Page 34 of Spite Crush

Zak

Yes.

“Tell Kellen I said hi,” Naomi said, her tone thick with humor.

“What?” I stared at her, confused how she could have known who was texting me.

“You’ll want to control your face if you text with him while other people are around,” she warned me. “That smile is a dead giveaway.”

Well, shit.

“Go on,” she said, making a shooing motion with her hand. “We’ll do pedicures another time.”

“No, we won’t.” I stood up and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Say something nice about me after the game tonight.”

“Do something to earn it,” she said. “Dempsey, seriously. Win big tonight.”

“Is Naomi Rose playing favorites during a playoff run?”

“You’re damned right I am. My boyfriend and my best friend play for the Inferno. I might cheer in public if you win.”

Honestly, that more than anything else she’d said to me cemented our friendship. I truly believed she’d never betray my secret. But now I knew for sure that she was really on my side. In hockey and in life.

“See you later, Naomi.”

“Knock ‘em dead, Dempsey.”

The whole time I was saying goodbye my phone was dinging withmessages from Kellen, but I waited until I was in the hallway headed back to my room to read them.

Kellen

If you’re going to out me to the press don’t you think you could have given me a heads up?

Kellen

What happened to keeping this a secret?

Kellen

Are you seriously ignoring me?

Kellen

Zak Dempsey, you answer me right now.

Wow, he seemed genuinely pissed. Which, honestly, was kind offun for me. So I left him on read and went back to my room to get ready to head to the stadium.

Chapter Thirteen

~Kellen~

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked Naomi as I followed her up the back stairs to the suite level of the arena. “And to Zak.”

“I like when powerful people are indebted to me,” she teased. “Someday I’ll be single and forty and when I need viable sperm, one of you can pay me back.”

“Wow.” I chuckled as I shook my head. “It must be nice to have yourwhole life planned out in your head like that.”

“Honestly,” she said, motioning for me to follow her down an empty hallway before pushing open one of the doors and stepping inside. “Zak is my friend. Which makes you my friend. And friends help each other.”

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