Save Me

***Kane’s point of view***
I woke up early so that I could get everything ready for when Abby got here. I looked over at Keeley, she looked so peaceful. Her arm was wrapped around my stomach and her legs were tangled with mine. I carefully untangled myself from her and crawled out of the bed careful not to wake her. I walked into the kitchen, a little surprised to find Jon sitting at the counter reading the paper.
“Hey bro. How long have you been up?” I asked. It wasn’t really unusual for Jon to be awake before me. When I took a closer look at him I noticed he looked terrible.
“Um since about five yesterday morning. I didn’t sleep last night. All I could think about was everything that Keeley said. How could we have let that happen? We all knew something was off but we did nothing about it. I mean there were so many red flags, Pat. We could only call when she was at work or on road trips, she didn’t tell us much about Justin, wouldn’t let us meet him, she wouldn’t tell us how she was when we asked. She always avoided the question. She quit Skyping with us. We could have done something about it. I was thinking and maybe we should tell Sidney. I can easily get in contact with him, we were on Team Canada together.” I listened intently as Jon spoke. He had some good points but I knew we couldn’t go to Sidney. Keeley would be furious.
“We had no way of knowing of what was going on. If she wanted us to know before last night then we would’ve known. The whole telling Sidney idea is out the window. You know Keeley will flip shit if you did that. She trusted us to keep this until she was ready to tell the others. I’m not going to break that trust. She needs us now more than ever.” I said sitting across from him.
“When did you become the reasonable one?” He joked causing me to laugh. I was usually the one who acted and then thought about things, and he thought then acted. He was the serious one while I was carefree.
Jon and I chilled around the apartment for a few hours before Abby came over carrying a bunch of groceries. I rushed to help her bring them in. We set everything down on the counter and I helped her get everything out and set up.
“Thank you for doing this for me, Abs. I really appreciate it.” I said kissing her cheek.
“Hey! I’m a married woman, you better watch it.” She said swatting me on the arm with a smile. Most of the guys kiss her on the cheek from time to time and Sharpie doesn’t seem bothered. “Where’s Keels?” She asked cracking eggs into the large skillet that she had placed onto the stove. “The guys will be here in half an hour, you know.” She continued. “She was still asleep last time I checked.” I said stealing a piece of her muffin. “Well I’ll go wake her up. I’d like the help and it gives us a little girl time before we’re outnumbered by a bunch of hockey players.” She set the fork down on the counter. “No, no. I’ll go wake her up.” I said a little bit louder than I had meant too.
“Or neither of you can wake me up.” I hear Keeley say with a laugh. I turned around at the sound of her voice. Her hair was up in a high messy bun, she had on a pair of my sister’s shorts and my hoodie. You could see the bruises on her face, neck and legs, but the ones on her arms and stomach were hidden behind the sweatshirt.
“The guys will be here soon. Do you want to go clean up?” I wasn’t sure if she wanted them to see her the way that she was. I was sure that we both knew they would ask questions.
“Nah. Might as well let them know now. There isn’t really much use in hiding it from you guys. I still don’t want my Pens boys to know, quite yet. Plus I heard you and Jon talking and you both made some pretty good points.” She whispered.
“Patrick! Move out of the way and let me see Keels!” Abby shrieked shoving me out of the way. Once her eyes connected with Keeley she stopped dead in her tracks. I heard a knock at the door and saw Jon get up to open it. Abby stared at Keeley for a few seconds longer before grabbing her for a hug. I knew Abs was confused and had so many questions but she didn’t ask.
“How about we go start on breakfast. I’ll cook everything and you can just cut the fruit. How does that sound?” Keeley smiled and followed her into the kitchen. I went to join the group that was now in my living room.
“Where’s Keeley? You didn’t wear her out too much last night did ya Kaner?” Shaw said pushing me a little. I looked around at the group, there was Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, Ben Smith, Kris Versteeg, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Bryan Bickell, Daniel Carcillo, and Corey Crawford.
“Guys, Jon and I need to talk to you about something.” I didn’t waste any time I wanted to get straight to the point. Before I could start talking again Bickell was out of the chair he was sitting in and had Keeley in his arms. I could hear him whisper something to her but she didn’t say anything. She nodded and kissed his cheek.

***Keeley’s point of view***
“Hey Abs, the fruit is all cut and ready to be served. I’m going to go say hi to the guys real quick. I’ll be back in a few.” She nodded and I walked into the living room. I stood in the doorway, catching Bicks eye. He was out of his seat and hugging me in what seemed like milliseconds.
“We need to talk about this. Just you and I.” I nodded and kissed his cheek. Sometimes it was exhausting having this many big brothers. I knew Bicks was just being protective. I was his only sister afterall. I don’t think that my past helped him to not worry about me much either. He led me further into the living room and sat me on his lap.
“So how have my boys been since I’ve been gone?” I asked smiling at the group in front of me. I knew they weren’t expecting to see me in the condition that I was in, so I let it sink in for a moment.
“What in the hell happened?” Carcillo asked kneeling in front of me. His hand gently touched my cheek. It seemed like he was the only one besides Bicks, Patty and Jonny who weren’t frozen in shock.
“If I tell you guys then you have to promise not to freak out. I’m handling the situation so I don’t need you to go and do anything about it. Okay?” I asked receiving a bunch of nods in response.
“Well, you all know that I’m dating a man named Justin. He did about 99% of the bruises that I have on my body, including my fat lip. He dislocated my shoulder and cracked a few ribs.” I could see the anger flash in all of their eyes as I spoke.
“That isn’t a man. Any male that puts their hands on a female deserves to be beaten up three times as bad as what he did to you. I’ll kill him. I swear I will.” Carcillo shouted.
“Carbomb, calm down. It’s okay. You guys have dealt with some of the same injuries that I had from Justin. If you all can manage and deal with them then so can I.” I was about to continue speaking when someone interrupted me.
“Keels, we get hurt from our jobs. It’s not your job to have someone hitting you. Why didn’t you come to us? We can help you.” Corey spoke.
I smiled at him. “Crow, I’m fine. As soon as I get back to Pittsburgh I’m breaking up with him. And before you even suggest it, I’m taking Geno or Cooke with me. Justin won’t do anything with either of them there. He’s afraid of them.” I laughed.
“Well can you blame him? I mean he is the Russian Bear after all.” Shaw joked.
Everyone saw the Russian Bear, tough, scary side of Geno. I knew that wasn’t all there was to him. Geno had a sweet side and he was a giant teddy bear when he wanted to be. I saw that side of him. He would never do anything to hurt me. Conversation flowed nicely for a while longer before Abby told us that breakfast was ready. I was glad that Patty had talked me into staying at the apartment with him. Being back in Chicago with my boys was exactly what I needed.
I was kind of disappointed when Pat told me it was time to go back to the hotel, our flight would be leaving in a few hours and I still needed to get all of my stuff together. The drive over was filled with our horrible singing and Johnny suffered through it like a champ. When he pulled up in front of my hotel I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around him and hug him as tightly as I could.
“I’m going to miss you guys so much! I don’t know how I’m going to be able to be away from you for another few months. Promise that we’ll do something when you come to Pittsburgh. You can even stay at my place, or I can stay at the hotel and we can have a huge slumber party.” I felt Pat rub his hand up and down my back while Johnny wiped away my tears.
“I like the sound of a huge slumber party. What do you think, Kane?” He agreed and I kissed both of their cheeks. “Well it’s settled then. Text, skype, call and FaceTime me as much as you can okay?” They nodded and kissed my cheek. Pat opened the car door and helped me out. I stepped onto the sidewalk and watched as their car disappeared into the busy city street.

Notes