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Friday, March 11, 2011

Chapter 3


“Fuck!”

Sid sat bolt upright in the dark, gasping for breath, his t-shirt clinging to his chest, soaked in sweat. The sheets were tangled in his legs, which meant he’d been skating in his sleep again and that made sense considering he’d been having that dream again, the one where Steckel was chasing him, wielding a stick that looked more like an axe. Only this time it was different. This time he wasn’t just skating in a game with his teammates around him. This time he’d been skating towards someone. 

Rubbing at his eyes, he tried to clear the visions from his head. He’d lost count of how many times he’d been hit in his career. He knew it had been a lot but he didn’t think about all those hit. This hit, the hit he couldn’t actually remember, was haunting him. 

“It’s just because you want to play,” he told himself as he swung his legs around and put his feet on the floor. He padded across the room in the dark to the bathroom and turned on the tap. He let the cold water run over his hand for a minute and then stuck his head beneath the flow and let the icy water cool the back of his neck where he could still feel the Cap’s player’s malevolent stare. 

It had been on purpose. He’d watched the video and he didn’t care what Steckel or anyone else said about it. The Cap’s players had been hunting him that night. Hell, Green had tried to pull his head clean off earlier in the game and of course it hadn’t been the first time he’d been targeted. He’d developed a sort of sixth sense when it came to bigger players bearing down on him at speed. Most of the time he’d brace himself or step out of the way or even jump over them when they tried to slide tackle him as if they were in some kind of rugby game, but an open ice blind side shoulder to the head hadn’t been something he’d been prepared for. 

Sure, he’d been watching where he’d directed the puck so maybe he had to bear part of the blame but he was still pissed that there’d been no fine, no suspension for the hit. Everyone who had watched the video agreed that the hit had been clearly intentional. Other hits that had been clearly unintentional had still resulted in at least two game stretches for the offender. Steckel was still playing. He wasn’t. 

Sid turned off the water and stood there, his head still hung over the sink dripping, and tried to remember the last part of the dream, before his head spun around and felt like it was coming off. This time he hadn’t been just watching where he’d directed the puck, he’d been looking up ice at someone but…who? Shaking his head and sending droplets of water everywhere, he lifted his head and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

Am I losing my memory, he asked his reflection, frustration and fear in his eyes. His hands gripped the sides of the sink hard as he tried to force the dream to replay in his waking mind. 

I was skating, I kicked the puck and then I looked up ice and…and…? Sid squeezed his eyes shut. It was gone, whatever or whoever it was, it was gone now, but this time instead of leaving him in a cold sweat, he felt hot, flushed and…and vaguely energized. He felt like he’d been about to do or see something good, something positive. 

Bringing his fist up and then slamming it down on the porcelain sink, he cursed. It was there, right at the edge of his vision but he couldn’t quite get it. It was like the hit itself. He could almost remember but not quite

His head began to throb. Trying to force his brain to think wasn’t helping anything. With a sigh, Sid turned and padded back to his bed and crawled in, pulling the sheets up to his chest. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling and wondered if he was going to have to count sheep to get back to sleep. It was usually difficult, damn near impossible to get back to sleep after one of these dreams. Natalie had suggested thinking about something positive, something he was looking forward to. With another sigh, Sid turned his thoughts to the last thing he’d enjoyed, swimming, and that conjured thoughts of his swim coach and those thoughts erased any cooling effects the water had provided. 

That damn racing suit covered as much as a pair of shorts and a tank top would and yet it didn’t stop him from imagining what was underneath it and what it would feel like to touch her skin, to kiss her full mouth while he tangled his fingers in her dark hair. With a groan, Sid slid his hand down his chest and into his boxer shorts. A little relief might help him sleep he hoped as he wrapped his hand around his cock and closed his eyes and let his imagination take him away.


Cody reached for the remote and turned down the sound. Not mute. That might alert her niece that she was being listened to and as long as she knew that, Becks didn’t make a sound. Right now, however, the little girl was talking now. In fact, she seemed to be having an entire conversation. 

On tip toe, Cody crept down the hall and then flattened against the wall outside of the little girl’s room.
“Mommy said not to move. You moved.” The voice didn’t sound like Becky’s and at the same time, it did, but as if she was trying to make a man’s voice. 

“The floor was dirty. We’re not supposed to get our shoes dirty. It makes mommy mad.” That was definitely Becky’s voice, or at least Cody was fairly sure that it was. After all, the last time she’d actually heard words come out of the little girl’s mouth had been…what, maybe Christmas? And what was with the Royal We? That was a bad sign wasn’t it? Maybe all she had was a couple of college classes in Psychology but words like dissociative disorder and multiple personalities were now popping into her head. 

“There is no mommy. Mommy’s gone.” Cody winced. She’d tried to explain her sister’s death to the little girl. She hadn’t been sure if she’d said the right things, if what she’d said had made any impact. Obviously it had but the funny thing was, she couldn’t decide if that was a good or a bad thing.

Cody’s stomach tried to send her dinner back up the way it had gone down.  It was just beginning to sink in that she was responsible for the little girl in that room.

She’d done everything not to end up like her sister, not to end up the moody, pregnant drop out teenager and it hadn’t been easy. Not when she’d been shuffled from group homes to foster homes and back to her alcoholic mother. It hadn’t been easy. She’d had to get herself to the pool every morning, had to scrounge together the money for new swimsuits and entrance fees. But she’d done it because she hadn’t wanted to end up like her older sister.

Now here she was, with a little girl that had lost her mother and was now talking to herself. 

Maybe she should talk to someone about that, maybe Cathy. 

No, that would be a bad idea. They put kids with issues in care. Even if they didn’t, there would be social workers and visits from family services and they might want to put her on drugs, chemicals that might alter her personality, might fuck up the rest of her life. 

No, she wouldn’t allow that. That little girl was not going into the system, unless it was over her dead body. 

Taking a deep breath and plastering a smile on her face, Cody rounded the corner and beamed down at the little girl with her mother’s big blue eyes. 

“Hey, so is this a tea party?” The little girl nodded, mute again. “I’d love some tea. Do you think I can have some?” Becky nodded and reached for the little plastic tea pot, upending it into the empty plastic cup and then offering the equally empty sugar bowl. Cody took it and carefully measured out two empty spoonfuls and then took a long, imaginary sip. “Mmm, warm tea, so good.” Becky beamed and that, Cody decided, was a very good sign.


Sid squeezed his eyes shut. The minute he did he heard the click of the doctor shutting off his pen light. He’d failed the test at the first hurdle and he felt like screaming, except that wasn’t something that the Captain of the Penguins would do. Even if the doc didn’t say anything, he was willing to bet someone out in the waiting room would tweet something about him going Hulk and wrecking the doctor’s office. 

“So still light sensitive himmm?” Sid nodded, listening to the scratching of the doc’s pen on the paperwork in front of him, no doubt marking down what a girl he was being about all this. It was a fucking headache. He couldn’t believe he was still going to be kept from playing. “And the lethargy? Still experiencing that?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” That was a ten dollar word he’d had to learn in the past month. It meant that he didn’t want to drag his ass out of bed even more than usual; that he really didn’t want to do anything with the exception of wanting to play and that he wanted to do, badly. 

“And the headaches?” Sid watched the doctor ticking off the boxes that would keep him off the ice and he was sorely tempted to lie. The only thing that stopped him was that he’d promised his mom that he wouldn’t. His life was more important than hockey, or at least that’s what everyone kept telling him. 

“They come and go,” he shrugged. 

“And the severity?” The doctor looked at him over his glasses and again he shrugged. 

“Depends. I don’t know, mostly they’re just headaches, not migraines.” He wasn’t one of those guys who got migraines. Not like Flower or Tanger did when they were so stressed and wound up that they couldn’t see straight. He knew what they were but this wasn’t like that. “Just sort of…I don’t know. They’re nothing I feel like I need to take anything for.” He was adamant about that. He’d heard about Eric Lindros and his ten aspirin an hour habit and that was something he was going to avoid. 

“Mmm.” The doc nodded and scratched something else on his pad. Sid thought that it felt like he was signing the order that would send him to the gallows. ‘I’ve watched too many spaghetti westerns on TV lately’ he thought to himself as he watched the doctor’s pen sweep across the page. “And how are you…otherwise?” the doc finally asked, looking up at him with the same sympathetic expression that everyone seemed to be wearing around him. Shit, it was like someone in his family had died. 

“Okay I guess. I’m a little tired of sitting around doing nothing,” Sid replied honestly, “and answering the same questions over and over,” he added in a tone he tried to keep monotone. The doctor was just doing what he was paid by the club to do. It wasn’t his fault that he wouldn’t be the last person to ask him these questions today. 

“Didn’t Mario suggest some light work outs?” Sid sighed and nodded his head. 

“The swimming thing?” The doc raised his eyebrow and Sid shrugged. “Yeah, I guess it was better than I thought. I’m going again after this.” The doc nodded as a sly smile spread across his face. 

“It’s good for you to get away from the rink. I’m glad that’s working for you.” Sid wanted to tell him that it had only been once, that there was no guarantee that it would work again today but he kept his opinions to himself. The doctor would probably only attribute any negativity to residual pain or something else that would make them suspicious that he was holding out on them. “I guess we’ll see you next week.” Sid couldn’t contain the groan of disappointment as he slipped off of the examination table and onto his feet.  “I know it’s tough but this isn’t something you want to take any chances with son,” the doc added, in that father’s knows best sort of way that made Sid grind his teeth. 

“Next week,” Sid grumbled and, grabbing his coat and bag, walked out of the office. 


“No, no you’re right. There’s no excuse for violence,” Cody nodded, one eye on where Becky was being helped into her jacket by the other day care worker. “There’s no chance there was some kind of…no,” she didn’t finish her thought as the younger woman narrowed her eyes at her. “I’ll speak to her about it. She’s been through a lot lately. I did explain the upheaval and the move…,” she added, leaving out that the little girl’s mother had been shot dead in front of her. That wasn’t part of the story. “Should I…should I apologize to the boy or his mom or…?” 

“Just take Reba home Miss Irving. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.” Cody nodded and held her hand out towards her niece who smiled up at her, as if she hadn’t just hit another kid with building block. Cody took her hand and nodded to the woman before turning her back on the day care worker who was still watching her with a disapproving glare. 

“I’m sure the little shit deserved it,” she whispered to her niece whose grin widened. Cody gave her a wink and Becky laughed. “Now, what are we gonna do about you? I have that private lesson…do you swim?” she asked, almost sure the answer was going to be no. She laughed when her little blonde curls bobbed 
enthusiastically. “Well okay then. Let’s go see if we can find you some water wings.” 


Sid looked down at his watch and then back at the scene in front of him. That little girl he’d seen a few days ago was sitting on the edge of the pool, clapping as Kate slipped under the water and did a handstand in the shallows. He watched her shapely legs slowly appear out of the blue water and couldn’t stop his imagination from picturing them wrapped around his waist, wondering if they were as smoothed as they looked. He wondered if he should turn away and go back into the changing room, if he was intruding upon a private moment but he couldn’t look away. 

He hadn’t done it on purpose, thought about her over the last few days, but every once in a while as he’d been sitting and doing nothing, her smile and her laugh had crept into his consciousness. He’d try to dismiss those thoughts, tried to turn his mind to something else, but before he knew it, there she was again, invading his brain. Worse, thoughts of her were waking him up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and this, he thought as she executed a pair of elegant scissor kicks, was not going to help matters.

He was about to turn and go back into the dressing room when she surfaced, to the applause of the blonde cutie in the water wings. She sketched a shallow bow and laughed, the sound filling the big empty space around them. He was mesmerized. He couldn’t move. It was like he’d been super glued to the spot. 

She turned to swim towards the ladder and caught sight of him and stopped, bobbing in the water and smiling, like she was actually happy to see him. Sid held his towel in front of him, knowing that he was showing all too clearly that he was more than happy to see her. 

“Is it okay if my niece joins us?” she asked as her arms and legs moved in unison, treading water, as he stood there, nodding like one of his bobble heads they gave away at the arena. 

“Yeah, sure…I like kids.” He wondered if he sounded like some kind of pedophile. He kind of thought he did and knew that if she didn’t turn her back so he could get in the water without her looking that he’d look like one too. 

“My ummm, friend should be here to pick her up but she was kind of a naughty little pumpkin at day care today, weren’t you Reebs?”  The little girl nodded and grinned and continued to kick her feet in the water. “Anyway I thought we’d start today with something relaxing…like floating.”

“I don’t float,” he said, turning his back to her as he climbed down the ladder and slid into the water.
“Sure you do,” she replied, looking at him, incredulous. 

“No, no you don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head as swam towards her. “I sink like a stone. I don’t float.”

“Everyone floats,” she insisted, wrinkling her nose at him. “Look.” She turned to the blonde, blue eyed girl sitting on the edge of the pool in her water wings and held out her arms. The little girl dived towards Kate, into the water, no fear. “Float,” she said and the little girl laid on her back, her arms wide, her eyes closed, looking for all of the world like she was asleep, except for the self satisfied smile on her face. “She floats,” she pointed out. Sid shook his head. 

“She’s got water wings,” he replied adamantly. 

“C’mon, everyone floats,” she insisted. “Put a brand new born baby in water and it will kick its’ legs and swim to the surface. It’s natural, just like floating. Everyone floats.” 

“I don’t,” he said, shaking his head. 

“Just…just lie back,” she insisted, tilting her head to one side and staring at him expectantly. He stared back at her, defiant. He didn’t want to do it. He was going to sink and she’d laugh and he really didn’t want Kate to laugh at him.  “Just try it,” she said impatiently, rolling her eyes, “I’ll hold you up, I promise. I won’t let you drown.” Sid sighed and shut his eyes and then, slowly, reluctantly, he allowed himself to lie back in the water. He felt her arms slide beneath his back, her body pressing close to his. “There,” she said and he could hear the smirk in her voice. “Now, isn’t this something you should be doing? You know, relaxing and not over thinking things?” It was true. He was supposed to be trying to unwind, rest, let his brain just relax. Not that there was really any chance of him truly relaxing with her breasts brushing along his ribs.  “There, you’re doing it. You’re floating.” He realized that he couldn’t actually feel her arms beneath him. All that he could feel was the rocking of the cool water beneath him. 

“Huh,” he looked up to find her standing there, near him, smiling down at him with an ‘I told you so’ look on her face. “I guess I am.”


Cody couldn’t stop grinning. For one thing, a millionaire hockey player with the body of Adonis was playing Marco Polo with her and Becky and for another thing, her niece was squealing and giggling and that was definitely something worth smiling about. 

“Marco!” he called, spinning in slow circles in the shallow end with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands held out in front of him. 

“Polo!” Cody called back before sinking just below the surface and swimming away from him just as he reached her. She surfaced a few feet away and watched him patting the water blindly. She laughed and shook her head. The game had been his idea but she still couldn’t get over the idea or the fact that his sullen almost sulky nature had seemed to transform so completely around Becky. He obviously hadn’t been lying; he did seem to really like being around kids. 

“Marco!” he called again and this time he began to walk right towards where Becky was clinging to the wall, making her way around the edge of the pool. Just as he was about to reach her, Becky produced a high pitched squeal and dove away, splashing and kicking up a shower of spray in Sidney’s direction. He coughed and wiped at his face but instead of looking annoyed at being splashed, he was laughing. 

He was truly adorable when he laughed, Cody decided. There was no way it was phony in any way. A grown man wouldn’t make that high pitched giggle if he could help it. Listening to it made her want to throw her arms around him and squeeze him until he couldn’t breathe. If he had any idea how good it was to see Becks laugh….

“Marco!” he called again turning now towards where she was standing, just a couple of feet from him. 

“Polo,” she called back and then waited as he strode towards her, his wide chest cutting through the water like one of those ships that cuts through the arctic ice making a path for smaller ships to follow. Cody’s gaze roamed over his broad, round shoulders and along his thick, muscular arms and imagined being held by them. She wondered what lucky girl got to do more than wonder about that. 

Just as his fingers were about to brush her shoulders, she ducked beneath the water and dodged away from him, slipping one finger just beneath the top of his shorts and snapping the waistband. He turned and started heading towards her. She watched his powerfully built legs move beneath the water and couldn’t help but to think of the force he could generate with them. That thought made her stomach clench and sent a tingling sensation between her legs. 

He stood, his feet shoulder width apart and she couldn’t resist it. Swimming between his legs, she surfaced just behind him, tapping his shoulder and then diving away again as soon as he started to turn. She heard him curse as she dove beneath the water and couldn’t resist doing it again, grabbing his calves as she did to give herself an extra push. She broke the surface of the water, laughing as he spun around, capturing her shoulders in his massive hands. 

Cody caught her breath as his eyes opened. His eyes were light golden brown with hints of real gold and gem green. They were eyes that she knew she could get lost in, eyes that mesmerized, hypnotized. 

“You’re it,” he told her in a low voice that was almost a whisper. 

“Yeah, I guess I am,” she agreed, though she didn’t want him to take his hands off of her. She wanted him to do more than that. She wanted him to kiss her, and almost as if he’d read her mind, Sidney looked down at her mouth, like he was studying it which made her look at his mouth. She couldn’t remember ever seeing a man with a mouth as full and as soft as his looked. “You’re supposed to say Marco,” he whispered and, after a long, silent moment, she nodded. 

“Marco,” she called softly. 

“Polo,” he answered, without moving, without taking his hands from her shoulders. She stared at him, at his mouth, wondering if his lips tasted as good as they looked. 

“Polo,” a little voice called uncertainly behind her, reminding her that this wasn’t about her hormones or the half empty queen sized bed she had to look forward to back in that empty craftsman bungalow. 

“Marco,” she called a little more enthusiastically and then, very reluctantly turned and swam towards Becky who started giggling again, pushed off from the wall of the pool and kicked enthusiastically as she swam away. 


“That was fun,” Sid shifted his bag on his shoulder as Kate knelt in front of her niece, doing up her jacket. Niece, he was relieved about that and he wasn’t sure why. He liked kids. He liked that kid, even if she wasn’t much of a talker, maybe because. “I’m used to joking around with the boys at practice. I’ve been missing that.”

“How do you feel?” she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder. 

“Good,” he answered automatically, not realizing that he meant it until he’d said it out loud. He did an internal audit. Head felt fine. He didn’t ache anywhere. He didn’t feel like he needed a nap and he was actually starving. “Do you wanna get lunch or something?” he asked suddenly, because he was hungry and he didn’t want to go home yet, not when he was feeling like this. He wanted to do something, use this energy he had to do something. It was a full minute, maybe more when he realized she hadn’t answered. He reprimanded himself for moving too fast, for assuming that she would want to spend time with him, assuming she was like every other girl and wanted to be with him. “I’m sorry. Of course you have things to do,” he began, only to be silenced by her reaching back and digging her fingernails into his leg. 

“Shhh,” she commanded and he did. He fell silent and then followed her gaze to where a guy was standing near the doors to the pool. 

“Do you know that guy?” he whispered, making note of the bleached worn denim, torn at the knees and the dark hooded sweatshirt with the flames up the sleeves. He felt immediately possessive, defensive of her. Was this guy some kind of ex boyfriend? Had he beat her up? Sid’s free hand balled into fists. 

“No,” she replied quietly. “But he was here before. Don’t you think he looks kind of…out of place?” she asked. Sid considered the stranger for a moment and then shrugged. 

“I don’t know…maybe.” He did look a little older than some of the other students but then Sid had to consider what little he knew about college. He glanced back down at Kate who was still watching the guy, though she was trying to be covert about it as she tugged mittens on her niece. “Why?” he asked.

“I’ve…he’s been here before. I just…I mean you read about things like this right?” she hissed, standing up but keeping a grip on her niece’s hand. “Freaks, watching girls change and stuff,” she added with another wary glance towards the door. Sid nodded like he understood, thinking that if you were a woman, a mother or in this case an Aunt you probably did have to be more aware of strangers. It made him think about his sister, far from home at Shattucks. He made a mental note to send Taylor an email when he got home. 

“At least let me walk you to your car,” he offered. She smiled and nodded. He offered his arm. She stared at it for a moment, like he’d grown a third appendage and then slipped her arm into his. Together they walked down the hall and he pushed open the door. Sid glanced over at the guy and found him watching them. Kate was right. Something was definitely off about the guy. 

Once they were past him and had merged with a crowd of students, Kate looked gratefully up at him. 

 “Thanks,” she began, but as he opened his mouth to tell her that it wasn’t necessary to thank him she continued, “You must think I’m paranoid but…if anything happened to her…,” she shrugged and fell silent. Sid nodded. He imagined that it was kind of like when Taylor came to stay with him. If he ever so much as caught Max or Jordy or any of the sex crazed maniacs that were his teammates looking at her sideways, he’d be forced to kill someone. 

They walked until they got to a nondescript grey five or six year old Volvo and then she slid her arm from his and started to fish in her pockets for her keys. He considered asking her to dinner again but decided against it. She’d probably have to find a sitter and it was short notice and even though he didn’t have a headache now he might in an hour or so and then he wouldn’t be very good company anyways. 

So instead he stood behind her with his hands in his pockets and watched whiles he loaded her niece into the booster seat in the back, waiting for her to turn around again. 

“Day after tomorrow?” he said hopefully. She nodded and then turned and walked around the car, sliding into the driver’s seat and starting the ignition. He waved and watched her back out of the space before he turned and headed to the far end of the lot where he’d left his Land Rover. When he glanced up at the doors to the pool as he passed, he noticed the stranger was gone. 

4 comments:

  1. So adorable, you can feel the sexual tension between them. Im so glad your writing another Sid story. I loved the other one so much. update soon please.

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  2. Creepy stranger, hope he's not from back home. Loving this new story, very intriguing! :)

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  3. LOVE IT!!! this is soooo good!! i wish it goes on forever and not end at like chapter 25 lol

    pls post soon

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  4. ahhh scary strangerrr! soo intense!
    i'm loving every word of this story!

    ps im glad sidney is the protective type in this storryy
    it just makes me happy hahah :)

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