Chapter 15
Sloane
“Yes!” I moaned as I watched the replay. “Way to go, Devil.” My devil.
Well, he wasn’t mine, but the texting made it seem as if he was.
The Hellions were on fire, not only making the semifinals, but they stood a chance of winning a third game tonight. If so, only one more to go.
There was no question I was going to the playoffs. Period.
Damn it.
I had to see them play. Oh, the situation was frustrating. Matt had said barely four words to me in days, sending a schedule for me to follow that hadn’t included the Hellions.
However, my question was whether he’d allow me to head to a game where the Portland Hellions were one of the teams. Why?
Because in the days since I provided a rather avant garde article on the world of shifters, Matt had said nothing about it. Not one word. He was a man who enjoyed picking apart a story, acting as if he knew exactly the right way to tweak the piece.
Not that it wasn’t perfect. Of course.
The man was the master of being passive-aggressive.
One day I’d have the sheer joy in telling him to write the damn article himself.
Since I was now certain he was bucking for the editor in chief position, I’d likely struck a chord of irritation.
I had found it fascinating over the last few days how he’d embraced the team. I was no fool. There wasn’t anything the man did in his life that wasn’t with a purpose.
All he’d talked about on the plane had been the Hellions and the brothers. If I didn’t suspect he had an ulterior motive, I would almost think he’d developed a love for the game.
However, I knew the man and his forever increasing desire for power.
Which was why, when he’d appeared at the airport with luggage in hand, I’d had no choice but to tolerate his company, but had remained on edge. I still was. I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to embrace the reality he was working an angle.
The trip already planned to Boston had coincided with a huge celebration for the newspaper’s parent company.
And I’d been forced to be Matt’s date for the evening. He’d tried to sell the evening to me by alluding to big things to come in the future. He’d even introduced me to all the bigwigs.
I hadn’t been impressed. They’d all appeared pompous good ole boys playing by a different set of rules. The only difference in true rednecks and the men and even one woman sitting in the VIP seats had been the dollars attached to their attire.
All New York Fifth Avenue with diamond-studded cufflinks and hundred-thousand-dollar watches.
That was when I’d learned at least two of them had stakes in hockey teams. Granted, I hadn’t been one hundred percent certain and still wasn’t, given their names weren’t attached to the teams clandestinely mentioned.
But my instinct was never wrong.
I’d been the observer in the conversation, my hackles raised almost immediately and I’d played the role of observer and mental tagger. Meaning, I’d paid close attention to everything from voice inflections to body language.
I’d also bet, no pun intended, that they were caught up in illegal gambling involving their teams. Beck and I had flushed out a few possibilities that I’d taken further. However, I’d need to get my hands on a bookie to ascertain if I was right, and I didn’t run in those spaces.
I’d been a good girl and played the part of obedient reporter, but the conversation had stuck with me to a point I’d almost faked an illness to get away from the dinner. Maybe that’s why when the article had been in print, I’d gloated a little bit.
But since then, there’d been a silence surrounding Matt.
In my conniving mind, I had a feeling he was up to something.
I shifted to the comments on my article online, biting back a smile.
“How amazing to hear about Beck’s family. He’s even more impressive.”
“What a lucky woman to get to spend time with the Devil himself.”
“I never knew shifters were actually real people.”
Well, there were a few comments that frosted my cinnamon buns, but with Beck’s honesty, the ratings on the piece had skyrocketed. How could Matt hate me for that?
Or the powers that be in the parent company.
Which brought me back to why the silence and the secretive trip. I didn’t like being placed in such an awkward position. Plus, I wasn’t very good at small talk or refraining from speaking my mind.
Since returning and after taking a dozen extra showers to ward off evil spirits, I’d done a little clandestine research.
The hockey teams in their repertoire of corporations had no shifters on the rosters.
They hadn’t even considered one in the past four years.
In fact, the official on paper owners had also made no bones about the fact they would never allow a shifter as a player.
To make things even worse, one had openly been a part of the true haters from the very first day a shifter had won a spot on a national team.
At least since then, the bastard had kept his mouth shut.
What troubled me more than anything was that I’d had no email sent by Matt’s secretary indicating where I’d be headed tomorrow. I wanted to be in Portland since the Hellions had somehow managed to make it to the semifinals.
Just thinking about their amazing team created little heart flutters.
Oh, my God. Did that mean I was officially a puck bunny? Well, since I’d yet to purchase anything that looked like leftover Playboy bunny outfits or makeup with sparkles, at least I couldn’t consider myself a bunny sister.
If there was such a thing.
I continued scrolling through Instagram while making notes. It was amazing how much excellent information I could find and use just by surfing for an hour daily. Granted, I always had to weed through various ridiculous options to obtain one scrap of something decent.
At least the material was usually highly entertaining.
Today was no exception, including about Beck.
HotBlondeBunny on Instagram: Beck ‘the Devil’ Kendrick can slicken my… lips any day.
Did she really think puffing out her Botoxed cherry gloss-stained lips only one inch from her cellphone was going to entice a man like Beck?
I continued flipping, realizing every muscle had tensed.
Another post drew my attention and this one made me burst into laughter.
At least the woman wasn’t picky about which players she wanted to hump.
I had to give SweetCheeksinAlabama some credit.
Her skills with Adobe were excellent. She actually appeared as if she was riding a camel in the desert with at least eight of the Hellions running after her.
“Creative,” I mused and dropped my head into my hands. I guess it was time to face the beast in the cave and find out what in the hell was going on.
Evidently, I was on the same wavelength as Matt. He was walking from his office as I was walking toward him. At least he didn’t try to brush me off. When I was a few feet away, I stopped, curious what he would say at this point.
“I finally have a schedule for you,” he said.
“Oh, really? I was beginning to wonder.”
“You know how the playoff is, Sloane. It changes in a heartbeat.”
I was about to toss out that we’d known for two days the teams that had advanced to the semifinals. What good would that do?
“Right.” I shoved my hands into my trouser pockets and followed him into the office. While he closed the door, I slumped down into the chair opposite his desk. I was eager for him to do all the talking. Remaining standing would only keep him on edge.
He took his time walking around to the other side, easing onto his big leather chair he’d made a big deal out of purchasing. A king always needed a big boy’s chair. Right?
“I do have more things on my agenda than the game of hockey.”
Why should I bother saying anything? Maybe he was hopeful I’d stroke his ego. Not a chance.
He flicked his gaze toward me and sat back, twisting in his seat. For two thousand dollars, you’d think the chair wouldn’t squeak. Oops. I’d been wrong about much bigger things than his chair.
Including the man.
“I wanted to let you know you truly impressed the hell out of the executive team the other night.”
“Oh, really?” I crossed my legs as a guy would do, with my ankle of one leg placed on my knee of the other. I even steepled my hands with my elbows on the armrests. Just to annoy him.
He nodded, taking a few seconds to drop his gaze to my bright red Converse tennies. Just as he looked away, I noticed he’d rolled his eyes. I caught everything.
“Yes. The group found you insightful about the industry, politics, sports, and music. Everything tossed your way you aggressively attacked. You also looked extraordinarily beautiful. Stunning in fact.”
Was he blushing? Ah… I think he was.
I allowed myself a smile. “One of the men said that? Or did that come from Margaret? She did seem very attracted to me.”
He appeared chuffed, fighting to keep from smiling. “I said that and have always said that about you.”
“I thought my mouth had gotten me into trouble.”
“Well, when you insulted anyone who owned a yacht, I did think Mr. Walker was going to have a heart attack. Did you see his face?”
We both laughed and for a full minute, being around him felt similar to what we’d shared years before. When I’d been young and eager to learn the ropes from what I’d thought was a brilliant man.
“Yeah, well, I meant what I said.”
His laughter finally faded along with his smile, an even more awkward moment settling in. “You are an exquisite woman. More so when you’re dressed the way you were.”
Now we were finally getting to the good stuff.
“You mean dressed like arm candy? If I remember correctly, Matt, since you hadn’t given me the benefit of the doubt in telling me I’d have extracurricular activities so I could pack accordingly, you were actually the one who selected the dress I wore.”
Which had pissed me off to the point I’d almost lost my cool.
“You called me Matt.” Wow. The man was pleased as punch.
“Don’t get used to it. Answer the question.”
“What are you insinuating, Sloane?”