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Riley scribbles down my response, her eyes studying me. “That’s great to hear. It must have been a strong support system. They must be so proud of you and your career now.”
“Mhmm.” Is this over yet? What else can she want from me?
“Shadowing you and watching you on and off the ice is going to be interesting.”
Huh?
Her words catch me off guard. “Shadow me?”
“Oh yeah.” She cocks a knowing eyebrow. Is she enjoying torturing me right now? “My boss arranged with your coach that I’m going to follow you around for a while to get a lifestyle piece on you.”
I grit my teeth together, curling my hands up into fists. “I was told this was just an interview.”
“Oh well.” Riley shrugs and smirks. Yep, she’s definitely enjoying torturing me a bit. “I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun. I’ll get to learn all about you. What makes you tick on the ice, who you’re dating off the ice, what you do for fun…”
“I’m not dating anyone,” I bark angrily, which makes her eyes widen with surprise. She scribbles this down, making my heart sink. She just got something out of me by riling me up. This isnotgoing to be fun.
“And who was the last person you did date?”
Time for me to get some revenge. “Taylor Swift. We were together for almost ten years. You must have heard about that relationship because it was all over the place.”
Her eyes narrow, and she leans back in her chair. “It’s going to be like that, is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
My spirits lift as I sense the challenge coming from Riley. I don’t think either of us really want this. It seems like her boss has talked her into it just as much as Coach has for me—although she wasdefinitelygiven more information than me—so we’re both going to try and turn this around to our advantage.
I don’t want Riley to knowanythingabout me, and she’s obviously going to want to find out everything. This is going to be a power push and pull, which will make it alotmore interesting.
“Fine, so why don’t you tell me more about you and Taylor Swift?” she asks while rolling her eyes. “I would love to know everything about her.”
“Well, a lot of her songs are about me, but that’s to be expected, isn’t it? After an eight-year relationship.”
“I thought you said ten years.”
I let out a little laugh. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t…”
Riley leans in closer, her energy burning across the table, so I mirror her because why not?
“Which songs?” she demands. “You must know the title of at least one.”
Shit,she has me there…
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you,” I say calmly. “I wouldn’t want to give you a bad impression of me. I’m a good guy, really.”
She smirks. “I will be the judge of that.”
Now, my heart is pounding, but for a whole different reason. This is definitely going to be interesting…
Chapter 4—Riley
Well,thatwas an interesting interview.
I can’t help but feel a mix of frustration and curiosity as I leave the conference room, walking away from Alex Barrett and thinking about the strange way he’s just behaved. It’s quite overwhelming.
Obviously, I didn’t get anything useful from Alex, and he was as guarded as ever. But there was a charged air in the room that felt different, almost like he had more to say but was holding back. But maybe he won’t always hold back…
Hmm, who knows? I’m definitely intrigued.
