Page 89 of Hot Receiver

“If he’s not dead, the bat definitely rattled what little of his brain is in that skull,” Zak mutters.

I look between Zak and the girls. “This wasn’t exactly the kind of introduction I had planned, but, guys, this is the guy I was telling you about. My boyfriend.”

Missy sniffles and throws her arms around Zak’s neck. “Hi, boyfriend.”

“Easy, Miss. He was just in a car accident,” I say.

Zak smiles and hugs her back just as tightly. “I can handle a little bit of pain. This is so worth it.”

“You saved our lives,” Summer says in a quivering voice. “Thank you.”

Zak wraps an arm around Summer and pulls her in, too. “I’m Zak. It’s great to meet you girls. And one thing you should know about me is that more than anything, I hate bullies.”

Chapter 37

Zak

“Jesus, you guys really know how to make me work,” Marc says with a deep sigh. He stares at his computer screen. “Remember, our whole strategy was about shedding a positive light on the team, not violating codes of conduct, breaking a movie star’s heart, and spitting open a guy’s skull.”

“Come on, you love to spin shit.” Matt chuckles and stretches his arms overhead.

Marc scrubs a hand down the front of his face. “You want to know about spinning? Let me tell you about spinning. It’s the exact thing my mind has been doing over the past week while I’ve been trying to navigate through all this.”

His eyes settle on me. “And there are enough pictures of you guys flying through cyberspace to wallpaper the goddamn city. Calls into question your ethics, Zak. As owner of the team, you can’t be dating a contracted player. And your knowledge of Matt’s code of conduct violation back at Ohio State doesn’t help matters.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t have anything to do with that. It wasall me,” Matt says, dropping his arms. “That can’t blow back on him.”

“It can, and it will because it’s more controversy and people love that shit. Let’s face it, Zak was never a fan favorite. The Crusaders have two wins under their belts now since beating Oakland on Sunday, but it doesn’t even matter. Even beating the Raptors doesn’t hold water. They want new blood. Our plan to rehabilitate your image failed epically.”

“Okay, but wait a second,” I say, sitting up straight and wincing a little from the sudden movement. “Let’s get back to the split skull comment because that’s bullshit. The guy broke into Matt’s apartment, beat the shit out of a security guard, tied up his sisters, and was ready to kill everyone. I hit him with a bat to stop him from committing a mass murder. How am I the bad guy in that scenario?”

“More violence,” Marc throws up his hands. “The haters gonna hate, no matter what.”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s a hero. Especially for doing that while he was recovering from the accident.” Matt’s jaw tenses. “I can’t believe people are seriously using that against him. He’s a drug-dealing, fucking pimp criminal. Besides, Rusty is in police custody in the hospital. After we gave our statement, the cops here contacted the local police down in West Virginia. They raided his place and found enough illegal weapons and drugs to keep him and his dickhead brother locked up for five lifetimes. Once, he’s released, he’s going straight to the clink.”

“Yes, yes, I know all of that.” Marc presses his fingers to his temples. “I’m just trying to make a point about how you guys are attracting the wrong kind of attention these days. Fans are still shocked at Matt’s announcement, and you know this state. It’s a hard battle to keep them. Besides all of that, now it looks even more like Zak is trying to cast a rainbow over the team.”

I put a hand on Matt’s arm to settle him. “Marc, it’s fine. I’ve already thought about how to handle everything, and I have a plan.”

“Great. I can’t wait to hear it.” He sits back with his arms folded across his chest.

“I’m selling the team.”

His eyes pop open wide. “You’re what?”

“Don’t look so shocked. This was my dad’s thing, not mine. I kept the team because I knew how much he loved it and how excited he was. But now, for other reasons, I can see that it would be better for everyone if I just found another buyer. It’ll clear me up from any negative press about Matt’s code violation, and it’ll make our relationship a non-issue.”

“If the league decides to can him, the relationship won’t be an issue at all,” Marc grumbles.

“Do you really think—” Matt asks, an edge to his voice. But before he can finish getting the question out, Marc’s phone pings.

Marc picks up the phone and frowns at the screen for a long minute. “Well, well. This is interesting,” he finally says, his words cutting into the tense silence.

“What?” Matt practically jumps out of the chair. “Is it from the league ethics committee? Is it about me?”

“Chill the fuck out,” I murmur, putting my hand over his. “We’re going to deal with this together, okay?”

Marc holds up his hand. “Matt, relax. We’ll handle that separately. You basically got a slap on the wrist from the ethics committee, according to their spokesperson. Under the circumstances of your situation, they decided not to take action. But right now, we’re not discussing you.” He holds up his phone. “This is about Brett Travers.”

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