The Fear Is Paralyzing

Kris wasn’t sure what the best way was to inform the team that he was dating Quinn, but he knew he needed to do it, and he needed to do it now. He figured the best way to do it was in groups instead of telling everyone at once. Tyler already knew, so that was one person down. Only twenty to go.

He decided to go with the easier people first, the ones he knew weren’t going to make a big deal about it. This included Marc Andre and Evgeni. He pulled those two aside rather quickly, filling them in on his relationship with Quinn. “You’re dating owner?” Evgeni asked, and Kris nodded his head. “Good for you,” he told him with a genuine smile.

“Yeah, seriously, good for you,” Marc Andre repeated, nodding his head in Kris’s direction. “She makes you happy, eh?” he asked.

Now it was Kris’s turn to nod his head. “Yeah, she does. Except shit is about to hit the fan,” he muttered. Marc Andre looked at him curiously. “The reason I’m telling you now, the reason we’re finally coming out and telling people, is because soon everyone is going to know, the media is going to find out,” he explained. He didn’t want to go into detail with Dean and what he was doing, but he thought it was only fair to let his teammates know what they were going to have to be dealing with soon.

“Good luck with that,” Marc Andre told him, giving Kris a pat on the back. Kris just sighed, knowing he was going to need all the luck he could get.

He went around to the rest of his teammates, telling them about his relationship with Quinn. He had gotten through all of them but two, Jordan and Sid. These were the two he was looking forward to telling the least. Fortunately, Tyler had stuck around to at least offer him some moral support as he finally revealed the news to them.

“Hey guys, I need to talk to you two,” Kris began slowly, and Jordan and Sid looked over at him, waiting on him to continue. “Um…well, I haven’t been upfront about my girlfriend.”

“No shit,” Jordan interjected. “You haven’t said anything about her! Who is she?” he asked.

“Well it’s not Blair,” he told him, glancing at Tyler he was trying not to laugh about that. “It’s actually Quinn.” He watched as the two guys tried to process the information, and it was Sid that figured it out first.

“Quinn?” he questioned, his eyes wide. “Like…” he began before Jordan interrupted.

“Hot owner Quinn?” Jordan said loudly, and Kris couldn’t do anything but nod his head. “How the hell did you hook up with her?”

Kris opened his mouth to respond but Sid beat him to it. “You’re dating the owner?” he asked slowly. Kris had expected Sid to yell and be angry, but right now he just seemed to still be trying to process what Kris had told him. Kris wasn’t sure if the anger was to come later, but he was glad that he wasn’t screaming at him just yet. “You’re dating the owner?” he repeated.

“Yes, I am,” Kris nodded his head.

“How the hell did you get her?” Jordan asked, and Kris tried his hardest not to be offended by that question. “She wouldn’t even give me the time of day, and yet you’re dating her?”

“Sorry, man,” Kris said with a slight chuckle. He turned towards Sid. “What are you thinking?” he asked his captain.

“I can’t believe you’re dating her. This is going to be a huge clusterfuck when the media finds out,” he muttered.

“That’s the other thing I needed to talk to you about,” Kris began, and Sid looked up at him. The look on his face showed that he already knew what Kris was about to say. “The media is about to find out. That’s why I’m making sure all of you know before you find out through the press.”

Sid shook his head. “Like I said, this is going to be a huge clusterfuck,” he repeated his earlier sentiments.

Kris sighed. “I know, and I’m sorry. We didn’t want it to be like this, it just sort of happened, and now we’re going to have to deal with it.”

“We need to have a team meeting,” Sid declared. “Get everyone on the same page and make sure that everyone keeps their heads in the game and doesn’t let this distract from what’s important: making the playoffs,” he said, always thinking about the team and winning.

“I agree,” Kris nodded his head.

“I’ll get everyone together later,” Sid said as he stood up and walked away, leaving Kris there with Jordan, who was still shocked that Quinn had gone for Kris and not Jordan.

“You didn’t even try to ask her out or hook up with her,” Kris said with a laugh. “So don’t act so shocked that she’s not with you!”

Jordan shook his head. “Yeah, but she’s hot, and you’re…not. So why’d she pick you? If she wanted to date one of the players, don’t you think she should have picked the best looking guy on the team?” he asked, popping his own collar. Kris rolled his eyes, not saying anything, but standing up and walking away.

Tyler followed him, saying, “That didn’t go as bad as I thought it would.”

Kris chuckled. “Me either. I just wonder how bad it’s going to get when the press finds out.”

“We’ll find out then,” Tyler shrugged. “I still can’t believe her stepbrother is blackmailing you,” he told him. Tyler was the only one on the team that knew the details of what Dean was doing to him and Quinn. “Who does that?”

Kris shook his head. “This psycho,” he muttered. “He’s like made it his life mission to ruin Quinn’s life or something.”

“That’s just messed up,” Tyler said as they walked out into the hallway, nearly running into Quinn. “Speaking of…” Tyler said as Kris stuck his hand out to steady Quinn to prevent her from falling. “Aw, look at the cute couple,” Tyler teased as Kris just as quickly took his hand away from her, used to not having any closeness in public.

“Shut up,” Kris rolled his eyes at his friend.

Quinn looked up at Kris. “So I assume you told everyone?” she asked, and he nodded his head. “How’d they take it?”

“Better than I thought,” Kris admitted. “I’m just worried about when the press finds out, what’s going to happen then.”

“Me, too,” Quinn said quietly. She was obviously scared about that. “I’m getting ready to go meet my parents to tell them about us.”

“Are you going to tell them about Dean and what he’s doing too?” Quinn nodded her head. “Call me afterwards, come over, or whatever you need,” he said, and again, she simply nodded her head before walking away, leaving Kris and Tyler standing there alone.

Kris turned his head to look at Tyler. “I can’t wait for all this to be over,” he muttered.

“It will be soon,” Tyler said, putting a hand on Kris’s back.

***

Quinn walked into the house, somewhat scared to reveal to Corinne and Garrett that she was dating Kris. She wasn’t sure how they were going to react, and she knew Corinne would have her own opinion about her daughter dating a hockey player, especially one that played on her team, and Quinn wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear that just yet. But, she had no choice, she needed to reveal it to them before the media did for her.

“So Quinn, what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you on a day that’s not Thursday?” Corinne asked with a laugh, but Quinn knew she wasn’t joking at all. She knew Corinne wasn’t happy that the only time Quinn came around was when she had family dinners.

“Well, I needed to talk to you guys about something,” Quinn began.

“Oh God, you’re pregnant, aren’t you?” Corinne interrupted, and Quinn looked at her like she was crazy. That was the first thing that popped into her mother’s mind? “I didn’t even know you were dating someone. Weren’t you careful?” she continued, and Quinn just sat there in shock.

“Now, Corinne, sweetheart, let the girl explain,” Garrett interrupted his wife, and Corinne quieted down with both of them looking at Quinn, waiting on her to talk.

“I’m not pregnant, Mom,” she clarified first. “But, I am dating someone.”

Corinne looked at Garrett before looking back at Quinn. “Well, are you going to tell us who? Or are we going to have to guess?” she questioned, and Quinn just wanted to walk out right then. Instead of her mother being happy for her, she was acting annoyed with the news. “Do we know him?”

“Kinda,” Quinn said, and when she saw the look her mother was giving her, she decided it was best to not drag it out any further. “It’s Kris Letang,” she stated. She watched both Corinne and Garrett’s faces, trying to see if the name triggered anything, but it didn’t appear it had, so Quinn continued. “He’s…uh…he plays for the Penguins,” she helped them out.

It was at that moment that Corinne’s eyes went wide. “You’re dating one of your own players?” she screeched, causing Quinn to jump at the loudness. “Oh my God, Quinn, do you ever think before you act?” she questioned.

“Mom,” Quinn tried, but Corinne wouldn’t let her get a word in.

“Seriously, what in the world are you thinking? What’s going to happen when everyone finds out? When the fans find out?” she questioned.

“Well we’ll find out soon,” Quinn muttered.

“What?” Garrett asked, and Quinn realized he had heard what she had said. “What does that mean? Are you two going to come out and tell everyone?” he asked. He didn’t say it in a condescending way the mother had, but he was really curious as to how it was going to happen.

Quinn shook her head. “No, Dean is.”

“Dean?” Corinne asked. “Dean knows about you two but your own mother doesn’t?” she questioned.

“Mom, calm down,” Quinn told her. “I didn’t tell Dean. He found out. And now he’s using it for his own benefit.”

Garrett looked at her. He knew that Dean would do anything he could to get ahead, but to use this against his own family, it wasn’t something he thought his son was capable of. “What are you talking about, Quinn? What is Dean doing?”

Quinn relayed to the two of them how Dean had blackmailed her into trying to get the team. She hadn’t told them that she had signed over part of her shares to Mario, but she did tell them that he wasn’t going to get the team from her, and now she was going to deal with the consequences of that.

“Quinn, Dean will not do that to you,” Garrett said matter-of-factly. He didn’t want to believe his own son was capable of being that greedy and self-absorbed.

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest. “Actually, he is. He doesn’t know yet that I’m not handing the team over. I have until tonight to do it or he’s going to the press. So I guarantee that tomorrow morning when you wake up, everyone will know.”

Corinne rolled her eyes at her daughter. “You’re being ridiculous, Quinn. And, can we get back to the fact that you’re dating one of your own players. What on earth made you think that was a good idea?”

“Mom, I can’t really help who I fall in love with,” Quinn stated. She usually would back down to her mother at a time like this, but when it came to Kris, she wasn’t going to do it. She wasn’t going to allow her mother to make her feel bad about falling for Kris, one of the best things that had happened to her in as long as she could recall.

“Fall in love with?” Corinne asked, raising an eyebrow at Quinn. “You’re delirious, Quinn. You don’t love that boy!”

“Stop it, Mom!” Quinn said loudly to let her mother know she was being serious. She couldn’t really remember ever raising her voice at her mom since she was a little kid, but things were changing right now.

“Quinn,” her mother said in a warning tone.

“No, Mom,” Quinn said, shaking her head as she stood up. “You don’t even know Kris. You’ve never even met him. So don’t judge me or him, okay?” Corinne stayed quiet, obviously shocked by Quinn’s outburst. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got to get ready to deal with the storm that’s about to hit when Dean reveals to everyone that Kris and I are together.” She turned her head to look at Garrett. “Because he will oust us,” she stated.

Garrett opened his mouth to say something to her, but Quinn didn’t stay around long enough to hear it. Instead, she walked out the door, leaving her Corinne and Garrett sitting there, wondering where this outspoken girl had come from.