We're gonna come together, we're gonna celebrate
We're gonna gather around like it's your birthday
I don't wanna know just what I'm gonna do
I don't care where you're going
I'm coming home with you." Kings of Leon
We'd won. I was over the fucking moon. My first hat-trick at Mellon. There is nothing like hearing the buzzer sound and watching everyone in the stands jump up and knowing that shower of head gear that hits the ice and delays the game is for you.
I'd watched it go on for other people and it annoyed the crap out of me. This side of it was a very different feeling. This side, I loved.
I fiddle with the puck, the trainer wrapped it in tape and carefully printed the date, the team, and "1st Home Hat-trick".
"Listen up," Therrien barks without so much as a smile. "We did good tonight. Sidney is living up to his hype for now. The rest of you, room for improvement. I know the next game isn't till Wednesday but I want full practice tomorrow 1pm. No going out tonight. Understand?"
The room is begrudgingly silent.
He turns and leaves.
"Fuck that," Max grumbles.
It pisses me off too. It's not that I wanted to go out necessarily… I mean I had no plans. It's just that I don't want him making the decision for me.
"Living hype?" Geno questions in his broken English.
"It means he thinks Sidney is playing as good as people say he is," Jordan explains and shakes his head. "It means Therrien is a douchebag."
I shush him like a Captain should quiet a insubordinate but I can't hide a small smile.
After we finish with warm-down and showering everyone kinda takes their time getting dressed. No one wants to go home so soon.
"Anyone want to swing by my new place. Just to, you know, check it out," Clay asks quietly. "Maybe give me some decorating tips."
I stare at him and his mouth tugs up in a deceptive smile.
"Decorating tips?" Max replies and a smile is brewing on his face too.
"Yeah like is my liquor cabinet in the right place? Is it too full?" Clay starts questioning. "Also, I think I might have too much beer in the fridge and it's throwing off the feng shui."
"Well we wouldn't be good team mates if we let your feng shui stay all fucked up now would we?" Jordan says jovially as he runs a towel over his wet blonde mop.
I chuckle. "So Morgan's it is. You know just till that feng shui thing is fixed."
The whole way over to Morgan's – which is a short 10-minute commute – I'm giddy and upbeat. Jordan is driving and I'm humming along to Rihanna on the radio.
"You should get hat tricks every game. You're a happy camper for once," Jordan says observing my mood.
"It's sweet and long overdue," I reply and tap my fingers on the dash.
"I did okay too," Flower pipes up from the back seat. "I owned that starter position. I proved it."
"You never had to prove it Flower," I tell him honestly. "We know you're golden."
"Therrien doesn't."
Poor Flower. He was our first round pick - a golden goalie - but Therrien never gives him credit. Coach loves Sabourin and only Sabourin. His biased is so absurd it's offensive. I even get offended for Flower.
"Let's forget about him and just get our drink on tonight okay?" I reply and I mean it. I want to celebrate.
"Is his sister still in town?" Flower asks.
"We're about to find out," I say and try not to sound as excited as I am at the thought of spending the night with Bella Morgan nearby. I haven't seen her since before our road trip - since that dinner at Mario's. I haven't had a reason to, but that doesn't mean I haven't wanted to see her.
Clay meets us in the lobby with Max and Colby. The building is fairly new and very modern. Clay's new place is on the 25th floor and it's a lot of glass and granite and stainless steel but the furnishings are warm in earth tones with overstuffed pillows.
I try to hide my disappointment when I realize Bella isn't there. We're all hanging out in the massive kitchen-dining room as Clay pulls beers out of the fridge and hands them out. Jordan wanders over to Clay's ipod dock and shuffles through stuff until he finds some Linkin Park.
"Your sister go home?" I ask in a voice I can only hope is casual sounding.
"Nah, I think she and Ness went to a bar or something," Clay explains opening his cupboard and pulling out some bags of chips and pretzels.
Max's phone goes off from the back pocket of his jeans. His ring tone is Low by FloRider – which is so typically Max.
He glances at the call display and grins like a six year old on Christmas Day. "It's Meagan. I met her at a restaurant last week. Elle a un joli sourire et un plus joli cul."
"Should a girl's ass really be prettier than her face? Is that a good thing?" I question and laugh.
Max ignores me.
"Well let's judge for ourselves," Clay says suddenly. "Invite her over. Tell her to bring friends."
Max lets out a belly laugh, answers the call and does just that.
Three beers later Clay is buzzing up the girl with the pretty smile and prettier ass, as Max put it, whose name turns out to be Megan, and 3 of her friends. None of them are ugly, that's for sure. There's Anna, a short blonde with big brown eyes and Carly, a taller blonde with longer hair and Darci, a tiny little brunette with fake boobs so big I'm shocked she doesn't tip over.
Jordan nudges me in the living room as they're all in the kitchen watching Clay do his best imitation of a fancy bartender. "Which one you want?"
"I don't know.." I stammer and add. "That Anna one is okay."
"I'm going for Darci," Jordan says quietly. "I've never had a pair of fake tits before."
"By all means, scratch that off your bucket list," I snark and laugh. Jordy is a player but unlike Max he somehow seems adorable when he does it. Which usually gets him way classier tail than Max snags.
An hour and 2 more beers later and I let Anna convince me to do a shot of Jack. I'm drunk. Drunker than I've been in a long time. Anna is perched on the arm of the couch beside me, her hand resting lightly on my shoulder. She's telling me how awesome it is that I score a lot. I'm apparently amazing to watch. Her praise is ridiculous and, quite frankly, boring. I hate when people blow smoke up my ass. Hate it. I find myself contemplating kissing her just to shut her up. But girls like this are the exact reason I don't mess around. Anna is star struck. She wants to nail the Reebok commercial, not me. If I slept with her, she'd probably tweet "I'm banging Sidney Crosby right now!" in the middle of it.
Jordan is sitting next to me with Darci beside him, her feet dangling over his legs. He has one of his giant paws resting on her bare thigh at the edge of her tiny denim skirt and I bet that in the next 15 minutes it'll disappear under the hem.
I glance over and can see the faint outline of Max and Megan are on the balcony just off the kitchen. They're attached at the lips - and god knows where else - and probably dying of hypothermia. Carly is in the kitchen doing shots with Clay and Flower. Colby left a few minutes ago eager to get home to Melissa.
The front door opens and there's the distinctive click of high heels on the marble floor and I hear this sweet sounding high-pitched giggle.
"Can you believe him?" I hear Bella's voice over the music from the stereo.
"At least your guy was trying to be sweet," Vanessa's word travel into the room. "Mine was lucky he had his looks."
They stumble into the living room and both stop dead at the sight of all of us.
Bella's mouth opens but she says nothing as her beautiful green eyes grow wide and sweep over the group. Vanessa's smile slips for a second as her eyes land on Staalsy.
"Hey Bells!" Clay calls from the kitchen. "We won!"
"Yeah. I watched it," Bella says calmly. "Nice pair of assists."
She wanders by the couch toward the kitchen and her brother. I watch her go, taking in the way her body curves in the clingy, short black dress she's wearing and the sexy shape of her bare legs propped up in those sexy black heels with the red soles. It's just as good as the yoga pants, possibly better because I can see more skin.
Darci and Anna watch Bella and Vanessa with wary eyes. I could explain to them that it's Clay's sister and friend not girlfriends about to wage war but… I don't really care. And did I mention I am drunk?
Bella grabs a bottle of beer out of the fridge and surveys the room again. "By the way everyone I'm Bella. Clay's sister. And this is my best friend Nessa."
The girls mutter half-hearted hellos. This doesn't seem to phase Bella. I have a feeling she's used to puck bunnies and their insecurities. Vanessa seems a little bit ruffled and she keeps glancing at Darci suspiciously.
"I need to change," Bella announces. "The dress has served its purpose for the night."
She wanders back through the living room and Vanessa follows her.
"Yeah," Nessa agrees. "We're done picking up. Time for comfy clothes."
They disappear down the hall and behind doors on the opposite sides of the hall.
The music changes, Ray J's Sexy Can I fills the room and Darci squeals and jumps up, grabbing Anna and pulling her off the couch.
"I wanna dance!" She wails excitedly. "I love this song!"
Anna tries to pull me off the couch as Jordan gets up, grinds Darci for a second and then mumbles something about having to piss. I convince Anna I need another beer and wander over to the kitchen. I'm drunk, but not drunk enough to dance.
A second later Bella comes back out in a pair of beautifully tight and blessedly short yoga shorts and a fitted, very low cut, V-neck Canucks T shirt. I laugh at it. I know her brother plays for them but for some reason it's hysterical to me that she's wearing it in Pittsburgh in a room full of Penguins.
"Umm… wrong hockey team!" Anna snipes, offended. She glances at me like she wants some kind of praise for calling Bella out. I star down into my fresh beer and continue to giggle.
Bella completely ignores Anna and grabs my beer out of my hand and hops up on the countertop in front of me, and takes a long slow sip.
"Nice hat trick," she says with a smile. "Congrats."
"Thanks," I smile back. "Felt good."
"Did it?" she questions and I nod stiffly. "Because I'm betting your first thought was I wish it was Brodeur."
She sips my beer again as I stare blinking and stunned.
"I'm right," she says cockily.
"Yeah. You are," I admit in a low voice, not that the guys are anywhere around me. They're all in the living room now except for Max who's still out on the balcony probably frozen to death. "Brodeur is the best. A legend."
"You gotta celebrate the victories in whatever way or order they're given to you because they're still victories," she tells me and hands me back my beer. "So Brodeur wasn't your first. But you'll get him. He's got too much of an ego to retire when he should. You'll have lots of chances to hat-trick his ass."
"Wow. UCLA would be proud," I joke.
"It doesn't take my sports psychology degree to figure out you're an over-achiever," She replies with a wink.
She hops off the counter and walks over to the balcony sliding the door open. "Max! You're going to get frostbite on your dick for godssake! Go use my bedroom!"
She leaves the door open and turns to me laughing. "I can't believe I just did that but it's so cold out there. Even puck bunnies deserved to have a nice warm one night stand."
I burst out laughing at that.
"You're amazing," I tell her through giggles. And I honestly mean it. She's like no girl I have ever met.
"Hot as a fever, rattling bones
I could just taste it, taste it
If it's not forever, if it's just tonight
Oh, it's still the greatest, the greatest, the greatest." Kings of Leon
After I take a piss I step out into the hall and glance at the two bedroom doors. Instead of heading back to the party - and the beer that's got me buzzing, and the fake tits I'm yet to get a feel of – I wander towards the guest bedroom Vanessa and her pretty pink mini dress disappeared into.
I'm too drunk to care about etiquette so I don't knock. I just push open the door and slip inside, making sure to close it behind me. I haven't seen her or talked to her since that night at my house. Because that's the way it should be. She was a one night stand. But I thought about her the whole road trip. And I didn't get laid in New York which is like a travesty or something. I kissed a chick in the bar I went to with my brother Marc, Flower and Max but instead of closing the deal I went home and jerked off. To Ness.
She looks up wide-eyed and for a minute I think she might smile, but instead she blinks a few times and suppresses any sign of emotion.
"Hey Staal," she chirps in a calm, even tone.
I don't like her calling me by my last name. It's weird. And distant. And I don't want her to be distant. I want her to be close. Like sitting-on-my-dick close.
She's in nothing but a silver satin bra and a pair of sweats with UCLA bear paws on the ass.
"Did you get lost looking for the bathroom?"
I shake my head and run my tongue across my lips. She stares at me blankly. Then she grabs a black tank off the floor and throws it on. Then suddenly – finally – she has some emotion in her face.
"Ummm… look," she swallows hard and her dark eyes are serious. "I get that you've got a chick out there and you want to …."
"What chick?" I interrupt and take a step toward her.
"The one with the tits," she reminds me frankly and clears her throat.
"Max invited them," I explain and reach out and pull the elastic from her hair. It tumbles in soft waves skimming her shoulders and brushing her cheeks.
"Whatever," she shakes her head and tips it upward to meet my stare. I'm so close to her now our chests are almost touching.
"I don't mean to interrupt your game," she tells me in a business like voice. "So by all means go ahead and get the job done. But if you're looking for a bed to finish the deal it's not going to be mine. Either set up shop in Bella's room or cab her back to your place."
She takes a step back and then pirouettes around me. I really wish I hadn't had that last beer. My reflexes are shit. She's at the door with her hand on the handle before I can reach her.
She pulls it open but I put my hand on it and push. The handle slips from her hand and the door shuts again.
She turns, pressing her back up against the door to distance herself from me as much as possible. She looks up, crossing her arms across her perky, perfect tits.
"What?"
My hand slides down the door above her head and lands on her shoulder. Her skin is so warm and so soft.
"You know what."
"No," she argues but her brown eyes have softened and there's a smile turning the corners of her mouth up ever so slightly as her tongue darts out to lick her lips. "Tell me what."
"I'm not done with you," I whisper lowering my head and capturing her lips.
She doesn't even pretend to hesitate. Her hands move directly under my shirt and she lifts it over my head. I cup her head with one hand and her ass with the other and push into her showing her exactly how much I have left to give her.
"What about Tits McGee?" she snarks into my ear as she nips my earlobe.
I smile down at her, lift her by her tiny little ass and, as she wraps her legs around my waist, I carry her over to the bed.
"She can have Flower as a consolation prize," I suggest, dropping her onto the bed and pulling her tank top over her head.
And then there's no more speaking. Just muffled moans and stifled grunts and tiny groans as we rediscover each other's bodies with our tongues and our hands while trying not to alert the party outside the door. Then finally she's naked and I'm naked and after I quickly grab the condom from my wallet my dick is pushing into her warm, wet core and she's biting my bottom lip and I can't believe how fucking fantastic it feels. Better than any sex I've ever had. I have no idea why it's just better.
She wraps her long legs around my back and her long arms around my neck and if this was any other fuck I would pull back, flip her over, create a little distance and pump into her fast and furious. But I don't want to tonight. I want every inch of me to touch her. And so I keep my body pressed against hers and grind slowly, steadily in and out of her hot, tight body and she sighs and quivers as I roll my pelvis to brush her clit. She's kissing me everywhere – my neck my lips, my jaw, my ear and it feels so fucking good. So right.
"You're fucking amazing you know that?" she whispers, her lips grazing my cheek. I feel her body tighten around my cock and she starts to pant.
"You make me that way," I grunt back and moan as I shake and I hurtle toward release at the same time she is.
How the fuck that keeps happening is beyond me.
But right now everything is beyond me. I don't understand anything I am feeling or thinking but luckily I'm still too buzzed to care.
I lie on top of her, my face buried in the crook of her neck, my breath coming in gulps. She runs her hands through my damp hair and whispers something about people wondering where we are.
"I'm sure Tits Mcgee wants to know where you went." She giggles softly.
"Fuck her," I mumble back. "All I want is you."