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“Gonzo and Smitty felt awful about what happened.”
“Tell them thanks for their help. I’m not sure Andy would have cooperated if they hadn’t stepped in.”
“You shouldn’t have needed their help. He should have done the right thing.”
“Sadly, there are always guys like Andy out there.”
“But there are also always guys like Gonzo and Smitty too, and I’d like to think I fit in that boat as well.” He rubbed his hands nervously against his legs. “I probably should have talked about it with you first but I…” He sighed. “I talked to Cal about everything.”
“You what?” Her heart beat erratically as adrenaline surged through her blood. Her brain racing about what to do next. Why would he make this worse by telling the team’s manager?
Ryan reached out and placed his hand on her knee like he was trying to soothe an injured animal. His voice dropped lower. “I didn’t make this worse for you, I promise.
Her bottom lip quivered as she fought to suck in air. “Why would you tell him?” she whispered.
“Because Andy can’t get away with doing what he did.”
“Right. Like the team is going to do anything,” she scoffed.
“I don’t know what they are going to do. They’re still discussing it.” His leg absently jiggled up and down. “I wanted you to know that I realize I reacted poorly and I’m trying to fix it.”
“Yeah. Can you guarantee the team isn’t going to pull their support at Kidsplay now that you brought this to their attention? What’s going to stop them from getting me fired?”
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
Peyton’s eyes widened. “Really? How are you going to stop it?”
“They wouldn’t want the bad press that would come along with you losing your job over this when Andy is in the wrong. The bad publicity you could create for them would be a nightmare. The team wouldn’t want that to happen.”
“I hope you’re right.” Peyton fidgeted with the strap of her watch. Even if she didn’t lose her job over this, she still had to figure out how to work with the men who’d seen her in that position. “How are you going to make your teammates unsee the video?”
Ryan pushed his hands roughly through his hair. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.” He exhaled and rubbed his hand roughly against his beard. A gesture she’d noticed he did whenever he was feeling stressed. “I fucked up, Peyton, and I’m sorry.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees as he stared at her. “Tell me how to fix this.”
“You can’t, Ryan. I’m always going to be the girl who gave your teammate a blowjob, and the rest of your team is now along for the ride. And now management knows. I have no way of knowing how this is going to play out at my work.” Her stomach turned at the idea of that video being seen by her bosses or the kids at the center. How was she supposed to explain it? “You had no right to tell them, Ryan.”
“I didn’t know what to do to help. I can’t sit back and do nothing. I fucked up. I know that.” He rubbed his hand across his beard.
She wasn’t proud of what happened with her and Andy. She couldn’t think of him as Simon anymore. That person didn’t exist, he never did. Now he was simply Andy, the narcissistic athlete.
She hated that she’d been the other woman with him, but she hadn’t known, and yes, she needed to take some of the blame for that because she absolutely should have searched him online.
But it was the video she couldn’t get over. How was she supposed to face any of those people ever again? She’d been a joke, a freakin’ baseball groupie meme.
She’d seen how Ryan had reacted. He might say he could get over it, but they both knew he couldn’t.
Sadly, she looked at Ryan, wishing things were different, but they weren’t. “What about when one of your teammates makes a dumb comment?”
“They wouldn’t.”
“Yeah right, that might be true until they get a few drinks into them and then stupid stuff flows out of their mouth.”
“Then I’ll shut their mouth for them,” he growled.
“Really? You’re just going to fight your teammates?”
“I don’t know, maybe. It wouldn’t be the first time,” he mumbled.
“Come on, Ryan. We both know you are team first. You always have been. And I get it.” She fiddled with the fringe on the edge of the blanket. “You can’t fight your teammates and we both know it, or you’ll have no cohesion on the team.”
