Page 9 of Date with a Devil
“But—” she began before the hockey player cut her off.
“I know, I know. You didn’t get your chance. You’re going to have to learn real quick you gotta speak up when you’re in here, because I don’t owe you guys any extra time.” He pointed at the door. “Out.”
“But, Dane, just one quick question, my name is Aust—”
“I don’tcarewhat your name is, babe. Your time is up and I’m in charge of this locker room. Now go on, get out.”
The young reporter stood frozen. Outrage slowly crept across her stunned face. At last, she stormed out of the room with an angry huff. The door slammed shut behind her. A cloud of awkward energy slowly dispelled, and the other Devils players chuckled uncomfortably, remarking:
“Yeesh.”
“Kinda brutal there, eh Dane?”
“He’s right, though, we don’t owe them any extra time.”
“Welcome to the job, honey,” Dane said aloud to his teammates, earning a chorus of Canadian-accented laughs.
But Matchbox piped up. “She’s not really a reporter, Dane. That’s Austy Marlowe.”
Dane slipped off his shoulder pads, peeled off his drenched t-shirt, and tossed it aside. “Okay. And who exactly is Austy Marlowe?”
“TheDate with a Devilgirl,” Matchbox said.
Dane gave a shrug once he remembered whatDate with a Devilwas—that cheesy date show that the Dallas Devils put out on their official team media. “Huh. I guess that’s why I thought she looked familiar. Wonder what she wanted? Oh well.”
“She probably wanted to ask you to be on her show,” Mikey Vedros said, chiming in. “You should do it, D. She’s a pretty cool chick, actually. She’s not at all like those other media dudes. Might be the only positive press you get all year.”
Other voices around the room grunted in agreement:
“That’s a good point, Mikey.”
“She is pretty cool, yup.”
“Kinda wish I could get arealdate with her, heh heh.”
“You really think that’s what she wanted?” Dane asked. “Hey, Matchbox, did you ask her for her number like I told you to?”
“Yup,” he said.
“And what happened?”
“Shot down.”
Dane rolled his eyes. He made for the door. “Maybe I should show you boys how it’s done, eh?”
“Let her go, D,” Reavo, leaning on his crutches, warned. “I’m telling you,nogood can come out of this.”
“We’ll see.” Dane threw open the door and yelled down the hall, his voice booming. “Yo! Austy! Hey! Austy Marlowe!”
At the end of the hall, Austy was waiting for the elevator. Heknewshe could hear him—even in a rocking arena, the on-ice commands he barked at his teammates carried to the upper bowl—but she acted like she hadn’t. The elevator doors opened in front of her, and for a second, Dane thought she’d do thesmartthing and just get on it.
But she didn’t. Slowly, she turned around. Even from a hundred feet away, Dane could see that she wasn’t pleased.
She already hates my guts,Dane thought with an ornery smile.This should be fun.
He waved for her to hurry back. “Hey, Austy! Come on back.”
When she finally began the long walk back down the hall, Dane returned to his stall with a smirk and waited for her. “She’s actually coming back.”
