Page 61 of Spite Crush

“Rumors?” She laughed. “You’re two of the biggest names in the world. People are glad you’re friends andmost of them refer to you as the bromance of the century. So don’t worry about it.”

“Then why do I have to make a statement?” I asked her.

“Because everyone saw you tonight and they’re going to want you to say something nice about Zak,” she said. “Don’t worry about phrasing, just give me something I’ll make it sound good.”

“I’m a professional song writer,” I reminded her. “So tell them that I’m just here to support my friend in his historic playoff run. I’m not here to bejust another rock star embarrassing himself by pulling attention from the game.”

“Nicely done,” she said, laughing softly. “Do you memorize everything he says?”

“Do you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m the reporter he said that to,” she reminded me. “It’s my job to remember.” She looked around then turned back to me. “How is it going?”

“Everything is good,” I said, unable to hold back a smile. “Reallygood. How are things with you and Josh?”

“Also really good. I think he’s going to propose soon.”

“Already?” I felt heat creep up my cheeks. “I mean, that’s great.”

“Well, when things are right they tend to move fast,” she said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.

She wasn’t wrong about that. Not that I’d admit it to her. It was bad enough she knew as much about me and Zak as she did. Hell, she was sort of responsible for all of it.

I wasn’t going to admit that to her, either.

She banged on the locker room door then pushed it open. “Everyone decent?”

“No reporters!” Zak shouted.

“Hey, she brought the rock star!” someone else yelled as I followed her inside.

She walked straight over to Josh and drew him into a deep kiss that made most of the rest of the team cat call them, and while they were distracted I sidled up to Zak.

“Nice win,” I told him. “You did that for me, didn’t you.”

“I did it for me,” he insisted, then smiled softly. “Maybe a little for you, too. I need to shower and change.” He turned to his locker and grabbed his keys. “Do you want to wait for me at the car.”

“Sure,” I said, before turning and yelling out to the team. “Nice game, guys!”

“Thanks for coming, Kellen!” the goalie said. He was sitting on a bench pulling off all of his pads, but looked up and gave me a wide smile.

“Thanks for shutting out the Panthers,” I said, nodding to him. “See you guys later.”

I walked through the winding hallways toward the players lot, unable to stop thinking about what Naomi had said.

Josh was going to propose? A month earlier she’d been hitting on me, and now she was ready to get married.

I knew for sure that what I felt for Zak was real, and that I wanted a future with him. But marriage?Forever? Was it too soon to think that way about us?

And now that it was in my head, would I be able to stop thinking about it?

It took Zak about half an hour to make it to the car and he slid into the passenger seat looking utterly exhausted.

“How was your day, dear?” I asked as I put the car in gear and pushed the home button on the navigation system so it could direct me back to Zak’s place.

“Pretty good,” he said through a yawn. “We won.”

“I heard that somewhere,” I teased. “When we get back to your place you should get some sleep.”

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