Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 65884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Brady elbowed me. I thought he might have been warning me to pay attention till he angled his chin meaningfully at the stands. “What’s the redhead doing here?”
I shot a glance at Walker, puzzled by the spike in my pulse. “He wants to interview me.”
“No fucking way.” Brady snorted in disbelief and jumped a second later as Coach bellowed his name. “Sir. Yes, sir.”
Coach’s razor-sharp stare wasn’t for the weak of heart, but Brady managed to hold it like a champ before Coach dismissed us for the night.
I snickered at Brady’s audible sigh of relief. “Did you wet your pants, buddy?”
Along with Langley, Brady was one of my closest friends on the team. And he was my roommate.
Brady was a lanky forward with dark-blond hair, blue eyes, and a crooked nose, courtesy of a jab to the face his freshman year at Smithton. Blood everywhere. I’d witnessed the whole thing and let me tell you, it hadn’t been pretty. But Brady was. He had boy-next-door good looks and a habit of asking a question with every sentence he uttered. It could have been annoying, but you got used to it after a while.
“Fuck off.” He peeled his practice jersey off and flopped onto the nearest bench to unlace his skates. “So what’s the deal? I thought you hated that guy.”
“I don’t hate him. I just don’t like him. There’s a difference.”
Brady snorted. “If you say so. Meet us at the Depot?”
I nodded. I needed a shower, but this wouldn’t take long. I unlaced my skates and climbed the stairs in my socks to deal with the annoying dude engrossed in his cell.
“Woodrow.”
Walker jolted visibly. “Oh, hello. I’m early. Sorry. I brought you a hot cocoa. I’m personally more of a coffee all day kind of guy, but I wasn’t sure if you had any caffeine restrictions. I know a few people who can’t have a drop after noon or they’ll be awake all night. And I didn’t know how you took your coffee anyway. Milk and sugar, just milk, just sugar, plain? So many choices. Cocoa is easy, and Coffee Cave does a fabulous job. Oh, and here’s a cookie ’cause OMG, I can’t resist their chocolate chip.”
He presented one of the cups as if it were a rare prize, shoved a white bakery bag at me, and patted the empty bench.
I forgot that I didn’t like him and obeyed. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
I narrowed my eyes as I rescued the gooey chocolatey cookie from the bag. “I decided to do this interview thing.”
Walker grinned. “That’s great!”
“But I have conditions.”
“Okay. Please share.” He motioned for me to continue, a sunny smile locked in place.
“Number one, you run the questions by me first.”
“Sure thing,” he agreed cheerily. “I can do that.”
“Number two, I’ll give you half an hour. When time’s up, we go our separate ways and I never hear from you again.”
Walker wrinkled his nose. “I may need more than half an hour.”
“That’s all you get,” I commented around a bite of cookie. “If you have your questions handy, we can knock this out now.”
“Gosh, I wish that were possible, but all interviews are conducted in my studio with my videographer present. I do on-site interviews as well, however, the lighting here is terrible,” he said matter-of-factly. “And my impression was that the purpose of this powwow was to come to a mutual agreement. I help you, you help me.”
“No, thanks. I decided that I don’t need your help.”
Walker frowned. “Why not?”
“I don’t want to owe you anything, and I don’t care enough about social media to worry about it.”
He deflated visibly. “Then it’s not an even exchange. You must want something.”
See? Confusing. Why was he trying to give me shit when he didn’t have to? He had to be up to something.
I needed ammo against this guy…for insurance purposes. Stat.
“I want to make sure you don’t write anything crappy.”
Walker gasped. “I wouldn’t!”
“So you say, but your version of crappy and mine don’t mesh. The way I see it, you’re gonna do the story with or without my help. If I refuse, there’s a risk that you’ll pull the same shit you did with Jett.” I popped another piece of cookie in my mouth and barreled on as he sputtered indignantly beside me. “You can tell me you’ve learned your lesson and maybe you have, but you have the upper hand here and I don’t like it.”
“Yet I’m the one groveling with cookies and hot cocoa,” he hissed. “And I haven’t done anything wrong.”
I hit him with a deadpan stare. “Except spy on me.”
“I didn’t spy on you.”
“Right.” I finished the cookie, then uncapped the to-go cup and guzzled the hot cocoa in one go, swiping my forearm over my mouth. “You’ve conveniently forgotten that Smithton is super small and that you’ve put yourself in a position to be the guy who tells the rest of the world what we’re all about. Like now. You’re trying to stake a claim on a story. My story. You wouldn’t take no for an answer and I want to admire that, but I still don’t trust you. So the only way you’ll get my cooperation is by playing my way.”