In the Company

The door of the apartment shut and I assumed Ryleigh had left with Brayden, whose voice I’d heard dimly in the kitchen. Since walking into the apartment, Tyler hadn’t let go of me, just loosening his iron grip enough to slide his shoes off and all but carry me to the couch.

“So what’s on your mind, sis?” Tyler asked, putting now just an arm around my shoulders.

I cracked a smile. Since Canada, Tyler had begun calling me the third Seguin sister, based on the fact that we were so close and I was keeping in touch with his sisters and mom.

“What isn’t?” I sniffled and groaned at the same time, making a weird, hybrid noise. “It feels like everything is coming up all at once and I can’t do anything about it.”

“It’s a lot, I know,” he rubbed my back, pulling me close. Tyler said virtually the same thing as Ryleigh did and it didn’t help much at all now either. “Shit happens, life goes on.”

“But it feels like it’s just more and more shit that keeps happening,” I said into his chest. Tyler was good for this sort of thing. He would let me rant and moan and say whatever I liked, however I liked.

“You’re stressed,” Tyler reasoned, still rubbing my back. He pushed me back so that I had to look him in the eye. Carefully, he wiped the tears off my face and looked at me earnestly. “But you’re not in this alone. You’ve got Ry, your mom, and your brother. And now, you’ve got a bunch of hockey players- one of whom is now your new brother- to help you through it. You’re not doing this on your own anymore, Rose.”

I gave him a teary smile before hugging him again. “Thank you, Ty, really.”

“What are best friend-hockey player-brothers for?”

I laughed, wiping my own tears away. “A lot, I’m starting to see.”

Tyler smiled too and sat back against the couch, eyeing me again. “So, you wanna tell me what exactly had you in hysterics tonight? Or do I have to guess?”

I stuttered. “I was not in hysterics. I was… distraught.”

He rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Rose, what was it?”

“I went out,” I sighed. “To get ice cream. I wanted to take a walk so I went to Donner’s.” I was trying to keep this short, just so that I didn’t dissolve into actual hysterics. “I was perfectly fine until I saw David and he tried talking with me-,”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Tyler waved his hand in front of me. “You saw him? And he wanted to try talking? I swear to God if he wanted to try and ‘sort things out’, I’ll kill him. He’s put you through enough and-,”

Now I cut him off. “Are you going to let me finish or not? You're turning into a woman, Tyler.” Frowning, he sat back again with his arms crossed. “Pat was just… there. He kinda swooped in like a superhero and saved the day.”

Tyler laughed and I squinted at him, shocked.

“This isn’t funny!” I whacked him with a pillow. “I actually need your help!”

He gasped for air and slowly calmed down. “It’s just… he’s really fitting into his All-Star persona?”

“His what?”

“This past year,” Ty explained. “At the All-Star Games, Patrick was one of the shoot-out competitors for his team. Guys usually like to ham it up for this to get the most votes. Pat tied on a Superman cape and those thick glasses and, like, dove to the net.” He demonstrated with his arms.

“Huh,” I sat back. “Patrick Kane, hockey player-play boy by day and superhero by night.”

Tyler frowned. “Why you gotta call him a play boy?”

“Isn’t that what he is? Or at least, all of your reputations kind of peg you as that.”

“Yeah, kind of,” he said. Tyler wasn’t getting mad, but I could tell I’d pushed his buttons. “Aren’t you the one saying that that’s only one side of us? That there’s more to the story?”

I thought about the things Patrick had said to me that night. One moment doesn’t define who you are. Damn, I was a hypocrite.

“You’re right,” I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t right.”

“Give him a chance,” Tyler encouraged. “Who knows, maybe something will actually come of it?”

“What do you mean come of it?” I sighed. “And why is it that everyone is telling me to give him a chance!?”

“Because that’s what he deserves,” he said. Tyler made a face. “Listen to me, sounding all philosophical and shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.” Glancing at my phone, I found a new text from none other than Cassidy Seguin. I found myself smiling at the news of the boy she’d liked for a while having asked her out.

“What are you smiling at?” Tyler tried to grab my phone. “Is it Patty Cakes?”

“No!” I held his face away, under strict orders from his little sister to not let him find out. “It’s… no one.”

“Yeah, sure,” Tyler made one last lunge, pushing me out of the way, and grabbing my new iPhone out of the air. He began reading the text aloud. “I’m so excited! We’re going out tonight with some of our friends. LOL I’m so nervous. Who is-,” he read the top of the screen and frowned. “No, that’s not okay.”

“Oh, come on, Ty,” I reasoned. “I’m sure he’s a nice guy. You can’t protect her forever.”

Tyler huffed and dropped my phone in my lap, taking out his own. I warned Cass that her brother was on the prowl and just before I set my phone down again, I had another text popping up. This one from Jon of all people.

Kaner won’t shut up about you…

I doubt that.

No, really. As long as I’ve known him, he’s never acted like this. It’s almost scary.

You’re probably over-exaggerating. We haven’t talked all that much lately.

Don’t be surprised if you’ve got a date for Saturday night…



And sure enough, the very next day at the office, Patrick cornered me.

Ryleigh had only arrived back at the apartment as I was leaving and though she shrugged off my playful jibes about the walk of shame, she seemed happy with whatever she’d spent her night doing. I’d come in on my own, arriving well before our clients and only passing a few coworkers.

“Hey, Rosie,” Pat’s voice was behind me as I walked through my office door. I turned to see him alone, walking quickly to catch up with me.

“Hi, Patrick,” I smiled a little, still recalling the conversation I’d had with his captain the night before. “You’re here early.”

“I was hoping I’d catch you before you got busy. I wanted to talk,” he explained, settling himself into a chair as I set things out on my desk.

“What about?” I was trying to keep it cool, even though I had a very good idea as to where this was going.

He rubbed the back of his neck and I noticed the short curls that had grown out. I’m sure he wasn’t used to having to do this, that girls were usually throwing themselves into his bed, but he was doing alright so far.

“I was hoping that, uh, you’d want to go out again. Coffee before was fun and maybe this time we could do something other than the ER. If you’re ready, that is,” Pat cracked a hopeful smile at the end and I was glad I’d seated myself on the couch a few feet away from his seat or I might have leapt at him right there.

Ryleigh had slipped in and was doing her best to control herself in the doorway. She nodded fervently and made wild gestures, some of which seemed rather obscene.

“I’d like that,” I smiled. “I really would.”