Where I'll Find Hope

He didn't want anything to do with the press. All he wanted was to be left alone. Letting the team down was the last thing he wanted to do to them. They were close, great friends, a family even. Although their season was now over, it was more than likely that the guys would want to go out and drink. He had to admit that having a beer and trying to forget sounded real good right now. It was better than going home to an empty house, a house that he lived alone for the past eight months now.

When he finally showed up at the bar when he was ready to be there. The first thing he noticed was his teammate Max Talbot singing karaoke. He couldn't help but crack a smile at his singing. Making his way to the bar, he stood next to a woman with medium brown hair wearing a dark denim skirt and a white tank that had ridden up on her back with the way she was leaning. When the bartender finally made his way over to him, he ordered a beer as the woman took the phone out of her pocket in her skirt. He watched as she hit a button before and putting it back in her pocket.

When she looked at him, she gave him a smile before taking her drink and walking away from him and towards a group of people, who he assumed were her friends. After paying for his drink he made his way to where his friends and teammates were sitting around. Sitting in the vacant seat near Sidney Crosby, he looked at his friend. “Hey, Flower.”

Nodding his head at the guys, he turned his head and looked towards the group where the girl from the bar had made her way to. He didn't know what it was, but something about her was familiar, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Tearing his eyes away from her, he turned his attention back to his friends. He knew that he didn't drive, which meant he was free to drink as much as he wanted to in order to forget what happened earlier at the rink. The last game played at Mellon arena was a loss and it was his fault. At least that's the way he saw it and right now he just needed to forget about it. Beer was the one thing that he hoped would help him forget.

After a few hours, he let the guys know that he was going to the other bar down the street. When he was leaving, he hadn't realized that a pair of chocolate brown eyes followed him. Telling her friends that she still had to meet up with other people down the street, she told them that she'd talk to them later on in the week before grabbing her bag and heading out of there.

As soon as she walked down the street, she saw the huge line to get inside and rolled her eyes. Knowing the bouncer always had its perks. Smiling and waving her hand at him, he nodded his head telling her silently that she should come straight up. When she reached him, he smiled at her. “When did you get back in town?”

“I just moved back. Did you miss me?”

“You know it. Have a good time, but I already know you will. Just be careful tonight, will ya?” the bouncer asked as he let her inside.

“See you later.” she grinned as she walked inside.

Her first stop was the bar, she needed another drink if she wanted to tell her family about what exactly happened in Chicago. With a sigh, she went up to the bar and waited until the bartender noticed her. She needed a drink in her and she really didn't want to wait. Standing next to a guy, she looked at him from the corner of her eye, before the bartender looked for her order. “Captain and diet.”

Nodding his head, she went into her wallet, to grab some cash, she was a bit surprised to see someone hand money over for her drink. Sure there had been times where guys had bought her drinks, but not this fast. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed who it was. The guy that had been at the same bar earlier in the evening.

“Thanks.” she smiled as she brought the drink up to her lips.

Looking at him, she saw the smile on his lips and she had to admit that he had a really nice smile. “Leave your friends?”

“I left and they wanted to stay. They don't like it here. What about you? It seemed like your friends didn't follow you here. Why come alone?”

“I didn't need them getting on my case about what I want to drink.”

“Well I won't get on you about it,” she told him. “I'll do you one better. Can I get four shots please?”

“I'm Marc.”

“Kendall.”

Her eyes met the bartender and he nodded letting her know that he heard her.

Between talking and drinking with the a guy she just met, she couldn't remember having such a good time with a guy she barely knew. The only thing she had really learned about him was that he was a hockey player and his name was Marc. Between the two of them, they had many drinks shared and they both knew that they were in no condition to drive which is what brought them to their current situation.

With his arm around her shoulder, they waited outside for the club for the cab that was called for them. “Just share a cab, it'll just be easier for us.” he reasoned.

“Oh yeah?” Kendall asked, wrapping her arms around his stomach. “Tell me why.”

“You don't want to go home alone and neither do I,” he told her as they walked towards the cab that had just pulled up to the curb near them. “I think we should continue this party going.”

“What makes you think that I want to party with you?” Kendall asked as she let him pull her towards the cab without much of a fight.

“Because I have more supplies for it.”

The grin on his face, put one on hers. “Don't disappoint me Marc.” Kendall grinned as she watched him open the door and she slid inside the cab and moved over so that he could get inside.

Watching him slide inside the cab next to her and shut the door as he told the driver an address which she assumed was his home. Crossing one leg over the other, she could feel the butterflies in her stomach. She wasn't exactly sure why she was leaving with him, but there was just something about him that made her curious and she just hoped that it wouldn't come back and haunt her in the future.

The ride from the bar to the house was silent and about half way there she felt his hand on her leg and she couldn't help but bite her lip in anticipation of what the rest of the night would hold. As soon as the cab pulled up at his house, Marc got out first before helping Kendall out before paying for the cab ride. Placing his hand on the skin where her tank had rose up showing off the small of her back. “So you live here?” Kendall asked, taking in the size of the house. “By yourself?”

“Yeah. I don't get to spend as much time as I'd like here, but when I do it feels nice to be home.”

Removing his hand from her back he took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. Letting her walk in first, he shut the door and watched her as she looked around the house. “It's a really nice place.” Kendall said.

“How about some more shots?” he offered tossing his keys on the stand next to the door as he walked towards the kitchen.

Taking off her shoes, she left them by the door as she slowly made her way into the kitchen. She wasn't sure exactly what was going to, but she knew that this probably wasn't one of her brightest moments. Making her way to the kitchen, following the path that Marc had gone down, Kendall kept looking around.

“That looks expensive.”

“It probably was. A friend of mine left it here. I'm sure he wouldn't want it to go to waste.” he said offering her the drink.

Without really thinking it through, she took the Pittsburgh Penguins shot glass from his hand and downed the drink. Setting the glass on the counter her green eyes looked into his brown ones. “I think I should call a cab and get going,” Kendall told him as she fished her phone out of her pocket. “I hope that you feel better when you wake up Marc.”

“Want to know what would make me feel better?” he asked as he took his shot and moved to stand in front of her. “If you let me kiss you.”

“Is that so?” she asked as she sat on the counter and watched him walk towards her and stand between her legs. “All you want is for me to kiss you?”

Setting his hands on her thighs, his lips crashed onto hers. Dropping her phone that was in her hand, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Breaking away from one another only when the need for air was a must, Kendall didn't move her arms from around his neck and he didn't move his hands from where they rested on her thighs.

“If that was something that made you feel better,” Kendall started as she felt his lips hovering over her neck. “I know something that will make you forget every bad day you've had this year.”

“I didn't ask you to come here for this.” Marc told her.

“But since I'm here I don't see the harm in having some fun, do you?” Kendall grinned as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and her legs wound themselves around his waist. “Tell me that you don't want me as badly as I want you and I'll walk out that door, no feeling hurt.”

Grabbing her hips, he kissed her neck as she moved so he had better access to it.

Waking up the next morning, Kendall shoved her face deeper into the pillow. There was a slight pain in her head, but it wasn't anything a little more sleep couldn't fix. The nice thing about not having to work until the late shift was the ability to sleep in for however long she wanted. Feeling a pair of arms around her, her eyes shot open. As carefully as she could, she turned around she saw the naked body of the man she had been drinking with. But he wasn't just any man, he was Marc Andre Fleury from the Pittsburgh Penguins. If her uncle found about what she had done, oh she would never hear the end of it.