At the beach…

Aaralyn had never thought that she'd see him again, but they had continued to see one another. And they were spending time together, at the beach. She had decided to wear her Chicago Blackhawks’ two-piece bathing suit that she had bought herself for her birthday. It showed her body off nicely and Jonathan seemed to enjoy it. As did the other boys.

They’d already been there for most of the day and it was nearing six o’clock. The sun was starting to set and soon the fun day would be over. Jonathan still hadn’t introduced her to Patrick Kane, even though she already knew the man. And they were all just fooling around in the sand and water having a blast. No one really paid any attention to her or her presence, except for Jonathan. Sure they had invited Patrick Kane along, to join them, as well as Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, Patrick Sharp and a few other Blackhawk players, but they didn’t seem to mind her being there. Even Patrick played around with her, seemingly not knowing who she was and thinking of her as one of the boys.

They had begun to settle down and she walked off to the side, to let them play a little bit. Patrick Sharp buried Andrew Shaw in the sand and then the pest attacked him, almost flinging a wave of the grain into the prankster’s face. She laughed, as she watched the hockey players fool around with one another.

Jonathan was standing just a couple of meters away, looking over at her, sweetly. She gazed back at him, posing in cute way. Her crimson locks hung about her face, dangling over her shoulders in a light curl. He gave her a wink and she returned it. They continued to just stared at each other for a few minutes, until Jonathan excused himself from his friends and walked right over to her.

Behind him, she saw Andrew, Brandon and Patrick Sharp grab a screaming and thrashing Patrick Kane and fling him into the cool water. He landed, luckily not close to the shoreline, but farther out. There was a loud splash, as he slapped against the water, on his back. She flinched and saw that he was in a crab walk pose. His blonde curls clung to his head, drenched in the water. He coughed and spat out the lake water that he had managed to inhale. He gave the trio a look, as they cracked up, high-fiving one another.

Her heart began to race, as she turned her attention back to the sexiest man of the bunch. It pounded inside her chest, especially at the sight of him shirtless. She knew she was a deep red in the face, as she could not take her eyes off of his six-pack. And those biceps...wow! Were all hockey players like that? She imagined in her mind that he was a hot lifeguard racing over to her in slow motion, as he tossed his head to the side and smiled, flashing his pearly white teeth to her. She could almost see the blinding starry light around him.

"Aari? I’ll let the boys fool around for a little bit, so that I can hang out with you, is that what you’d like?" Jonathan asked, once he approached her.

"I like that a lot, Johnny," she remarked, with a smile. A huge wave came in and knocked the four boys in the water over, drenching them all. She snorted at the sight.

He gave her a high five. "You want a drink or something? I know this great place here on the beach!"

“Sure. You know that I love me some sweet liquor?” She wasn't all that knowledgeable, when it came to beach drinks. She stayed to her bar, the Hawks Nest, often doing a Bud Light or some kind of beer, but a cocktail sounded pretty good right now. After all, she was on the beach, a beer wouldn’t make a whole ton of sense. She had an open mind to trying anything. The last time she had something like that was back in Florida.

Jonathan smiled at her and they walked over to the place he had talked about. It was a nice little private tiki hut with a variety of different adult drinks and a tiny minibar. She went to go find someplace to sit and he came back moments later, with a glass filled with some reddish drink that resembled cranberry juice.

"Here you go," he said, handing her the glass.

"Thank you. What is this anyways?" she asked him, staring at the drink.

"The Beach Breeze. It's a mixture of vodka with cranberry and grapefruit juice. Ladies love it, I’ve heard," the Blackhawk explained with a clever grin, sitting down next to her.

"There's vodka in this thing?" she quickly questioned with a smirk.

"Just a tiny bit. You'll be fine, trust me, you’ll love it," Jonathan reassured, chuckling at her sudden outburst. “I know you will.”

“You’d better be right, otherwise I might have to get you to buy me something else!”
She brought the glass to her lips and took a small sip, wincing at the taste of it at first. Jonathan laughed at the expression on her face. She took a few more sips and that's when she realized how good this drink actually was. After a while, she didn't really taste the foreign flavor of the vodka. She drank about half of it and then set the glass down.

"You like it?" he asked.

She nodded. "It's delicious. How much longer is your little “vacation” from the playoffs?"

"We have practice in two days already, the Anaheim Ducks just beat their opponent in the Dallas Stars," he replied.

“And now you’re waiting for the Eastern Conference teams to finish up playing tomorrow, right?”

“Right.”

They just sat there in silence, as the sun was about to set. His eyes glistened in the dimming light, as he stared, smiling, watching it. She was watching him.

She pulled out her phone and took a picture of it (and of him). "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is. My uncle and I were the ones who would come here, when I was little," she told him.

“It’s a great beach.”

“It’s the only beach in Chicago!”

They had a laugh about that.

When she had finished the rest of her drink, they got up. He found himself a t-shirt and thank goodness he finally put it on, or else she'd probably start drooling like a dog. As much as she found the hockey player sexy with his clothes on, when he showed his skin, inside her heart raced and she was flooded with a lustful desire.

His friends had already gone somewhere else, including Patrick Kane (thank God!), so it was just the two of them. She felt the wind in her hair and the soft sand beneath her feet, as they walked along the beach. He reached for her hand and she allowed his soft hand to entwine with her’s. Her face flushed with color again.

He looked over at her with a sweet smile, and tucked a strand of her sandy damp red hair behind her ear. His touch was gentle and he brushed her cheek, as he aided her. She gazed into his eyes, as the sun dipped closer to the horizon.

"Aaralyn, remember the first time I saw you?" Jonathan asked, looking over at her.

"Yeah, why?"

"What happened that night?"

She instantly froze in place, halting them both and felt the memories flooding back. Jonathan just stood there and waited for her to say something. He had a look of genuine concern on his face. Part of her wanted to tell him, but the other didn't. She decided to go with a half truth. "I was celebrating at the bar, because the Blackhawks won," she told him, telling him most of the truth.

"That's it?" Jonathan prodded. He knew there was more to her story.

"I always go to the bar, because I’m single," she continued.

"How'd you and your guy break up?" Jonathan asked, attempting to poke around into her past and get her to open up. “If there was a guy? If you don’t mind me asking.”

It had been exactly a year since that one magical night at her house. She remembered it all. But she also remembered the unfortunate event that had transpired a few years ago. The tears, the heartbreak, the pain. It was all just too much for her, and she didn’t want to relive it again. But there was something about Jonathan that made her want to open up to him. He was always willing to listen to what she had to say. He cared.

"No, no, there was and it’s okay, I don’t mind telling you, I guess. The bastard cheated on me with another girl. I thought that they were just close friends. It was on his birthday, too. I had gone out during a storm to get him a present, but I showed up at his house just to see him in bed with her," she explained, the tears brimming her eyes.

Jonathan instantly dried her eyes with his finger, delicately, comforting her. "That guy must be a total asshole for cheating on you. If I had a girlfriend like you, I would never do anything to hurt you," Jonathan spoke, with a hint of anger at the man who had hurt her. He rarely ever cursed and if he did, it was because he was seriously ticked off.

She managed to smile; he genuinely cared about her. She loved that; she wanted to feel loved and not used by a man. "Thanks, Johnny."

"No problem. So have you dated any other guys besides him?"

"Nope. I just plan on living the single life for now.”

"Sounds just like me," he said with a grin.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be upset if things changed and I happened to meet a man.”

“Same here,” he said with another smile.

There was a moment of silence, before he finally turned back to her. “I’ve had tons of fun with you, Aari. These past couple of weeks and days have been great for me! And if you would like to, I wouldn’t be opposed to being your boyfriend.”

“I love that, Johnny!” she cried and flung her arms around him. She felt his strong body, as he flexed his muscles and lifted her up off the sand a few inches and twirled her around like a soldier who had just came home to see his wife after a war. He carefully set her back on the tips of her toes and gave her a kiss on the lips.

“Then it’s settled, we’ll be boyfriend and girlfriend! After all, it makes a ton of sense, since we’ve both pretty much….”

“Seen one another naked?”

“Yeah!”

It was his turn to blush.

It was getting late now, so Jonathan walked her back to her car. When they were back at the entrance, Aaralyn paused in place. Jonathan stopped with her. He faced her, frowning with concern.

“What about----?” she began, before she was interrupted by someone’s booming voice. She spun around and deflated instantly. “Shit!” she muttered to herself, hoping that the Blackhawk captain didn’t hear her.

Suddenly a lighter-skinned blonde man trotted up. “Tazer!” He skidded to a halt before them both. He looked at them both through his blue eyes.

“Hey Kaner, oh right, right! I almost forgot!” He hadn’t heard her.

Aaralyn’s heartbeat slowed tremendously, as his eyes locked with hers. She couldn’t help herself, as she froze in place and gulped, but managed a slight smile in the process. She was hoping to get away without having to be introduced to the man. Jonathan patted his friend on the shoulder.

Patrick Kane looked at Aaralyn, intently. “Do I know you?” He eyed her, grinning from ear to ear.

She quickly shook her head. “No.” She spotted his fake smile. A rictus, she thought to herself, as she knew she, herself was wearing the same one.

Jonathan was excited and eager beside them both, as he moved to stand between them, like he was going to force them both to kiss or propose to one another. And she really didn’t feel like marrying Patrick Kane. She was sure he felt the same way.

“Lil Peekaboo, this is Aaralyn Northgate. We met at the bar a few nights ago. I didn’t feel like telling you, because I wasn’t sure how you’d react at first and I wanted to make sure things were okay, but we are officially on as boyfriend-girlfriend!”

“Is that so, well it’s nice to meet you, Aaralyn,” Patrick stated, finally flashing a real smile of kindness. He lifted his arm up, holding it out for her to shake.

“And Aaralyn, this is my best friend, Patrick Kane, AKA: Kaner or Peekaboo!”

“Uh, yeah, nice to meet you too, Patrick,” she managed to get out, choking a tiny bit on her words. She took his hand, as she tried to suppress the awkward feelings. She hoped that Patrick wasn’t seeing through her facade, but he did.

They let go of one another and Patrick turned to his teammate.

“Say, Johnny, you don’t mind if I chat a little with your girlfriend for a few minutes, alone. I just want to get to know her some more,” the curly haired man inquered.

“That’s fine! I’m going to go find the boys. We need to get ready to head back to our houses! It’s getting late and the beach will close soon! Don’t steal her from me, and don’t take long, okay, Kaner?”

“I understand, Tazer! This won’t take long, besides,” he slowly turned back to look at the red haired woman. “I’m sure I’ll see her a ton coming up, right?”

“I’ll see you again tomorrow, maybe, Aari! Good night and thanks for the fun!” Jonathan called, flashing his smile and wink at her, before he darted off once more. As he ran, he carefully and gradually peeled his shirt off of his chest once more, revealing his muscular athletic body underneath.

She caught herself staring again and her mouth had dropped slightly. Patrick saw her and his smile immediately vanished, as Jonathan disappeared from earshot and eventually from eyesight.

“Stay away from my friend, you bitch!” Patrick growled, shoving Aaralyn backward to snap her out of her daydream.

She frowned too and shoved him back. “What’s your problem?” Her eyes flashed a brilliant color. She didn’t like his hostility toward her. And she didn’t enjoy being shoved by the brat!

“My problem is that I want you to stay away from my teammate and my captain! He doesn’t deserve heartbreak and he doesn’t deserve you!” he snapped, stomping his foot on the sidewalk.

Aaralyn was taken aback by his brutality. Her nightmare flooded back to her. She couldn’t shake the image of him standing up, opposed to the idea of the two lovers getting married together. He was seriously pissed off at her for some reason. What had she done to him? She had never seen Patrick Kane before; they had never dated. So why was this blonde haired man so angry at her?

“What did I do?”

“I know your type! You’re all the same! I don’t have to explain myself, because you are just like her!” Patrick spat. He was really pissed off.

“I’m not going to hurt Johnny, I love him!”

“Like hell you do! Don’t ever show your face to him again! Don’t talk to him, don’t follow him. Just stay the fuck away from Jonathan Toews! Capiche?”

With that, he spun on his heels and raced off from her. She folded her arms over her chest and stared after him, in shock. Patrick was threatening her. But she wouldn’t let him get in her head. If she had to, she would fight him back. She would hurt Jonathan’s friend.

The only problem she found, was that they all lived in the same area and she had a personal freedom. Patrick couldn’t tell her what to do and he couldn’t keep her from doing her mundane routine and if she bumped into Jonathan, well that wasn’t her fault. Patrick Kane didn’t own her. It was written in the stars that the two were meant to be and if this irritated little blondie had a terrible time understanding that, well he would have to get over it.

However, she knew that he wouldn’t. And if he caught her, he was most likely going to end things. If he wasn’t going to do so already. She had just hooked up with her dream man and already someone was going to sabotage her dreams. This was the other reason that she hated love and didn’t want to have anything to do with it. This was why she was single.

Aaralyn needed to talk to someone. She needed guidance and she needed it now!

Notes

Wow, Kaner is kind of creepy...but he's also judging a book by its cover. He does have a point and he is only being protective, but it will all make sense soon, I swear.
Poor Aaralyn, she just managed to hook up with Johnny and then Kaner has to come and chase her off....