Chapter 9: No Real Harm Done

***Okay, alot less dramatic then I had originally intended but... I love good ol' Maxime too much to write about him being seriously hurt lol. Hope you guys still like it! I love hearing all your thoughts and comments about the story (they're the reason why I update this one the most so... keep 'em coming!). I would love to see where you guys think this story should go!***


“Where the hell is he?” I yelled, barging through the front door of the house Max shared with Letang, Geno and one of the medical staff interns, Kelsey.

“Whatever it is… I blame the Russian!” Kris laughed as he pulled his head out of the fridge to watch me march past him. The look on Geno’s face wiped his smile away, “I was just jokin man! I didn’t know you were there…” He sighed and shook his head, before he turned his attention back to the fridge.

I reached the stairs, taking them two at a time; “Max! MAX! Where the hell are you, you son of bitch…” I turned down the hallway towards Max’s room as the door opened. I picked up my pace, ready to inflict as much pain as I could manage onto my team-mate. The man turned around to stare at me and, caught off guard, I halted to a stop.

“Problem Sidney?” Mario asked, closing the gap between us in a few long strides.

“Yah…” I nodded, figuring it was best to be honest with Mario. “I’m gonna kill him…”

“Please… don’t do that?” Mario suggested, shrugging his shoulder. “I’d really hate to have to replace him this late in the season, and the last thing we need is you out with an injury.” I could tell he was being sarcastic with me, and this only enraged me more.

“You have no idea what he’s don-” I began, but Mario cut me off.

“What he’s done? Don’t I?” I realize for the first time that he was holding a copy of the paper in his hand. He held it up in front of him and gave me a small smile. “I came over after I saw it… thought he might need a talking to. I must say, I am glad I came though, we really don’t need to have you two punching it out.”

“We sick of him and how he is to women… he need to learn lesson.” Geno grunted from behind me. I knew that he was remembering what it felt like to see Geno trying to get on Oksana.

“Look guys, I’m not saying that you’re wrong, but I am saying this isn’t going to happen. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what he did and I’m sorry that you guys have to live with it, but I can’t have my team getting into physical fights with each other.”

“Who’s fighting with the what now?” Tanger came around the corner, his mouth half-full of sandwich.

“Max kissed Karri.” I replied, still staring Mario down.

“Oh, no shit! Really? Dude, that sucks. You gonna fight him?”

“No! No fighting. Now, do I have to stay here or will you guys be able to control yourselves?” Mario asked, exasperated.

“Hey Kelsey! Sidney’s gonna fight Max!” Kris called over his shoulder towards the living room. In my disgruntled search for Max I must have missed her.

“Good!” I heard her shout from the direction of the kitchen, “tell him to hit him once from me.”

Mario sighed and brought his hands over his face. He dropped them back down to his sides and gave me a fatherly look.

“We’re fine.” I crossed my arms over me chest. “But I’m still saying something to him!”

Mario shrugged nonchalantly, before walking past us, shaking his head at Tanger before disappearing from site.

“What? …what?” Tanger shouted down at Mario, turning to shrug at us.

I sighed and we continued down the hall. I took a deep breath outside of Max’s room before pushing the door open. Max was sitting with his back to me, apparently typing on his computer. He turned around at the sound of us entering, no emotion on his face. “Get the hell out of her Tanger.”

Kris let out a groan and looked from Max to Geno to Me; we all stared back. “Ugh! You guys suck…” He turned and headed back down the hallway, “nothing exciting happens all week and then when it does… oh no! Can’t let Kris have any fun…” his muttering disappeared as his feet sounded on the stairs.

“You want something.” Max stated.

“I think you know why I’m here! Don’t pretend you don’t!” I snapped. Max shrugged at me before turning back to his computer. “I’m talking to you!” I yelled, outraged at his complete lack of respect.

“You want my attention? Don’t come into my room and yell at me. Christ.”

“You kissed Karri.”

“And?”

“You kissed my girlfriend Max!” Again he shrugged. “Are you serious? What the hell makes you think you can just kiss whoever you want!?”

“I never said I could, did I?”

“No, but you did! You just grabbed her and kissed her, she didn’t want you to!”

“Yah, and so I stopped when she said to.”

“You shouldn’t have been kissing her in the first place! She’s my girlfriend… you’re my team-mate… there’s some kind of rules for this crap… you just can’t do it!”

“Scared of some competition Crosby?” He turned around giving me a smug smile, like he was proud of himself.

“First off, Karri is not a competition; secondly, she doesn’t want you, she wants me… so back off.”

“Well if you were so sure of yourself then you wouldn’t be so pissed off about this. Are you mad caused I kissed her or are you mad cause the paper says she kissed me back?”

“She did NOT kiss you back!” I moved around Max’s bed towards him; I was getting ready to lunge when I felt a little hand on my arm.

“Careful now Sidney…” Kelsey whispered softly at my side. “You told Mario you wouldn’t and you don’t actually want to hurt him, he’s your team-mate.” She sighed at the look on my face. “You’ll regret it tomorrow Sidney, really you will.” I sighed in defeat and nodded. As angry as I was right now, I knew I didn’t hate Max; I would regret this in a few days.

Geno turned and walked out of the room, Kelsey following after; looking over her shoulder to make sure I was following. I gave Max one last look before heading out.

“Hey Sidney.” Max called, timidly, causing me to pause. “I'm not making a play for your girl... I'm not even sure why I did it. When women are nice to me it's usually cause that's what they're aiming for. I just got caught up in the moment I guess... talking about emotions and crap."

“What’s that suppose to mean?” I asked, turning around to face him.

“A lot has changed man, she’s still hurting… I’m not very good at communicating with girls, word-wise anyway,” he chuckled a bit, “not the first time it’s gotten me into trouble… Anyway, she won’t tell you what she’s going through but everything’s getting to her, no matter how cool she plays it. The girlfriends, the schedule, the pressure, and now all that on top of the rejection she felt before; she convinced that you’re gonna take off on her again.”

I could only stare at him. “How do you know all that?” I asked finally.

“Je ne sais pas… sometimes I do more with these lips than kiss, I guess.”

I nodded at him again before heading out the door. Sometimes I just didn’t know what to think of Max.

The night before, Maxime’s POV

“You ok, jolie dame? I ask Karrington, catching her off guard. She didn’t see me approach and jumps a bit at the sound of my voice, spilling some champagne on the floor.

“Oh Max, you startled me. Sorry!” She adds, as she looks down and realizes that she’s spilt her drink on my shoes. I dismiss her apology with a wave of my hand. She smiles at me.

“You didn’t answer my question…” I take a step towards her, cocking my head to the side in expectation of her answer.

“Umm… I’m doing very well, thank you.” I shake my head amused. “What’s so funny?” She asks, offended maybe…

“You’re so much like Sidney; such diplomatic answers. He soft eyes are amused now, she brushes her hair back with a hand; revealing her collar bone. She traces the base of her neck lightly with her hand, the move, nothing more than a nervous habit I have seen before, seems provocative now; above the designer dress that traces her curves… and my, my does she have some nice curves.
She’s with Sidney, I remind myself and I pull my eyes away from her shape, up to her face, which is now puckered in thought.

“Well… between friends right?” She asks, I nod my head. “I’m… dealing. It’s hard, to be here with all this…” she extends her arms out at her sides; I know she’s talking about more than just the banquet.

“But so much harder to be without him.” I finish for her. Her eyes meet mine and I see that pain that still burns beneath them as she gives me a small smile and nods. She sighs and her eyes move off to something behind me. I follow her gaze and find Emma, Jennifer and some of the other girls; glaring at us from a few tables away. I look back at Karrington. Her green eyes are sad again, no one so beautiful should have so much pain in their eyes. “Air frais?” I ask, nodding towards the door. She doesn’t respond, her eyes never leaving the other girls. I tug on her arm gently and she doesn’t resist as I pull her outside with me.

I take her hand in mine and we walk around the perimeter of the building a full time before we say anything.

“Anything you want to say?” I pull her to a stop back where we started, she turns so that she is facing me, I can tell she’s about to break. She takes a deep breath as tears start to fall down her face, she shakes her and shrugs her frail looking shoulders. I pull her against my chest and let her cry.
After a little while she gains control of her breathing and pulls back, wiping the tears away.

“I’m so sorry Max… I don’t know what’s come over me the past couple days… I’ve been crying so much. I just don’t know who I can talk to… Vero and Oksana just think I’m being foolish and Sidney… Sidney already beats himself up so much without me adding fuel to the flame.” She releases another sob and puts her hands up in front of her face.
I lead her over to a bench a few feet away and we sit down. I sit in silence, allowing her to collect her thoughts before she begins. Karrington tells me everything. Everything about the way things use to be with Sidney, how it ended, what she did after, how she ended up here.
“I just don’t know Maxime. He’s so wonderful. I just, always worried about loosing him over nothing, back when I was just worried about hockey but now… now all these women that throw themselves at him; they’re all so beautiful! I keep thinking… I don‘t belong here.”

I turn and look at the girl sitting next to me, trusting me with her life’s secrets. I lean over, my elbows resting on my legs as I ponder everything she’s said. It seems silly to me that she feels this way, I can relate to Vero and Oksana in that, she’s worried about other women when she’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. “Well, you are beautiful. Genuine, kind… unlike most of the women we meet, you still have your self-respect and integrity. Plus, you have one thing no other woman in the whole world has.”

“And what’s that?” She asks, her voice sounds stronger now.

“You have the kid’s heart.” She laughs and shakes her head, her soft brown hair falling down over her shoulders. “It’s true. I promise, I wouldn’t lie to you… not ever.” Her eyes meet mine and she smiles, her eyes are telling me that she believes me. I believe it too. “He never mentioned your name before… never mentioned a girl before but we all knew there was someone he left behind. He never talked about women, and, there were a lot of women. Everytime we went somewhere they were all trying to get a piece of him and he just walked by like they didn’t exist. I mean, of course he went on the odd date… favours for friends and staff really… but it never went anywhere. I thought he was crazy… if I was him… well, that’s a different story but… believe me when I say; for him, there’s only ever been you.”

She reaches out and squeezes my arm. “Thank you Maxime. It’s nice to know I have a friend I can confide in…” We both lean back, sitting in silence.

“We should probably go back in now.” I say, not really wanting to break the serenity of this moment. She nods. We sit for a while longer before we get up and head back towards the door.

I stop her before she steps inside. I grab her clutch purse out of her hand and fish around inside, pulling out her phone. I punch in my number and place it back in her purse. She laughs amused as I hand it back to her. “If you ever need someone to talk to, you know how to reach me now.” She wraps her arm around my neck and hugs me tightly.

“Thank you.” She pulls back, her arms still around me, and she gives me a smile. What now? She’s looking at me with something in her eyes but I’m not sure what… I’ve been in this situation many times, well not really, but I can assume what she wants. I shrug to myself as I grab onto her upper arms, pulling them off from around my neck. I grasp them more firmly as I pull her closer to me; bringing my lips down to meet hers.
She pushes me back almost instantly and sighs. “You sure know how to ruin a nice moment Maxime… friends remember?”

I laugh out loud and release her arms. “Pardon moi, I’m not good with the friend thing yet… don’t give up on me though, alright?” She exhales deeply and begins to laugh to.

“You really are a piece of work, no wonder you get yourself into so much trouble.”

“Hey now! I don’t get into THAT much trouble… besides, when pretty women put there arms around me I have to kiss them, it’s a reflex… I can’t help it. Now that we‘re discussing it though… I don‘t think there‘s anything wrong with friends kissing each other….”

She laughs again, “You don’t see Vero or Oksana trying to kiss me Max.”

“No… but I would really like to!”

“If it ever happens, you’ll be the first person I call.“ She points to her bag and giggles. She turns and reaches out for the handle just as the door opens. Vero and Oksana step outside into the night air.

“Bonjour mes amis!” I exclaim, throwing out my arms dramatically. They both laugh and walk over to us. “I was just on my way back in… but I might have to stay now, wouldn’t want to miss the show…”

“What show is this?” Vero asks walking towards us.

“Ugh! Don’t ask him!” Karri aims a punch at my stomach which I dodge easily, laughing as I head back inside; making a mental note to tell the kid he needed to hold onto this one.