Chapter 406: Danny XLI—That’s It

In that blinding eternity he had drowned in bliss, inside Michele’s body, feeling her flesh quiver around him and her words so soft in his ear, encouraging him and inciting him to pleasure, he thought that perhaps he loved Michele. He thought to himself as the bliss exploded, and his hips bucked beyond his control, that he wanted to take Michele now, and leave town, keep her safe somewhere, find a living far away and just screw like rabbits all day. It faded and she kissed him and petted him and cooed over him and even briefly he felt annoyed there, mad that it was already over and she had succeeded perhaps in some elaborate game to take his virginity and strip Cecile of something rightfully hers. But that would be thinking paranoid.

He realized quickly, however, that Michele had not felt the same pleasure at all, and it destroyed his self confidence. But as he begged her to stay, pleaded with her to let him try again, it was not with wanting to please her, but to find out exactly what else there was to do! If Michele didn’t get anything out of that then what tricks, what maneuvers, what sort of world had he to learn?

Following Michele down to her car, Dan didn’t think of Cecile at all, just how nice the woman with him smelled, how she just walked so damn fast and he couldn’t catch her. And when he finally did catch her, he kissed her over and over and held onto her, told her he would never let her go unless she promised to see him again. She promised, she got in the car and drove away and damn Dan felt like the ruler of all things good. And then he thought of Cecile’s solemn eyes and the passionate way she could kiss.

Licking his lips, Dan thought of Cecile’s body, longer and softer than Michele’s he bet, breasts larger, thighs larger, hips wider, skin paler and smoother. Cecile was still meant for him, and him alone and she still showed no signs of wanting to marry soon. Dan’s gut burned because now he wanted her badly, now he wanted her to feel that same bliss with him, he wanted to see her face experiencing that bliss for the first time. He wanted to keep her with him forever, knowing that special thing they had together.

All night he dreamt of that moment, over and over again that sharp pleasure, that brief panic and hearing Michele’s voice in his ear. It tormented him like a flame in his belly and Dan kept waking up trembling or moaning or even crying, dying for a moment’s peace. By morning his stomach growled angry and ravenous and he couldn’t stop thinking about women. Christ, he almost felt as if he’d been struck by insanity!

Seeing Patrick so distraught over the Smittens crashed Danny to Earth some and he felt like shit, especially wondering if the puppy had eaten the good luck charms while he and Michele were together. Oh yeah Macaroni Grill is gonna make it much better for him, Dan rebuked himself, but why sweat too much over it if he couldn’t do anything about it. Patrick should have been treating his wife better and then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

After Alex Tanguay thoroughly freaked the shit out of him, Dan had to admit a little fear. He thought about taking Patty aside privately and confessing to him, or talking to Alex and apologizing and above all he hated himself for following Michele to her car. But did he feel exactly guilty?

He knew if Cecile found out about this, her pride her soul, her sensibilities would never allow her to forgive him and they would be done. She would be so betrayed and hurt, that Dan knew he would close to kill himself to see her happy again. But that’s only IF she found out, which she didn’t have to.

I don’t love Michele, Dan thought, I don’t love her at all. I love Cecile; shouldn’t that be what matters who I feel about the most? How could it be so wrong if I wanted to learn a little more to be able to please her a little more? I’m only thinking of Cecile when you got down to it.

As for nearly forcing himself on her, slap on the face, butt on the floor, crawling away from a psychopathic housekeeper and yeah, Dan remembered that some things were sacred. It pissed him off too; first she didn’t want to marry him until the summer, another wait, and who’s to say she won’t find some other excuse then. And then he thought of how he’d betrayed her, and she remained untouched and full of self control and it just enraged him to think that another man might touch her before him.

He sat in the locker room thinking about how much of a shit he was, how he didn’t want her out of his sight, and how he still wanted another go with Michele, and just how much mental crap this was that he didn’t need. Patty flirting with Debbie Sakic via Joe’s cell phone provided some fun, but as he taped sticks, he just really wanted to snap them and kick something.

Bottom line, with a new world open before him, he wanted to spend a little more time in it. But morally he couldn’t, and especially not with Tangers giving him the icy cold look of death every few minutes or so. Making peace with him had to be the first thing to do, before the whole team got annoyed and distracted with it.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Alex hissed, narrowing his eyes and leaning into Danny as the team gathered around to hear the Coach speak his mind about their continued lack of effort in special teams.

“Not now, Alex,” Danny whispered back.

“And you’re selfish,” Alex whispered.

“What?”

“You heard me, you selfish shit!”

Dan laughed humorlessly and a little too loud.

“You think it’s funny?” Coach Hartley asked, black eyes narrowed.

Dan cleared his throat. “Um no, no Coach,” Dan said quickly, sitting up straight. “I laughed at myself cause, I…”

“You?”

“I realized I gotta get my shit together coach, we all do, cause, it’s ridiculous that we’ve been hanging onto our dicks on the ice during special teams, it must look funny!”

“That’s my boy!” Keaner barked.

“True enough,” Joe Sakic said.

“Crudely said but I like it,” Hartley replied. “Listen to that boys, I want to see less holding of dicks on special teams today!”

“We’re not done!” Alex whispered.

During the pre-skate Danny maneuvered next to Alex taking practice shots on the net. That hadn’t been easy because Alex was so bent on avoiding him that Dan felt like he was chasing him around the ice. He wondered if the guys noticed or the fans. “Look, Alex, just hear me out.”

“Hear what out?” Alex snapped and he cracked a puck at Aebischer who made a flippant save on it. “You don’t deserve to be heard, just judged and thrown to the shit pile like a used diaper!”

“Alex!” Dan gasped and he snapped a shot off that missed the net completely. He at first planned telling Tangs that he’d made a mistake and Michele would never let it happen again and he felt bad about it but now he realized that forgiveness didn’t lie amongst his attributes. “Look Alex, nothing happened, it wasn’t like it looked. I… I mean I tried with her but she didn’t let me, she’s really honorable, so nothing happened, you can rest easy.”

Alex scowled at him and didn’t say anything as he skated away.

“I’m not that gullible, Danny,” Alex snipped on the bench after the national anthems had been sung. “I know what I saw, you were all over her and she liked it.”

“So she likes flirting a little bit, it doesn’t make her a whore.” Dan replied.

“OOF!” Alex squeaked, “If I wasn’t going on a line change!” And he hopped over the boards.

When Danny’s turn on ice came, he passed by Alex who smacked him hard with his stick over a soft spot on his leg. “GOD!” Dan gasped.

“Oops sorry!” Alex called back.

“Damn he’s not usually that mean,” Keane grinned. “What honey pot you get into Danny?”

It burned Dan thought that snide self righteous little shit! Next time he could coincide ice surface briefly, he gave Tangs a good nudge from the shoulder, knocking him wobbly and making sure to smile and wink in case any cameras caught it they could conjecture he was just fooling around. “You dummy!” Alex barked.

"Oops sorry!" Dan grinned.

"I can't believe you called her a whore!" Alex muttered sitting next to him nearing the end of the first period. "And I can't believe you'd wreck the family like that."

Dan scowled, now irritated and defensive. "Hey I didn't call her a whore, and I don't want to mess up her family, we didn't do anything, okay?"

"You said flirting makes her a whore!" Alex pointed out.

"I said it didn't make her a whore," Dan grumbled and he looked at Alex in disbelief.

"But still," Alex said, "You want to mess up her family if you tried sleeping with her, and anyway I don't really believe you didn't do anything, you guys looked too close. How could you Dan Hinote you... you jerk!"

"Hey just cause you want in her pants," Dan winked as he jumped over the boards and leaned over, grinning into Alex's face. "Doesn't mean the rest of us want in." Alex's "O" shaped mouth and wide, shocked, horrified eyes were enough for a good laugh as he skated away. That should keep him off his back for a little bit.

"Really what are you guys fighting about?" Keane asked as they joined the play. The red haired grinder was then crushed in a check but jovially shook it off with a grin and they began to jump into the play around net.

"Nothing serious," Dan gasped getting not only a swat from the Edmonton goaltender on his ankles but getting hacked from the front by the defenseman. "Just stuff."

"Stuff?" Keaner barked, "You guys look like... shit..." Keane received a pass and snapped a shot off that hit Dan in the feet. Hinote fumbled with the puck but the defenseman kept chopping at him and finally the goaltender found it and covered.

"Where'd you pick up that move?" Dan asked, grinning at the defenseman making his life miserable. "Naked wrestling with your sister?"

"Shut up."

"As I was saying," Keane replied, breathing heavily, "You guys look like aggravated high school girls. Not very flattering, I suggest you two clear up your differences before Joe or the Coach finds a creative way to do it."

"Ah Keanes we're fine, it's not like..." Danny began, "WOAH!" Out of nowhere he felt the check, heavy and finished. Taken off guard he lost his balance and flipped, fell over the boards and onto a line of laps and legs. Someone had checked him into the bench! Embarrassed and enraged Dan struggled and scrambled and in the event knocked someone else off the bench and onto the ground. Dan grimaced when he realized he'd knocked Joe Sakic off. "Oh, sorry, Joe." He gulped.

"That's it!" Joe grumbled. "You and Alex are roommates, starting tomorrow."

"Oh Joe I'm sorry I knocked Danny onto you..." Alex began and Dan looked at him in shock.

"You checked me into the bench?"

"Oof it was an accident!"

"Like I said," Joe roared but not getting up, "You two ROOMMATES!"

"Gah!" Dan gasped in horror.

"But Joe!" Alex whined. "That means you'd have to room with Keaner, and I don't want to room with Danny!"

Keane was grinning, looking down at Joe.

"I'll live," Joe muttered.

At that moment a puck whizzed between their bodies, shot through the air where Joe's face no doubtedly would have been and smacked into the glass with a mighty snap. "Joe!" Alex gasped, "That would have been your face!"

"Dumb luck," Joe muttered, "You two are still rooming together, until you work your business out."

Danny groaned and Alex did as well. Just great, he thought, perfect.