Page 8 of Dirty As Puck
He has no idea how right he is. Because as much as I want to pretend that what just happened was normal antagonism between a player and a reporter, I know better.
Rochelle Winters isn’t just here to write about hockey. And what I’m feeling when I look at her has nothing to do with media relations and everything to do with the way she didn’t back down when I tried to intimidate her.
She’s trouble,I think as I strip out of my practice gear.The kind of trouble that destroys careers and ruins lives.
The smart play would be to avoid her completely, give her nothing but the bare minimum required by Coach Williams and the league office.
But when I close my eyes, all I can see are those sharp green eyes looking up at me like she knows exactly what kind of danger she’s playing with.
And the worst part is, I think she likes it.
3
I sit in my hotel room staring at my laptop screen, the cursor blinking mockingly at me in an empty document. Two hours since my interview with Kai ended, and I still can’t get his voice out of my head. The way he said, “You sure about that?” His low and rough voice and his mouth that was far too close to my ear.
He’s an arrogant athlete with anger management issues, not some romantic lead.
But that’s the problem. The interview was supposed to be professional fact-gathering, and instead it felt like some kind of verbal sparring match that left me more wired than I’ve been in months. The man is infuriating, hostile, and completely unwilling to cooperate.
And I’m annoyingly turned on by all of it.
I close my laptop harder than necessary and reach for my phone, scrolling through my notes from the interview. Every questionI asked, Kai deflected with sarcasm or outright hostility. Every attempt to get him to open up met with a wall of suspicion that would make a maximum-security prison seem welcoming.
But underneath all that antagonism, there was something else. The way his eyes tracked my movements. The way his jaw tightened when I crossed my legs. The way he leaned in close enough that I could smell his soap that definitely should not have been distracting but absolutely was.
He was as aware of me as I was of him… well that’s what I think.
Ugh!
Am I so pathetic? Is this the right job for me?
My phone buzzes with a text from Gemma:How was day one with Hockey McPunchface?
I type back:Hostile. Uncooperative. Thinks I’m here to destroy his life.
Are you?
The question sits on my screen, and I realize I don’t have a simple answer anymore. Marcus wants dirt on Kai, but after spending an hour in the same room with him, I’m starting to wonder if the story is more complicated than anyone thinks.
Me:Still figuring that out.
Gemma:Translation: he’s hot and you’re confused about your professional ethics.
Me:I’m not confused about anything. He’s a source. That’s it.
I toss my phone aside and open my laptop again. Time to do what I do best, which is research until my eyes burn and I understand exactly what I’m dealing with.
Marcus said there were buried stories about Kai, so I start digging deeper than the surface-level tabloid coverage. Public records, old newspaper archives, anything that might give me insight into who Kai really is behind the carefully constructed bad boy image. What I find doesn’t make sense.
The bar fight that labeled him as hockey’s latest problem child? Security footage shows Kai stepping between the alleged victim and another man who was clearly the aggressor. The victim’s statement mentions Kai “getting in the way,” but doesn’t actually accuse him of assault.
The boarding penalty that got him suspended for three games last season? Video replay shows the opposing player losing his edge before Kai even made contact. The hit was late, sure, but not the deliberate headhunting the media portrayed it as.
Fight after fight, penalty after penalty––when I dig into the details, Kai’s version of events holds up better than the official narrative. Either he’s the unluckiest player in professional hockey, or someone’s been spinning these stories to paint him in the worst possible light.
Why would the media want to destroy Kai specifically?
I make notes in a new document, tracking potential angles. Marcus wants dirt, and Kai clearly has secrets. The question is whether I can get close enough to uncover what he’s really hiding behind all that hostility.
