**Penalty Box is the prequel to the Straight No Chaser series**

I'm the bad boy who will stain his soul to keep her safe.
She's a runner.
Always has been...at least, she's always run from me.
Our history repeats relentlessly.
Longing.
Secret trysts.
Pounding hearts.
Fiery stolen kisses.
Her retreating back.
Now she's home, hunted by someone sinister.
The lesser of two evils, I'm the unlikely lifeline she reaches for.
Becoming her salvation means plunging my hard-won, respectable life into ruin.
But I've never had the strength to turn away from her hold on me.
I've always been hers.
She's always been mine.
Savannah Bryant has run away from me—from us—for the last time.

**trigger warning: recounted memories of child abuse