Chapter 8

Well, I'm back!!! I'm back with a new wall decoration, I might add.  Shot a trophy moose 4 hours into our week long hunt... totally crazy and totally exciting all at the same time. Northern Ontario was absolutely beautiful. Can I say that I kind of realized how pathetic I am for the simple fact that many of the towns we passed through, I was able to rattle off an NHL player that was from there?!! Ugh. Totally not a puck, but writing these stories sometimes makes me seem like one. Ooops.

Well, we are back at it and hopefully ya'll didn't leave me!! Can't wait to hear from you!!

Rhododendron (here in PA we have the wild version called Mountain Laurel, which is actually our state flower)... this flower says, BEWARE.

“What time is it?” I asked as I attempted to untangle myself from Joff’s arms and sheets that were wrapped around my naked body.

“Time for you to fall asleep in my arms and not worry about the time,” he mumbled sleepily.  I had come over around 6:30pm for dinner and instead we skipped it and went right to the dessert in his bed.  “It’s Friday night and I told Nana that she’d get you back on Sunday evening at the game.”

I folded my arms in front of me and left out a huff.  “But I’m still not sold on spending the whole weekend with you, besides you went behind my back to ask Nana to watch my daughter so that you could take advantage of me all night.”

He rolled over onto his side and leaned down over top of me, placing his lips just centimeters from my neck so that I would shiver as his breath caressed my skin when he spoke, “I don’t think I’ve heard one word of complaining out of your mouth so far tonight.  Besides, I need to have all my ducks in a row when you try and give me excuses on why you don’t want to stay with me.”

“Oh, are you insecure now?” I asked, laughing at him.

“No, just very horny,” he growled, biting into the side of my neck, making me to curse loudly as I clawed at him to stop, but failing miserably when his strong arms wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my sides.  I wriggled underneath him as his mouth moved up to my ear and he began whispering nonsense into it, causing me to get worked up once more for him to take me.

“Let me be on top,” I begged when he went to push my legs apart.  He obliged me by quickly flipping me over, allowing me to slide my pussy down onto his dick.  I placed my hands on his defined hip bones to steady myself as I set a pace, pushing him deep inside of me so that he was balls deep and moaning out my name.  I had quickly come to enjoy the way he was very vocal during sex and I loved the faces he would make when we hit the right spots together.  

Every time I was on the edge of an orgasm he would do something extra to push me over and give me a mind blowing experience.  “I’m supposed to be in charge of this,” I complained when his hands wrapped around my ass and began lifting me up so that he would thrust into me, feeling him bottom out.  After two or three times I retracted my complaint.  “Okaynevermindthisssfeelssamazing,” I breathed out, allowing myself to focus on my next orgasm.  “Fuck!” I yelled when he slammed into me.

A cocky smile played across his face as he left go of my ass cheeks and began rolling my nipples between his fingers effectively bringing me to the top.  I couldn’t help but lean backwards onto his thighs as I quivered on top of him.  A relaxed smile played across my lips as I felt him convulse inside of me and leave out a deep moan that vibrated through me.

  

“Haven’t you learned not to complain when I decide to do something?  When will you trust me?” he growled, pulling me back down towards his chest as I felt his hardness begin to go soft again inside of me.

I laid my head in the crook of his neck as I laid somewhat awkwardly on top of him, but not minding.  “When you prove to me that this is just a dream,” I murmured

“How would I do that?” he asked curiously.

“By telling me that this was all a mistake and that you don’t want anything to do with me and my daughter,” I answered honestly.

I felt him lightly chuckle, “Well then I guess you’re never gonna wake up, because I don’t think I could tell you that, ever.  I’m too in love with your daughter and I’m falling way too hard for you to even think about walking away now,” he said as he looked down at me. “These last three weeks have been amazing with you and Sofia…” he whispered sincerely, causing me to look up and kiss him on the chin.

“I agree,” was all I could say as I fought from keeping my tears back.

He was right, everything had been simply amazing.  I don’t think I had ever been this happy, except for the day Sofia was placed in my arms after giving birth to her.  Joffrey made an effort to see us both at least once a day, even if it was only for lunch.  A lot of times he volunteered to pickup Sofia from school if he didn’t have a late practice or he would take her to her own hockey practice in the evenings when I would get stuck at the shop with a project.  Tonight was only the second time since our first “date,” that we had “adult time,” just proving the fact that Joff was a saint when he needed to be.  Of course there were a couple times that he’d push me into the work room of the shop or the bathroom and lock the door for a quick fuck, but he would always make sure Sofia was no where to be found.  I just never realized there were actually men out in the world that really didn’t mind dating a woman with extra baggage, for lack of better terms.  He still didn’t ask who Sofia’s father was and I still didn’t tell him. However, I knew I was going to have to tell him sooner than later, I was just dreading it.

“That sounds great! We’ll meet you guys at the hotel before dinner!  Later, Scottie,” I said into my phone and hit the end button.  I was going to be back on the ice for my first game tomorrow night, playing against my best buddy, Scottie and the Phoenix Coyotes.  I was excited the guys were in town an extra day from playing the Sharks last night, the team had a bunch of fun dudes and I figured it would be a good night to go out and celebrate me getting back on the ice.

“You and Krissy game to go out tonight?” I asked Bobby as he walked past me in the locker room after practice.

“Sure, wouldn’t see why not.  You bringing Avery along?”

“Yup, she’s at my place right now, probably trying to catch up on her sleep,” I said with a cocky smile.

“You better not be tired for the game on Sunday night,” Bobby quipped back as he punched me in the shoulder.

“Nah, I’m feeling great, I’ll be ready.”

Bobby just smiled and nodded his head, “Alright, I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you then!”

Later on that night…

“You look smokin’!” I chirped as Avery walked out of the bathroom in a bright colored mini-dress with black high heels.  Her hair was pulled back in a high pony-tail with her bangs teased and pulled back into the pony-tail.  Her green eyes sparkled with the dark eye-liner and shadow that outlined them and her lips looked like a juicy strawberry; I found that they tasted like one too as I pulled her against me and stole a kiss.

“So you like it?” she asked. She pushed me away and did a little turn for me.

“Yah,” I answered like it was a stupid question.

“Krissy helped me pick it out this afternoon while you were at practice…”

“Oh, and here I told the guys you were back in my bed, waiting for me, naked.”

She rolled her eyes and smacked me with her clutch as she turned to walk out the door.  She then abruptly stopped and turned around as she said, “Oh, and by the way, you look fucking sexy.”

As I looked down at my get-up I heard her laugh in a lusty tone as she turned back around to head out the door.  I looked down at myself and smiled in satisfaction at my jeans and coal grey dress shirt that had a subtle texture to the material to make it pop.  Fucking sexy, eh? I like the sound of that.

After an eventful dinner with Uppy, Biz, Pyatt, Lepisto, Bobby, Hiller, Sbsia, and the girls, we headed out to club LAX.  The place was loaded with people dancing to the beats of the guest DJ.  Avery and I found ourselves in the middle of it, wrapped up in each other, not paying much attention to our surroundings.  I couldn’t help but notice how Avery knew how to handle herself in these upscales clubs and seemed to feel comfortable in them.  Even I was not 100% relaxed with places and I was fairly sure I found myself in these situations more often than her.

“Have you ever been here before?” I enquired at one point while we were walking back to our table to get a drink.

“Yup, a couple times actually,” she said as she wrapped her arm around my waist.  “Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said uncomfortably, feeling bad because I didn’t want to bring up her money situation, but she caught on quickly.

“I wasn’t always a single mother with money problems, plus I grew up in LA, I got to know people,” she said with a wicked smile that made me laugh.

“I didn’t mean to be judgmental,” I said into her ear as I squeezed her tight against my side.

“No harm, I know I don’t tell you a lot about my past life, so it’s only natural for you to have questions.”

“When are you going to tell me more?” I asked sincerely, wishing I could know every secret about her, only to share every one of mine.

She looked up at me with her sweet green eyes and said, “In time.”  I kissed her and then left go of her hand so that she could head to the bathroom.

As I walked out of the bathroom and into the crowded hallway I found myself walking smack into a hard chested man.  “Sorry,” I said without even bothering to look up, already embarrassed enough about the situation.  But as I went to side step the guy he gently grabbed my arms, getting my attention.

“Avery,” Evan said as I looked up and found his greenish blue eyes looking down at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked stupidly.

A sexy smile graced his face as he laughed at my question.  “Probably doing the same thing you are; enjoying a night out on the town,” he said.  “I saw you earlier on the dance floor with Lupul, but you seemed too wrapped up in him for me to get your attention.”

I didn’t even bother saying anything; I just raised my eyebrows, coaxing him to get on with it.

He took my hand and led me outside to the little outdoor garden that was adjacent to the club, where people would get some fresh air.  “I tried calling you the other week…” he started saying as I instantly nodded my head.

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you call me back?  I’ve thought about you ever since I saw you, but I was afraid you might get upset if I stopped by,” he said sadly.  “In fact I’ve thought about you since the last morning I woke up with you in my arms, Avery.”

“Oh spare me the bullshit, Evan,” I grumbled as I folded my arms in front of my chest, in hopes it would protect my heart that had begun to hurt.  There were many nights I dreamed of hearing those words from him, but now hearing them I just wanted to run away screaming.

“I would if it wasn’t bullshit,” he said as he grabbed my arms again, causing me to look up at him again.  “You know me, I can’t lie to you.”

He was right.  He had never been a good liar.  He tried telling me that he hadn’t slept with anyone during his first season in Tampa, but one look into his eyes and I knew he wasn’t telling me the truth.  Of course this was after he asked me to move to Tampa with him and that was the last night I spent in his bed.

“Why didn’t you ever call me to give me an answer?”

“I was pretty sure you’d get the hint on what my answer was if I didn’t contact you,” I said simply, not trying to be mean but just trying to guard myself. “Besides, you obviously knew where I worked, it’s not like you couldn’t have gotten a hold of me if you really wanted to.

“You know how hectic things get…”

“I don’t want to talk about this here,” I said to him as my teeth began to chatter from being sweated and standing in the cooler night air.

“Then please…” he started to say before he was interrupted by Krissy finding us.

“Avery! There you…Oh, hey Evan!” she said in her normal cheerful voice.  “You two know each other?” She asked as she came over and gave Evan a friendly hug.

“You two know each other?” I asked, not allowing Evan to answer for us.

“Yeah,” she said with a bright smile.  “We were in school together from grade school on up.  Right Evan?”

“Yup, it’s been a while,” he said with the smile I had once adored so much.  “Are you two here together?” he asked, looking back and forth at me and Krissy.

“Yeah my fiancé, Bobby, is best friends with her boyfriend, Joffrey.  We are out with a bunch of the guys from team… Actually, you should come to the game tomorrow! That way we can all catch up, Avery will be there too!” she suddenly exclaimed.  As much as I loved Krissy, she was sometimes way too friendly with people, thinking that everyone in the world had to be as happy as she was. 

Please say you have something better to do, please say you have something better to do…

“Sure! I’ve wanted to get to a game since I’ve been back,” he said with a smile as he looked over at me, obviously looking for a reaction.

Fuck Me.  “That’s a great idea,” I said with a fake smile.

“What’s a great idea?” Joffrey asked, completely making me jump out of my skin since I had no clue he had now come out to join the happy crowd we had become.

“Evan is going to come to the game tomorrow,” Krissy said with a big smile.  “It will actually be Joffrey’s first game back tomorrow!”

“Oh, cool, that’s great,” he said as he nodded over to Joff yet still keeping an eye on me.

“Well, here’s my number…” Krissy said to Evan, effectively pulling his attention to her and away from me and Joff.

“I was getting worried about you,” Joffrey whispered as he wrapped an arm around me.  

“I’m soon ready to kick this joint and go home, you game?” he asked with worried eyes.

“Yeah, this has been a long enough night for me,” I quietly agreed as we walked back into the club, forgetting about Krissy and Evan.

Chapter 7

The Pansy... the flower of loving thoughts

Just a note... I will not be posting for the rest of the week...I am headed to the Great White North (Folyet, ON to be exact) to go Moose Hunting... I would schedule a bunch of posts, but I haven't gotten a chance to completely proof-read and I don't want to just post messes, so a vacation it will be. The next chapter will hopefully be posted next Tuesday!! Sorry to keep you waiting, but I hope you understand!!

Thanks again for all your enthusiastic comments!! You peeps are the best!!

“I really have to gooooo…” I whined when Joffrey pulled me across the console of his Jeep to kiss me again.  He looked adorable with his bed head and I just couldn’t get enough of his kisses.  I felt like a love-struck teenager who just realized the joys of kissing.

“After you get her off to school, you are more than welcome to come back over to my place,” he breathed into my ear, making the idea almost sound sane.

“I have a business to run,” I said, finally taking initiative by pushing on his shoulders to separate us.  “Bad enough I didn’t get any sleep and I’m sneaking back into my apartment at 6:30am so that my daughter doesn’t know I stayed out late.”

“Can I take you out to lunch then?” he asked with a puppy-dog face.

I frowned as I thought through my day’s plans, “I have to pick up Sofia from school at noon…”

“Well then I’ll take you both out to lunch,” he said with a confident smile before leaning back over the console to capture my lips in another kiss, reminding me once again of the amazing night we spent together.  I think in total I had about 2 hours of sleep since the rest of the night was spent rolling around in the sheets crying out in satisfaction from his touch.  He was an attentive lover who enjoyed giving out pleasure.  Of course, after not being in a man’s arms for an extended time, I reveled in the attention.  However, I was not sure where I wanted to take this.  I still had major reservations getting involved with anyone, especially another professional athlete.  Cause we all know how well the last relationship with one turned out.

“Um, okay,” I said as my heart said, “that’s the right idea,” and my head said, “don’t do this.”

“Alrighty, I’ll meet you at the shop.  Thank you again for an incredible night, Avery.  See you later,” he said with a smile as I crawled out of the Jeep so I could do the walk of shame into my apartment building.

No one seemed to be stirring when I quietly unlocked the door and let myself into the apartment.  Phew.  I made a beeline to my bedroom to find Sofia sound asleep on her side of the bed, hugging my pillow.  I smiled at the cute picture and then quietly stripped down to go stand under the scalding water of the shower.  When I came out of the bathroom, I found Nana making our morning pot of coffee.

“Morning, Avery,” she said with an amused smile.

“Morning, Nana,” I echoed and walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek.  “Sleep well?”

“Quite well thank you. You?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come home last night,” I blurted out.

“You know what I’ve said hundreds of times before…”

“I know, but it’s not fair,” I said as I hung my head while stirring in my sugar and cream.

“What’s not fair is that I’m too old to compete against you for that boy’s attention,” she said with a chuckle.

I just slapped my head and laughed, “Oh Nana, you are too much.”

“So when are you going to play hockey again?” Sofia asked me as the three of us sat by the park eating lunch.

“Hopefully soon,” I said with a smile.  “Will you come to my first game back?”

“You betchya!” she said, bouncing up and down on the bench.  “Can my mommy come along too?”

“Of course she can,” I said while I looked over at Avery who rolled her eyes, trying to hide a smile.

It took all I had not to hug, kiss or touch Avery.  I didn’t want to make things awkward with Sofia around, but it was very hard with some of the looks Avery was giving me from across the table while we ate lunch.  I don’t think she was doing it on purpose but just her smile would send my nerves on alert.  So much for not being my type; she was that and more.

“We better get back to the shop,” Avery announced as she gathered up our trash.  “Thank you for lunch, Joffrey.”

“Um, before you go I was wondering if Sofia had any plans for the afternoon,” I whispered while following her over to the trash can.

Avery looked back over at her daughter still sitting at the picnic table just a few feet from us, paying attention to a caterpillar crawling on the seat next to her.  “I guess not.  Why, what do you have in mind?”

“Well, I’d really like to take her mother back to bed with me,” I growled as I leaned in towards her.  “But, I was wondering if I could take her down to the neighborhood hockey rink and get her signed up for hockey…”

Avery bit her lip and nodded slowly before speaking.  “Sure, that will be fine.  Please bring all the paperwork along with you so I can read through everything and get a check written out for them.”

“Okay, can do,” I said with a reassuring smile and a quick glance towards Sofia to make sure she still wasn’t paying attention to us.  I then leaned back in, pushed Avery’s hair back behind her ear and kissed her on the cheek.  I quickly stepped back and walked over to Sofia.  “So, grasshopper, you want to spend the afternoon with me?  I have some errands to run and I’d love to have you as my buddy,” I said as I sat down next to the little girl.

I laughed.  Her eyes grew big before becoming hesitant in a split second.  At first I worried, and then I realized she didn’t know her mom already approved of the activity.  She turned towards Avery who was standing next to her and said, “Mommy, can I go along with Loops?”

Avery put on a little bit of an unsure act to draw out her daughter’s anxiety and then smiled, “As long as Loops doesn’t mind having a little girl tag along with him.”

Sofia looked up at me with her big doe eyes and said, “You don’t mind me?”

“Of course not!” I exclaimed as I scooped her off the bench and set her feet down on the ground next to me, taking her hand to walk back to the shop to get her booster seat.

Before heading to the rink, we stopped to pick up Bobby.

“And how are you today, Miss Sofia?!” Krissy asked happily as she lifted Sofia up and hugged her.

“I’m great! Loops is in charge of me for the afternoon,” she said with a big smile.

“Oh? And how come?” Krissy asked as she raised an eyebrow at me.

“Because he promised to make up for not taking me along with him and Mommy last night,” she proclaimed while putting on the most adorable pouty face and almost making me feel bad for not taking her along.  But only almost.

“Oooh,” Krissy drew out while she elbowed me in the ribs.  I just frowned and shook my head to make sure she didn’t ask any questions about the situation in front of Sofia.

“Is Bobby here?” Sofia asked, effectively getting me off the hook or so I thought.

“Yup, he’s downstairs playing guitar if you wanna go get him,” Krissy said as she opened the basement door so Sofia could go down and see him.  I went follow the little girl, but the door was promptly closed and I found myself running into Krissy.

“Soooo??” she berated.

“So, what?” I played.

“How did last night go?”

“Well, I didn’t have to wait a week to see her again,” I said with a cocky smile.  “The three of us just had lunch.”

“Aren’t you glad you made the first move?” she asked coyly.

“If you want me to stand here and tell you ‘thank you,’ I’m not going to.  It was just one night together…” One incredible night together.

“It’s a start,” Krissy said with a big smile as she stepped aside to let me pass.

Before I did open the door, I looked at her and said, “We did have one problem last night though,” I said slowly.

“Oh?”

“Evan Longoria was at the Sushi restaurant last night and he came over to our table and the too of them looked like they had seen ghosts.  Didn’t you graduate with Evan?”

“I did…”

“Did Avery go to school with you guys?”

Krissy eyebrows furrowed together as she thought about it for a moment.  “No, not that I am aware of.  Do you think there was something between them?”

“I’m assuming so because he made a comment her changing her cell phone numbers and I’m pretty sure she blatantly lied about losing her phone.  I have a feeling she changed the number on purpose, but I don’t see Evan being the stalker or abusive type,” I pointed out.

“No, he is definitely the biggest sweetheart and a heck of a nice guy,” Krissy said, reaffirming my thoughts.  “Huh, I don’t know…you didn’t ask her about it?”

“No, she was really upset about it and I decided to leave it alone, not wanting to get her more upset.  Plus, I didn’t need anything ruining our first date,” I said honestly.

“I understand,” Krissy said.  “Well, I’m sure in time you will find out or maybe I will make sure to cross paths with him in the near future,” she said with a wink.

“Thanks,” I said as the door pushed open into my shoulder.

“Loops! I have Bobby, can we go to my surprise now?!” Sofia begged as Bobby pushed through the door with her dangling over his shoulder.

I took the liberty in tickling her, causing her to kick and squeal with laughter as I said, “Yup!  Let’s go!  See you later Krissy,” I said as we paraded out the door.

“Oh!  I almost forgot!” Jess said when she walked into the work room where I was putting together some arrangements for one of the local café’s.  “An Evan called.”

His name made me slip with my knife, causing me to cut open my finger.  “Shit!” I squawked.  I quickly brought my finger to my mouth, tasting the metallic blood.  It wasn’t a bad cut, but I knew I’d have to get a band-aid.  I walked over to the sink as Jess came rushing over to see if she could help me.

“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” she exclaimed.

“Just get me a band-aid,” I grumbled.

In a flash, she was back with a dry paper towel and band-aid in waiting.  “So,” she said as helped patch me up, “I told him you were out to lunch and that I would have him call you. He then said not to worry about it and that he’d just call you later.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“He sounded really hesitant on the phone,” she said in an attempt to get more information from me.

I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “Okay, thank you,” once more and turned back to my awaiting arrangement.  I stuck a couple more flowers into the foam before acknowledging her again, even though I was quite aware she was still standing at the sink, staring at me.  “What is it Jess?”

“You know what,” she said with a raised eyebrow.  “Last time I checked, we are best friends and best friends are supposed to talk about shit.”

I looked over at her and attempted to glare but instead I just looked at her with a blank face.  “I can’t talk about it, Jess.  I know you are my best friend and I’m glad that you are but I truly cannot talk about.”

I watched Jess take a deep breath and give an understand nod of the head.  “Fine, but you know I’m here when you need to talk about it, which I’m sure will happen sooner than later since you still are pale as a ghost.”

“Thank you,” I mouthed and went back to my creation, glad that the smell of the flowers always seemed to take me to a land where life was simpler.