On Thin Ice 3

by Victoria Villeneuve

  The bartender brought me the second drink just as the first began to give me that buzz. I needed that buzz. It was addictive. It felt so good, it started to numb the sensations I was feeling. I drank the second drink quickly, then ordered a third. The bartender hesitated for a minute before pouring it out for me.

  I don’t know how much I drank. I know I was drunk. I lost track after five drinks. Amazingly, I didn’t black out. I know eventually the pain began to fade. The alcohol kicked in, and the pain got better, like it always did.

  After last call, I stumbled out of the bar and began to walk back home. I don’t remember much about the walk, but I do remember getting back into the house and collapsing onto one of the couches in the living room. The alcohol dulled my senses. The room was spinning and I felt like I was going to throw up, but at least I didn’t feel any pain anymore.

  * * *

  When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was. I felt like throwing up all over again, and the room was spinning. The walls were white, there was a ton of medical equipment, I was in the hospital. What the hell?

  Panicked, I turned to my right to see Daniel sitting there. The sudden movement made the nausea come back, and I groaned.

  “Daniel?” I asked weakly, not sure if I was dreaming. It all came back to me. Daniel wasn’t here. Daniel was in Chicago.

  “Kylie, it’s ok. I’m here.”

  “Daniel? Really? Why aren’t you in Chicago? Where am I? What happened?”

  “Shh, it’s ok Kylie. I’ll tell you everything. But first, how do you feel?”

  “My head hurts, my throat hurts, the room is spinning and I think I’m going to puke.”

  “Ok, I’ll get the nurse to give you something, I’ll be right back.”

  “No, don’t go. It’s ok. Please. Just tell me what’s going on.”

  Daniel hesitated for a moment, then sat down and did just that.

  “The game is supposed to be today. It starts in an hour.”

  “Then why aren’t you in Chicago?”

  “Because there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to play when I knew you were in the hospital.”

  “How did I get here?”

  “Sabrina called you a number of times early this morning, wondering if you wanted to study with her and then watch the game together. When you didn’t answer over and over, she worried that something might be wrong and came over to make sure you were ok. When she found the front door unlocked, she went into the house and found you on the floor.”

  I closed my eyes, knowing where this was going.

  “She called 9-1-1 as soon as she saw you. She knew you weren’t in a good way. She checked your pulse, she did a little bit of first aid before the paramedics got there, then as soon as she knew you were safe she found your phone and called me.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t call you because I didn’t want to bother you before your big game.”

  “Kylie, what happened? This isn’t like you at all,” Daniel said softly, taking my hand in his. I could see the concern in his face. He wasn’t mad. He wasn’t mad at all. He didn’t even seem upset at the fact that he was missing a playoff game.

  I took a deep breath and told him about the letter from the lawyer. I told him about the memories flooding back to me. I told him about the nightmares, and how I just couldn’t take it anymore. I told him about going down to the bar, drinking until the pain went away, and then going home and collapsing on the couch. By the end of it, tears were streaming down my face. I was so ashamed of what I’d done. As the words came out of my mouth, as I explained exactly what had happened, I realized how stupid I’d been. I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since I had entered the rehab center, nearly a year earlier. And now, now I’d ruined everything I’d worked for. I’d gotten completely plastered and I had ruined the start of the playoffs for Daniel.

  “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.

  “No, don’t be sorry, Kylie. It’s fine. Sure, there’s things that could have been done differently. I wished you’d called me. I really do. But what’s done is done. You can’t regret the past, you can only look to the future.”

  “So you’re not mad?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “But you’re going to miss game one.”

  “I’d miss all the games if it meant being here for you, if it meant stopping you from nearly killing yourself with alcohol like you did last night. I’d give up hockey if it meant saving your life.”

  The sincerity with which he spoke those words blew me away. I knew he meant them. Daniel would give up anything for me. I felt so loved, and yet so ashamed.

  “I wish I was as strong as you were,” I murmured. Daniel was my rock. I felt so silly now that he was here, like I knew I wouldn’t have done what I did if he was with me.

  “You are, Kylie. If anything, you’re stronger. I probably would have done the exact same thing in your situation. It’s disgusting that the family is trying to sue you. Absolutely disgusting. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain reading that letter must have brought back into your life, and I definitely don’t blame you for your moment of weakness. We’ll just have to work harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  “I love you, Daniel,” I murmured, suddenly feeling weak.

  “I love you too, Sophie. Are you going back to sleep?”

  I nodded slightly. “Yeah. I’m exhausted.”

  “Good. I’ll be here when you wake up again.”

  I drifted off almost immediately.

  When I woke up again a few hours later, Daniel was watching the hockey game on his phone. He had the volume turned almost all the way down, but I recognized the sound of commentary nonetheless.

  “Who’s winning?” I asked softly, and Daniel smiled at me.

  “We are, it’s 4-2. But you know, the most dangerous lead in hockey and all that. There’s only ten minutes to go though, so I’m hopeful.”

  “Good. I’m glad. I didn’t want to be the cause of the Sea Lions losing because you came to see me.”

  “I wouldn’t care if you had. How are you feeling? The nurse came in before and checked your chart, she said you can be discharged when you wake up.”

  “I’m better, thanks. The headache’s gone. Now I’m just mostly filled with a sense of shame.”

  “Don’t be. You were in a highly stressful situation, I probably would have done the same thing in your place.”

  “Hey, Daniel?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for being here. I really, really appreciate it.”

  “No problem. I wouldn’t have missed being here when you woke up for anything.”

  I knew just how much he meant it as I let him go back to the game, let him watch the last ten minutes. An empty net goal sealed the deal and the Sea Lions won game one.

  A few minutes later I grabbed my things and was discharged from the hospital. We took a cab home, and as soon as we got back Daniel went towards the kitchen.

  “You must be hungry, I bet you haven’t eaten in a while.”

  It was like him mentioning it made my stomach go “oh, yeah!” and I suddenly felt it gurgle in hunger.

  “Some food would be good, thanks.”

  Daniel heated me up some leftovers and we went to the living room, sitting on the couch while I devoured the food.

  “You’re going to have to find a lawyer to fight that lawsuit. Don’t worry about costs, I’ll cover them. I want there to be as little stress in this process for you as possible.”

  “Thanks, Daniel. I’ve actually already got appointments made, the first one is two days from now, then the second and third are in three days.”

  “Oh, good. I knew you had a good head on your shoulders. I’ll stay here with you until then.”

  “What? No, you can’t do that!” I exclaimed. “You need to go back to Chicago. Game two is in less than forty eight hours.”

  “I think you need me a lot more than the team does.”

  I shook my head.
“I do need you, Daniel. I needed you last night. But no, I’m good now. I’m not going to drink again. I promise you that.”

  I knew I was telling the truth. There was no way. Seeing what Daniel had sacrificed to be here with me, seeing how much he loved me, I knew I had to be strong for him, the same way he was strong for me.

  “I’ll call Sabrina tomorrow and get her to come stay with me, if it’ll make you feel better.”

  “Yeah, that would, actually. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that I worry about you.”

  “I get it. Even if you didn’t trust me, it’s not really like I’ve earned that trust right now. But yeah, you’ve got to get back to your team, like as soon as you can.”

  “Ok, I will, as long as you get Sabrina to come stay with you. I’ll fly back the night after game two, I won’t go with the team the next day.”

  “Sure. Don’t worry about me, Daniel. I’ll be fine.”

  He took me into his arms. He was warm, and so strong. I collapsed into his chest, curling up into a little ball and pressing myself against his hard body. I fit so perfectly, nestled inside of him, and as I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, enjoying the musk of his body, I was so thankful for everything he had done for me.

  * * *

  Sabrina came by early the next morning with an overnight bag and all our books.

  “I hope you’re looking forward to studying a whole bunch!” she announced as I let her in, books going flying everywhere.

  “Thanks for coming, Sab. Daniel left for the airport about ten minutes ago.”

  “That man is amazing. You’re so lucky to have him.”

  “I know. And I’m lucky to have you too, you know. Thanks for finding me the other day.”

  “No problem. How are you holding up?”

  “Ok. Did Daniel tell you why it all happened?”

  Sabrina shook her head and I told her about the letter.

  “Those fucking pieces of shit. I can’t believe they would dare to do that. Did they completely ignore the fact that their son was the one who was drunk and driving on the wrong side of the road without headlights?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. But it brought on a bunch of bad memories, and nightmares, and I just had to drink to get away from it all. And then you found me.”

  “Jesus. You poor thing.” Sabrina hugged me tight. It felt nice, to know how much she cared.

  “So yeah, you’re basically here to make sure I don’t get drunk off my ass.”

  “You know, I think you’re the only person who would ever pick me to stop someone from getting drunk.”

  I laughed. “Well, there’s no alcohol in this place, so you don’t get to indulge yourself either.”

  “That’s ok, this place looks so amazing, I bet there’s tons of toys here to have fun with.”

  “Pretty much, but I thought we were going to be studying hard for the next two days.”

  “We work hard, we play hard, Kylie!”

  I laughed and showed her towards the guest bedroom. It was the same room I had spent my first couple of weeks here in, until Daniel and I realized we should be sharing a bed. Sabrina’s mouth dropped the same as mine did when I first arrived.

  “Shit, I can tell you right now, I’m not leaving here when Daniel comes back. Pretty sure this is my permanent home now.”

  I laughed. “Fine, you can sort rent out with him. But yeah, this is your place. The bathroom is even more amazing.”

  “You aren’t kidding!” she exclaimed, making her way through the room and glancing into the ensuite. “You live like royalty now, Kylie.”

  We went back downstairs and broke out the books. We had three classes in common this semester, and two which were different. Grabbing our notes from immunology, we set about getting down to business.

  I was so glad Sabrina was here. She was helping me to keep my mind off things. From time to time I would think about the fact that I was being sued, but before I had a chance to really delve deep into the old emotions that racked my brain, Sabrina would be asking me a question about a certain disease or something to get my mind back on track.

  The next day I had my first appointment with one of the lawyers. Sabrina came with me, although she stayed in the waiting room. The lady was professional and swift, asking me all kinds of questions about the case. I showed her the letter, as well.

  “I’m not just saying this to get you to sign on with me, Kylie, but I genuinely think they don’t have a leg to stand on. Even though you weren’t injured in the crash, that absolutely doesn’t mean it was your fault. Since you say the police report found the plaintiff’s son to be at fault for the accident completely, on top of the fact that he was drunk, combined with everything else I think the instant this gets past discovery the judge will throw it out. In fact, I’m surprised they found a lawyer to take this case.”

  I felt a little bit more relieved at that.

  “And, if you would be interested, we could even file a counter suit. This is so frivolous, so obviously designed to bring back some old wounds, that you actually have a good case to sue them.”

  I shook my head.

  “No, I don’t want that. I just want this out of my life, so I can move on. I don’t want these memories coming back.”

  The lady nodded in understanding. “Absolutely. No pressure here, whatsoever. But yes, I can represent you in this case, and I don’t think it will be that difficult to defeat.”

  I thanked her and left, relaying the conversation we had to Sabrina as she drove us back to our place.

  “That’s good news, right?”

  “Yeah. It is. I mean, it’s sort of what I expected. What really nailed me was the fact that they’re bringing this up now, out of nowhere, so long after the accident actually happened. It just brought back all those terrible memories, you know?”

  “I can only imagine. That’s really shitty of the family to do that. Did the lawyer talk to you about suing them back for being dickbags?”

  “Well, she didn’t use those exact words, but yes, she did. I’m not going to do it though. I just want to move on.”

  “Yeah, I get that. Hey, listen, why don’t we grab some pizza and watch the game, then a few hours later Daniel will show up on his flight from Chicago?”

  “That sounds good, I know a great pizza place, I’ll call them now and we’ll go pick it up, it’s not too far from home.”

  Half an hour later we were sitting in front of the TV. When the season first started it was weird for me, sitting in front of it watching my boyfriend. Now, however, I was pretty used to it.

  We cheered as the Sea Lions took an early lead, sat dejectedly as Chicago evened the score up at one, then cheered even louder as the go ahead goal was scored by none other than Daniel Ross.

  “You know, I didn’t even like hockey that much before you dated Daniel. I basically just knew who the hot guys were.”

  “Yeah, me neither. I didn’t even know that. I mean, I knew the basics of the game of course, but I wasn’t a hardcore fan or anything. Daniel’s definitely turned me though, I can’t imagine missing one of his games.”

  When the team won, it was like another wave of relief pouring over me. I was so glad. I wanted Daniel to be successful in his quest to win the Cup this year. More than anything. Sabrina went to bed around ten, but I stayed up until Daniel walked in the door, around midnight.

  I ran towards him, wrapping my arms around him, and he spun me around.

  “Congratulations, nice game!” I told him as he let me down. He was clean, having obviously showered just after the game, but his hair was just a little bit damp, making it look even sexier than usual. He grinned, and I felt like my insides melted as he looked at me.

  “Thanks. It was a good game. The guys were awesome. We’re on fire, hopefully we can take this momentum all the way.”

  “I know you can. I absolutely know it.”

  “How did the last few days go? Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, thanks. Sabr
ina went to bed. She’s been good at keeping my mind off things. And I went to see the first lawyer today, she said there’s basically no chance that they’re going to win. She thinks the lawsuit will be thrown out quickly, and that I could sue in response, but I don’t want to.”

  “Definitely, you just want to get it over and done with, get that family out of your life, right?”

  “Absolutely. But this night should be all about joy! I’m fine, and you’ve just had an awesome win.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I do want to celebrate.”

  With a single quick movement, Daniel hoisted me over onto his shoulder. I let out a squeal of surprise as he carried me up the stairs like I weighed nothing. I giggled with excitement and anticipation, my blood already boiling, knowing my panties were getting soaked as Daniel carried me down the hallway towards our bedroom, closing the door behind us. I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep that night, and I couldn’t wait.

  * * *

  The next morning I woke up late, coming down the stairs and making my way to the living room where Sabrina was waiting at almost eleven.

  “Hey sleepyhead. I was going to head off later today, but I figured maybe we could study for a hour or so while you eat what should now be considered brunch.”

  “Sure, sounds good,” I replied, heading into the kitchen to make some toast. Daniel came down about twenty minutes later and greeted us as we finished our studying and Sabrina got ready to leave.

  “Hey, thanks for the last few days,” I told her as we hugged. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class?”

  “Definitely, no problem.”

  As she drove off, Daniel wrapped his arm around my waist. I loved the feeling of being pressed close to him. I could feel my pulse quickening, the sparks of electricity shooting in between us. My breath caught in my throat as Daniel leaned down and kissed me, his soft lips on mine sending pleasure radiating through me.