Page 7 of Date with a Devil
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ll let you in on a bit of a secret, as long as you don’t share it with anyone else.”
“Okay …?”
“Do you realize that the front office is just as sick of DeHardt as we are?”
Austen shrugged. “I didn’t know.”
“Well theyare,Austen. The general manager of the Devils, Scott Baumbach, wantsto trade DeHardt. But before Baumbach can trade DeHardt, he has to convince the owner, Dick Sullivan, to agree to the trade. The owner is the only thing standing in the way of a trade right now.”
Austen’s eyes widened. She wasn’t used to hearing such high-level gossip. “Wait, why wouldn’t Sullivan agree to a trade already? I mean, DeHardt’s obviously been a problem for us.”
“A trade would hurt our season ticket sales, jersey sales, and TV ratings. All the promotional commercials and artwork featuring DeHardt would need to be redone. At the end of the day, this is still a business, and it’s not exactly profitable to move on from a player the franchise has built around.”
“I see.” Austen stroked her chin. “But I’m not sure I understand what all that has to do with the interview.”
“Well, he won’t agree to it, like I told you. Then Baumbach can go to Sullivan and tell him that we’vetriedto work with DeHardt to improve his image, but he’s literally refusing to work with us. It’ll be one more nail in The Big D’s coffin.”
“Okay. I get it now.”
“So? All you have to do isaskhim to do the show.”
“Ugh.” A roiling festered in her stomach. She wasn’t even sure she had the courage to go face-to-face to even ask him to do the show. The truth was, DeHardt intimidated her—he had a reputation for being testy with reporters and making them look bad. The few times she’d seen him in passing, she’d swiftly turned the corner to avoid him.
The cloak-and-dagger stuff didn’t help her feel better at all. It made her feel sneaky. That wasn’t what her show was for.
“But what if he agrees?” Austen asked.
“He won’t.”
“But what if hedoes?”
Thayer laughed. “Hewon’t, Austen. I’ve covered this team for fifteen years. I know DeHardt, and I’ve known a hundred other guys just like him. Trust me. He won’t do it and we’ll move forward with what we have to do.”
She frowned. She’d feel a lot better if Thayer would at leastacknowledgethe possibility that DeHardt could say yes.
“You know I’ve never asked much from you, and always given you a lot of freedom to do your own thing,” he said. “So what do you say?”
She didn’t want anything to do with the type of guy who’d publicly and unironically brag about his reluctance to go down on women. Not that she’deverbe in that situation with him to begin with, of course. But DeHardt represented everything the showwasn’t,and giving him any air time at all was undoubtedly a bad idea. But it sounded like her boss had made up his mind.
“I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I?” she asked rhetorically.
Thayer beamed and consulted his calendar. “The team has a 10:00 AM practice at their practice facility. You can ask him afterward.”
With a sigh, Austen stood. “Alright. I’ll ask him.”
“Just remember,” Thayer said as she made her way to the door, “he won’t agree to it, so no need to be nervous.”
God, I hope you’re right,she thought.
Chapter 4
Dane
Ice and snow crunched beneath Dane’s feet as he exploded towards the net with the puck on his stick. An incredibly powerful skater, Dane could hit his top speed in three strides—and at his size and weight, trying to stop The Big D was like trying to slow a runaway train. Even the league’s best players had fits trying to defend against him.
Dane skated the outside lane with the rookie d-man, Mikey, covering him. Dane dragged the puck on his backhand as he neared the net, daring the rookie to take it from him. Mikey took the bait, giving up his precious inside lane for a chance to lunge at the puck.
