d been having a wonderful visit, until now.
“Oh, Dalton. Look at you. I’m sorry. I can’t believe Jody hit you like that. I don’t know what else to say. You can bet I’m going to have a long talk with my dear brother over this. I’m really sorry.”
Cage grinned at me and winced as the action caused a stab of pain to slice through his face. “Yeah. You said that a couple of times. It’s okay. Trust me; it’s not the first time I’ve been hit. I can take it.”
“Oh, crap. I didn’t get Jody’s keys. I’ll be right back.” We were standing in front of Jody’s car when I realized I was empty handed. I turned to run back into the house when Cage’s outstretched arm stopped me.
“Here. Drive my car.” He handed me the keys to his BMW.
I took them, but then asked, “How will I get home if we take your car?”
He moved in closer, until he was only inches from my ear. Fanning his breath across my neck, he whispered, “You won’t.”
Now I’d heard the stories about the womanizing Cage Booker. I’d heard how women flocked to him, and threw themselves at him. And now I knew why. Those two suggestive words whispered in my ear gave me shivers, and I wasn’t even a puck bunny.
“Pretty confident there, aren’t you, Dalton?” Yay me! My voice sounded perfectly normal.
“Always. Shall we go?”
Well, at least he was honest, right? “I’ll take you home, but I won’t be staying. Got it?”
“Whatever you say, beautiful.”
Chapter 2
Cage
An entire month had passed since that fateful night when I first laid eyes on Karen. To my surprise and annoyance, I couldn’t seem to go a full day without thinking about her. And the bigger surprise was that I hadn’t slept with anyone in that entire thirty days. Thirty!
“What’s up with you?” My little brother Jaden was on the phone with me, and I guess I wasn’t talking enough for him.
“What do you mean?” I was currently mesmerized by the white caps breaking over and over in the ocean. I couldn’t say it was the first time that happened either. From my vantage point on the deck of my beach cottage, I could hear the gentle slap of each wave as it hit the shore. If I let it, that sound could lull me to sleep.
“You’re never this quiet. Tell me about all the new hotties you’ve been doing.”
Without fail, one of the first things Jaden asked me about when I called home was all the women he saw me pictured with on the Internet. Being the poster child for party boys everywhere, I consistently provide fodder for the paparazzi. And they capitalized on it—a lot.
“I really haven’t been dating that much, Sport.”
Jaden’s snort of disbelief was loud in my ear. “Yeah, right. Come on, give me some deets. I’m at a critical age. I need to get better at this stuff.”
Whoa. That got my attention. Jaden was only sixteen! Get better? “What do you mean get better? At what stuff, exactly?”
“Oh, come on, Dalton. You were younger than me the first time you did it.”
I did not know what to say to that. Yeah, I was an asshole when I was younger. It was different for me. I wasn’t sure why it was different, it just was. So I went with an intelligent standby response. “Huh?”
Jaden cracked up on the other end of the line. “I’m just fucking with you. I’m still a virgin. But I really want to change that. So, when I come out there this summer, can you get me a hooker or something?”
I spit out my beer at the thought. Alcohol abuse at its best. “Hell no, I’m not getting you a hooker! What is wrong with you?” I wiped my chin as he continued to snicker.
“Nothing. Give me a break. I had to try. Just yanking your chain. When are you coming home to visit? Are we going to see you on Friday when you play the Stars?” And that quickly he was on to another subject. The mind of a teenager was a mysterious thing. Crisis temporarily averted.
“You bet. Tell Mom I’ll be spending the night, okay? We have a day off after the game, so I don’t have to be back here until Sunday.” I was one of the few Americans on the team, having grown up in Dallas, Texas. My mother and brother still lived there, but God only knew where our father was.
He’d been gone since I was eleven, taking off just before Jaden was born. Fuck him. Mom was always great at being both mother and father.
“Will do. Well, I guess I should go finish my homework. See you in a few days.”
“Okay. Love you, Jaden.” Jaden was one of only two people I truly cared about. And yeah, maybe I didn’t open my heart up to many people, but my little brother and my ma owned big pieces of it.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Uh, uh. Say it.” I knew Jaden loved me, but I needed to hear it. Every time.
“Love you too, Dalton.” There were only a handful of people who called me Dalton instead of Cage. Actually, it was pretty much just Jaden and Ma. Well, Karen LaGrange now, too. She’d called me Dalton, and I have to say, I liked the sound of my given name tumbling from her lips.
Great. Now I was back to thinking about her again. Ah, it was going to be a long, lonely night.
Chapter 3
The arena in Dallas was loud with chants of “Let’s go Dallas.” We were on fire. I watched from my crease as our captain took off on a breakaway. He skated the puck straight down the ice toward Dallas’ defenders. I thought there was no way he was going to get past Wyeth. Oh, how wrong I was. He executed a beautiful deke and narrowly slipped by both d-men. Now it was just him and the net minder. Keith dropped his shoulder, he shot…he scored! What a beauty! We were now up by four goals.
We went on to win the game with a score of five to nothing. It was my second consecutive shutout, and I was flying high.
“Fuck yeah, boys! Two shutouts. Two!” Already halfway down the tunnel to the locker room, I turned back toward the ice, giving the general area a one finger wave. “Suck it, Stars!”
“Humble as always, Booker.” Lambert high-fived me as Matt Johnson, one of our defensemen, whacked my pad with his stick.
Cage's Misconduct (NHL Scorpions #3) Page 1
