Page 65 of Ice Me Out

“Knock it off!” Jamie grunts, putting himself between me and Luke. “Are you fucking for real? If Coach sees this, you’re the one who risks getting kicked off of the team.”

“It’s gonna be fucking worth it!” I growl, scowling at Luke over Jamie’s shoulder.

To my chagrin, Connor backs Jamie up. “He’s right. When we were freshmen, our frat president had a few problems with some of our teammates. He couldn’t keep those problems off the ice and he got suspended. Playing college hockey this year is your best chance to get an NHL contract. Don’t throw it all away, Keene.”

I shake Jamie off, glaring at my three roommates. “So you’re on his side, too?”

Connor shakes his head. “I don’t like how this went down, either. Even though now having someone living with us without permission is a moot point, we had a vote. I agree that Luke and Jamie should have talked to us before making that deal.”

“They didn’t because they knew I would have never agreed.” I sneer.

Luke’s eyes are pleading with me. “You’re right. But I was desperate. I promise you won’t even notice that Bex is there.”

I point my finger at him. “It better be that way. Warn your sister that if she gets in my fucking way, or if she brings any girl drama into our house, she’s going to live to regret it. Are we clear?”

I storm off, almost losing my balance as I throw my blade guards onto my skates. The locker room is full right now, with my teammates in various states of undress. Everyone turns their heads to look at me as I burst into the door like a fury from hell.

“Dude, you ok?” Tucker hollers, but I ignore him and walk past him, locking myself into one of the bathroom stalls.

Women are the fucking devil.

Chapter15

The Ugly Side Of Things

Bex

My phone chimes with a text message.

I immediately regret opening it after seeing where it comes from.

Dad:

I don’t know where you are and I don’t care. I no longer have a daughter. And like you ceased to exist for me the day you ran away, so did Rebecca Shine. I created her and I have the right to destroy her.

The good news is that Dad isn’t trying to bring me back into his fold. The bad news? He made sure that my social media career was well and truly dead.

When I left his house, I knew he would probably have a couple of weeks’ worth of the content I recorded in the last few days before the wedding.

While I hated that he would continue to profit from my hard work, there was nothing I could do to stop him. He owned the rights to Rebecca Shine. I was naïve enough not to even look at the contract he made me sign, and I only have myself to blame for it.

If I thought that Byron Harper was my dad before being my manager, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Another thing I should have known is that my dad is an all-or-nothing kind of man. You’re either with him or you’re against him. And he obliterates his enemies, even if they’re his flesh and blood.

So he chose not to use the final dance videos I recorded. Good news, right? Wrong.

Like I regretted reading his text message. I know I shouldn’t have checked the Rebecca Shine account the second I open it from my personal profile.

At first I’m surprised that I wasn’t blocked, but when I see what he did, I understand why.

Dad didn’t use the videos I worked on before leaving. At least, not the edited version.

What he posted is a series of segments that had been cut.

I look sloppy, uncoordinated and a million miles away from the dancing sensation that amassed over ten million followers on the most popular video app on the planet.

But if that is horrible and career destroying, Dad didn’t stop there. During my time in the house, we were filmed during our “downtime.” That content was supposed to look candid, but of course it was staged. Cameras were also always on in the communal areas of the house; so if there was anything that was usable, after some editing work, our day to day life could end up in our feed.