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Guten Abend, Bonsoir, Good Evening, hello, welcome to the Hockey Hunk!

*giggle*

My, my, I should've left my cursed beret on...it makes me have strange vocal bursts...but that did not stop me from writing a bursting chapter alright! The Hockey Hunk's epic season 4 is well on its way, but we're hardly in the end yet - more story, more fun, oh yes! Thanks for being in for the ride - I can promise you, it'll be a lot of fun, now and in the future as well.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, and it not only helps me to keep the story running well, it also will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well. Votes, faves and watches are rumored to have the same effect, so don't hesitate!

Have a fun read!

*

Hmmm...so if he was really busy going to the gym, so why was the lynx formerly known as Haakon since then known as "That Hot Foreign Dude" still hanging around, and had been for the past...

...I glanced at the big industrial clock on the opposite wall, which told me that the hunk-butt had been actually lingering around in the store for the past fifteen minutes, and had not yet shown any want to leave the premises. Sure, he disappeared downstairs for a moment, and once he came back up, the earlier brown bag was gone, but the lynx was now apparently browsing the main floor with the careful help of a very eager to serve Mason.

I cricked my neck from side to side, those satisfying pops and clicks reaching my ears from either side of my pretty mane, I scratched the side of my neck a little, first on the left, then the right, rolled my shoulders, and then cupped my muzzle into my paws so that I could yawn without looking I was trying to swallow someone's head whole.

"As he paces in cramped circles, over and over..."

Marge's voice chimed into my slightly floppy ears and caused them to perk, while I stood upright and straight and turned myself to face the smaller woman. Marge gave me a blunt look, her arms folded over her ample and rather pneumatic bosom, and a small smile was lingering on her lips.

"Huh?" I rumbled.

"Ohhh come on, Professor Burke would be so disappointed with you, Rory!" my beautiful cougarette exhaled dramatically.

"Hmm?" I raised my brow.

"the movement of his powerful soft strides is like a ritual dance around a center in which a mighty will stands paralyzed," Marge recited in a soft purr.

My ears flopped nearer to my mane. The carefully chosen words did tickle some sort of a memory in the somewhat haphazardly indexed Rory Gliese Presidential Library, but I really couldn't remember what she was quoting.

"Go on then," I mused. "Tell me why I am acting traitorously in regards to our eminent former professor Burke."

"He always reads Rilke during the "Our German Friends" section of his "Introduction to The Art of Poetry", Marge said, "I know from Mason that he still does it, so he must have done it when you were studying under him too! He always asks about it at the exam, too, because he always uses the same questions as well. "

"Also learned from Mason," she added with a toothy little smile and nodded in the direction where I could see the seemingly disembodied heads of Mason and Haakon wandering between the shelves. I couldn't hear their laughter, but Haakon was definitely grinning as if he'd just received a plateful of milk.

Who wouldn't want to see his tongue in action?

Oh, God...

"I see..." I replied, "and you decided to show off you remembering something you learned...hmm...fifteen years ago, and why?" I questioned.

Marge's eyes flashed with the kind of energy that only women are capable of generating, at least to my knowledge, and experience for that matter, and that sweeping tail seemed to try to knot itself around my ankle while she kept looking at me with those same suspicious eyes.

"Well, you were starting to act like a caged animal," she said, "and that just popped to mind. Free association."

"Well done," I smirked. "Your education really paid off then."

"Nah," Marge replied, her purr growing into a slightly nasal chuckle, "one of my former college mates posted it on Facebook last night, because he always does that kind of stuff to try and sound cultured and smart, and it kinda refreshed my memory. And now that you were behaving like the proverbial panther trapped behind his bars..."

I snapped my fingers dramatically.

"Never waste an opportunity to show off when you're the boss, right?" I stated.

Marge snuffled.

"If you put it like that..." she tilted her head as she gave me another girl-dangerous look, "but really, I know it's a bit of a slow day, but if you need to have a break..."

"I'm just fine," I replied, honestly feeling so. "Just stretching out a bit."

"We all know that you're still recovering, Rory, if you need to take an extra break, it's perfectly fine."

"I'm fine," I repeated, "the doctor said that I'm perfectly capable of working full-time now."

I patted my once dislocated hip for emphasis.

"It's just fine, he says."

Marge glanced in the direction of my ass-quarters before she found my eyes again.

"The doctors don't always know everything."

"Well I know enough of myself to know that I'm just fine and that I can definitely stand here for further..." I made a point of squinting as I looked over at the big clock again, "one hour and fifteen minutes before my official afternoon break starts. I'm just fine until that."

"Hmmmmm..." Marge hmmmmm'd.

"I've been told to just live normally, and it'll be fine," I replied. "Doing all the normal stuff I'd do, and that includes standing behind the counter."

Not to mention various interesting forms of exercise I could do in the horizontal position and that involved my hips doing all sorts of nice things, but that wasn't really for Marge's ears, and probably even Dot the physical therapist wouldn't really approve of all the stresses I was putting on my healing ligaments. At least it wasn't getting sore anymore...heh.

"But you know you only have to ask if you need any help, Rory," Marge said, "we know you're the alpha male of the house, but it's still a show of good masculinity to also show vulnerability..."

I rolled my eyes theatrically upon hearing the latest comment, though my amusement was probably poorly hidden from my face and my ears.

"Is that another sage advice for my upcoming bosshood or do you have someone who's doing gender studies also posting profound things on your Facebook wall?" I mused.

"You decide," Marge winked just as the chime of the doorbell made her perform a gentle pirouette that aligned her with the cash register and any incoming customers. I made sure to smile politely once the fur, a Rottweiler, wandered deeper into the shop without asking any assistance from us, and let my eyes relax by staring them into nothingness.

Hmmm...alpha male, huh? Good masculinity...

Well, I wasn't sure what all that meant, really...I was not in a position of authority...not yet at least, and we were all equal on the shop floor, since we all worked the same job and got the same pay for it, so there was little to tell us apart. But indeed, I was the older (not the OLD!!!!!) man in the house, especially considering that Mason all too often acted like the insular teenager, and Alex...well...Alex was no more, and everyone was breathing a bit easier now, but still...I suppose I had no choice. If I was the man of the house, then I had to the be the man of the house. Play along to the role. Keep order and make sure that everyone was treated reasonably and justly, and just...be the man, I guess. What else could I do? I was a man...kinda...so there you go. Keep the girls safe and sound under my watchful leonine eye...even though I suspected that Marge, especially could take more than good care of herself on her own. Sometimes I suspected that she had more balls than I did, in many respects. She'd definitely shown gonad power of proportions that even bulls would be envious of. Not that I really had any first-paw experience. Not really...

"Rory!"

"Hummm?" I turned towards my chatty co-worker, and found out that there was a young rat standing on the other side of the counter, looking quietly at Marge.

"Rory, could you show him to the DIY section?" Marge nodded gently in the direction of the rat. "I think we all need your manly expertise now!"

Ha ha...very funny, Marge!

I flashed my happyhappy smile to the rat and carefully rounded the counter by squeezing past Marge and thus entering the shop floor. The rat gave me a solemn nod.

"Is there anything particular you are interested in?" I asked politely as I gently led the customer deeper into the wonderland of books.

"Uhmm....well, let's see what we got there..."

"Of course!" I smiled.

We reached the landmark of the cardboard knight still guarding the hoard of Caledon Rocks books in their fancy stand, and I tried not to look at them too much, let alone to even think about the gentle tiger who hid behind the name implied on the stand as "Magic from the pen of Lord Mistwillow". I shouldn't tense like this, I knew, not let it still pull me down like that, but still...all the mess I caused...all the hurt feelings and...

The resonant giggle of a feline perked my ears, and even as I walked purposefully towards the "EVERYTHING FOR THE PAWS" section. My peeking eyes found Mason and Haakon again, locating them a couple of rows of shelves away at the "ALL SORTS OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS" section, where the two were standing by the numerous shiny-covered coffee table books. I could tell that one of them had been removed and was presumably held in the paws of one or another, and the two were looking at it together. Haakon's naughty schoolboy laughter might've been a delight for the ears, but I didn't want to linger for too long.

"Well, here's everything we have on DIY, crafting, woodworking, sewing, design..." I said as I waved my paw expansively across the well-stocked shelves, "you can just take a browse, if you like, or if there's something you'd be interested in looking at especially..."

The young rat dude rubbed his chin and looked at the seemingly countless books in their neat rows, that bare tail flicking as well.

"Well..."

Hmmm...a difficult customer...the indecisive ones could be interesting alright.

"There's sewing, patchwork, metalworking, leather working...millinery...gardening...etching..." I mused, "heheh, sketching..."

I could hear more laughter from behind me, little snickers and a rumbling one that was Mason, but I knew that I had to concentrate on the issue at paw, rather, and not think about what kind of giggles the two might get up to when they were doing things like making out, rather than just looking at a cheesy book.

Damn, I needed to make out.

"And we do have books on drawing and painting and everything about cookery on the other side we've just kinda them into different order here," I explained as I kept on my monologue about the virtues of our selection. "We can always try ordering it in if you have some very specific request."

More tail flipping.

"Well..."

I suppose, if you really wanted to buy a book, you knew what kind of a book, even if not which book exactly...but most furs at least had some kind of an idea, unless they were doing the dreaded "Just browsing".

Sniff.

*giggle*

"Uhm..."

"...seriously..."

So what the hell was that funny? The rat staring at the bookshelf, which probably would give me a second to look over my shoulder and above the shelf, to give me a surreptitious peek into the wonderland of frat boy romance going on behind my back.

"Hmm..."

Peek.

OMG.

I turned back almost as soon my head had finished rotating, and I made sure that I was very quick to fix my eyes on the backs of the several volumes of "GROWING CARROTS FOR DUMMIES" .

Carrots...carrots were kinda...long and tapered...just like...

OMG....

Damn cheeks. Blushing never felt so nice in public, and knowing that while I was supposed to be serving the indecisive rat and give him some good and sound advice, at the same time my co-worker and his Norwegian admirer were looking at some...well...possibly enlarged artsy black and white snap of some feline male's...parts...

Jesus...dicking.._Christ, hadn't Marge had such a good giggle a while back about the newly arrived Taschen's _The Big Penis Book...

"...en sann hingst..."

More giggles.

Oh my fucking...

"Maybe something about doing basic little repairs at home?" I grabbed the closest book from the shelf and brought the spiral-bound title our for scrutiny. "Here...1,001 DIY home improvement tricks..."

"Uhm..."

Please don't giggle again..please don't giggle again...

"This one's got lots of illustrations," I desperately leafed out a random page, "...like here...uhm...screwing on a lightbulb...hmmm....is this of interest to you?"

The rat scratched his neck behind an ear, and I guessed not.

_ _

"...wow, dude..."

_ _

Oh get a room!

I stuffed the book back to its place on the shelf and desperately looked for something else that just might capture the rat's interest.

"Or maybe something about..."

"Do you think you've got something about...uhmm...building birdhouses?"

*giggle*

Oh, thank you! Thank you!

"Let's see!" I gasped. "Let's see...hmmm...we are in the woodworking section...so...uhm..."

There!

There, I spotted the "HOMES FOR BIRDS" on the bottom shelf, standing between "YOUR DREAM TREEHOUSE" and "AFTERLIFE NOW - BUILD YOUR OWN COFFIN AND SAVE MONEY!" .

"I think we've got just what you need!" I smiled wildly as I crouched down to get the book.

Damn.

That did hurt a bit. A dull twinge of pain shot along my hipbone, from the big joint, all the way to the knee, and made me grit my teeth briefly as I held the position. The pain wasn't much, it was enough to feel, it was a kind of a throbbing ache that happened sometimes, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle...but I hasn't had it in a few days, and now...there it was.

No kinky crouching for a while, then.

"Here..."

I grabbed the book and then carefully got back to my paws, glad to feel that my hip didn't try to pop out of its socket when I finally stood upright and the tension, and the odd dullness melted away from my leg and that nasty sensation was gone. I almost wanted to let out a sigh of relief. My leg was fine. All was fine.

"Would this be of interest?" I practically shoved the book onto the rat's hands. "I think it's what you might be looking for."

*giggle*

Please choose quickly...and please don't let Marge catch them...please...she might make ME give them a talk about inappropriate shop behavior...and I'm not sure if I'm that much of an alpha male and a boss yet...oh dear...oh damn...

"Seems like it, yeah," the rat suddenly said. "I'll take it."

"Great!" I almost cried out. "Is there anything else you'd like to look at or is this it?"

Oh please...please...

"Okay."

"Well, let's go then, shall we?" I enthused. "I'll just run this through and..."

"Okay."

I made a dash for the sales counter, the rat in tow, though he didn't have any hurries, and I was still within the earshot of several giggles before we left the vicinity. Damn Mason...I know you're having fun but...a bit less fun maybe, while at work?

If only I had some fun...

"I'll just..."

I rounded the counter, squeezing past Marge and getting over to my cash register. A couple of quick key punches were enough to prime the device, and I ran the book across the reader with equally quick paws.

"That'll be 15.99, would you like to pay with cash or credit?"

"I guess I've got some cash..."

He took his time finding his wallet, and then pulled out some crumbled bank notes which I carefully straightened into the till, before I took out the change and handed then over, along with the receipt. I was extra careful when I ducked a little to reach for the carrier bag, and was glad to notice that my leg didn't do anything funny under that move. Great. Maybe the earlier was just a fluke. A pulled muscle or something. All was fine. I'd just put the book into the bag and...

"Hello!" Marge chimed. "Can I help you?"

"I THINK YOU CAN INDEED!"

That...

My paws froze, feeling smooth, slippery plastic, and the shape of the book within the bag, as my ears and my eyes turned in the direction of the only possible source of that voice, which had incidentally just crashed through the front door and was approaching the sales counter with alarming speed not unlike a strange, brown-colored avalanche.

Cobb Holden was in the building.

And he was grinning.

And he was kinda looking at me.

*

Thank you for reading my story! Hope you enjoyed the read, and hope you'll feel like giving me a word on how I did! I'll be seeing you again on Monday with yet another exciting installment in The Hockey Hunk!

Cheerio!

(A bientot!)