Riding Solo Ain't Fun

Corey Crawford never understood why he let himself be pushed into these situations. Sure, every now and again he loved a good party. But he was just coming out of a break-up with a girl he had been with since his junior years. She had been cheating on him with every other man in her life. Two months later and he was still trying to get the image of her riding the bus driver – still in uniform, as well – reverse cowgirl out of his head. No amounts of alcohol or training had rid him of that image.

So now Corey was sitting at the VIP bar on New Years’ Eve – his twenty-seventh birthday, as well, but he didn’t expect Kaner to remember that – with a glass of the club’s finest whiskey in his hand. He was being antisocial and he knew it; honestly, did the guys expect anything less? He had been devoting himself to hockey ever since being benched for most of November because his play began to get so sloppy.

He had never let a girl get to him like that before; but then again, Alexa wasn’t a normal girl. She was exotic and fun, lively and entertaining. She loved adventure and doing new things. All his firsts were with Alexa: first time having sex, first serious girlfriend, first time saying I love you. Essentially, she was his first love. She was his everything, other than hockey, for the longest time.

And now for the first time in nearly ten years, he was on his own. Lonely, single, and desperate for some comfort. Not that he would ask for any kind of help or comfort from his teammates; Lord only knew how well that would go over. As it was, they had left him to fend for himself in a club on his birthday, even though they had a game the previous night. They couldn’t let him go home and wallow in his self-pity like he wanted to. No, they had to make sure he came out to celebrate New Year’s Eve in true Blackhawk style: by partying until the early morning.

Once again Corey sighed to himself, throwing back to the rest of his whiskey. He had only had one glass and had nursed it for the better part of an hour. The bartender gave him big bug eyes, which creeped him out just a little bit. After all, she looked like she was twelve, not of legal age.

It didn’t matter one way or another because Corey was not looking for a random fuck. He’d always been a relationship guy, even as a teenager. He’d had maybe three flings in his life, all times where he had been ‘off’ with Alexa.

Thinking about her so much was causing him to frown even more. He order two doubles of vodka and downed them without even flinching. After another two hours of sitting at the bar feeling sorry for himself, Corey finally ventured onto the dance floor, much to the chagrin of his teammates.

“There ya are, Craw,” Kaner called in his obnoxiously lisped voice, made even worse by the large amounts of alcohol even drunk Corey knew Patrick had consumed. The shorter man tried to throw his arm over Corey’s shoulder, but nearly fell over in the process. It was Corey’s quick reflexes that allowed his teammate to still have his dignity in tack by not taking a spill on the very crowded floor.

“Going to dance,” Corey announced to no one in particular, clapping a hand on Kaner’s shoulder and then made his way to a girl that was by herself. Even though she was probably wearing heels, she still barely reached his shoulders. Her ass was in an ideal place though, and she was dancing by herself. Corey didn’t see the harm in it. He walked as best as he could towards the girl. When she looked at him, he caught his breath. She had startling blue eyes that stared out at him, drawing him in even closer.

“Do you want to dance?” Corey managed to stammer out, staring at the girl like he would have in his teenage years. The way she was looking at him made him feel like a teenager again. And then she nodded and turned around. They settled into the fast tempo of the music quickly, dancing close together, closer than Corey had ever danced with a stranger in a club.

But he loved it. He never did something as spontaneous as asking a stranger to dance with him. But God was he glad he did tonight. This woman was sexy as fuck – he could tell by running his hands up his thighs and sides, which he was surprised she allowed. In fact, he noticed that every time he ran his hands up his sides, she pushed back into him, as if she liked it as much as he enjoyed doing it.

One time, closer to midnight from the drunkenness of the crowd, he accidently brushed too high on her chest. The woman immediately spun around and Corey tensed, waiting for a smack that never came. Inside, the woman wrapped her arms around his neck and they danced chest to chest this time. She leaned up as they rocked to the slower song, whispering in his ear and giving him goose bumps, both by her words and her actions.

“Once the clock strikes midnight, how about me and you get out of here?” Corey gulped and nodded, not trusting his voice, even though he was sure she wouldn’t hear him over the music of the club anyway. That was not like Corey, to just agree to go home with a stranger. After all, he was never a one-night-stand kind of man. He had always been with Alexa. Even the flings he had when he was younger were with women he knew, not strangers in a club.

Either way, Corey was excited… in more ways than one. He was even more excited when the DJ cut the music to countdown to the New Year. Once the clock hit zero, marking the beginning of twenty-thirteen, Corey didn’t even think twice about pulling the woman he was dancing with closer and giving her a surprisingly long kiss. He wasn’t planning on such a long kiss. Really, he was just going to give her a quick peck, just to ring in the new year, but it got heated very quickly.

The woman was the first to pull back, and Corey could see her blue eyes were shocked and confused. “Let’s, uh, get out of here,” she said loudly and breathlessly. She didn’t give him a chance to respond and instead grabbed his hand and began pushing through the thick crowd.

They only separated when they got their coats, promising to meet each other outside. Corey ran up to the VIP longue, grabbed this coat and ran back downstairs into the chilly Chicago air. It wasn’t long before the woman joined him outside and they quickly hailed a cab. Corey gave the driver his address and they were off. He was trying to be behaved in the cab; after all they didn’t need him to pull another Kaner.

That thought kind of sobered him up… until she brushed just a little too high on his lap. He jumped and could feel his cheeks blush, both because of her bold moves and because he was acting like such a prude. It wasn’t long before the cab was pulling up outside his condo building and they were hurrying on their way, the cabbie wondering what God blessed him with a nearly eighty dollar tip that night.

Corey and the woman didn’t waste any time. In the elevator going up to his floor – the fifth floor – they were kissing and tugging at their coats and scarves. Luckily there was no one about at two o’clock in the morning. Once inside the condo, all bets – and clothes – were off. Corey never fell into bed with anyone faster.

-

Corey woke up sore, tired and with a headache fit to crack his skull straight through. He sat up very slowly, feeling his head continue to pound. He could feel the warm air of his apartment hit his bare chest, and that wasn’t too unusual.

What was unusual, however, was the naked woman lying on her stomach next to him. Her dark, messy hair was fanned out over her back. He followed the curve of her back until it ended just where the dark green sheet covered her lower half. Even though his head was pounding bloody murder, Corey couldn’t help but want to give it another go with…

Corey’s head began to hurt even more. He didn’t even know the woman’s name. He had no idea who she was, other than completely amazing at sex. Even though the monster hangover, Corey knew that much: she was absolutely, ridiculously amazing in bed. He was even about to attempt to seduce her into another round when his cell phone started to ring.

“Ow, fuck,” Corey mumbled, jumping out of bed and running around his condo, naked, trying to find his phone. Once he did, he saw one missed call from Jon. Leave it to Captain Serious to call at nine-thirty in the morning on a day – the only day that week – they didn’t have practice. While he was out of bed, Corey opted to go for the usual hangover medicine: told glass of water and a couple of Advil.

When he walked into his room he was unsurprised to find the woman awake. He was surprised, however, that she was still lying in bed, the sheets just barely covering her ample breasts. “Oh boy, could I get used to this view,” she drawled in a slight Southern accent. Corey could feel an erection coming on and he quickly put the water and extra Advil on the bedside table before pouncing.

When Corey came to this time he was much more alert. “That was amazing,” the woman drawled once more, and he watched as she propped herself up on an elbow, looking down at him with her sparkling blue eyes.

“You can say that again,” Corey agreed, still trying to catch his breath. Strings-free sex was amazing; he had forgotten that in the long two and a half years that Corey and Alexa had been on in their relationship.

They continued to lay in bed for a while, neither really wanting to move or talk, nor really knowing what to do or say. “So… I guess I should be going then,” the woman drawled finally, sitting up in bed and letting her legs fall over the edge. Corey was quick in sitting up as well, gently putting a hand on her back.

“Uh… How about I make some breakfast?” he stuttered out awkwardly, not knowing why he couldn’t let this literal stranger just walk out of his life. He bet it was the sex. It was always because of the sex. Once more he cursed Kaner for making him go out and party.

“Sure,” the woman agreed, standing up and stretching. Her body curved like a bow, and Corey could feel his mouth watering one more time. Then again, this woman definitely beat his hand, no questions asked.

“I just have a question,” Corey said before he could stop himself. Just was the words left his mouth, he wished he could take them back. He could feel a delicate blush settling on his cheeks. The blush darkened as the woman set her piercing gaze on him, and he swallowed hard.

“What’s your name again?”