Read Online Shutout (The Renegades Series Book 5) by Melody Heck Gatto - Free Book Online Page A

grabbed an oversized sweatshirt and slid it on before slinking down into a soft cushiony love seat. She covered her face with her hands, and hot tears stung her eyes. What in the hell just happened ?
    She played it over and over in her mind. That explains what happened back there. I knew there was no way I could possibly be turned on by some strange customer. I should’ve known there was more to it, but why would I ever think it would’ve been him? Dom was the last person I expected to see. Why is he here ?
    Did she really grind up on him while giving him a lap dance, then take off her top like some… well, like a stripper. She sighed. That’s exactly what she was, just some stripper.
    She wasn’t ashamed of what she did for a living; it was only a job. But she never wanted her family or friends to know, never wanted to see their disappointment in her choices. She was only doing it until she had enough to buy her art gallery and hopefully start to sell her paintings. That was her real dream.
    No one would tell her to hide her tattoos here, and if they didn’t like it, they could leave. The tatts seemed to work in her favor; the customers seemed to like them, and a lot of them would ask for her personally. That meant more money for her. This was just a pit stop on the way to her destiny.
    But Dom was never supposed to know about it. No one was.
    She’d messed up. In her rush to move to Pittsburgh, she hadn’t thought to do her research to see if he was still in the Professional Hockey League or where he was located. Deep down, she didn’t want to know where he was; it was easier not looking at all. She should’ve known things were going too smoothly, and that they were bound to come crashing down soon.
    “Hailee?” Sasha’s voice called through the door. “You okay?”
    If there was one person here that she trusted, it was Sasha. She slowly moped to the door and unlocked it, letting her friend in.
    “Honey, what’s wrong?”
    “Sasha, shut the door. No one followed me back here, did they?” Dom was not one to back down, and she had no plans to face him again. Ever.
    “No, why? What happened?” Sasha sat down next to her and pulled her close. “Oh honey, you’re shaking.”
    Sasha knew the personal struggles that came with working here. Hailee fought back the sobs building up in her throat. Why am I so upset over this ? “Remember the ex that I told you about?”
    Sasha answered, “The hockey player? Wait. Oh no…” She glanced at the door, and her face formed a twisted look of horror as her brain put it all together.
    Hailee nodded. The words weren’t forming. She had told Sasha all about Dom, and how and why she had ended up in Pittsburgh via Ontario, so there was no explanation necessary.
    “The hockey team having the party in VIP, that’s his?”
    Hailee nodded again. How did she not think to check the local team? She still talked to Mia from back home, and Mia’s brother was a buddy of Dom’s. Wouldn’t she at least have let Hailee know?
    Ironically, she had told them all she didn’t want to know anything about Dom or hear any hockey talk. This was the one time she wished everyone, or at least one person, hadn’t listened to her.
    “You didn’t know he was here?”
    Finding her voice and wiping the unshed tears away from her eyes, Hailee sat up straight and pulled her knees to her chest. “Nope.”
    Sasha did her best to act as though she didn’t care, shrugging and tossing her hand in the air with a wave. “So what if he saw you working? Who cares? I mean, I get that it wasn’t the best first impression, but again, who cares? He was the one here getting a lap dance! Shouldn’t he maybe be a little embarrassed? You don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Look at you with that gorgeous face and rocking body. Girl, you are beautiful.”
    Sasha wasn’t wrong. Besides the fact that I was topless. And thoroughly enjoying rubbing all over him . Taking a deep breath, Hailee wiped her eyes.