I Burned The Hockey Star Down novel · Chapter 25 of 32

Chapter 25: Breach

"False allegations," I said.

"He's going to stand up at Powell's and call you a liar," the bug's mother said. "In print. With ESPN filming."

"They can't print anything. I never signed."

"That's the other thing." She pulled up a second screen. "Section eleven. I've read your contract four times. They can't publish without your sign-off. So they're not asking anymore. They're just doing it."

"Is that legal?"

"No. It's a breach." Her eyes were bright. "A big, dumb, public breach. I can be in front of a judge by Thursday morning asking her to stop the launch."

I sat in the Zamboni seat with the engine ticking under me.

Half the ice was wet and shining. Half was still cut up from Saturday.

"Don't," I said.

She blinked.

"Don't stop it?"

"Don't stop it." I climbed down onto the ice. "Think about who's going to be in that room. Reporters. ESPN. The team owner. Grady, because Grady never misses a camera. Skye, because she'll want to be in the pictures."

"And Dane, reading a speech about how you made it up."

"Beau said he wanted a room Dane can't leave." I looked at her. "Dane just booked one."

The bug's mother stared at me for a long time.

Then she started to laugh.

"Oh, Greer," she said. "Oh, you terrible woman. I love it."

Peg came home from the hospital on Wednesday.

She refused the wheelchair at the door.

The nurse made her hold my arm instead, and she held it.

At her little house behind the rink, she sat in her recliner.

She looked at the room as if somebody had moved everything an inch to the left.

"Somebody dusted," she said.

"Beau dusted."

"Good man. Terrible duster." She ran a finger along the lampshade. "Now tell me what you're planning, because you've had that face since Monday."

I told her.

She listened with her eyes closed.

When I finished, she opened them.

"Powell's," she said. "The big one downtown."

"Thursday the twentieth."

"I'll need a nice cardigan."

"Grandma. You just had a stent."

"I'll have a stent and a nice cardigan." She reached for the remote. "Go away. Go see your coach. I can hear you thinking about him from here."

← Chapter 24 · All chapters · Chapter 26 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend