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I frowned at the desktop, mulling her words. They sounded reasonable enough, except that I believed a cheater would always cheat again and a thief would always steal again if given the chance. Was I really supposed to just bend over and let her eat my meager profits?
Yes, if it will keep a girl and her mother from starving.
Can you shut up already?
But my conscious was not about to pipe down. I held my hands up in front of me in a gesture of surrender.
“I’ll think about it,” I conceded. She let out a whoosh of breath and gave me a glorious grin. It felt like standing in full sunlight on the first day of spring, and was worth any amount of chicken.
“That’s wonderful, Rowan,” she said sweetly. “Really wonderful. Just one other thing…”
I frowned.
“What?” I asked warily, afraid to hear the answer. When I did hear it, my jaw fell into my lap at the sheer audacity.
“I want you to give her a raise.”
88.
Hope
Tomorrow was the final playoff game, and the score would determine whether the Ice Hawks were going to advance to the championship. Now was the absolute worst time to do what I was about to do, but I couldn’t sit back and let Kane ruin Rowan’s reputation. Even if it meant ruining the team’s starting line-up instead.
I walked into the arena armed with a plan, with the camera app opened to video on my phone. I wouldn’t be able to film our conversation, but I should be able to catch most of the audio. If I could find him.
As I wound through the halls, I heard voices overlapping on all sides. I stuck my head into the gym and spotted Rowan running a few of the lifers through last-minute drills. When he saw me, he excused himself and came over to where I stood in the doorway.
“Have you seen Kane?” I asked softly. He scowled.
“Why?” he asked with disdain. I’d filled him in on the scantest details of Kane’s “proposition.”
“I’ve got a plan,” I whispered. “If it works, I’ll tell you all about it. Now, have you seen him?”
After a beat of tense silence, Rowan sighed.
“Check the locker room.”
I leaned up on my toes to peck his cheek, and then I carried on down the hall. I could hear good-natured shouts echoing off the cinderblock walls of the locker room, just ahead. I recognized Kane’s slightly high-pitched, nasally tone before I looked inside. I stuck my head around the corner. He was naked except for a towel, and standing in a group of his cronies, including the lanky one that helped him pick me up that night at Copper’s. I curled my hands into fists as Kane glanced in my direction and his eyes collided with mine.
Kane’s face lit up when I crooked my finger, beckoning him. He swaggered right into my trap, slicking his wet hair back from his face and smirking. If I didn’t know his rotten personality, I would have found him attractive. But I could see his ugly soul all over his pretty face.
He shot a look back over his shoulder and his buddies snickered and elbowed each other like a bunch of middle schoolers. I rolled my eyes as he turned back to me.
“You got an answer for me?” he asked cockily. I ducked my head shyly.
“Yes,” I said. “But I’d prefer to give it to you in private.”
He stroked his chin like he was considering my request. Then he shrugged and flashed his friends another grin.
“Lead the way, babe,” he said. I made a beeline for the small room that had been repurposed into a massage studio under Lola’s tenure. The new massage therapist was in the gym, rubbing out players’ cramps nearly as fast as Rowan could inflict them.
Kane stepped in after me and kicked the door closed, plunging us into semi-darkness.
“Wait,” I said quickly as he started to unwind the towel from around his waist. He paused, but he didn’t secure it back in place. “Um, I’m not sure what you want me to do.”
He sneered.
“Really? Because I was pretty clear the other day.”
