‹ Prequel: The Fear Is Paralyzing

Our Secret Hiding Spot

Quatorze

There was a loud, constant knocking on the front door, and Quinn groaned as she flipped over in bed. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before since Kris had kept her up most of the night celebrating the fact that he was staying in Pittsburgh, not that she'd complain about any of that. "Kris, door," she mumbled. She moved her hand to his side of the bed and felt around but quickly realized he wasn't there.

She slowly opened her eyes, wondering where he was. She was sure he left a note or something, as he wouldn't just up and leave without telling her, but she didn't have time to search for a note since the knocking continued. "I'm coming!" she yelled, getting out of bed, though she wasn't sure if whoever was making all the noise would hear her.

She looked around the bedroom, trying to find some clothes she could put on since she was currently naked. She spotted a pair of her running shorts and a t-shirt in the corner of the room, and she quickly tossed them on, not caring that they didn't match and that her hair was a mess from all the sex last night. She quickly tossed it on top of her head and secured it with a hair tie as she made her way out to the front room.

She pulled the door open, asking, "What?" Her eyes widened when she saw Corinne standing there. "Shit," she muttered to herself, wishing she hadn't opened the door. She really didn't want to deal with her mother right now.

"Is that how you treat your mother?" Corinne asked, pushing the door open wider so she could walk inside without being invited in.

"Please, come in, Mom," Quinn said in a flat tone, obviously annoyed that her mother was simply making herself at home. Corinne had never visited Quinn since she moved in with Kris, and Quinn had several thoughts running through her mind, including why Corinne was there and how she knew where she lived. It wasn't like Corinne ever asked her.

"So, this is where you live?" Corinne asked, looking around the living room, which contained several pictures of Kris in action with the Penguins as well as a few pictures of Quinn and Kris together, including one from their wedding day. She didn't have enough time to turn the picture around, and she only hoped that Corinne wouldn't pay attention to the picture on the side table. But suddenly Corinne turned to face her daughter, her hands on her hips. "When were you planning on telling us?" she questioned.

Quinn shut her eyes, sighing. "I'm sorry, we were trying to keep the marriage quiet," she said, knowing there was no use in trying to deny it at this point. The picture said it all.

"Marriage!" Corinne screamed out, and Quinn's eyes shot open. "You're married?" she continued loudly.

Quinn stared at her, confused. Wasn't that what she was referring to. "What? What were you talking about?" Quinn asked her.

"I was talking about Kris staying and you having to put your job on the line to keep him here. But, you're married? Since when?" Corinne questioned, her voice staying just as loud as when she first found out.

"Mom, be quiet!" Quinn pleaded. She really didn't need her neighbors hearing her and calling in complaints.

"I will do no such thing," Corinne crossed her arms across her chest. "When did you get married?" she asked her directly. Quinn stayed quiet, not wanting to answer her, but Corinne wasn't giving up "Don't even think about lying to me. Answer me, Quinn."

"A couple weeks ago," Quinn finally replied.

"Weeks ago? When were you planning on telling me?"

Quinn cowered, but then suddenly mustered up some courage. Kris had told her on countless occasions that he was now her family. She didn't need to put up with Corinne or Dean. She now had him, and it was finally sinking in, especially now that he was for sure staying in Pittsburgh for at least a few more years. "I wasn't," Quinn stated.

"You weren't?" Corinne glared at her.

"No, Mom. I wasn't. We weren't telling anybody. We wanted to get married without all the hoopla, and we did. And we're getting married again in August, and that wedding you can be a part of if you choose to do so."

Corinne stood there speechless, and Quinn was pleased with herself, and she couldn't wait to tell Kris that she had finally done what he had been telling her to do since he first started dating her. "What did you actually come over here for?" Quinn asked her mother. "I obviously didn't tell you something else, that's why you came to my home," she continued, a little bit of attitude in her voice that she'd never had with her mother before.

Corinne set her jaw, and Quinn knew she was pissing her mother off, but she didn't care anymore. Maybe it was time for Corinne to feel just a fraction of how she had made Quinn feel her entire life. "I came over to hear why you're risking your ownership on this boyfriend…I mean husband of yours," Corinne stated.

Quinn looked at her confused. "What the hell are you talking about? How am I risking my spot as owner for Kris?" she wondered aloud.

Corinne licked her lips as she stared at Quinn. "It's all over the news. That Kris is going to be re-signing with the team and that you're the one that made it happen. That his little girlfriend put up a fuss, throwing a little tantrum until she got her way and made the GM re-sign him."

Quinn shook her head. "That's ridiculous," she said simply, wondering where exactly Corinne had heard this nonsense. "I had nothing to do with Kris's deal. In fact, I didn't even know the Pens had made a deal with him until it'd already been done. Kris was ready to sign with Philadelphia, and then Mario made a deal at the last minute with him. I had nothing to do with it," she explained to Corinne.

"Well, you may want to tell that little story to the public because people are really starting to hate you. You can read all about it all over the internet," Corinne told her.

Quinn was quiet for a minute, not really knowing what to say. If Corinne was telling her to look online to read about it, then it must be true. But, Quinn wondered where this crazy story had originated from. As she had just explained to her mother, she had nothing to do with Kris's deal. "Is that the only reason you came here?" Quinn finally spoke up. "You could have easily picked up the phone and called me."

"Would you have picked up?" Corinne countered, and Quinn didn't reply, knowing her mother had a point. Had Corinne called her and Quinn seen her name flash across her phone, she wouldn't have picked up. "I just want to make sure you understand what you're doing by making Kristopher your number one priority. You're going to crash yourself into the ground."

Quinn shook her head. "You have no idea what you're talking about," she replied.

Corinne pointed her finger at her daughter. "You keep going in the path you're going, and you'll see I'm right. You made a mistake by marrying that boy, and you'll see that soon enough." She didn't wait on Quinn to respond before she went back to the front door and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Quinn immediately went to her laptop, powering it up and looking up what people were saying about Kris's deal. Quinn hadn't realized that the Penguins had even made an announcement yet, and as she looked around, she realized there was no official statement from their PR. But, somehow, someone had found out, and it was all over now.

She read through some of the people's comments, and she realized Corinne had been right about what she said. There were several rumors stating that Quinn was the reason for Kris staying in Pittsburgh. While they still labeled her as his girlfriend, there were vicious things said about her, questioning her focus as a team owner when she was making ultimatums about either the team re-signing Kris or she was going to start firing people that disagreed with her.

She rolled her eyes at how ridiculous some of the things people were saying about her were, but it still hurt that these rumors were out there. She shut her laptop and went off to the bathroom, going to take a shower and head into work to deal with this head on.

She put on a black and white dress and a pair of heels as she grabbed her purse, laptop, and keys and made her way to work. Kris still wasn’t home, but he had texted her saying that he was going to the gym with Sid and Evgeni and that he'd be back that afternoon. She quickly texted him saying she had to go into work and that she didn't know when she'd be home. She decided not to even mention what was going on online, not wanting him to have to worry about it right now. This was her problem, and she'd handle it.

Her heels clicked across the floor as she walked to her office. She didn't even bother putting her things down on her desk before walking into Mario's office, seeing him sitting at his desk. "I'm assuming you've heard?" she asked him, sitting down in the seat across from him.

He nodded his head. "I'm not sure how it even got out that we're re-signing Kris. The only people that knew were the people in that meeting, Evan, and Kris. And, I know none of us said anything. So, how did it get out?"

"And where are people coming up with that I'm making ultimatums to keep him there? From the beginning, his dealings have been completely separate from me. I didn't even know you were making him an offer. Last I had heard, he was talking to Evan about signing with Philadelphia. He had gone in yesterday to tell Evan to call the Flyers," she explained.

Mario ran a hand across his forehead. "I don't know, but I've already called Jenna to get on this now. We need to put this fire out immediately. She's putting out an official statement that we are indeed re-signing Kris, and then we'll have to figure out how to go about all of these rumors. She'll be coming here at two and we can talk about it. I'm not sure if it's better to not address it at all and let them die or to do a press conference."

Quinn sighed. "I don't get where this is coming from," she said. "Let me know when Jenna is here. I'm going to go do some work," she told him, and he nodded his head.

She made her way over to her office, opening up her laptop and quickly closing the internet tab with all the rumors that she had left up when she had shut her laptop earlier. She tried focusing on the work she needed to do, but she was having difficulties.

Jenna, Mario, and Quinn met at two, and they decided to not address the rumors at this time and to simply put out the statement about re-signing Kris. If the rumor mill continued or got severely worse, they would address it at that time.

Quinn stayed at work later than she had expected to, not realizing what time it was. She only noticed when she got a call from Kris around 8 o'clock, and she apologized to him, telling him that she'd be home soon. She packed up her things and drove back to their condo.

When she got inside, Kris could tell that she was stressed out. By the way he was acting, she knew he hadn't heard any of the rumors, and she didn’t really want to bother him by telling him, but she knew she had no choice. So she sat down on the couch next to him and told him about her day, starting with the appearance of her mother and their confrontation and then delved into what had gone on at work.

"Well, I'm happy you stood up to Corinne. But, you know she's going to use the fact that she knows we're married to her advantage," Kris began.

"I’m praying that she doesn't go to Dean because then everyone is going to know, and he's going to use it to somehow make money," Quinn sighed. She'd already been thinking about that throughout the day. For some reason, Corinne always told Dean everything, even when Quinn asked her to keep it quiet. She hadn't even asked her to keep it quiet that she and Kris were married, figuring that the fact that she hadn't even told her in the first place made it quite obvious that they didn't want anyone to know. But, she knew her mother, and Corinne was bound to talk about it.

"And, I'm sorry that they're saying you're the reason I'm staying," he said, kissing her temple. "I never wanted it to cause you problem, me staying here."

Quinn moved her head to look up at him, keeping her body pressed against him. "I can handle this with you here with me," she smiled. "Just be ready for the hurricane we're about to endure," she warned him.
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I suck at updating. I'm sorry, guys!