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I listen as Mason leaves, wondering if I’m making a mistake.
No. I need to take care of me and my feelings.
When I know he’s long gone, I come out and collapse on the couch, bursting into tears.
Even as I’m crying, I force myself to send a message to Cecelia, with shaking hands. “I know it’s the weekend, but an emergency has come up and we need to talk.”
I’ll pull myself together for that meeting, but for now, I’m going to mourn the loss of what might’ve been.
42
MASON
“Son,I’m sorry, but this sounds like it should be coming from a guy wearing a tinfoil hat and living in a cave,” Ralph Talman says to me, leaning against his desk. His office is the size of a studio apartment, adorned with Rovers posters, framedSports Illustratedcovers, trophies, stacks of jerseys and merch, and multiple sizes of our mascot scattered everywhere. It also has a lot of plants and sun lamps because his wife helped decorate the office, and she thinks that plants have detoxifying properties. Or so Ralph has said on numerous occasions.
He and his wife had lunch plans today, and he’s not pleased. I had to tell him it was a life-and-death emergency. When he arrived at his office and I laid everything out in front of him, he raked me with a look of disgust and fury.
“Mr. Talman, you know me.”
“Only too well.” He glares fiercely. “And I could be sitting at a French restaurant with my wife right now, enjoying boeuf bourguignon, but I’m here with you.”
I knew I’d have to deal with this. After years of my public antics, he doesn’t take me seriously. No matter how hard I work on the ice, and how much money I rake in for his organization. Today, it pisses me off.
I’m not backing down; this is too important, not just for me, but for the team that’s been a second family to me. We have a traitor in our ranks, and we’re all at risk because of him. Who knows what the hell Coach Hartley will try to pull next? There’s too much time left for him to inflict permanent damage.
“You know that I have a short fuse, that I have a problem with alcohol addiction, and that I went through a phase where I dated a lot of women. Have you ever known me to lie to you, or to spout conspiracy theories?” I keep my tone calm and steady. I’m furious that the coach is screwing us all over and I’m the one on the hot seat. I want to lose my temper, I want to shout and swear, but it is of vital importance that he take me seriously.
“Not until today,” he grumbles. Then he heaves a sigh. “I don’t think you’re lying. I think you actually believe this craziness.”
“Only because it’s true.”
“Okay, you want me to believe that Coach Hartley is trying to ruin my team, after the deal I made with him? A deal that guaranteed him the ability to take another position with another team while I pay him the remainder of his contract?”
“Yes.”
“And... he then planned to drive such a big wedge that you’d be willing or forced to follow him?”
“I’m currently your star attraction, Mr. Talman. Is that so hard to believe?”
He heaves a martyred sigh. “Paul went straight-up supervillain and started conspiring to ruin your reputation so badly with our fans that you’d be grateful when he offered you a position with his new team. A team that may also not accept you if your reputation was damaged that badly.”
I shrug. “I don’t think he cared what happened to me, as long as I wasn’t playing for you.”
He takes a deep breath and continues to say Coach’s crimes out loud. “He recruited and bribed Amanda from Queensby Publicity, and your mother, and Lexi.”
Anger churns in my gut as I think of all the harm that Coach Hartley caused. He made me hurt Rowan. Well, I let him manipulate me into hurting her. “Unfortunately, yes, he did all of that.”
He shakes his head. “Well, I feel like I’m pretty well connected, and I haven’t heard a single whisper of this. Nothing. And I have people who are actively trying to find something on Paul.”
“It’s why he brought in help. People to do his dirty work. He was very careful to keep this hush-hush. I don’t think the owners of another team would want him if they knew the lengths that he was going to go to, to try to break up our team.”
“Bullshit.” Mr. Talman glares at me. Anxiety swells up in my gut. If I can’t convince him, it’s all over for me as a player—and the Rovers are sunk, because they can’t survive with a man like Paul Hartley as their coach.
“Mr. Talman, I feel so strongly about this that I cannot continue working on the same team as the coach. I don’t expect you to just take my word for it, though. Here’s what I’m asking. Number one, I want you to speak to my father. He can’t tell you all of his sources, but he can steer you in the right direction. Number two, please make some calls to my mother and Amanda. For the right price, I’m sure those two will give you any proof that you need.”
“Now?” he groans.
I nod. “This can’t wait. I can’t play another game with him as coach.”
