Page 5 of Spite Crush

“Who cares?” I shot back. “It’s a thing now.”

“Are you pissed that he called you out, or that he’s never heard of you?” Tim asked, his tone thick with humor.

Okay, so…maybe I was a little more upset that he’d acted like he didn’t know who I was. Because come on. Not to be overly full of myself, but I was pretty famous. He might have his ruggedly handsome face on some trading cards, but I was a regular feature in Times Square. Plus, my net worth was considerably higher than his, even though he was the highest paid player in hockey.

Not that I’d spent the previous night researching him or anything. Because I totally hadn’t. Well, not for too long anyway.

“Okay,” I said, throwing my hands up in frustration. “Fine. I’ll let it go. But you should all know that I’m not happy about it.”

“Yeah,” Ford said, shaking his head. “I think we’re all clear on that.” He pushed himself to his feet and let out a sigh. “Let’s head down and get started.”

“I’m right behind you,” I promised as he, Tim and Craig filed out of the room, leaving me alone for a minute.

I knew they were right. I couldn’t keep fixating on what some jerk hockey player had said about me. I had nothing left to prove. We were a few hours away from playing a sold-out show at the same arena the Inferno hadn’t sold out in years. And tonight, everyone in attendance would be there to see me.

So Zak Dempsey really shouldn’t be on my radar anymore.

“Excuse me, Mr. Fox?”

I’d just stepped out into the hallway and when I turned around, I honestly wasn’t that surprised to see Naomi Rose standing in the hallway with a wide grin on her pretty face.

“Kellen is fine,” I told her. “I assume you’re stalking me now. How can I help you?”

“I was wondering if you’d seen Zak Dempsey’s remarks about you.”

“I did.” I knew Craig wanted me to let it go. Knew Tim and Ford were worried about dragging HSF into a fight that they wanted nothing to do with. But seriously…I was being ambushed on all fronts now and I wasn’t going to go quietly into the night.

“Would you care to comment?” she pressed.

“Ms. Rose,” I said, taking a step closer and holding her gaze. “I’m in Michigan for a good time, not a long time. We’ve got a sold-out show to play tonight and I don’t think anyone wants to focus on an aging hockey player who seems to be more famous for running his mouth than running up scores. I went to the game for the same reason as everyone else lastnight. If he thinks I was there to steal attention from him, well…that really sounds like a Dempsey problem, doesn’t it?”

“Can I quote you on that?” she asked, a smirk tugging at her crimson stained lips.

“Lady, I’llSign it in Blood,” I promised her, purposely using the title of our current number-one hit in the hopes that she’d mention it on her next broadcast.

“Have a good show tonight…Kellen.” She blatantly raked her gaze over me as her smile widened. “And if you’re sticking around town, I could definitely show you a good time.”

“I have no doubt you could,” I said. “Unfortunately my schedule is pretty tight.”

“Fair enough,” she agreed. “One more question, if I could?”

“Sure.”

“What does HSF stand for?”

“Well, that’s the real question now, isn’t it?” I grinned at her before turning and walking away.

Our band name was created as an inside joke, sitting in Ford’s garage when we were teenagers, never even daring to dream we’d become as big as we had over the past six years. It seriously never occurred to us that international fame was even an option.

Then once we blew up, everyone wanted to know what HSF stood for, and we resolutely refused to tell anyone. Not even Craig knew. But the mystery surrounding our name helped with our intrigue, so at this point I was pretty sure he didn’t evencare. As long as people were talking about us, it worked for him.

Plus…it was really stupid and we weren’t eager to tell anyone how incredibly nerdy we were in high school.

“Hey, you want to do this or just keep fucking around?” Tim called as I stepped onto the arena floor.

“I can’t want both?” I yelled back.

It was hard to believe that just the night before this whole place had been covered in ice and I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over my shoulder and looking at the place I’dbeen seated, no longer partitioned with plexiglass, but open and waiting for our fans to sit where Inferno fans had been screaming less than twenty-four hours earlier.

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