Chapter 33

Sidney parked and I followed him and Vero to the club. We walked right in and headed upstairs to the VIP section. Music was blasting, everyone had a drink in their hand, and it did not look at all like the kind of place Sidney would like to go to. I could also see that there were already guys from the team there.

“What the hell? How did I beat you two? What’s going on?” a guy asked, walking up to us. By the way he looked at Vero I guessed he must be Marc.

“This is Misty, the girl from this summer. We stopped to pick her up on the way,” Vero told him.

The girl from the summer? I gave Sidney a strange look at that and he smiled sheepishly at me. Then I caught the grin Marc threw over at Sidney before shaking my hand. What was that about? I followed them further in and smiled when I saw a familiar face looking at me in surprise.

“Hey, Max!” I greeted him as he got up to give me a hug.

“Misty! What are you doing here? Sid didn’t tell me you were coming in.”

“He didn’t know. I surprised him tonight.” He gave me a wink and a laugh before making room at the table for us to sit down.

I was introduced to the rest of the guys and girls that were at the table with us. There were a lot of comments calling me 'the girl from the summer' and it was a little strange. It didn’t bother me that Sidney had talked about me, but I couldn’t figure out the looks everyone kept giving him. Why was everyone looking at the two of us like that?

Sidney and I remained sitting at the table even as everyone else moved around and mingled. Sidney said he wanted to stay as discreet as possible, which I understood. Someone was always sitting with us to talk to so I didn’t mind. That is until I was a few drinks and shots deep and “Shooting Star” came on. There was absolutely no way I could hear that song and not dance.

“Dance with me!” I said to Sidney as I got up and held a hand out to him. He gave me a look like I was crazy.

“You know I don’t dance,” he told me.

“Too embarrassed?” I joked. He gave me a look that told me that he was. I leaned over to whisper in his ear. “I can think of a thousand ways to embarrass you that would be worse than dancing just off the top of my head.”

He looked at me cautiously for a second and then sighed. He took my hand and stood up. Sidney knew I wasn’t bluffing when I said that. We made our way to the dance floor and I began to dance immediately. Sidney kind of stood there for a moment awkwardly. I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed his hands, pulling him closer to me.

As I danced in front of him he eventually picked up on my rhythm and began to dance as well. For someone who was so convinced that he was a bad dancer, Sidney really wasn’t all that bad. He just had to let go and have fun, which he began to do the longer we danced. I wasn’t about to let him go after just one song and we ended up dancing for quite a while. We only stopped when my drink ran out and I decided to get another one.

“I’ve got it,” Max said, coming up next to me and pushing my hand holding the $20 bill away. I saw Marc and Kris Letang were with him.

“Hey, thanks.” I took the drink when it arrived and took a sip.

“How did you get the kid to dance?” Marc asked curiously.

“I guessed correctly that he didn’t because he was embarrassed to be bad,” I told him. The three of them looked at me like I was crazy.

“Yeah, okay, but how did you get him to dance?” Kris pushed. I grinned and took another sip of my drink.

“I told him I could think of a thousand ways to embarrass him worse.” They started laughing.

“See, I told you this one was un petit petard,” Max joked.

“What did you just call me?” I asked him. They all laughed again. “I took Spanish!”

“He called you a little firecracker,” Kris explained. I grinned over at him.

“Oh, Maxy, you shouldn’t have,” I said batting my eyelashes and giving him a light slap on the shoulder.

“Would you care to dance, petard?” he asked, holding out his hand.

“Why I’d love to, el mujeriego,” I responded. He lifted an eyebrow at me. “I called you a womanizer.” He laughed as he swung me out towards the dance floor.

“What has that boy been telling you about me?”










Sidney watched Misty talking to some of his teammates at the bar with a smile on his face. He was currently supposed to be listening to some story Staalsy was telling, but his mind had wandered elsewhere. He couldn’t even begin to describe the feeling he’d had when he’d realized that it really was Misty here in Pittsburgh.

“Dude, really? Just go over there with her if that’s where you want to be,” Jordan said after punching him in the arm.

“I never said…..”

“You didn’t have to. It’s obvious,” Goligoski chastised.

“At least your description of her was spot on. She’s a rocket,” Tyler Kennedy threw in.

“Hey, who girl with Talbot?” Geno asked, sitting down at the table.

Sidney glanced over along with everyone else at the table. He was less than thrilled to see that it was Misty. They were out on the dance floor dancing a little too close for his liking. Fucking Talbot. He knew, he fucking knew. He was there this summer and saw then. What the fuck was he doing? He watched as they danced and smiled. He cringed when Max suddenly dipped Misty and she came up laughing.

“He’s mowing your lawn, man,” Jordan said. Fucking Talbot.

“Is there a reason you’re sitting here watching Max dance with Misty instead of getting up and stopping it?” Vero asked storming over.

“V, come on,” he started. She stopped him with a glare.

“What is wrong with you?! She came to see you, not him. Get your ass off out of that chair and go get her!” she ordered. For someone who was so tiny and looked so sweet, Vero could be terrifying.

“Alright, alright,” he said as he stood up, holding his hands out in surrender. Sidney trained his eyes on Misty and Max and began to walk in their direction. Before he even got to them Misty saw him and beamed over at him. Then she parted from Max and walked over to him.

“I didn’t think you were ever going to come back out here,” she pouted. At least he knew she would have preferred dancing with him over Talbot.

“I was just keeping your girl warm,” Max shot as he passed.

Sidney glared over his shoulder at him. Max chuckled and winked knowing full well that Sidney couldn’t say anything about that with Misty right here. There was just no response to that without making his feelings for her obvious, and that was probably not the right way to tell someone you were in love with them. Fucking Talbot.

“I’m not really sure I’m up for more dancing,” he told Misty. She giggled and nodded.

“One more and we’ll go home. I’m getting a little tired. Sound good?” she suggested. He could handle that.

He couldn’t help but imagine what else they could be doing as they danced. Everything Misty was doing right now was turning him on. He’d almost forgotten the power she seemed to have over him. Every once in a while she’d move a certain way and he’d get a whiff of her hair. It smelled amazing, like coconuts. God, he wanted her.

The song ended and she held up her end of the bargain. She led him off the dance floor and they grabbed their coats. They made their rounds to say goodbye to everyone, and he watched as Misty and Vero exchanged numbers. Once again, it had taken a whole couple of hours for Misty to charm his friends.

They walked out to his car and he began the drive. They talked and caught up through most of it, but his mind remained where it had been when they were dancing. This was the worst it had been. He’d almost figured being apart for a while would calm his feelings, but that hadn’t happened. The distance seemed to have strengthened them.

“Uh, Sid, this isn’t the hotel,” Misty said to him when he parked the car.

“Shit,” he mumbled when he looked up at his house. He’d just driven home automatically without thinking twice about it. “I’ll bring you back in the morning. I really don’t want to drive all the way back down there.”

“No problem. You can give me the tour,” she said as she hopped out of his car. She followed him into the house and he saw her looking around at the parts she could see from the front entrance.

“This is it,” he told her, motioning with his hands. His hand brushed hers as he returned it to his side and he felt a jolt go through his body.

“You know, I think I’m too tired for the whole tour right now,” he heard her say.

He turned to look at her and noticed a strange look on her face. He couldn’t quite read it, but he did see the slight smile. He felt like he knew what she meant. He hoped he was right as he decided to take the chance. He leaned down and kissed her. She responded exactly how he hoped she would, snaking her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

“Let me show you the bedroom then,” he suggested when they parted. He saw the quick smile play across her lips before she turned and headed for the stairs ahead of him.