It wasn’t funny, but she couldn’t help but laugh—especially during DeHardt’s badly chopped-up monologue that equated tuna nachos to oral sex. She was still laughing even after the episode ended. She laughed so hard, tears began to roll down her cheek. Eventually the laughter stopped, but the tears didn’t.
Thayer had to have known that Austen would never agree to making such an obvious hit piece. That’s why he’d recruited Heather. This single episode of theirs practically destroyed everything she’d worked on. Because who in that locker room wouldeveragree to be interviewed by her, after such a ham-fisted hatchet job? Who could possibly trust her? What would become of her show?
“It’s over,” Austen told herself, wiping the tears from her cheek.
As if the video itself wasn’t horrifying, Austen then peeped at the internet’s reaction to it. The video was going viral and reaching circles far beyond hockey fans. And everyone was in a rage, calling for DeHardt to be banned from the league, and much worse.
She needed to scan only a few tweets and editorials before she had to set her phone down with disgust.
Thayer had done it. He’d used her show to destroy a player he had a grudge with. He’d actually made her feelsorryfor DeHardt. He wasn’t a great guy, no, but he didn’t deservethis.
She picked up her phone and messaged the athlete.
“Dane, I’m so sorry. I just watched the interview. I know you don’t have any reason to trust me, but please believe me when I say I had no idea it was going to be like that.”
A half-hour passed with no reply. From the read receipt, she could see that Dane had read her text, but he hadn’t bothered to reply.
“Please say something,” she urged him.
He finally answered.“You’re right. I don’t have a reason to trust you. Bye, Austen.”
“Wait! Remember earlier this week, when I told you I was taken off the project? Well, now we know why. Because I never would’ve made that kind of video in the first place.”
“Oh, really? So that wasn’t your voice in the video saying all that bullshit about me?”
“No! It was one of the interns.”
She stared at her phone, eagerly awaiting a response that seemed less likely to come with every passing minute.
She texted him again. “I know it’s getting late but are you busy right now? I have some things to tell you that you’d probably like to know. And I’d much rather explain it in person than over text.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because that terrible video just destroyed everything I’ve worked for. Do you really think any of your teammates will ever want to talk with me after that? Why would I do that to myself?”
An eternity seemed to pass before her phone chimed with his reply.
“I’m at dinner with the boys. I’ll be back at my place around 10. You know where I live.”
Chapter 20
Dane
It was a damn shame that theDate with a Devilinterview tainted such an unbelievable steak.
The boys tried to be themselves at dinner. They wanted to joke and laugh and have a good time. But the topic of the hour clearly lingered in everyone’s minds like a morning fog. Every time they looked at Dane, the captain could just see the worry in their eyes.
Compared to this, all the other controversies he’d been involved seemed like minor dustups.
This was big. This wasbad.
And every time his phone buzzed, he was certain it would be GM Baumbach, telling him to pack his bags because he’d been traded. Or perhaps one of the league’s officials, telling him he had to sit the rest of the year out. Or who knows—worse.
He wanted to ignore the text from Austen. He could just picture her gleeful excitement as she watched her interview blow up all across social media. Every girl her age wanted to be somebody important, right? Well, now she was a household name. At least for the next fifteen minutes. And what better way to cash in on all that fame than trying to bait him into making some inflammatory texts?
He wasn’t that dumb. The girl was a snake. Couldn’t trust her.
But one thing she said made him pause and wonder. Shehadsaid something about being removed from her project. Unless that was a lie, too. Maybe she’d set that trap ahead of time, knowing he’d walk right into it.
