Stolen

“Tell me again why we decided to come here, instead of out with the rest of the team?”

His fellow defensemen’s comment made Duncan Keith, one of the two Alternate Captains of the Chicago Blackhawks, chuckle, as he straightened the tie around his neck, looking up, using the reflective surface of the elevator’s roof as a mirror. The two of them, along with the Captain of the team, Jonathan Toews, who was nearly five years their junior, had been asked- not forced –by Rocky Wirtz, the owner of the team, to attend a charity ball on the Eve of New Years’, as good publicity. There had been no objection by any of the players asked, except for the young Patrick Kane, who had mentioned going home to New York for the week prior to the ball.

“This is ridiculous,” Brent Seabrook began to grumble again, ignoring the fact that there were supposed to be people (mostly women, he prayed) from all over the state of Illinois at the event; many of whom he hoped would be bored, just like he was expecting to be.

The tuxedo he’d rented from the rental shop just down the street from his apartment was incredibly uncomfortable; ridiculous itchy, to be exact. It was then that he wished he wouldn’t have been so God damn lazy, and just taken the time out to drive his own tux an hour out to the only dry cleaner he trusted, located in the not-so-close Chicago suburb of Elgin.

The doors of the elevator slid open, revealing the elegantly decorated penthouse of the Sears Tower; none of the three young hockey players had ever been to a gala that was rumored to be so extravagant. There was crystal everywhere, Brent observed- on the tables, hanging from the ceiling, and even some woven in to the carpet he and all the other guests were standing on.

From his left side, he watched Duncan begin to converse with a not-too-young, yet not-yet-middle-aged woman dressed in a long, concealing, black dress; too plain to catch his interest. Brent shook his head, almost regretting choosing to come to a place like this, where there were only women like her.

“I think we should ditch Doc over there, Tazer,” he muttered to his Captain next to him, only earning a chuckle in response. No wonder they all called him Captain Serious… “I’m not kidding,” he turned towards his teammate, who wasn’t paying any attention to him; he was watching something across the room. “There’s no one here… to even…”

As he followed the young Canadian’s gaze, his eyes widened, and his feelings toward the event changed. The two of them stared at the two younger women, both of whom wore dresses with very low cut backs, while they talked to the group of men standing in front of them. They were both tanned to a perfect golden brown, a color which had obviously been acquired through a bottle or deathbed, due to the weather that Chicago’d been experiencing. After all, it was the middle of winter.

Brent couldn’t help but nearly lick his lips at the thought of having one of the two girls escort him back to his apartment, where they’d have their fun, and then she’d leave in the morning; it was his normal routine when it came to women. Hump ‘em and dump ‘em.

He was never one to wear his heart even remotely close to his sleeve; he’d been through it once, and once was enough. He was sure the feeling between the two of them was mutual, up until one day, when she announced the arrival of her new boyfriend into their fairytale; and he would do it no more.

He stared at the woman with brown hair, wearing a long, dark green gown, her toned arms hanging loosely by her sides, her perfectly sculpted shoulders flexing a little bit when she laughed. It almost reminded him of-

She suddenly turned around, smiling uncontrollably when their gazes met. “Brent?”

He couldn’t mistake that velvety melody for a voice; he knew exactly who it belonged to. His breathing hitched as she excused herself from the large group of people, smiling over at her tanned friend, before making her way towards him, closing the small gap between the two of them, the grin on her face never faltering once, even when she came close to bumping into a waiter with a tray full of Shrimp Cocktail.

As soon as her arms were wound around his neck, he clasped his tightly around her waist, taking in the scent of eucalyptus oil and mint, which instantly made memories fly around furiously in his head.

He huffed loudly as he pushed the large armchair, one that rocked, nonetheless, out of the elevator, barely making it out before the doors began to close, nearly panting for breath as he stopped to take a quick break. He stared down the hallway, past the stairs, to the door at the end.His new home. Well, while he played in Chicago, at least.

As he leaned back over and began using both his calf and shoulder muscles to heave the chair down the hallway, he noticed a petite brunette jogging up the stairs in nothing but a pair of running shorts and a plain sports bra, iPod in hand. He slowed down as they both approached the top stair, not wanting to knock into her, but also because he wanted to get a glimpse of the woman he’d assumed would be his new neighbor.

“Oh, hi!” a smile took over her face, revealing her perfectly straight and blindingly white teeth, as she yanked the headphones out of her ears. “You must be the new guy! I’m Jaden!”

Brent couldn’t help but smile back as he took in her appearance. She was sweaty, but she still looked gorgeous, and he couldn’t help but think that she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Brent. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Do you need help with that?” she giggled slightly, looking down at the worn green chair he was pushing. It had barely made it out of his days playing for the Norfolk Admirals alive; but it was his absolute favorite piece of furniture, and he just didn’t have the heart to get rid of it.

“Um, nah. I think I got it.”

When her face seemed to fall slightly, he couldn’t help but think he just made the biggest mistake ever, so he quickly thought of something else. “But, you know, I’m pretty new here, and I don’t know anyone, so, uh, if you’re not busy, wanna come to my place for dinner? We can order in, or I can try to make something…?”

Her face regained its brightness, and she nodded. “Just give me fifteen minutes; I’ll just shower real quick.”

As she walked away, towards the other end of the long hallway, Brent couldn’t help but let a sigh pass his lips; he’d almost fucked up majorly, but, with his quick thinking, he fixed it. Little did he know, that night would be the night his life would do a complete one-eighty.

“So, how are you?” Jaden asked, pushing a stray strand of her luscious brunette hair behind her ear, never taking her eyes away from his.

He blinked slowly, allowing a smile to come back to his face, nodding his head at his teammate, who glanced toward her blonde friend; it was a silent ‘excuse-me-while-I-save-her-hot-friend-from-her-misery’. “I’m amazing; how are you? You look… great.”

Brent could have smacked himself in the back of the head for letting such a cliché comment slip through his lips, but Jaden only seemed to smile and continue chattering along, stating how happy she was to see him, and how much she missed seeing him every day.

Yeah, like before. Before when you didn’t have some stupid boyfriend, Brent thought to himself, snickering inwardly, not paying any attention to anything other than her. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here?”

She only smiled in response, “My boyfriend works for the Chicago Children’s Charities. He’s kind of a big deal tonight.”

Brent only heard her first sentence, about her boyfriend, before he couldn’t help himself, and he allowed his eyes to roam shamelessly up and down the front of her dress, wondering if she looked the way he remembered.

The sound of the shower running only made Brent’s urge to pee ten times worse, as he lay in his bed, his legs crossed slightly, trying not to burst.

“Jay!” he called from his spot, playing with the sleeve of the black v-neck that covered his toned chest. When he received no answer, he only rolled off of his bed and twisted the knob on the bathroom door, not really worrying about anything, seeing as the water was still running.After all, she was his best friend; and best friends didn’t worry about seeing each other naked on accident, right?

He pressed the toilet flusher, almost instantly wishing he hadn’t, when Jaden’s loud squeals filled his ears. He turned around, partly in surprise from what he’d just done, and partly from his desperation to flee the scene before she could yell at him; he’d do whatever he could to delay her wrath.

He began to walk, at a brisk pace, towards the bathroom door, but when a very-foggy shower door flew open, blocking his path, and a very-naked Jaden stumbled out of the hot water and into his arms, he couldn’t help but let his eyes widen, and his moving feet come to a halt. His hands had conveniently come up, in an effort to help stabilize his best friend, to rest on her hips, and hers had just conveniently come to a stop on his chest. Neither of them said a word, both in too much shock to do anything, but when their eyes locked, their instincts were completely in sync.

Brent leaned down and forcefully pressed his lips against hers, only to be surprised when she kissed him back with just the same amount of force. Her hands gripped the sides of the ‘V’ of his shirt, and pulled it up, right over his head, breaking the kiss momentarily.

Jaden groaned as Brent ran his fingers through her dripping-wet, tangled brunette hair, which only turned him on more than he had become by just touching her bare hips. He moved his hands, pushing his gym shorts and boxers off in one quick motion, before breaking apart from her, smirking when their eyes met, and leading the both of them right back into the shower that had previously been scalding hot. Now, it was the whole bathroom.

He was so focused on his thoughts, along with her deeply tanned skin and bright blue eyes, that it took him a second to notice Jonathan, who was back with Jaden’s friend, and Duncan, who had obviously gotten bored of his older woman, standing on either side of him.

When his eyes returned to his old friend, however, his guard instantly went up; the man he assumed to be her boyfriend had joined their small group. He smiled cockily in Brent’s direction, sending him a smug look that read ‘Yeah, I-have-her-and-you-don’t’. Brent only rolled his eyes, in a way that would have made any girl jealous, and turned his attention to the jazz band on the stage that was trying to keep the nearly dead “party” alive.

“Jaden, can I talk to you for a second?”

Brent almost gagged at the prissy sound to her boyfriend’s voice; any other man’s, including his own, would have put his tone to shame. Out of nowhere, there was a quick tug on his hand, and Jaden’s friend was smiling at Brent, despite having her fingers linked through Jonathan’s. “Come dance with us!”

Duncan pushed his shoulder forward, and Brent only looked back at his fellow Canadian with a raised eyebrow. The Alternate Captain only shook his head and pushed him onto the floor, following Jonny and the girl, whose name he had learned to be Stephanie.

A lousy jazz song filled the air as the four of them swayed on the only area of the penthouse to actually have a hard surface, and Brent couldn’t help but move his eyes all over the room. The large clock over the stage let him know that it was eleven forty-five, and the New Year was just around the corner. From the corner of his eye, he could see Jaden and her boyfriend arguing, although he couldn’t hear them, in the spot that they’d all been standing in previously.

He quickly turned his head back in the direction of Stephanie when he saw Jaden marching angrily over towards the group, holding her long dress up with her left hand. The attention of the group was quickly on her, but she ignored it, turning to the man who had once been her best friend, nodding towards the back door, silently asking if he wanted to step out for some air with her.

Once they reached the skydeck, they stood, taking in everything around them; Lake Michigan, the John Hancock center, the newly-completed Trump Tower. Jaden shivered noticeably in the frigid winter air, and instantly, almost like a reflex, Brent shrugged himself out of his tuxedo jacket and laid it over her shoulders, despite her objections.

“Brent,” she spoke softly, making it so that he had to move closer to her to be able to hear her. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” he responded immediately; almost too quick. It seemed like he’d been waiting for her to say something along those lines. His heart felt like it’d grown wings as he continued to move closer to her, smiling down at her when she looked up at him, egging him on. The chants of the crowd inside took their focus off of each other momentarily, but, when they heard the mass yell ‘three, two, one!’, their impulses were the same.

Their lips met for the first time in years, sending ridiculous electrical impulses surging through both of their bodies; they relished the feeling, pulling each other as close to one another as they could.

She smiled lightly up at Brent once again, only to receive another kiss on the lips from the man she could now hope to call something more than just her former best friend. As their lips moved together, he could only sigh in contented relief; he’d finally found what he was looking for. A woman he could call his; this one just happened to be the one who’d stolen his heart.