Page 83 of Sleet Princess

“And then they showed the clip of you winking at her from the penalty box,” she whispers, like that’s even worse than the rest.

“What’s wrong with winking?” I ask, but she ignores me.

“Is this how you act after your games? You go out, get drunk, and publicly canoodle with Sleet Sluts?”

“Mom!” If I didn’t feel so close to puking, I might laugh at hearing her sayslut. “That’s the name of one fan club; it’s not what we call… the girls.” I cringe as I say it.

“No?” Mom’s tone is full of exasperation. “Well, what should I call this girl?”

Either I’m in, or I’m out. And as much as my chest hurts right now, I know what I’m going to do.

I take a breath. “You can call that particular girl my wife.”

There’s a second of silence before I hear the phone clatter out of her grasp.

Chapter 66

Natalie

My hands are still tremblingfrom the confrontation, but I know what I have to do.

I sit down behind my desk and pick up my phone.

It only takes me a few minutes to get the head of public relations on the line.

“What can I do for you, Miss Wagner?”

I tap my fingers on the desktop, eyes on the pink band circling my ring finger. “We need to put out a statement.”

“What is the statement about?” she asks, but I’m sure she’s been alerted to the video by now.

“About the videos. And letting everyone know it was a private, heated moment between myself and my husband, Luke Anders, on our wedding night.” I pause for a moment while she gasps. “You can add an apology or whatever your department deems necessary. But I’d like the world to know that it was a private moment between a married couple. Which we all know is much less scandalous.”

“Okay, um, we can do that. When would you like it out?”

“Within an hour,” I answer.

If those videos are blowing up, we need to address it immediately. I can only hope Luke goes along with the story. Because there’s no avoiding it now.

Chapter 67

The Unreturned Text Messages

Princess: I’m sorry for how everything went down yesterday. I know it was bad. Can we please talk?

Princess: I understand why you’re mad. I would be too. But we need to talk about it.

Princess: Please answer thephone.

Princess: Luke, we can’t just avoid this.

Princess: It’s been a week. If you want to just do the divorce, we can, but you need to answer me.

Princess: I’m trying to be understanding, but you need to talk to me. Let me explain. I won’t do it over text.

Princess: So you can talk about our “whirlwind romance” in a postgame interview, but you can’t answer my texts?

Princess: You know how to get a hold of me.

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