Page 31 of Spite Crush

“Get out of here,” I told Zak, shoving him gently toward the exit. “I’ll call you.”

“You’d better.” He crushed me against his chest and kissed me quickly before releasing me again.

I didn’t know what he wanted from me. Didn’t know what I wanted, either. And I definitely didn’t know what the hell we were doing.

In fact, the only thing I knew for certain in that moment was that Zak Dempsey had literally just came and went. And it was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced in my life.

I headed back up to meet Craig, to rejoin the band and to take the stage. Happier than I’d been in a long, long time…with a surprisingly itchy chest.

Chapter Twelve

~Zak~

“Okay, cut the shit, Dempsey.” Naomi Rose stopped recording and slammed her phone down on the table as she glared at me.

“What?” I asked, honestly not sure what her problem was now.

We were sitting in her hotel room the morning before our game against The Cobras, since this was the first chance we’d both had to actually sit down together. She’d agreed to release a statement for me about myfriendship with Kellen Fox, but she’d been acting weird since the minute I’d walked into her room.

“Look, I’ll write your little beard article,” she said. “But I thought we were friends.”

That was…interesting. We were friendly, sure. We had a nice, professional relationship. But I had no idea she thought of us as actual friends.

“Naomi, I don’t know what you want me to say,” I admitted.

“Look.” She shifted in her chair, crossing her legs under herself andleaning her elbows on the table as she held my gaze. “Right now, we’re so far off the record that I’m not a reporter and you’re not a hockey player. We’re just two people, in a room.”

But that had never been true. Things had a way of getting out. Case in point, the reason we were sitting in this room at all. She might not have been the one to leak the photos, but she’d created the environment that caused the situation.

Then again, if she hadn’t given Kellen my number then he and I would never have—

“Zak.”

“What?” I blinked as I focused back on her and realized that I’d zoned out for a minute. “Sorry.”

“I said, wouldn’t you feel better if you talked about what’s really going on?” She reached across the table and covered one of my hands with hers. “I can be a good friend, Zak. I can help.”

“Help, what?” I asked, pulling my hand away.

“Keep the heat off of you two,” she answered. “I can redirect attention. Like I said, I’ll post this article, but then…” She spread her hands. “I can just change the subject.”

“And why would you want to do that?” I asked, still unwilling to give her anything.

“Other than the incredible debt of gratitude you’d owe me?” she teased.

“Yeah, okay. Other than that.” I huffed out a chuckle. Damn, this girl was good.

“Well, as great as you are, Dempsey, you’re not the only player on the Inferno. You’re not even my favorite player. And maybe it would be good for someone else to get some press once in a while.”

“Okay.” I let out an actual laugh as I shook my head. “So you and Josh are cooking up this little scheme? Alright. I can get behind that.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Naomi, I just want to play for as many more years as possible. The press is good for the franchise, but ifI’m doing my job on the ice, I don’t need to be on television to keep getting paid. Give the spotlight to Josh. Fuck, give it to Ozzy. I don’t give a shit.”

“No one gives a fuck about a goalie, Dempsey.” She rolled her eyes. “But yeah, it would be nice to get Josh a little more attention.”

That sounded good to me. Especially since Kellen and I were going to try to see each other again. I wanted the least amount of attention on me as humanly possible.

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