Chapter 368: Danny XXXVI—A Dart of Poison

Danny had stayed purposefully by Cecile’s side during the gathering; he hadn’t even once glanced at Michele. Neither Patrick nor Alex had mentioned the other day to him, but Dan wanted to make a real good showing that he was of absolutely no threat to Mrs. Roy. As each day had passed, Dan had felt more and more stupid, and embarrassed, and he knew full well that he had overreacted to an emotional situation and paraded it for a family to see. What’s more, he had tormented her more than she ever deserved to be.

The truth stood obvious now, Michele, perhaps not in love with him, certainly felt strongly for him, more so than he would ever want Cecile to feel for another man. How long had she felt that way for him? It could have been from the moment they first met, although he couldn’t figure anything memorable about it, or it could be an attachment she developed the day he stayed home with her and her family. Either way, she had been quietly nursing this feeling, and perhaps she never dreamed of acting on it or speaking of it to avoid harming her family and what did he do but march into her kitchen, grab her by the collar and force his own stupid, pitiful, pouting feelings onto her.

Well the answer was obvious. He would have to avoid her, for one, to keep from invading her emotions more, and two, because now he knew he could not trust himself around her. He had Cecile to think about, and his eyes rested only on her. Did she stand on the other side? He could hear her voice, her laugh; she spoke with Cecile as if nothing at all had happened between her and him. It amazed him how she could save face so smoothly when he knew that if she spoke to him right now his stomach would cramp and he would redden.

Still, he felt safe with Cecile there, the reminder of his true heart. Cecile so cool, and so beautiful, so heroic looking almost as if she could take on all the forces of evil with a banner and sword and emerge more ethereal than ever. In the end, Cecile had proven so strong against her mother when all this time he had felt the need to protect her. All this time, Cecile had been nursing emotional and spiritual strength and it never ceased to astound him. He would marry a powerful young woman, and she would only grow more amazing.

As for Michele, what sort of emotional attachment had he for her other than a woman he felt sorry for? And pity was not a legitimate excuse to lose his head. Dan felt secure and happy thinking this, and he felt excited that he would be able to see Cecile skating out there. Would he check her maybe just a little, just to scare her, just to tease her? That would be fun! He grinned.

And then Cecile left his side. It took only a moment for a laughing Josefina and Brandi to take her away, and strip away his meager rock of stability. Dan felt a little nervous so he smiled, “Don’t hit me too hard on the ice!” he said jokingly but he doubted that Cecile even heard him. He cleared his throat, wondering if Michele even looked at him.

“You do not have to be afraid of me, Daniel, you’re not in trouble,” she said in a low voice and Dan looked at her, and he felt as if he would die. She had touched a tender wound. She smiled, however, she didn’t look at all as if she had worried or troubled about anything at all in the world and that alone made his heart soar. “I had a talk with Patrick and I told him that you had a helpless moment, but nothing serious happened at all. He understands this, it happens sometimes, little, eh… little misunderstandings, and anyway he’s been quite amused by everything, yes?”

“Amused?” Dan asked with a frown.

Michele smiled. “Patrick said that every time he has seen you since in the locker room you have a look on your face as if you’ve seen Satan himself eh, he thinks it’s worth it, seeing you so terrified. It’s punishment enough yes? I can’t say I disagree you insolent puppy.” Another sparkling smile.

Dan laughed and he felt a lot of weight disappear from his chest. So Patrick had heard him, but instead of being aggressive, he had sat back and watched him squirm with his guilty conscience. In a way, Danny felt a little insulted. It meant that Patrick felt not at all threatened by Danny’s presence, even if he was trying to lead his wife astray. What a confident bastard! He sniffed and looked down into a bowl of snacks. Nothing seemed too good, and really he wasn’t that hungry, but he knew he should carbo load just a little, for energy…

Danny felt a dart of excited pleasure first, and then it registered in his brain that she had touched him. Oh so softly, but pointedly, her little fingers had caressed the inside of his wrist, jolting and tickling him with promise and teasing. His back hurt because his entire body had tightened and he looked at her, walking away. Would she look back? No, she didn’t look back, he wondered if she felt embarrassed that she’d done it, amazed at her own brashness. Had she ever done that to another man? Flirting wasn’t a game for housewives but she had just done it to him.

Oh this was not a game he wanted to play, to think about, and to get stuck in. But the blood raced in his cheeks and his forehead and in his thighs. His lips tingled with wanting, and he knew that she had to be just as scared as she was. He watched her frail little body, her messy blond hair, and the ballerina like confidence she carried herself through it all. The invitation was delivered, the question was, would he take her up on it.

“Danny you wouldn’t hurt me right?”

“What!” Dan exclaimed and he swallowed hard, feeling sweat prickle all over his body and he looked at Cecile, those innocent, round, proud, gorgeous green eyes. “Honey what are you talking about?” Oh he could feel her staring right through him with righteous light, asking him why he had just betrayed her, if only in his mind.

Cecile smiled. “Josefina says that you probably can’t wait to knock me down, I told her you’d never do that, because you’d never risk hurting me.”

Dan smiled nervously. “Of course I wouldn’t hurt you, babe!”

“Oh balls!” Josefina exclaimed and Dan looked at the beautiful woman feeling naked and helpless. “Look how nervous he is, Cecile! He’s breaking a sweat; I told you what was on his mind! Ha!”

Cecile’s mouth dropped open but he didn’t see any narrowing or anger in her eyes. In fact, to Danny, it seemed as if her blushing cheeks and soft lips were suddenly excited, “Danny Hinote you wouldn’t!”

Danny coughed. “Oh yeah, babe, I’ll knock you right over, don’t get in my way on that ice cause I mean business!”

Cecile gasped.

Josefina laughed and rolled her eyes. “You’re not gonna let him run you around like that will ya?”

Danny smiled at Cecile’s steely gaze. “That’s right! You better watch it Danny cause I can hit you back just as hard, in fact harder! I’ll knock you out of the game completely before you even knew it was me! So there, HA!”

Dan grabbed her and kissed her, “I know you could,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Cecile giggled and dug her fingers into his ribs; Dan let her go and laughed.

As the time passed by, everyone began to filter out of the room to get ready for the game. The wives and girlfriends, so exuberant to begin the day, now seemed pale and quiet. Danny knew that feeling, he’d had it before his first game in the AHL and then in the NHL. It was the ending of excitement filtering into realization that something was just about to happen and one could really get hurt or die or even worse, embarrassed in the participation.

Where was Cecile? He wanted to give her one last hug and reassurance that he wouldn’t paste her to the boards… heh.. well not too hard. Joe Sakic caught his eye first however, and Dan smiled at him.

“Debbie’s on your team.” Sakic said with a solemn nod of his head.

“Sure,” Danny replied.

“Keep an eye on her okay? You take good care of her, make sure she doesn’t over exert herself, watch her between periods, I don’t want her overdoing it and collapsing or making herself sick, no matter how much fun she says she’s having.”

Dan nodded and looked as earnest as he could. “Of course, she’ll be just fine, I’ll make sure of that.”

Sakic smiled. “Hey, and I’ll keep an eye on your girl okay? It’ll be a pleasure.” Joe winked and then walked away whistling happily.

It’ll be a pleasure? A pleasure? What the hell did he mean by that? The wink too. Whether Joe fully realized it or not, he was the beautiful, handsome knight of every girl’s dreams, that dark hair and blue eyes and perfect face. He was a man’s man. Of course Danny knew it was his own guilty conscience speaking but still, he suddenly felt insecure and miserable thinking of Cecile in Joe Sakic’s special care.