“Hi. So Morales is a dick. You know that, right?”
A laugh bursts from my lungs, but it’s shaky and awkward. “I’m aware.”
“Someone anonymously reported that there were threats against the team, and I have to assume it was for your benefit. Is that the case?” he asks, his voice quiet.
“I didn’t ask anyone to do that. My experience with Javier became known to one of the players, and he took it upon himself to try to protect me. I guess I’m glad he did, because I’d have been at a different hotel when Javier showed up, and —” I let out a sob as my adrenaline tanks. “I hate him, and he won’t take no for an answer, and the team didn’t believe me — my old team, not this one. This one doesn’t know anything, and I’d like to keep it that way. But what am I supposed to do when our teams play? How am I supposed to do my job when I’m fearful he’ll attack me again? I’mnot his girlfriend, and I never have been, but why believe the woman when a rich athlete says differently? How am I going to move past this when he won’t let me?”
“What team didn’t believe you?” Coach asks, motioning for me to walk back into my room. “I think this discussion is best done without the prying eyes and ears of the rest of the team.”
“Okay,” I say sullenly. Wrapping my arms around myself, I’m suddenly so cold I can feel my teeth chattering. I don’t want to talk about this. It’s giving me awful flashbacks. Not only reliving the entire thing, but also how I felt when management and HR in Atlanta brushed it off. Will Coach Dunn do the same thing?
My emotions are all over the place. I hate being here in Houston, so close to Javier. I don’t know what’s going on with Max, or if anythingshouldbe going on. I’m hurt, sexually frustrated, exhausted, emotionally drained, and frankly, I’d rather be eating a gallon jug of my favorite ice cream than be dealing with all of this.
“Alright. Wait. One last thing,” Coach says, then opens the connecting door between the rooms with Max, and knocks on it before stepping to the window. “I know he’s involved. You two need to come clean.”
“There’s nothing to come clean about,” I tell him weakly, but Max proves otherwise as he barrels into my room and grabs my shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he asks, then jolts when he sees Coach Dunn. “Shit. This looks bad.”
“It does,” Coach replies. He studies the two of us, then sighs. “There’s a fraternization rule for a reason, you know. This looks really bad because you didn’t go through the proper channels.”
Shit. “There’s nothing going on. I promise. Max accidentally found out about what happened with Javier, and he knew I was nervous about this series. He was just trying to protect me.”
“And the adjoining rooms?” Coach asks.
“Complete coincidence,” Max answers. “I only told management that there were threats, and I thought the entire team should be housed in one hotel. Then I suggested surrounding the womento ensure they had protection if needed. I truly never thought he’d be dumb enough to show up here.”
Coach moves to rest against a desk in the corner, and I fall to sitting on the bed. Damn, I’m suddenly so exhausted. “Okay. So you and Morales were in Atlanta together. Were you ever dating?”
“No, absolutely not. They have a no fraternization rule as well, but also I didn’t like him. He gives me the creeps. Turns out that was unfortunately validated.”
“Are you comfortable telling me what transpired between the two of you?” Coach asks.
Max sits next to me, his hand against mine. He carefully winds our pinkies together, out of view, and the simple movement gives me the confidence to speak. “Javier began flirting with me early on. Maybe my first week on the job. I was always polite, but refrained from giving him any hope that something would happen. As the year went on, his flirting became more obnoxious. I went to Human Resources about it, and they blew it off. Then he fully …” I trail off, trying to come up with a way to explain what happened without actually saying it, “… well, he assaulted me. Sexually. He sexually assaulted me.”
I feel Max’s body tense beside me, but I keep my eyes looking straight ahead.
Coach clears his throat. “Just to be clear, he raped you.”
Emotions swirl in my body as my vision blurs with tears. “Yes.”
“And you went to the team?”
“I went to HR when Javier wouldn’t leave me alone. They went to the coach and Javier about it. After the rape, I actively looked for another job, but knew I couldn’t afford to quit without something else lined up. When Javier continued to harass me, I finally quit. Thankfully, I interviewed with Baltimore the next day, and got the job offer soon after.”
“Did Morales continue to harass you?”
“He did. I changed my phone number and blocked his on my new one, so he couldn’t reach me anyway. But I’m pretty sure he still follows me on socials, because he has accounts that don’t havehis name. I get a handful of really awful comments, and as quickly as I block the account, a new one pops up.”
I glance quickly out of the corner of my eye to find Max tense, a muscle ticking in his neck. I whisper, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything.”
His gaze whips to mine. “You don’t owe me an apology. You get to choose what parts of your story you want to share. Frankly, had you told me everything, I would have fucking murdered him this afternoon when I found him with his hand wrapped around your neck.”
“What the hell?” Coach blurts out. “How — when — this happened in the ballpark today?”
I close my eyes, feeling shame as I nod. I hate this. I hate how I’m having to relive every awful experience with Javier because he won’t go away. “I didn’t want anyone to know. I thought if I ignored Javier, if I just made it through this road trip, it would be fine. I’d go back to Denver and continue living my life. We don’t play Houston that often, so I guess I figured I could ignore that he’s a recurring problem.”
“I bet you feared the Raptors not believing you either,” Max says quietly. A tear escapes as I nod. He lets go of my finger to cover my hand with his. “Like I told you, Lay. Teams are like families. Some suck. Some are straight awful. But there are good ones out there. I’ve been very fortunate to experience the good ones, and I can already tell that the Raptors fall into the latter category.”
