Chapter 160: Tangers XVI

Chapter 160: Tangers XVI—Can’t Live Without ‘Em Part 3

 

            “Robbie!” Danny Hinote exclaimed jumping at Blake’s side and tugging at his arm. “The ladies are just… you can’t just….”

            I was pretty much just standing still in a sort of shock. I mean a big part of me was saying that this was all a really weird joke or something but when Blake laughed like a hearty pirate and grabbed Noter by the arm and dragged him to the equipment room I knew that it wasn’t. “Get in there Noter!” Blake exclaimed and he tossed him into the room, slamming it shut before Joey and Patty could get to it.

            “Blakie!” I cut in; horrified at that length these guys would let the poor women go just so they could have their charity game. I mean if Debbie and Michele were that keen on having a game to help the Children’s Hospital then we should just let them have it. We shouldn’t have to make them demean themselves for sick entertainment!

            Blake looked at me with that goofy grin of his. “Yeah you’re a little troublemaker too, get in there!”

            I felt someone grab me and to this day I don’t know who it was and before I could blink I was tossed into the equipment room.

            “Yow!” I yelped as I tumbled into the equipment room, rolled over the floor and into a warm body.

            “Get off me!” I recognized the voice of my captain as he pushed me off his body.

            “Sorry Captain,” I muttered and blinked in the dark room. “Hey, why don’t you have the light on? It’s dark in here!”

            At that point we could all hear the hoots and the laughs of the other guys outside and we could only imagine what was going on. I shook my head, poor Joey, and poor Patty. What would the repercussions be for a team that misuses the wives of its own captain and the wife of the greatest goalie in the world?

            “Light blew out,” Patty muttered, “this morning hasn’t been changed yet I suppose.”

            I wrinkled my nose and the four of us sat in silence for what seemed like forever and the hollers outside were getting louder and louder. It sounded like a full blown party was shaking out there. Five minutes? Is that what Michele had said? Five minutes? Honestly I don’t get it. I mean I really don’t care to see two women together like that and I don’t know why other guys do. As the shouts and laughs reached a fever point I found myself thinking back to those stories that Keaner had found on Dru’s computer where all the girls were wanting us guys to hook up with each other. What was up with that? I mean where had true romance and decency gone? What was wrong with a normal, healthy…..

            “How long has it been? I mean you guys can’t possibly want to stand for this!” I heard Danny say in a quavering, concerned voice. He sounded so sincere too. I had to think more on that guy. I mean honestly, he seemed so decent at times like that, even if he did annoy me intensely.

            “Well I don’t like being locked in here,” Patty snipped. As my eyes were adjusting to the dark I could vaguely see Patty cross his arms over his chest and I could just imagine that pouty jut there probably was to his chin.

            “Well why don’t ya just break down the door?” Joey said in a sharp, irritated and dare I say taunting voice.

            I had to shake my head again. I mean I understood that Joey was our captain and a decent man and that he admitted that he’s been under a lot of stress lately cause of Debbie’s nagging. But how could a charity event be nagging? As much as I hated to entertain the thought, I had to admit that this whole incident could very well be Joe’s fault. Not that he meant for this to happen, but perhaps he didn’t understand the lengths women will always go to get the things that they want.

            Patty laughed in that jovial, quiet way of his. “No I don’t think so my friend, I might interrupt them then.”

            I heard Danny gasp in a shocked breath, or maybe that was me. Patty actually wanted the women kissing like that?! And then, gasp of all gasps, Joey laughed as well.

            “Yeah,” he said slowly. “Hey Patty do you realize that this could be the most crucial turning point in our wives emotional and sexual lives and we’re missing it?”

            “YEAH HON YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT!” I heard a low grating yell that I recognized as Keaner’s voice ricochet into my brain.

            “Mon Dieu!” Patty hissed. “We’re missing it!”

            What could I say at that point other than I was really disgusted with the male race. Even Joe was being…. OH I couldn’t think about it. I think at that point I noticed that Danny had moved closer to me in that dark equipment room and I actually felt a kinship with him. I mean we perhaps didn’t like each other too much but at least we agreed on some morals!

            “Yup,” Joe said with a sigh. “We’re missing it. Hey Patty, does that mean we shouldn’t let them shop together anymore, I mean can we trust them?”

            Patty laughed. “Or does that mean we should encourage them to shop together more often.”

            Joe laughed a grating, almost barkish laugh that I had never before and never since heard emanate from his throat. For a moment there, it sounded as if it wasn’t Joe anymore and there was some strange imposter overtaking him in the dark room. He almost sounded guttural, or common as if he had no more breeding than say, a Theo Fleury or a Mike Keane.

            “Hey Noter, Tiger,” Joe said, his voice harder to hear through the loud ovation from outside and through the sudden tangling in his accent.

            “Um…” Danny said and I think I muttered something as well.

            “Know what, when I was your age, hell when I was younger than you guys we used to knock the lights out of the equipment room when the newbies would come in,” Joe said. “This kinda reminds me of those times, they would pack us in here like sardines, and sometimes we would still be in our gear. It wasn’t pretty.”

            “And what would happen?” I asked feeling a curious, nervous sort of awe.

            Patty giggled and Joe said quietly. “You don’t want to know.”

            I actually felt Danny’s hand on my own and you know what, I squeezed it back. Somehow I could tell, and I’m sure Danny could too that both veterans were looking straight at us. And if they couldn’t see us exactly in the dark, it felt as if, well it felt as if maybe they could smell us and suddenly we were in for something terrible.

            “AWRIGHT GIRLS,” Blakie bellowed. “Ya did us proud, you’re getting that charity game and may God protect your souls!”

            I heard the lock click on the door and the four of us crammed in the equipment room jumped to our feet and burst into freedom and light. Absolutely every male in that room was beaming with a lusty, shiny cheeked exhilaration. What really snagged my attention however was that Dru was standing in the back corner of the locker room, peering down at his camcorder and smiling with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face. Take my word for it because Drury never smiles that often. He looked up from the camera and I narrowed my eyes at him to show him exactly what I thought of him recording this memorable day.

            “Debbie!” Joe hollered, “How could you be so manipulative…”

            “Oh bullshit Joe!” Debbie yelled back and that got my attention. I looked over in her direction and it was obvious that she had gone through some ordeal. She was red cheeked and her hair was messed up. I noticed that even her clothes seemed to be twisted and not sitting properly on her delicate, bony frame. Poor Debbie! She was probably feeling guilty and dirty now that she had just been driven to the equivalent of selling herself to get herself heard.

            Oh and Michele, she was probably feeling the same. I looked at her to confirm it. I was more than surprised to see her standing with a crooked smirk upon lips that were perfectly colored, her slim arms crossed and not a hair out of place. She didn’t even seem flushed like Debbie was.

            “Debbie!” Joe exclaimed. “You don’t need to swear like a…”

            “Like a what Joe?” Debbie shot back. “Like a what? Like a sailor? Maybe if you would sometimes I wouldn’t have to pick up that frickin slack!”

            There was a very audible gasp in the locker room and I looked to Coach Hartley for strength. He had to put a stop to this and now. I mean how demoralizing was it to see one of the most perfect couples I had ever known cursing and fighting with each other in the locker room, right before a game! Bob was standing there, with his arms crossed and a very disapproving look to his face. It didn’t seem as if he would be interfering however, and I didn’t know then what I know now. Every so often, a couple will come at a crucial road in their lives and it wasn’t up to us to interfere.

            “Excuse me?” Joe gasped. “Debbie what the heck has gotten…..”

            “And you my little tart,” Patty said loudly in French to Michele. “You’re responsible for this aren’t you?”

            “Oh piss off!” Michele sighed, “Don’t act as if I would…”

            “Don’t act as if you’ve never!” Patrick snipped.

            “Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” Michele growled.

            It was kinda hard for me to follow both couples but it seemed to me that they were having similar arguments. I caught the look on Danny Hinote’s face and we exchanged glances that were suddenly sympathetic.