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  She had her sights set on taking a nice hot bath and relaxing with a good book and maybe a glass or a bottle of wine. But not before she stopped at McDonalds and got– No, she couldn't stop at McDonalds, she was on a diet. Maybe she would stop at that new soup place, Noodles, that couldn't be too bad for you.

  But as she pulled up to the first light off of the highway, the car made a funny sputtering noise. She put it in neutral while she sat at the light. When the light turned green, she popped it back into drive and before she could hit the gas, the car stalled.

  "Damn it!!" she cursed. "Don't do this..." There was a line of traffic behind her. They were yelling and honking at her. She restarted the car and thankfully it turned over. Relieved, she put it in drive and pulled away. She slowly made it to the next intersection, but not before it turned red. She pressed the brake; again, the car started to shake. Really? Kat felt the car shudder, like it wanted to stall.

  "C'mon you piece of shit…don't do this to me today… please…" she begged as the engine went silent. She turned the key off, then tried to start the car again. Nothing. She gave it a minute, then tried again. Nope. The car was not going to turn back on. There was no sound of it even attempting to turn over, it was just silent when she tried turning the key.

  She glanced in her rear view mirror at the line of traffic behind her.

  "Shit…" She cursed, as she put on her flashers and sunk down in her seat. Tears filled her eyes. She pulled out her cell phone and called her car club.

  "We will have a tow truck there in about a half hour, open your hood, so we can find you." The operator told her. Really? So you can find me? I will be the one pissing all the other drivers off because I am broke down at the light during rush hour!

  She had no idea what was wrong with her car this time, it would need to be towed to an auto body shop. She had so many things going through her mind that she was dizzy. How would she get to work? How was she going to get this fixed? She groaned at the thought of how much it would cost to fix it, and how many different credit cards she would have to put it on. She wasn't sure if she even had enough available to do that.

  She watched in her rear view mirror as cars screeched to a halt behind her, one barely missing her bumper. Didn't they see her sitting here with her flashers on? What did they think she was doing? She really didn't need this mess today. She really didn't need to get hit either, pay attention to where you are driving, idiots!

  After about fifteen minutes of really irate drivers passing her, cursing her out and flipping her off, finally a tow truck showed up. Kat wiped her eyes, surprised to see it was a woman, she was in dirty overalls, with grease smudges on her face, but none the less, a woman. She got the car hooked up to her truck, and asked Kat where she wanted it towed to.

  "Billy's auto body shop on Maple Street."

  "Hop in, I'll give you a ride there, then you can call someone to pick you up."

  Kat crawled up into the truck. It didn't take long to get to Billy's. Kat's family used this mechanic often, and had known Bob since she was young.

  They pulled the car to the front, and Kat went into the office. Bob was standing at the counter munching on a doughnut. His hands and face smeared with grease, and his overalls stained. "Well hey there, Kat darlin'! What brings you in?"

  "A tow truck," she sighed. "My piece of shit is out there on the flatbed. Dead. Do you think you can look at it later? See if it can be salvaged?" Her face was streaked with dried tears.

  "I'll look at it next." He offered her a doughnut, but she just shook her head. "Okay, is your Dad coming to pick you up then?"

  Kat thought for a minute, no, her parents were still in Florida. She picked up her phone to call Gia to come get her, but then realized Gia worked two to midnight today. This day was just getting worse. She sighed when she realized there was only one person left she could call.

  CHAPTER 12

  She sat silent as the Jeep pulled out of Billy's auto shop parking lot. She was thankful she was warm finally, but didn't even know what to say to Kris. The aroma from the dinner he picked up for them teased her senses; causing her stomach to growl loudly breaking the silence.

  "Hungry?" Kris asked with a grin after hearing her stomach.

  "Yeah." She sat looking out the window watching the snow as they drove. Concentrating on the snow piles along the road was easier than figuring out something to say to him. Last night seemed so easy, just stop talking to him and he could go be with Anna, or whatever super model came next. But he didn't seem to be going anywhere and that confused her.

  She hated the fact that she even needed his help. But she had no other choice but to call a taxi and she unfortunately didn't have the money for that.

  "Can I come in and eat dinner? Or do I have to eat in my car before I head back home?" Kris jokingly asked as he pulled into her apartment parking lot. She assumed he was trying to make eye contact with her, but she just stared out the window.

  She didn't want him to come in. But after asking him to drive all the way out here to rescue her it was rude not to at least invite him in; after all he even bought dinner.

  "No, come in," she said sadly without looking at him as she stepped out of the Jeep. She really didn't want him to see that she had been crying. She kept her gaze low as they entered the elevator, and walked down the hall to her apartment.

  After unlocking her door, she tossed her keys into the tray behind the door, leaving it wide open for him. She hurried to the kitchen, and grabbed a napkin. She tried to wipe away the tears, hoping her eyes weren't too puffy. She poured herself a glass of wine and called to Kris, "Do you want a beer?"

  "No thanks, just water."

  She grabbed a bottle of water, her glass and the bottle of wine and headed back out to the living room. Kris had made himself at home on the couch, she watched him for a second before she left the kitchen. He was looking at his hands, then messing with his hair. He rubbed at the scruff on his face before looking back down at his hands. She felt bad, he had no idea why she was pushing him away. He had no idea it was for his own good.

  Kris looked up at her as she reached the couch. She handed him his water. He stood up to meet her gaze, but she sat down and opened the bag pulling out two steak salads. They smelled so good, she looked in the bag to see there was also an order of fries, the aroma filled her nose. She didn't take one, she folded the bag shut and handed Kris a fork.

  "You don't want the fries?" he asked, curious by her reaction.

  "No, I can't–" She grinded her teeth. Those fries smelled amazing and she was starving. Day one of this diet was not going well.

  "Kat, look at me," Kris interrupted her.

  This was silly, she felt childish playing this game, moping and giving him the silent treatment. This wasn't her. She dug into her salad, it was really good, but would've been even better with some of those fries. Against her better judgment she opened the bag, pouring half of the fries onto her salad, and dipping them in the ranch as she ate. This was honestly the best freaking steak salad that she had ever eaten.

  They sat in silence for a good half hour as they ate. Kat had already been through two glasses of wine and was working on her third when Kris grabbed the glass, setting it back onto the table.

  "Look, we need to talk." He tipped her chin up towards him. Her eyes were still red. She saw his face fall once he realized that she had been crying.

  "I saw it, Kris. I saw her posts on Twitter. So don't worry, I already know." She let out a strained laugh. "I never figured I was your type anyways." She pulled away from him. She stuffed a few French fries in her mouth, and spoke with her mouth full. "Don't really need to diet now; doesn't matter anyways." A single tear rolled down her cheek as she spoke. Could she have been more of a fatty than at that very moment? Ugh!

  Kris wiped her tear away with his thumb. "Kat, you don't understand. Tyler showed me the posts this morning. I didn't even know she was at the Garden last night," he paused. "I swear. But I can tell you who she was t
here with, and it wasn't me." She wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, but he continued. "Why don't you look up JR Rancy? Trust me, please?"

  She looked at him funny, and grabbed her phone. She didn't know what he was talking about. Curious, she got on Twitter and looked up JR Rancy. She saw Anna's posts from the game. JR had retweeted it with the hash-tag #MyPuckBunny as well as a photo of him looking very drunk with her. "So, are you trying to tell me she is with him now?"

  "That's why she was in Boston." Kris nodded.

  Kat sat back on the couch, relief flooded her face. "Okay," she nodded. "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still not your type. You might not want Anna, but I'm sure there is a super model out there with your name all over her." She hated even the thought of that. She wanted him for herself. Taking a hard breath she sat back against the couch. He wasn't making this very easy. Sitting there all sexy and perfect.

  "Look, what is it going to take to get you to believe me; that I want you?" Kris let out a frustrated breath. Rubbing his chin his dark eyes looked sad as he stared at her. "Kat, I don't give up easy, so what's it gonna take?"

  She shook her head, reminded of the day she just had. "Well, hell, I need a car or a miracle right now, probably both." She joked. She had no idea how she was going to pay for the car repairs, and it would take a miracle for her to afford a new car. Luckily she could work from home for a day or two while she figured everything out.

  She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see Kris watching her. Damn, she really didn't want to let him go.

  Kris leaned over, his dark eyes locked on hers, cupping her cheek in his hand. "Kat." He gently kissed her lips.

  Giving into him she kissed him longingly. "I don't want to let you go," she whined as they parted.

  "I already told you, I'm not going anywhere."

  CHAPTER 13

  Kris shifted anxiously on the airplane headed home from Long Island. His hip was sore after being shoved into the boards; but it was just bruised. He couldn't wait to get home to Kat, it had been a long week. It would've been an even longer one if he hadn't been able to talk to Kat. He was still amazed that she thought he wouldn't want to be with her. He thought he had proved that already, but wasn't opposed to doing more. It was a tough three game road trip.

  Tyler sat behind him, snoring away. Matt was sitting next to him, reading.

  "What's up?" Matt asked.

  Kris was holding his cell phone and looking at a photo of Kat on it.

  "Nothing." Kris turned off his phone. Kat had finally sent him a picture of her and he couldn't stop looking at her blue eyes. He sighed as he slid the phone into his jacket pocket.

  "I saw that, bro. So what's the deal with you and Kat? You guys have only been together a few weeks, right? You haven't been yourself lately, dude. I mean that in a good way, hell. I'm not too used to this happy Kris." Matt teased.

  "I don't know, dude. Honestly, this sounds dumb," Kris shook his head, at the risk of sounding like a lovesick teenager he said it anyways. "I never felt like this before."

  "Bro, you got it bad." Matt chuckled. "I love it! Finally! It has taken you forever to find someone." Matt kept laughing.

  "What the hell, dude? You find this funny?" Kris shook his head and laughed a little. "You know, Matt, I really think she might be… the one," he said seriously. "I just have to convince her of that." Yeah, that was not going to be easy.

  "Dude, the fact that you even said that tells me she probably is!" Nudging Kris with his elbow.

  That was going to be a challenge. He needed to convince Kat that she was exactly what he wanted. They hadn't been together that long, and he hadn't seen her much since the Boston trip. Tomorrow he had a busy day with practice, team meetings, and an evening game against Boston. He had offered Kat a ticket, but the possibility of running into Anna kept her from accepting. He couldn't really blame her.

  ****

  Munching on her popcorn, Kat watched the game intently. The Renegades were beating Boston 3-1 in the second period. She had kept busy the last few days editing her articles from home. She stretched her legs out, then stretched her neck. All the hours bent over the computer were killing her neck. She was looking forward to getting her car fixed; she needed to get out of this apartment. This sitting at a computer all day was for the birds.

  Having Kris gone also gave her a little time to think; she was going to try to change. She had to. She sat around letting people put her down too often. She still didn't think she was what Kris needed, but she missed him.

  She looked up at the screen to see Kris sprint across the ice, and take a nice shot at the goal. Too bad the puck wasn't cooperating or that might have gone in. The period ended with Boston still trailing 3-1. During the intermission, she quickly took a shower and changed into her night clothes. She was just going to curl up on the couch after the game anyways, so she put on her puck bunny tee and boy shorts panties. She took longer than she expected to and was barely ready by the time the third period started.

  Settling in on the couch with a freshly made cup of hot chamomile tea, she set it on the coffee table. Directing her attention back to the television, Kris raced to the net with the puck. It was blocked by a Boston player. Before Kris could skate away from the net, he was shoved by the same Boston player; that guy wouldn't stop going after Kris. Kat couldn't figure out what had happened, maybe the guy was just protecting his goalie? She didn't think Kris had done anything to the goalie, all he did was shoot the puck.

  Watching the Boston player bark in Kris's face, she realized it was Rancy. He kept yapping at Kris. Kris shoved him with his stick and was screaming back at him. The other guys came to both players' aid, but they continued to shove one another. Rancy shoved Kris again, knocking him off balance and his helmet flew off. His hair was flipping in his face and his eyes were locked on Rancy. Kris tore off Rancy's helmet and tossed it to the ice.

  Rancy yelled something inaudible at Kris, a cocky smile sliding across his lips. Kris franticly lunged at Rancy throwing a punch. The two scuffled for a few minutes as the refs watched and held back other players. Unfortunately, in the end Rancy got three good hits in on Kris; blood dripped down his face. Kris's gloves and pads were strewn on the ice along with Rancy's. The camera showed a shot of Kris, his eyes were in angry slits and he was still barking at Rancy and the refs.

  The refs pulled the two men apart. Kris shook the linesman off of him. The ref led them each towards their individual penalty boxes. As Rancy approached Boston's box he yelled out something to Kris. Kat was unable to read anyone's lips, and that was a damn shame because Kris darted out from the penalty box and caught Rancy right across the jaw with a left hook. Rancy fell backwards and hit the ice luckily not hitting his head. The refs grabbed Kris and sent him down the tunnel to the locker room.

  ****

  Kris showered and had his lip sewn up. He only needed a few stitches, but it was too deep to let it go. He had a little cut under his eye too, but nothing too bad. He was dressed back in his game day suit and tie, sitting in the locker room. His suit jacket still hung in his locker as he watched the rest of the game on the monitor. Shaking his head he couldn't fathom why he let Rancy get to him so badly. He should've been prepared for the trash talk but instead it just pissed him off.

  He had been spewing comments about Anna. "Hey, Lafleur, did you teach her that thing with her tongue? Holy hell, I need to thank you for that, damn!"

  Kris didn't care about Anna, but it still got him riled up because now he was simply angered by Rancy's ugly ass face. Rancy wasn't playing fair, it wasn't hockey, it was a personal attack on him.

  The fight itself was legal, and would have only sat each man for a five minute major. But as Kris skated to the penalty box Rancy yelled to Kris, "Lafleur! Send your new lady over to me later. I'll break her in good for you! I'll be giving that fat ass a workout. She'll taste a real man's dick; she'll be begging me for mo–"

  That was the last straw. Kris felt his face bur
n and his blood boil. He was going to shut Rancy up before he could say one more ignorant word. All self restraint he had was gone, he hated Rancy to begin with but that jackass knew talking about Kat was unacceptable. Kris was well aware that leaving the penalty box area and going after that punk was going to get him thrown out of the game; but at that moment he didn't care.

  He didn't even bother barking at the ref on his way off the ice; he knew that he was done for the night.

  He shook his head, moving his damp hair out of his face as he looked at the floor, listening to the remainder of the game. His winced in pain; his face was throbbing. Boston had just scored. He hoped the Renegades could hold the one goal lead. He knew if they lost the game because of him, he would be getting his ass chewed out once the game was over. He knew that he deserved it, but he hoped they would just hold on.

  CHAPTER 14

  Kat was curled up on the couch, reading the romance novel she just bought. A knock at her door startled her. Looking through the peephole she saw Kris standing there. "Kris?" She called out, not expecting to see him tonight. Kat unlocked the door, forgetting that she was in her night shirt and not much else.

  She opened the door to a quiet, stone faced Kris. His usual smile was non existent. "Hey, you okay?" She had never seen this deadpan look on his face before. He didn't look angry, just lost.

  She looked him over quickly, assessing him for wounds. His bottom lip was slightly swollen and red on one side. There was dried blood and she could tell there was at least a stitch or two in there. He had a cut under his eye, but that didn't look too bad. Rancy really worked him over. She softly ran her fingers over his swollen lip. He gently grabbed her hand and pulled her into him, giving her a hello kiss. She moved aside letting him into her apartment.

  As she closed the door behind her she started to say, "I didn't expect you tonight. I just assumed you'd be busy in your gym about now. I know you like to–" As she turned to face him, he cut her off mid sentence, slamming his lips to hers with force. She surrendered to his kiss, as he forced his tongue into her mouth. Grabbing at the back of her thighs he ran his hands up her legs; pushing up her night shirt, only pausing when he had her buttocks cupped in his hands.