Page 16 of Play Your Part

Maybe she didn’t remember.

“I wouldn’t be wasting my time here if I weren’t serious,” I said.

She took a seat on one of the chairs surrounding an unlit firepit. “Why do you want to do this?”

“You mean besides the stellar impression you made the other night?”

“Watch it or—”

I didn’t need her to voice the threat. I opted for the truth, knowing it was my only chance to win her over. “I can’t get them off my back. The media, my agent, the fans. Everyone is waiting for me to fail, except Erik and… your dad, who told me I needed to stay out of trouble only hours before shit hit the fan.”

I risked a glance at Kennedy to see if my admission made any difference or if I should throw in the towel. Showing her how much I needed her made my skin crawl; I wouldn’t beg if I had no shot. She watched me closely, her head inclined to the side. Engaged, considering.

I kept going. “They’re going to shine a light on me, there’s no way around it. This way, I can give them something people might want to root for.”

“You think people want to root for us?” she asked, gesturing between us.

“Not yet, but they will. We can make them.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“People like redemption and love and all that crap. It won’t be hard to convince them.”

“All that crap?”

“I’ve sworn off relationships,” I told her. “And I don’t believe in redemption, because whose fucking standard are we supposed to live up to anyway? People can hate me and what I’ve done all they want, but it only matters ifIcan live with it.”

Kennedy rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her seat. “God, you’re an insufferable ass.” She huffed a laugh. “You know there is such a thing as being a good person?”

“‘Good’ people end up alone, drunk, and sad in the backyard at a party.”

“And the ‘bad’ people are there because no one wants to be around them.” Kennedy possessed more bark than I expected. This would be so much easier if I didn’t find her attractive. “At leastItried.”

“Is this why you brought me out here, to insult me?” I would put up with insults if I helped my hockey career, but only then.

“Do you…” She hesitated, uncrossing then recrossing her legs. Helplessly, I watched the movement. “Doyouwant to do this to get back at Justin?”

My attention snapped back to the conversation.Thatwas her hesitation? I didn’t expect her to say yes. It was a small miracle she hadn’t laughed us out of the house. But to know she was considering it, and that Justin fucking Ward could get in the way…. “It’s an added bonus.”

She nodded, pausing briefly before saying, “We need to decide on terms. If we don’t go back in there with our own plan, Deandra will take over completely. You don’t want that. Trust me.”

Deandra told me she knew Kennedy, and that meant she could get her to consider this ridiculous idea, but the level of familiarity between them went beyond what I’d expected. “How do you know each other?”

“We used to work together,” she answered before hastily moving on. “What would you want from me?”

I strolled slowly toward her, then took a seat across the firepit. “Some dates—coffee or dinner, whatever. We need to be seen together, having a good time. I told the media we met at the party, so we can say we hit it off and we’re seeing where it goes.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

“But they need to believe it’s real.”

She looked toward the house, avoiding my gaze. “And making it seem real means what, exactly?”

“We’d have to keep it going for at least three months.”

Kennedy’s head swiveled toward me, like whiplash. “Three months?”

“Anything shorter, and the rumors will start again. Speculation that will make me look bad.”

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