Page 71 of The Publicity Stunt

It's Kace's turn to look at the ground. "The relationship we had wasn't fake, and that's all I'm telling you. I need to go change."

He walks into the locker room, and Rudy avoids eye contact. His locker remains rows away from his, and Kace just shakes his head as he walks by.

"What's that for?" Rudy asks, but for the first time in almost a year, there's no attitude or hatred in his tone. It sounds more like defeat.

"If you love her, go to her. She loves you," Kace says and sets his bag on the bench.

Rudy walks around the corner and looks at him. "It's not that simple."

"She says you ended things because your friendship with me is more important than your relationship with her."

"It is."

"That's just stupid," he says and opens his locker.

Walking over, Rudy sits on the bench next to his bag. "Why?"

"Because we don't have a friendship. I don't give a shit what you and Sasha do. Before that interview, I was over it all. I thought maybe we could work out whatever issue it was you had with me and become friends again. Not best friends, but not the enemies you decided we were."

"You really don't think you can ever forgive me?"

"Nope," he says. "The only way I'd even consider it is if Bri forgives me and comes back to me. The chances of that are just as slim. But we are teammates for the rest of the season, so there's a need to be cordial. On the ice."

On the ice, Kace finds himself unstoppable. Even though half the world hates him, he finds an outlet for all of the emotions he can't seem to reconcile within himself off skates. The Bootleggers are up by three points, and the right wing he's dealing with won't stop talking about Bri.

"Was she good in bed? She seems like she might be a bore," Evan Green says. "And she definitely doesn't suck cock."

Kace does everything he can to ignore him, but any chance he gets, Kace checks the man into the boards and takes a little pleasure when it takes a moment longer than it should to recover.

"Hit a nerve, did I?"

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to shut you up. For the rest of the fucking night," Kace growls.

"You're just pissed because she probably never let you find out how she was in bed. It was a fake relationship, after all. And she's a good girl, not a puck bunny. Shit, I bet I could get my rep to work out a similar deal with her. I won't be stupid enough to get caught, but I'll be sure to let you know how good she is riding my dick."

Slamming his shoulder into him, Evan falls, and Kace grabs the puck. Racing full steam ahead, he needs to slap the puck before he's ejected for knocking the asshole unconscious. He stops, lines up his shot, and knocks it into the goal on the right side.

The buzzer goes off, and he starts skating back to the line when something from the crowd gets his attention. For a moment, he swears Bri sits there. When he turns back around, realizing his mistake, he sees Evan barreling right for him. It's the last thing he remembers about the night.

Opening his eyes, Kace flinches at the bright lights and searing headache. His father sits to his left, and he stops him from sitting up.

"Just lay back. You have a concussion," Victor says.

"What happened?"

"Dirty hit from the other team. When you hit your head on the ice, it cracked your helmet."

Cracked his helmet. "Feels about right."

"I'm just glad you're awake. They wouldn't give me any information over the phone. They carried you off the ice on a stretcher when you didn't get back up."

"How'd you get here so fast?"

Movement in the doorway catches his attention, and his stomach flutters when he sees Bri in the doorway.

"You're awake," Bri says. She stands in sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt, and he hates how pale and haunted she looks. Even like this, she's still beautiful. "That hit was scary."

"That girl is an angel," Victor says. "I couldn't get a flight out until tomorrow, and Bri calls me out of the blue. Tells me to be ready in thirty minutes, and she and her team came and got me to bring out here."

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