Dane paused the video and looked at his teammates. “Lame. I bowled a 220-something. This is so lazy and dumb, it’s hard to even be mad. Do I need to keep watching? I can already tell the whole damn thing is like this.”
“You’ll probably want to skip to the dinner,” Reavo said.
Dane scrolled through the video until he saw himself and Austen staring at dinner menus.
“So what’s good here?”he asked Austen.
“Tuna nachos.”
“Tuna nachos? Tuna?Sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it?”
Austen narrated again,“I suppose I should’ve known better than to order tuna nachos while ‘eating out’ with Dane DeHardt. WhileIsaw a plate of delicious tuna nachos, Dane saw something else entirely. Sure enough, it was only a matter of time before he confessed therealreason he refused to try the appetizer.”
“Ugh. Gross.”The video showed Dane pushing the plate of nachos away from his body.“You know what this reminds me of? That whole thing about me not eating pussy. Yeah, I said it. I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone else. Fuck your nachos, and fuck you, too. You’re a piece of trash.”
Dane stopped the video again and laughed out loud in the locker room.
“This is editedsopoorly. That was pieces of ten different conversations spliced into one. You guys can see that, right? No one’s gonna believe I said all that. No one’s that dumb.”
“Er.” Jaden stiffened. “Better not look at Twitter, then.”
Dane grunted. “What are people saying? Show me.”
Jaden passed his phone to Dane. “You’re the number one trend right now, dude. Hashtag-Trade-Dane-DeHardt.”
Dane scrolled through what looked like thousands of tweets.
“I’m a Devils fan who has always defended DeHardt and his stupid controversies. But this interview was the last straw for me. Speaking on behalf of all Devils fans, WE WANT HIM GONE.”
“Dear Devils Fans: we don’t want him either! You can keep your locker room cancer! LOL! Signed, every other fanbase in the NHL.”
“DeHardt’s aggressive, disgusting, and demeaning behavior towards that poor, helpless girl is simply unacceptable. I often felt scared for her. NHL, is this who you want representing your league? Do something. Now.”
“NHL should ban him from the league for life.”
“Don’t just ban him. Jail him!!!”
“Not even a hockey fan but after watching that video I want to kill that man.”
If he wasn’t hated before, he certainly was now. With a seven-minute video, Austen had turned the world against him.
“Welp. Think I’ve seen enough.” Dane tossed the phone back to Jaden. “Pretty funny stuff.”
Dane whistled a tune while he changed into a sharp royal blue suit. His stunned teammates stood around in various states of undress, watching as their captain dressed.
“A-aren’t you furious, D?” Matchbox asked.
“Furious? Nah. Can’t even say I’m surprised.”
He knew this could happen, maybe even expected it. The only surprising part was how low Austen was willing to stoop to destroy him justdaysbefore the trade deadline.
“You boys gonna get dressed?” Dane asked. “Or are you going to stand there with your dicks out all night? Let’s go, I’m starving.”
“You still want to go out tonight, D?” Reavo asked, befuddled.
“We gotta eat, don’t we?”
“I dunno, man. Maybe it’d be best to lay low for a little while. People seem pretty outraged.”
