Page 218 of The Coach

I blow out a breath.

This is going to be a long day.

It doesn’t get any easier as every single member of the sports department stops by to chat. You’d think it would make me feel a little less lonely, but instead it only makes me feel alienated from everyone on the staff. They all believe what they saw, and they’re all trained enough to know when a photo has been manipulated. It doesn’t help matters that Lincoln just moved to town so we can’t even play it off like this is some photo from the past. We’re in the doorway of the house he just bought here in Vegas.

I’m vague in my answers and avoid as many questions as I can. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Lincoln yet to see how we’re going to face this—whether we’re denying it or if we’re going to face it head on together, but when my phone starts to ring and I see it’s my mother calling, I realize I can’t run from this forever.

I don’t pick up at work. I can’t.

Instead, I let the call go to voicemail, and once I see she’s left it, I listen to her disappointed voice tell me she needs to speak with me urgently.

Jeez. It’s not even lunchtime yet.

I’m not getting anything done since every nosy reporter in the building wants the insider info—and none of them are getting it, by the way—so I decide to call it a day and work from home.

I dial Marcus on my way.

“Jolene,” he answers curtly.

I blow out a breath. “You saw?”

“I did.” I can’t quite make out the tone of his words, but he definitely doesn’t sound happy about it.

“I’m sorry to bother you with this while you’re dealing with your own issues in Florida, Marcus. I just don’t know where else to turn,” I admit.

“Have you spoken with Lincoln yet and figured out how you two want to face this?” he asks.

“Nope. And by the way, it was Rivera.”

“How do you know?” he asks.

“I have a text he sent me this morning telling me I had my chance. He’s a pretty stupid blackmailer, if I’m being honest. I have other texts from him threatening to expose us if I don’t resign my position.”

Marcus sighs. “But he had no fingerprints on that article.”

“No, he was smart enough to sell them.”

“He sold them?” he echoes.

“Yep. I was dumb enough to stay quiet thinking he’d keep them to himself. Well, he didn’t. So now what?”

“Work from home the rest of the week to avoid office chatter. Get with Nash and figure out how you want to handle it. Once you’re on the same page, let me know your plan. I will deal with Rivera,” he says.

Great. So I need to get a call into someone who’s too busy for me, and Marcus will handle Rivera. I just hope the way he handles him means Rivera will be out of a job the next time I show up at the office.

Otherwise…I’m not sure I can stay at this job anyway, and Rivera will end up getting exactly what he wants.

I call my mother next—not because I want to, but because I know I need to get this over with.

“Is it true, Jolene?” she demands when she picks up the call.

Tears spring to my eyes as I hear the anger in her voice.

Is his family reacting the same way?

What have we done?

“I—um…I’m not really ready to answer questions about this,” I say.

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