Page 48 of Gross Misconduct

“Orla has planned an interview with theTribune. It’s a tell-all, and she’s going after the Kodiaks. She plans to blame the team for everything. I talked to one of their reporters this morning,and he told me what he knew. It’s a hit piece. I have no idea if she plans to target you, but you need to tell me everything you know about her. Anything that might be valuable.”

I massaged my temples and groaned. This was my moment of truth. I could come clean to Jill and have it all out there, but I’d promised Orla I wouldn’t. I also hadn’t expected Orla to do a tell-all. What was she thinking? And if I did tell Jill the truth, would her loyalty be to me to keep it a secret, or the job she needed? I had no idea what to do.

“I didn’t know her well.” Yup. I’d made my decision, and I hated that I couldn’t trust Jill. Or maybe it was more that I was disappointing her.

“Did she ever mention Lex and his gambling problem?”

I wished I’d talked to Taylor before coming up here. Jill’s eyes were on me, her blue eyes more intense than normal. I could see how much this was stressing her out, but I had to look out for myself too, and keep any damage to a minimum.

“I don’t remember if she did. But we all knew about it. He was always trying to get guys to go to casinos with him, or buy into poker games,” I said, trying to throw her attention off me and Orla. “A lot of the guys didn’t go with him, but he had a group of friends here who did. Not people I associated with.”

She slumped down in her office chair. “We had a meeting earlier today with Dave and Clay and the rest of my PR team. We are going to need to put some kind of strategy together. I’m going to be late tonight. Do you mind going back to the condo to let Chloe out? Maybe give her some food. I’ll try to be out of here by six. I know you have a game tonight and need to be back this afternoon.”

“I can do that,” I said, feeling like a piece of shit. I wanted to help her, but I wasn’t sure the info I had would be all that helpful. “I’ll head out now.”

She barely waved goodbye as she stared out the window,looking pensive. I hated that I was part of the reason she was under all this stress.

I was taking Chloe out for a bathroom break when Taylor called. I was on the street with too many people around, so I called him back once I was in the condo. Chloe snuggled up against me on the sofa as I dialed Taylor’s number.

“Do I even want to know what’s happened now? Even though I have a good idea what it is because your fake girlfriend emailed me earlier.”

“Then you know about Orla’s interview?”

“I do. And I have some news that I plan to tell Jill once I get off the phone with you. I called Lex’s agent. He is furious, as is Lex. All I know is that Vince, Lex’s agent, called Orla’s publicist, and yes—before you ask—she has a publicist. Apparently, she plans to tell her story and publish steamy novels on the side. I’m not sure what the correlation is. Regardless, Vince has persuaded Orla’s publicist to nix the interview indefinitely. The threat of a lawsuit has a way of making people reconsider. So that’s the latest.”

A huge weight had been lifted from me, even though she could talk at any point. I still had so many questions. “How long do you think indefinitely is?”

“From what Michael said, it looks like she now plans to spill the beans when her book launches, and since she only just finished writing it, that could be at least a year. And if you’re wondering, yes, she has a book deal.”

I’d never seen her with a book or reading anything, for that matter, but who was I to judge? She did know her way around a bedroom, and every other room in a house. “I suppose she has many talents.”

“Yes. That brings me back to you. I’m not going to lie: you sounded a little spooked when you called me. I’m going to ask one more time because you need to tell me. I don’t want to be blindsided by this. Did you screw around with her? If you tell me you didn’t and I find out you did, I’ll drop you as a client. I mean it.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. Too much was happening to keep Taylor in the dark any longer. “We were on and off. We started up at the end of last season, and when I came back for training camp. I didn’t see her all summer long.”

“Fuck,” Taylor muttered. “I knew you were lying to me, and I’m really pissed off. Tell me why I shouldn’t dump you as a client right now.”

I got up, and Chloe watched me with her wistful eyes. Even though she was a dog, she was seeing through me and probably judging me too. Just like Taylor had every right to. “I messed up. I know that. Orla told me to keep it quiet, and I thought I was protecting everyone involved.”

Taylor growled angrily on the other end. “No, what you were doing was giving her all the power. If she tells people that the two of you had an affair, then what?”

I didn’t want to push back, but I felt I had to. “Why would she? Why would she sully her reputation again? Don’t you think she wants this over? I’ve known her long enough that her plan is to play the victim, throw Lex under the bus, and sell her books.”

Taylor was silent for what felt like forever. I started to wonder if he was going to dump me, but he cleared his throat and said, “You better hope so. Otherwise, I don’t know how you come back from this.”

I scrubbed my jaw for a second and decided to tell Taylor a bit more news I’d been keeping from him. Hopefully, that didn’t push him over the edge. “Jill and I are engaged.”

Taylor was silent for so long that I was sure he’d now hung up on me. “That’s interesting,” was all he could muster.

“We are going to announce it on the down-low in the next few days. Nothing splashy.”

“Probably for the best. I hope people buy it. Gotta go.”

And with that, he hung up.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jill

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