Sweet Disposition

Claude snuck into his hotel room, trying to make the least amount of noise possible so he wouldn’t wake his roommate. His attempts were in vain, however, seeing as the second he turned from easing the door shut the light turned on, revealing Scotty Hartnell with the ever-present mischievous glint in his eyes. “Well, well, well, hello there Mr. Giroux,” grinned the jovial left-winger, “Cutting it a little close to curfew, eh?”

“What, you so worried you had to wait up for me?” Claude shot back with a smirk, “I’m back aren’t I?” A chuckle rumbled from his roommate, “You have a good night, G? You’re glowing.” The 22-year-old rolled his eyes as he went about getting himself ready for bed. “I’m surprised you came in when you did. I honestly was expecting you to sneak in at least an hour late or maybe even creeping in at the wee hours for an early morning walk of shame,” Scott continued, eyeing his roommate with a knowing smirk.

Claude laughed, “Yeah, right. Think about who I was with, Hartsy. You think she’d let me get away with any of that?” Scott snorted, nodding in agreement. “Besides, the last thing we want right now is to get caught,” the younger player sighed, flopping down onto his bed.

Scott shot him a sympathetic look before turning out his light, “Well, good that she’s keeping you in check, eh?” Claude rolled onto his back, exhaling loudly, “Yeah, yeah it is.” He closed his eyes in a fruitless attempt of falling asleep as thoughts of Claire clouded his mind.

He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her or about what was quite possibly the best sex he had ever experienced with the young woman who may just so happen to be the girl of his dreams. The feel of her warm, supple skin under his touch as they moved together was electric.

He was sure that her fingernails, that had clawed so desperately at his back, had most likely left marks behind. He fully planned on keeping them hidden from the prying eyes of his teammates, for her sake and dignity, to protect her from becoming locker room talk. Claire was not only a member of the training staff but she was also their friend and she fully deserved far more than becoming gossip for the overgrown teenage girls that were his teammates. It could end badly on more counts than one in the case that one of their superiors got wind of their exploits.

His mind soon drifted back to images of her gorgeous body tangled with his, the feeling of her breasts against his chest as he pounded into her and the way her soft moans drove him wild. She fought so hard to keep her moans as quiet as humanly possible, often coming out as sharp, ragged breaths and pleasured gasps. The sound of his name breathlessly escaping from her lips played over and over in his head, taunting him mercilessly. If he didn’t wake up with morning wood he would be shocked.

Sex with Claire was incredible, not that he doubted it would be, however he hadn’t to expected it to be on the level of passion and intense pleasure that it had been. It was bordering a strange, alien emotional feeling. He had never held out for this long with a girl (although he now realised that they could have done this ages ago had he not been so terrified of screwing everything up) nor had he, now that he thought about it, ever really felt this strongly about a woman in any of his prior relationships.

Scott turned over in his sleep, grumbling a bit, effectively breaking Claude from his reverie. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and actually get some sleep. He lay in the dark for what seemed like hours, when in actuality it had only been a minute or two when the culmination of his thoughts came to a head. He was falling for this girl, hard. But the weirdest and most disconcerting part about the whole thing was that he wasn’t scared at all.



“C’mon Claire, spill!” whined Jeff, a ridiculously childish pout adorning his features. He had been nagging her since they had boarded the plane home from Toronto. She was thankful that she had chosen to sit in the back corner, far away from the coach, her boss, and the many other players who she was convinced were still unaware of her relationship with number 28.

She rolled her eyes, shoving him before looking out the window, regretting that she had declined Danny’s offer to sit beside him on the return flight, knowing that he would at least indulge her in a normal, pleasant conversation, unlike the nosy blonde forward beside her who preferred conversations of a raunchier nature. “Fuck off Jeff, how many times have I told you, no,” she snapped, his constant prodding and whining pushing her over the edge.

He was determined to find out about Claire and his teammate’s activities after leaving the club, seeing as both Claude and Scott hadn’t uttered a word. “You did the dirty, didn’t you?” he whispered, his eyes widening at the realization. “God, you’re like a teenage girl Carter,” she groaned quietly, so as not to draw attention to herself and their conversation. A knowing grin spread across his lips, her retort confirming his suspicions. “You did! You two finally fucking did it! Thank God, I thought he was gonna have an everlasting case of blue balls the way he’s been going about this.”

Claire shook her head, letting it thud against the seat in front of her, trying desperately to block him out. “I’m so proud of you little girl!” he exclaimed, albeit rather quietly (to his credit), wiping away fake tears of joy, “My babies are growing up!”



Claude looked to the back of the plane where Claire sat cornered by Jeff, looking about ready to kill him. He sighed, going back to the card game he had been playing with Danny. She had been avoiding him all morning, making sure to steer clear of any seemingly intimate displays of affection that could set either of them off. It was like she knew that he would find it nearly impossible to keep his hands off of her and although he was thankful for that, he hated her for it as well.

He knew that she would become a little more paranoid after last night, especially since they had sex on the road, which admittedly was not the best time to finally consummate their relationship. She was terrified of the organization catching them in the act and finding out before they had a chance to talk to them and bring it to their attention. Last night had been a particularly careless move on their part, almost asking to be discovered.

“Êtes-vous bien, Claude?” (Are you alright, Claude?) asked Danny, glancing up at his friend as he dealt out the cards. His warm, caring brown eyes laced with concern for his friend. “Ouais, je vais bien,” (Yeah, I’m fine.) the 22-year-old murmured, picking up the hand dealt to him. The older forward shot him an unconvinced look, as if to say ‘Bullshit, what’s really wrong with you?’

“C'est à son sujet, n'est-ce pas?” (It’s about her, isn’t it?) he asked, studying the young winger in front of him, not even bothering to chance a glance at the young woman who was clearly restraining herself from throwing Carts off the plane. Claude’s silence only confirmed what he already knew, “Elle a été vous évitant d'aujourd'hui, ce qui s'est passé? Avez-vous les gars me battre?” (She’s been avoiding you today, what happened? Did you guys get in a fight?)

Claude shook his head, negating Danny’s questions. He took a deep breath, glancing up at his friend over the cards fanned out in his hand, “Non, c'est juste que ... la nuit dernière nous ... nous, uh ...” (No, it’s just that… last night we… we, uh…) his gaze dropped, finding himself unable to utter the incriminating words for fear that someone could hear their conversation.

A small smile graced Danny’s features, “Elle a peur que si elle passe près de vous, ni de vous serez en mesure de vous contrôler, n'est-ce pas? Elle ne veut pas se faire prendre.” (She’s afraid that if she goes near you neither of you will be able to control yourselves. She doesn’t want to get caught.) Claude nodded, is green eyes darting up nervously, moving about his teammates that were scattered about the jet. “Je n'ai pas entendu quelqu'un dire quelque chose à propos de vous voir deux la nuit dernière. Donc, vous êtes en sécurité, pour l'instant.” (I haven’t heard anyone say anything about seeing you two last night. So you’re safe, for now.)

Claude nodded once more before finally managing to find his voice again, “J'ai eu envie de leur parler depuis que nous sommes sur ce road trip. Elle a été si effrayé, et je ne veux pas la déranger, mais nous avons besoin pour obtenir ceci à l'organisation. Nous sommes ensemble depuis assez longtemps pour prouver que cela peut fonctionner. J'espère seulement que cela ne revient pas et la mordre dans le cul. Elle ne mérite pas ça.” (I’ve been wanting to talk to them since we went on this road trip. She’s been so scared, and I don’t want to upset her, but we need to get this out to the organization. We’ve been together long enough now to prove that this can work. I just hope that this doesn’t come back and bite her in the ass. She doesn’t deserve that.)

Danny smiled at his young friend’s words, “Vous savez Lavy, Jim, et les gars vont tous vous sauvegardez deux vers le haut si elle vient à ce droit?” (You know Lavy, Jim, and the guys will all back you two up if it comes to that right?) Claude frowned, the space between his eyebrows crinkling in confusion, “Que voulez-vous dire?” (What do you mean?) The 32-year-old placed his cards face down on the little table and leaned in so Claude could hear him, his voice dropping down several levels, “Regardez Claude, la plupart des gars ont déjà compris et entraîneur Jim et probablement pensé à elle depuis belle lurette. Ils n'ont manifestement pas de problème avec ça ou ils l'auraient abordé maintenant. Nous avons tous le dos, nous sommes une famille.” (Look Claude, most of the guys have figured it out already and Coach and Jim probably figured it out ages ago. They clearly don’t have a problem with it or they would have addressed it by now. We’ve all got your back, we’re family.)

Claude smiled at that, a feeling of relief sweeping over him at his friend’s words, “Thanks man.” Danny picked up his cards once more, the trademark soft smile never leaving his lips as the two resumed their game, “Any time, G.”

He glanced over to where Claire sat. Mike had joined Jeff in pestering her. It was painfully obvious that the two were double teaming her by the death glare trained at the window beside her. “Poor girl,” he murmured to Claude, nodding in her direction with an impish grin, “I wonder how long it’ll take before she actually kills them?”

The younger man looked over to his girlfriend then back to Danny with an equally amused smirk, “I dunno, she’s managed to hold out this long with Carts. God knows how much longer she’ll be able to put up with the two of them together. We may be down a captain by the end of this flight.”