My Kind of a Guy
#44 of Hockey Hunk Season 4
Oh boy.
Hehhey, and welcome to the Hockey Hunk! It's the final week before the amazing 2-year anniversary for this story, and I must say, I feel excited! How the hell did this happen? I keep asking that, I know, but I can't help it. It just seems so...random...and yet so wonderful. So much has happened over these past two years, on and off the story, of course, and perhaps I've grown a bit, too, throughout. Interesting to look back and reminisce a little...but that should not distract from the story, of course! It's time for another chapter, and more misadventures with our favorite lion...and cougar...and Dobie...and wolf...and lynx...
As always, you feedback is important, and all your comments, votes and faves will be appreciated. All feedback helps others to find these stories to enjoy as well.
Have a fun read!
*
"I bought him those pants! He loved them!" Marge yelped dramatically.
The cougar mom gave her daughter a stern look, and I knew that Marge didn't like that, because she decided to add to the insult.
"He looks great in them," Marge sniffled.
"I'm sure he'll look good in a suit and a tie too," Bonnie said. "Isn't it true, Rory, that every man looks good in a suit and a tie?"
"Uhmm..." my mind hit a blank as I tried to imagine Goggy in a suit and a tie that wasn't artistically torn in places or that didn't come in the various colors of the rainbow.
"LOOK, RORY!"
Oh my...oh no....ohhhh no...
Cobb was coming over, he definitely was coming towards me, and the few yards of the floor between us was easily crossed by someone with long legs such as those of the Dobie's. All too suddenly he crashed in, ever so unsubtly filling the room with his presence, busy ears, that mad grin, and holding a glossy magazine up as if as a trophy of sorts.
"Look, I found this extra cool boating magazine! I always see them going on Lake Michigan but I never figured out what they're packing under the bonnet...this one's got an outboard engine special!" Cobb stated as he waved the magazine right in front of my muzzle and threatened some serious paper cuts.
"Uhmm..." I sort of...gargled.
"Oh, excuse me, excuse me!" Bonnie shrilled, her little paw tucking on the side of Cobb's oversized and hence loose I *heart* NYC T-shirt. The Dobie froze and tilted his huge head in the direction of the little woman looking up to him.
"Yes?" Cobb uttered in total puzzlement.
"Sir, do you think that a suit and a tie make all men look great?" Bonnie said. "I am sorry to bother you, but my daughter is insisting that her boyfriend should be allowed to wear some dreadful clothes to my father's birthday party, and I really must have someone make her see the light!"
I could practically hear the gears coming to a grinding halt inside Cobb's brain - a sound not unlike the needle of an old-fashioned record player skidding off the track, the big Dobie blinked, staring down at the earnestly smiling cougar, and then he just...I don't know...
"Oh definitely, but that's more in my brother's field, because he's gay and I'm not, and I'm sure he knows more about what makes men look great and attractive," Cobb stated in an explosive tone that failed to surprise me, "Isn't that right, Rory?"
Say...Cobb...whut?
I tensed...I goddamn tensed, and instantly, I felt all too many eyes upon me, and it wasn't just Cobb...it was also Bonnie, and Marge, and wasn't that beaver who had been browsing the paperback stand nearby and minding her own business also now looking at me...the lion behind the counter in his red shirt and black pants and a big "GAY" neon sign hanging over his head?
Oh shit.
"Hehehheh, well you're a man...Rory, isn't it, heheheh!" Cobb suddenly burst out, and his paw lashed across the counter like an attacking snake, one huge finger padding against my nametag hard enough that I thought it was gonna leave a bruise or something. "Rory, that's right, isn't it! Heh, oh yes...well, I'm sure you'd look great in a suit...not that I know much about that stuff...but you know, why don't I recommend this bookstore to my brother, I'm sure he'd love this place it's so...ahh..."
Cobb waved his huge paw around, and his wrist was noticeably limp....
"...so open air..."
I just stared. I couldn't do anything else, as the Dobie gestured wildly, his every movement carefully followed by the eyes of the uniformed cougar mom and Marge. This was too strange. This was...out of this world.
"And I think I'll take this magazine to him, it seems to have some pictures of shirtless men...yes!" Cobb slapped the magazine down to the counter. "And do you have the book I had for me niece...Rory, isn't it?"
He gave a look at my by now slightly lopsided nametag again, and I felt a hot flush cover my muzzle. This was...
"Yes...yes...it's...here," my lips moved robotically as I glanced over my shoulder and grabbed the book from the table behind the counter where I had abandoned it before I even started the meticulous process of wrapping it.
"Well, I think I'll just have it, no need to wrap it up! Save the litter!" Cobb declared.
My paws moved in almost painful twitches as I ran the red-covered book and the magazine across the barcode reader and then called up the grand total on the little LCD screen.
"That'll be 15.99," I mumbled.
Cobb pulled out an oversized wallet and slammed a card onto my paw.
"Charge it on my VISA, please!"
I ran the card, hit the keys, printed the receipt and then placed it onto the counter.
"If you'd just sign here..." I said, trying not to look Cobb in the eye.
The Dobie picked up the pen we had attached to a chain on the counter and quickly scribbled something totally illegible onto the little slip of paper. I put it onto the basket under the counter, picked up a suitably sized carrier bag from the holder, and did record time in stuffing the book and the magazine into the bag.
"Here you go," I said. "Hope your niece will enjoy the book..."
Cobb grabbed the bag from my paw and gave an even wilder smirk.
"I'm sure she will!" the Dobie declared. "And I'm sure that my brother will enjoy the magazine...hunks and all..uhh...thank you...RORY...for great service...this was such a nice shop...I'll be sure to pop by again if I'm in town!"
"Thank you," Marge cut in from my side, in her best voice. "Please come again!"
"I sure will..uhh...thank you....and...have a nice day, madam..." he nodded wildly in my direction, then to Marge's, and then he goddamn BOWED at Bonnie, whose ears jumped upon being subjected to such a polite gesture from someone who seemed so damn unruly.
"My pleasure," Bonnie purred, her tail gaining up momentum behind her as she watched the Doberman storm across the floor and then out of the door that chimed to signal his departure.
I let out a breath that must've been lingering in my lungs for the past minute or something, it felt like my ribs collapsed upon themselves now that the air finally left my body, and my tail felt like it was suffering some sort of convulsions. The sheer amount of WHAT??? I had just witnessed was simply...mind-blowing.
"Well he was a friendly sort..." Marge murmured, still looking at the newly slammed shut door.
"And I thought that my customers are strange sometimes," Bonnie declared as she wound her tail luxuriously behind herself, practically knocking down her bag on wheels as she did so. "Something about being stuck in an aluminum tube flying at 31,000 feet..."
"Everything alright here?"
I glanced to my left and saw that Mason and Haakon had come alongside as well, and now they stood there, side by side and looking at me, Marge and Bonnie, standing there in the aftermath of the massiveness that was The Cobb. I still couldn't utter a word...
"Ah, the bodyguards arrive!" Bonnie clapped her paws together excitedly. "Mason!"
I could see the young wolf's ears flick curiously as the cougar came to address her so familiarly, and Haakon...well...the glint in his pretty eyes behind those glasses he wore was unmistakable, as was the smile. That old Viking charm was working big time, and I doubted that Bonnie was immune...
"Hello, Mrs Hayes..."
Kudos for Mason, remembering as obscure a fact as his boss's mother's surname...even I had slipped and addressed her as a Mrs Pitt once...she almost ate me because of that.
"Hello, how're you?" Haakon purred.
It was like throwing gas into a fire...or giving coffee to a Cobb...Bonnie's purrs only intensified.
"Hello..." the uniformed woman offered a dainty little paw.
"Hello!" Haakon accepted the paw without hesitation and gave it an almost tender a squeeze.
"I didn't know you have a new staff member here, Marge..." Bonnie murmured, and she seemed not to be in a hurry to let go of the hunky stranger's paw. "How delightful!"
"Haakon," the lynx replied with an all too cheeky flick of that pierced ear. "And I don't work here, I was just here to see Mason!"
"Ohhh...I see..." the cougar mused, "well...well, I think you definitely support my theory..."
"What is that?" that purring, strangely British, softly accented voice questioned earnestly.
"That all men look great in a suit and a tie..."
"Don't you dare to agree, boy," Marge cut in. "Mother's trying to blackmail my Goggy into wearing black tie for my grandfather's birthday."
"OHHH YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!"
...what...the...fuck...
Our little congregation turned heads towards the door, out of which something black and white had just emerged...bicycle shorts, helmet covering floppy ears, a skin-licking T-shirt and a backpack adorning the whip-tailed, wide-muzzled canine.
Could this day get any worse yet?
"Alex!" Marge snapped.
"Oh you won't believe it, I was just turning to the Boulevard when some Doberman just rushed straight in front of me!" the Labrador explained, his tail whipping about excitedly. "I almost fell over when I had to dodge!"
"Oh my goodness!" Bonnie yelped. "You poor boy!"
"Might've been the one who just ran out of here, heheh!" Haakon grinned.
"Deffo," Mason rumbled, tail swishing about.
"Oh my goodness, my heart is still thumping!" Alex patted his chest loudly. "Oh, dear...gave me the willies..."
"I'm sure you'll be fine, Alex," Marge stated. "Nobody got harmed, I hope!"
"Well I almost ran into a light post when I swiveled...oh, gosh..."
"If you were on my plane, I'd offer you a Scotch, Alex..." Bonnie murmured as she reached to pat the Black Lab's arm. "Poor boy..."
"Ohhh Mrs Hayes..." Alex's eartips flipped where I could see them protruding from beneath the rims of the bicycle helmet. "If I drank alcohol, I am sure I would be so delighted...though a cup of green tea would make me just fine right now..."
Bonnie glanced over at Marge and made a sharp paw gesture.
"You heard the boy!" Bonnie rumbled. "Tea for the victim!"
"Oh do not bother, Mrs Hayes," Alex breathed, sounding defeated, "we only have instant coffee and Lipton teabags here...I always had to bring my own..."
"Oh you poor boy..." Bonnie rubbed her paw over the Lab's shiny black arm. "You are all trembling..."
Oh, please...
The doorbell chimed again, my ears jumped, and for a moment I wondered whether that was Cobb coming back after trailing the black menace on two wheels who had almost colliding with the bulky Dobie. I was already braced for the worst when it was revealed that there was no Cobb on the doorway, but instead it was Crystal, the palomino mare looking as tall and toothy as ever.
"ALEX!"
Guess that was the common reaction to the sight of the Labrador...
"Oh, you poor boy..."
Oh he could be your son, Bonnie!
Crystal trod over to the counter, walking as bouncily as she ever did, a bag hanging from her shoulder as she gave us some curious, big eyes.
"Alex, did you by chance park your bike right in front of the door?" the mare nickered as she looked at the Labrador standing there and still being comforted by Bonnie. "There's a mountain bike out there that's almost blocking the door."
"I'll move it right away..." Alex breathed dramatically. "I was just going to stay for a little moment..."
"Did you have some business here, Alex?" Marge questioned, a hint of authority creeping into her voice as she addressed the near-panting Lab. "Or did you just come to browse?"
"Oh I forgot my spare uniform into my locker here," Alex rumbled, "I got some glue spilled on my uniform yesterday and I realized that I'd left the spare one here...can't go to work tomorrow if I don't have my proper attire!"
"I'm sure it's still there," Marge stated, "we were actually thinking of emptying your locker, since you no longer work here regularly..."
"Oh let me do it!" Alex waved his paw dramatically. "It's my responsibility, after all...just need to catch my breath..."
"Is everything alright here?" Crystal asked, eying our strange grouping of furs that filled the entirety of the service area by now, me and Marge behind the counter, Bonnie holding Alex's arm, Mason and Haakon keeping the sideline.
"Oh I'm just fine..." Alex breathed. "Just need to..."
"...catch your breath, I know..." Bonnie blinked as she gazed sympathetically into the Lab's eyes, "would you like to maybe sit down, or should Marge fetch a paper bag for you to breathe in?"
"I'm not hyperventilating!" Alex yawned, his head drooping now. "Oh, my..."
"Come on then," Marge said, "let's go and check your locker, Alex. Crystal, take over my place here, if you might? Mom..."
Marge rounded the counter and left the space free for Crystal to simply step in, which she did, nickering quietly to herself as she clip-clopped into position by me, behind cash register number one. Marge wedged herself between her mother and Alex, whose paw contact was thus broken.
"Come on, Alex..." the cougar put her own paw onto Alex's arm. "Let's get that stuff for you."
"Oh thank you, Marge!"
Marge dragged the Labrador away with her, tail swaying in her wake while she led the black-furred menace with her. Bonnie rubbed her chin curiously as she watched the two walk along the aisle.
"Seems to run in the family..." the cougar mused.
"Hello, Mrs. Hayes," Crystal said. "Sorry I didn't greet you yet, it seems like you were quiet busy here..."
"Ohh it's fine," Bonnie murmured, "we were having fun here..."
What fun?!!!! I wanted to ask, I really did!
"What's up with Alex?" Crystal asked.
"A brush with death," I mused.
Crystal gasped.
"Really?!"
"Just a problem with the traffic," I replied. "Nobody got hurt..."
"Ohh...."
"Look at them go," Bonnie mused as she watched Marge and Alex round the corner and then head down the stairs, "he reminds me a bit of this boy I sometimes fly with...Rico...swishy as hell, but such a laugh sometimes...yes..."
The description conjured up a certain kind of an image that made me feel distinctly unpleasant as I wondered whether Bonnie thought that the staff of the Albrecht Brothers was as...rainbow-tastic as the male staff she usually worked with. Judging by her opinion of Alex...yeah.
"Will you be long in town, Mrs. Hayes?" Crystal asked politely.
"Oh just a couple of days," Bonnie flicker her paw dismissively, "I just had to come and see Marge, with the baby coming and all..."
"BABY!?" Crystal whooped.
"Baby?" Mason rumbled.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Hayes!" Haakon said.
"Ohhh you silly boy, not me!" Bonnie giggled. "I'm past that age, thank God, but Marge..."
"She's having baby?!" Crystal neighed. "That's so wonderful!"
"Cool..." Mason rumbled, paws sneaking into his pockets. "I guess..."
"My first grandchild!" Bonnie beamed.
"Mason, look at the time!" Haakon yelped, pointing at the big clock on the wall opposite to the counter. "We have to get to the university! We're gonna be late!"
"Oh shit!" Mason mumbled.
"Damn..." Mason grunted. "I gotta go and change..."
Haakon patted the wolf's shoulder.
"I'll wait here," he said and winked at the wolf. "Hurry up!"
Mason made a beeline for the stairs.
"Uhm....."
"YES?" I snapped, wondering just who could be wanting my attention now.
"Well I'd like to...uhm...buy this..." it was the beaver, clutching a paperback in her paws.
*
Thank you for reading my story! Hope you enjoyed the story, and hopefully you'll leave me a comment to tell me how I did!
See you on Friday, folks!
Cheerio!