Coach raises a brow. “If you hadn’t played so good, I wouldn’t make you, but since you did…”
“Fine,” I mutter, making everyone laugh.
“I think you’re the only guy I know who doesn’t like talking to the papers, Scott.” Hendrix, another one of the players, teases.
“Fuck off,” I say with no heat, making everyone laugh.
Once stripped down, I do a quick ice bath and then jump in the shower. After getting dressed, I head out of the locker room.
“Oh look, there he is,” Kellan says with a devious smile as soon as he sees me.
The reporter from the local news station turns toward me and smiles. “Oh, I thought you snuck out of here,” she says.
Shit, I wish I would have thought of that. Instead, my sole focus was on finding Lyla before she heads home.
“Wouldn’t think of it,” I lie as I come to a stop next to her.
Kellan silently laughs behind her back.
“Wyatt Scott, Senior, and suspected first-round draft pick,” the lady says.
When I stay silent, she looks up at me and raises a brow.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you ask me anything. I thought you were just reading off facts.”
Kellan covers his face with his hand as the lady’s cheeks turn pink.
“Right, sorry,” she mutters. “Tonight you almost had a shutout. How does that make you feel?”
“Like I could have done better. Almost isn’t good enough,” I tell her bluntly.
“Okay…since you are expected to go in the first round, is there a team that you would prefer over others?”
“I’ll happily go to any team that wants me.”
She nods. “Right, but there isn’t one that you’re hopeful for?”
I stay silent. I already answered the question. Does she really think she is going to trap me into a sound bite just by rearranging her words?
I’m not that stupid.
“I’m pretty sure he already answered that,” Kellan says smoothly.
Her eyes dart to him for a second before coming back to me. “Of course, sorry, I must have read the same question twice.”
“It’s all right,” I say, not falling for her bullshit.
“We’ve seen you kill it for four years on the ice, but we don’t know anything about you as a person. Tonight, though, before the game started, we saw you give attention to a specific woman in the crowd. Do you have anything to say about that? Do you want to tell us who she is?” she asks, sounding hopeful.
I roll my eyes and walk past her.
“Wait, I wasn’t done!” she yells as I walk away.
“Sorry, he’s a private guy, you know,” Kellan says to her, in an attempt to apologize for me.
I hear the pounding of footsteps coming up behind me.
“She’s with Cora right outside,” Kellan says when he catches up.
