Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

And Heaven Too

Chapter Fifteen

The thing is this: Mike is super excited. He knows hockey is about to start again (no official announcement yet but it’s coming). He’s got an awesome girlfriend (They’re dating. He’s almost completely positive). And he’s just generally having a pretty kicking January. He splits time for three days after New Year’s between the rink and Dell; she’s spent the last two nights at his place.

It’s early in the morning on the sixth of January when he gets a text from Brouwer, all the way in Chicago.

It’s good news.

Fuck, it’s great news.

He shouts so loud that Dell startles awake next to him, all limbs jerking wide and she picks her head up to find what is probably the stupidest grin on his face. She takes one look and starts to smile too. “It’s over, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t answer, just pulls her underneath his body and kisses her senseless. It’s not even seven yet. He doesn’t care and she doesn’t care. He’s laughing as he maps her collarbone, tracing his lips down her side.

He takes control, pushing her around a bit until he’s got her on her stomach, and he’s surging inside her impossible tightness in moments. She mewls back at him when he rocks into her hard and he thinks everything is going to be perfect, really fucking soon.

Fuck. Yes.

Best. Day. Ever.

Mike offers to drive her home later so she can get ready for work but she waves him off. She doesn’t have a car and he’s offered one of his own so many times that it makes his head spin to think about it but Dell won’t accept the offer. She kisses him deep and slips out.

He sees something in her face though, some unnamed sadness that makes him frown long after the front door closes. He wonders how she could possibly be anything but elated on a day like today. He doesn’t get a whole lot of time to think about it, though, because the texts start coming in around nine.

He laughs later at practice when the guys are talking about Letang going over to Russia the day before. Everyone was so sure it would be Crosby. Mike just laughs it all away because they might have six guys at practice now and no goalie but soon . . . soon the whole crew will be back.

The guys talk him into going out to the club that night. Mike shoots Dell a text, asking her to come with them but she declines, citing work in the morning. He frowns down at his phone as he’s brushing his teeth, prepping for an evening of fun. Whatever, he thinks. Tonight is going to be fucking awesome, like every night from here on out.

As soon as the guys start coming into town for real, the only thing that’s going to limit their alcohol intake is their practice times in the morning. If there’s one thing his team knows how to do, it’s alcohol intake.

Mike gets a few texts while they drink, but nothing serious. He gets some time frames on arrivals for Brooksie and Nicky and Ovie. His Russian friend is freshly engaged, much to everyone’s amusement and his text isn’t so many words as exclamation points and half parenthesis.

Dell texts him the next afternoon, asking if he’s interested in this new chicken recipe. He’s pleased because she can come out with everyone tonight. The crew is slowly coming together; they should have a good showing. Mike doesn’t mention the plans to Dell until she’s blowing through his door with a couple of bags of groceries. She stops dead in the entrance way because he looks way too pleased with himself. He’s even cleaned up a bit, tight shirt and black pants. He looks good.

“Plans have changed, haven’t they?” Dell sounds resigned and she pushes past him to drop the groceries on his counter.

“We’re going out tonight? Party with the boys?” He offers the words like a tentative gift and Dell sighs heavily. She folds her arms and tilts her head to the side. She looks far too judgmental though so he picks her up and swings her around. “It’ll be fun! You can meet some of the other guys and their ladies.” He nuzzles up against her temple before finally letting her feet drop.

Dell is still scowling when he backs away. “Now is a bad time to go out. Andrew’s late on his rent and I’m working at the NatHis-“
Mike isn’t taking no for an answer though. He pulls her in a little tighter and tries to kiss away her protests. Finally she yields, just a little, and kisses back. Her hands come up to cup his cheeks and her lips are so soft and caring that he grins. Things are going to get crazy after this but he’s fucking happy. He’s happy with her and hockey and he’ll balance both. He won’t make the same mistakes he has in previous relationships.

“If you’re worried about your rent you can always move in with me!” He says it laughingly and she laughs right back. Yeah, that won’t happen. Not for a while. Dell’s been clear about her desire for her own living space despite the fact that she spends so much time in his. “But, really, you’re coming out. It’s a celebration! We can do dinner in tomorrow.”

She rubs her nose against his cheek and he leans down into it. She gets crazy caring sometimes and it makes his heart flutter. “There’s gonna be lots of celebrations, darlin’.” He smiles at the endearment. He likes that she’s stopped calling him ‘dude’ and is just using ‘darling’ now. It makes him all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

The joking about rent and work may be in good fun but they’re serious topics for her. Mike gets it. He does. He presses a kiss to her temple and looks down at her, making sure she sees the care in his face. “You need to unwind.” He traces the tightness between her eyebrows. “Without sitting in front of your TV playing video games. Come out with us. Please? You look totally hot and it’d be a shame to waste it all on me.” He’s quick to cover up the jab at her gaming tendancies with the compliment.

Really, though, Dell looks crazy hot in those jeans. They’re beyond tight. He has a moment of clarity where he realizes he should just forget plans out and drag her to his bedroom for the fourth time this week. He is a man of purpose, however. She bites at the corner of her lip, looking undecided, still. He kisses her again and laughs when she lets out a tense breath. She’s done. So damned done.

“Three drinks max and I need to be home by eleven. Promise?”

He’d give her the moon and the stars if she asked. He does the next best thing and picks her up again. She murmurs appreciatively and wraps her legs around his waist. They’re kissing and he’s almost starting to suspect she’s also thinking about hiding in his bedroom, perhaps to avoid going out. She pulls away first, though, and gives his a cheeky grin before planting one on his forehead.

“Put away the food. I’m gonna go fix my face. Ten minutes?” She wanders into the bathroom, humming under her breath and he watches her ass sway out the door. He adjusts his pants a bit and sends out the texts that’ll coordinate times and locations with his teammates.

They end up at Front Page because it’s close to him and a few of the other guys. It’s in the mall and there’s a lot of exposure but on a weekday Mike figures everything will be fine.

He’s not expecting the crowd that appears within a half hour of their arrival. People must be sending out constant texts because the crowd gets bigger and bigger, spilling out onto the main concourse. Dell sticks close to his side, trying to have a conversation with Johnny about some sorts of hockey video game technique. He thinks they might be discussing crashing the net. Maybe.

The bar is loud. Drinks keep coming. A year ago he’d be neck deep in hot chicks but he tries to keep Dell close to him. She’s antsy, constantly adjusting her clothes and glancing around. When the umpteenth person comes over, drink in offering and asking for a picture, Dell sighs and wanders away.

Mike keeps an eye on her as she makes her way to the bathrooms but the guy in front of him repeatedly pulls his attention back, saying something about losing Knubs and gaining the new coach.

Alzie and Johnny rescue him a few minutes later and then there are shots. Mike doesn’t remember how many. About an hour later he’s thinking that he’s getting too old for this shit because he’s apparently a five-drink drunk now and he hasn’t seen Dell in ages. He glances around for her and finds a pair of amazingly stacked blonds with wide grins right in front of him.

They’ve got some pretty decent merchandise on display and he smiles down at them before catching himself and trying to take a step back. They follow. He looks around a little frantically. Dell should be around here somewhere. She should be but he can’t find her anywhere in the crowd. The slightly taller blond presses right up against his chest. “Hey baby. Welcome back.”

The greeting is disturbingly familiar. Have they met before? He squints down at her. It’s impossible to tell in the dim light if he’s ever taken her home. Shit. Mike is about two seconds away from shoving them both away when The Arlzon finally appears. Johnny takes the one on the right, Karl the one on the left, and Mike lets out a huge sigh. He really is getting old. A year ago . . . a year ago he’d have taken both of them home.

He needs to collect Dell and get the hell out of here. He wanders around for a bit, not seeing her. He breaks down and pulls out his phone to just text her. His eyes widen when he reads the message waiting for him.

You looked busy. I’ve got an early morning. Made it home okay though. Talk to you tomorrow, darlin.

From Dell. Who totally ditched him before he was about to get attacked by sexually promiscuous women. Oh man, his life is so fucking weird. He huffs out in annoyance because, really, what the hell? The text is time stamped a half hour ago. She’s been gone a half hour.

Mike feels a moment of relief because that means she didn’t have to see him with those girls. That could have been messy. Karl slings an arm around his shoulder, free of the blond, and directs him over to the bar for more shots and Mike goes willing. They’re not practicing for almost a whole twelve hours and it’s not real practice anyway.

When Ovie gets back Stateside two days later, Mike ditches a possible lunch date with Dell to meet up at Ovie’s house with the other guys. Dell doesn’t sound surprised over the phone when he calls, just tells him to have fun. She mentions something about dinner that night and Mike readily agrees. If there’s nothing else going on they should really cook that chicken she brought over before it goes back.

The thing is, though, although Ovie has returned new and improved and actually acting like an adult, he and the guys still sit around and shoot the shit, getting drunk off good vodka and crap beer. They still spend the afternoon wrapping themselves up in their stories of the lockout, catching everyone up. There are several cheers for Ovie on his engagement. Someone slips out that Mike’s dating Dell and there’s another round poured. All the guys just coming back want to meet her, of course, so it should be no big thing to get her out with them.

It’ll be better, this time, Mike thinks. This time they’ll get a private room at some swank club Ovie likes and he’ll have her all to himself.

And, well, his fifteen inquisitive teammates.

But, it’s Tuesday. Dell goes back to school next week and she’ll be at the museum all the rest of this week. He hopes that she’ll give him at least a little time tonight. When he calls her up to invite her out she sounds close to tears and he’s immediately on edge; immediately cautious.

“What’s going on, babe?” She actually sniffles when he asks and he frowns out at the skyline from his living room.

“Andrew ran off. Just took all his stuff when I was at work today and disappeared. I have no idea where he is, his rent is a month overdue, I don’t have the cash to cover it, and he’s not answering his phone.” She sounds wrecked. Mike rubs a hand over his face, trying to shake off the remnants of those last four shots that are still hanging on too him. He’s fucking glad he’d taken a cab out to Ovie’s.

“That sucks. I am so sorry.”

She growls and Mike can hear her throwing things around her apartment. “He took the Xbox too. And half of my DVD’s. AND my fucking toaster. He took my toaster, Mike. AND MY XBOX!” Woah. Not cool.

“Do you want to file a police report?” He’s not sure how those sorts of things work but it sounds like she’s just been straight up robbed.

“No. I just- fuck. I don’t know. I need to figure this rent thing out. I’ve got a friend coming over to help me clean up the mess he left. You remember Charlie?”

Mike thinks back, recalling a tall and forceful redhead who had gone to school with Dell in Boston. They’d met at a lunch a week or so ago and he’d enjoyed the time out. It had actually made him happy that Dell was comfortable enough to share her friends with him. “Yeah. She got you the job at the museum, right?”

Dell hums into the phone and he hears a dull thud on the other end. She’s probably banging her head on the counter now. “Yeah, she’s coming over. Fuck. This sucks.”

Mike has no idea what to say. Nothing sounds good enough when he runs it through his head so he aims for as helpful as he can possible manage. “Well, we can get the rent taken care of and I can get you a new Xbox. That’s not a problem.”

Dell is silent for a long time on the other end and Mike frowns harder, unsure of what this quiet means. “Dell? Are you there, babe?” He wishes he had been more sober for this conversation for some reason.

“Yeah.” She sounds distant and hurt. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. Charlie just got here.” Mike doesn’t hear anyone else in the background. “Don’t worry about it, Mike. I’ll get something figured out. Have fun tonight.” She doesn’t sound sincere at all and that makes something ache in his chest. He’s about to say something, anything, to figure out what’s wrong but there’s nothing but dead air. She hung up on him.

He stares down at his phone for a long time, the fuzzy drunk of his afternoon hitting him hard.

Notes

Wooooah. Sorry about that delay! I've discovered that tea is not conducive to working laptop batteries and I've been trying to find a suitable replacement for almost a week! But, yay! Update! There are about four chapters left to this. Now that the season is back underway the ending is all figured out. Just need to get everything edited.

Thank you, everyone, who has commented or followed or liked this story. It's been ages since I wrote RPF and I'm pleased that it's amusing someone. Feel free to drop another comment if you so chose. Otherwise, YAY HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!

Comments

I loved this story. I spent a whole rainy afternoon getting to know Mike and Dell. You writing is wonderful!!!
Riley Riley
9/9/13
I really like this story!! : So sad its over now :(
alicatt alicatt
2/16/13
It's totally appropriate and not at all weird that I giggled when I imagined Nicky cleaning, right?
deciding deciding
2/3/13
Awww, Mike is a sweetheart! :) Can't wait for more!
alicatt alicatt
1/30/13
NO! Not good.....She just needs to give in and move in with him!
alicatt alicatt
1/22/13