The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

J. A.

"Maybe," I whispered. Justin had never done anything wrong, and he clearly still loved me. I turned my head to look up at him and he looked down at me, that adorable little smile of his on his face. I pressed my lips gently to his and he returned the kiss. It felt nice. He was warm and familiar, and felt like home. Justin cupped my face in his hands. I tangled my fingers in his long hair and remembered the days we had spent together in high school. I traced his bottom lip with my tongue and he moaned, his lips opening to mine. He pulled on my bottom lip with his teeth and moved his hands to my waist, pulling me onto his lap. His fingers nimbly undid the buttons of my blouse and he slid it slowly off my shoulders. I shivered as the cool hotel air hit my skin. Justin swept me up off of the bed and laid me down under the covers, holding himself above me and never breaking the kiss.

Justin pulled back a few minutes later and looked down at me, smiling. "I've missed you," he said.

"I've missed you, too," I said.

"You remembered," Justin said, surprise coloring his tone. He was referring to how I had deepened our kiss tonight as I had every night years ago.

"And you remembered my boundaries," I chuckled.

"They were mine too!"

"Mhm," I laughed, kissing him on the cheek, Derek and my team momentarily forgotten. All I had in this moment was Justin; it was like high school all over again.

"How ever did we manage to get away with this?" He asked, weaving his fingers with mine. He pulled my hand to him and brushed his lips across my knuckles.

"How'd we get away with what?" I was distracted by the light kisses he was tracing up my arm.

"How'd we get away with dating? You were my coach, remember? Usually that's illegal, and I know you loved following the rules."

"I don't know, didn't we not tell anyone, or something?"

"Jules knew. Our parents knew. I feel like half the team knew, too, even though we never outwardly told them," Justin laughed, "They would always tease me about you. They said I was 'hot for Coach Erin' and all that stuff."

I laughed, "That's a good one."

"Could probably get away with it now. The League has never really seen a female coach that was the same age as the players. They probably don't have any rules in place," Justin had reached my neck and he began to suck at the soft skin there.

"I don't want to think about that, let's just-" he cut me off by bringing his lips back to mine.

"Got it," he said, "You always did seem to like the risk of the encounter."

"I feared it-"

"You loved it."

I didn't argue. The risk was fun, but I was always afraid that I'd lose my job; kind of like now.

I fell asleep in Justin's arms and when I woke up, the bed beside me was empty. I got up and took a shower feeling pretty pissed that he had the nerve to sneak out in the middle of the night when all we had done was kiss. That was two guys in under twenty-four hours who were being dicks to me. I'm not exactly sure what I had been expecting from Justin, but it wasn't that. I concealed the mark he had left, and with a twinge of pain realized it was in the same place that Sidney had left his several weeks ago. I went out into the room and packed up my stuff. Then I found Justin's note.

Erin-

I'm sorry to leave you in the middle of the night, I know it will probably look like a cowardly, dick move if you never find this note. I didn't want your guys to think anything if I walked out of here with you in the morning. They're nice, but also protective of you, and they probably would pitch a bitch if we got caught. I'd have done the same if things had been in reverse. It was a lot of fun catching up with you and revisiting our high school memories. I hope we can do it again soon.

Love,
J. A.

I smiled at the note. So it was only one guy that had been horrible. I forgave Justin, knowing he meant well. The guys probably would have lost their shit if they had seen him. I pocketed the note and headed downstairs to check out and get on the bus.

"Morning," Kunitz said as I sat down.

"Hey, Chris," I replied.

"I figured that I should warn you in advance, because you're going to get asked questions. Everyone saw you leave with Abdelkader last night, and while I don't think anything happened, certain members of the team might not be so," he paused looking for a word, "trusting, of your friend."

"Thanks, Chris. And you're right, nothing happened. We went to see his parents," I said. And we made out, but that's just a minor detail. 'And he suggested that the rules that you've been shoving down Sid's throat might not exist,' part of me thought. If they didn't exist, what was my excuse? It very well might be legal; we were adults and could do what we wanted. I knew that, and Sidney knew that, but then why was I holding back? The answer was simple, I was afraid of being hurt. That, and I didn't think I was good enough for the star of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But I shouldn't be thinking about Sidney right now, he was in a relationship. And I definitely wouldn't be thinking about Derek. If I was going to think about boys, I needed to talk to Jules, but I couldn't do it on the bus because the guys would hear and I didn't want that.

"Erin?" Sidney asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, hey, Sidney. Sorry, I was thinking."

"It's fine," he said, sitting next to me. "What were you thinking about?"

"I'm not quite sure, I guess I just zoned out," I forced a laugh, hoping that my lie would be convincing. He studied me for a moment and seemed to believe it. Thank God. I sat back and got ready for our ride back to the Burgh.

"So, Erin," Beau called from the back of the bus. "Abdelkader now, huh?" I rolled my eyes and didn't turn around.

"Aww, come on, Erin! You gotta give us the details! How long was it?" Robert said.

I could hear Sidney laughing quietly next to me and I shot him a glare. He tried to cover to up with a fake cough, but his amusement was clear in his eyes.

"I hate you guys," I muttered.

"Erin!" Geno whined. "You got to tell us."

"Bet he was weak, like his cross check, eh, Geno?" Fleury said.

"Yeah, next time, why don't you pick a real man? Nealer could have done a better job," Letang joked.

"We didn't even hear you guys all night! I bet it was one sided, and that's why he did the walk of shame at three in the morning," Greiss jumped in.

"You have to give us something, Erin. We're deprived!" Robert said.

"Alright, alright, guys, she's sick of our shit," Chris said, "Leave her alone."

"Did you get in on it, Kunitz? Is that why you don't want us to find out what happened?" Robert shot back.

"Oh, shut up," I said finally. "Justin's an old friend. We went to go see his parents who I haven't seen in years. Y'all need to get your minds out of the gutter."

"Then why'd he leave at 3 AM?" Greiss asked, pinpointing the detail I had failed to explain.

"He didn't want y'all to see him go; he knew you'd ask a bunch of stupid questions," I replied.

"So she can wear white to her wedding?" Fleury asked.

"Yes, she can," I replied.

"We invited?" Geno asked.

"Yes, of course," I laughed.

"Good," Geno said. With that, everyone went back to minding their own business, for which I was grateful.

Author's Note

Hey, hey, hockey fans! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please vote and comment to let me know what you thought; it means the world to me when you do. Thanks!! Let's Go Pens!