After four glasses of wine, it was safe to Riley was drunk by the end of their dinner. She wrapped herself up in her coat, as she braced herself for the cold winter air that was sure to nip at her face as she left the warm restaurant.

And sure enough she was right. She led the way out of the restaurant, but Tyler was right on her heel, his hand resting on the small of her back. She hugged her coat tighter to her body as the cold wind nipped at her hot cheeks, obviously from the amount of alcohol that she consumed.

“Thank you for dinner, and everything else. I had fun.”

Though the entire statement wasn’t false, it also wasn’t true. Yeah, she had fun, she hadn’t been out with a guy in a long time, but their conversation died quickly as soon as their meal came, leaving Riley hoping that he wouldn’t bring it up anymore.

“It was my pleasure.”

He stuck his hands in his front pockets, as he awkwardly bounced on his toes. There was nothing he wanted more was to kiss her, she looked stunning with her hair blowing in the wind, as well as her nose and cheek matching in a rosey pink.

She blew out the air that she had sucked in sending a cloud of smoke swirling above her lips. She looked around her, and she knew that people were starting to recognize him, and something about that told her she had to make a quick get away.

“I only live like a five minute walk from here, so you don’t have to drive me home, it’d be stupid.”

He took his hands out of his pockets and wrapped his arms around her smallish figure, “There’s no way I’m letting you walk home alone, at night. So lead the way.”

She didn’t oblige, the warmth that his body gave her, made it for a cozy walk home.

They had stopped in front of her building, just lingering on the stoop that brought them to her door.

“Again, thank you for everything.”

He was about to do what he has wanted to do all night. Slowly he cupped her cheeks in his hands, and brought his plump lips to her frozen ones, she didn’t pull back but she didn’t kiss back right away either.

It was something that she hated to admit, she liked kissing him, his soft lips against hers, just felt right. And within five minutes time they were climbing their way up the stairs to her apartment.

Tyler threw open the door, and instantly had her pinned against the wall. She ran her fingers through his hair, as he kissed the exposed skin on her neck.

“Oh my god,” She moaned.

She hadn’t been touched like this in a long time, and suddenly the flashbacks came to her, and her whole body started to shake.

“Ty,” She whispered pressing her hands against his chest.

He didn’t hear her, and this freaked her out a bit more.

“Tyler,” She said again, this time her voice a little more adamant, as she completely pushed him off of her.

He looked at her, her body completely trembling as she slouched herself down in the corner and pulled her knees up to her chest.

“Please, can you go?” She whispered, her voice trembling.

He didn’t say a word. He grabbed his jacket that had been thrown off in their lust, and slammed the door on his way out.

XXX

It had been a week since Riley had seen Tyler; the Bruins had left the next morning for three away games, and she never had the chance to talk to him.
Now that they were home and practicing again on the T.D. garden ice, Riley found herself sneaking down to the tunnel where she had met him just two weeks ago.
Instead of sitting and waiting for him to come out of the locker room like she had done unintentionally in the past, she sat in the bleachers where he could see her.

XXX

There she was. That’s all he could think about, for the past week; it was all he could think about. He wanted to know what happened, why she had freaked out. He knew that she wasn’t crazy; he found that out from people upstairs, it was just something about her…that guarded wall that he couldn’t seem to knock down.

Practice ended as usual, and throughout the whole thing all he could focus on was her. Instead of being the last one off the ice that morning and retreating back to the locker room, he skated over towards her, leaping over the penalty box to take a seat beside her in the stands.

Her eyes remained focused on him the whole time, and her skin had paled, looking as if she had seen a ghost.

“Hi,” she mumbled, throwing her hand up in a wave.

“Hi,” he answered back, still confused as to what happened.

She let out a long breath and ran her fingers through her hair.

“Alright,” She sighed. “I know I owe you an explanation on what happened, the other night. I wasn’t lying when I said I had a fun time, I really did. You are amazing, and sweet, and charming, and you completely swept me off my feet.”

This had him smiling; he knew he was on his game that night.

“But, I don’t think I can handle a relationship, right now. You see I had this boyfriend, Emmet, in high school. I was head over heels in love with him, we were high school sweethearts, but as graduation rolled around, he enlisted in the Army.” She paused a moment to regain herself, as the tears slowly slipped from her eyes. “He was killed within two months of being in Iraq.”

Tyler slipped his hand onto her knee giving it a little squeeze; she flinched a little but then placed her hand on top of his.

“Rile- I’m so sorry,” He couldn’t seem to find the words to say something to her; he didn’t know what it was like to lose someone he loved.

She nodded her head and swallowed back the tears, “Yeah, everyone always is. But, after Emmet died, I was completely devastated like any normal human being should. I almost quit school, and moved back home. But then, Alex came along. And, I felt a peace again. He filled the void that the passing of Emmet took away. But he beat the living shit out of me, and I swore to myself that I would never ever let someone take advantage of me like that again.”

His fists clenched as he took them off of her knees, and he tucked them into his chest, biting down on his lips. He wanted to beat the living shit out of who beat her, there was no reason for it whatsoever, and she was perfect in every way shape and form.

“I’ll kill him,” he muttered.

She let out a chuckle, and placed her small hands on top of his. “He got put away for drugs a few years back.”

“Doesn’t it scare you?” He looked over at her, and she seemed completely calm, except for the fact that her cheeks were red from crying, but calm nonetheless.

“Of course it does, everywhere I go I’m a nervous wreck that somehow he’s going to be set free and he’ll come back for me.”

With all the sincerity in his heart, Tyler looked over at her,

“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”