Page 129 of Off-Ice Misconduct
Katrina looks around for an escape.
“Start talking,” he says.
“I didn’t want to publish them. I’m your biggest fan, Ace—you gotta believe me—but I couldn’t turn down Mr. Chamberlain. I’m sorry, so, so, sorry.” Tears stream down her face as she falls to her knees. It’s a whole thing. I’m stuck on that last bit.
“Mr. Chamberlain?” Luke says.
“Andrew Chamberlain,” she says through sobs.
“Freshman Andy is Andrew Chamberlain?”
“Yeah,” she cries.
Luke rubs his temple, closing his eyes, gathering strength. “McKinnon, will you please tell her everything’s alright?”
“But it’s not—” Luke glares. “Katrina, is it? I won’t lie, things are shit, but it’s not your fault. We’ve all been fooled by Freshman Andy.” I reach for a tissue from the box on the windowsill and stand up, extending my hand to her, helping her off the floor.
She blows her nose with the tissue. “Thanks, Ace. I knew you were a stand-up guy. Knew those images had to be photoshopped, and that Zamboni driver’s a liar—I never trusted him.”
“Well—”
“McKinnon,” Luke snaps. I think he’s said my name more in the last hour than in the last month.
“Point is, we need your help. Can you stop publishing those articles if we take care of that fucking punk Andy?”
She nods. “I’ll do what I should have done in the first place and quit if he says anything. I was a huge fan of your mother, by the way.”
“You watched Mom play? Ow.” A familiar hand pulls me away from the nice girl by my t-shirt collar.
“Sorry about that. I know his boyfriend, and he wouldn’t like him flirting with pretty girls,” Luke growls.
“Boyfriend?” Katrina’s heart breaks in real time. “I didn’t know. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s kinda private. The only reason the professor here knows is because he caught us making out.” I give her a wink; she might pass out. “Look, I wish we had more time, but can you tell us everything you know about that weasel?”
I can’t stop smirking. Luke’s about to blow a gasket. I’ve sprawled out on his couch because practice took it out of me earlier. I haven’t been sleeping, which means almost zero recovery. And then I had class. And then Luke dragged me down to The Shadow Gazette office, where Katrina told us a long story about Freshman Andy. At least we learned he actually is a freshman, and he’s Andrew Chamberlain Junior, named after his great-grandfather.
Should I push Luke when he’s at his wits’ end? No. But I need the distraction. Otherwise, my brain regales me with every doomsday scenario imaginable.
“The moral of the story is that everyone’s obsessed with me.”
“That’s a dangerous moral.” He holds his hand out, and I take it. I hope this means he’s taking me to bed. And for the first time since knowing him, I hope it’s for actual sleep. “I should be the only one obsessed with you.”
“You’re the only one I’m obsessed with, if it helps.” Don’t know what he’s going to do when I have a real mass of fans, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Luke leads me to his bedroom and tugs my shirt off, then his.
Sweet, nervous little Katrina told us a wild story. Freshman Andy talked about me with her—a lot.
“We had a bit of a fan club,” she’d admitted. “His grandmother was a fan of yours, too. Adored your mom. He grew up hearing stories about her playing. Andy called you ‘hockey royalty’. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now? Some of the stuff he knew about you bordered on stalker—makes my skin crawl.”
“How many is that now, McKinnon?” Luke says, opening the covers. “Celeste, lusty first years, Katrina, rich grandmothers…”
I climb into the bed, and he’s right behind me, wrapping his large body around me as if he’s trying to shield me from all the Ace-obsessed people that might pop up to grab me.
“Ugh, and Andy. Soooo creepy.”
“You’re safe now, McKinnon, you’ve got me. The root of your problems was you, and I intend to save you from yourself.”
“Gee, thanks.”
