Page 63 of Gross Misconduct

“So, listen, don’t get mad.”

My back was immediately up. All the effects of the wine were long gone. “What did you do?” I asked, suddenly lucid.

“I thought I was helping.”

My stomach was doing somersaults. “What did you do?” I repeated more angrily.

“I wanted to know more about your dad. I wondered if maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy and that your mom had driven him out of your life. It happens all the time. I hired a private investigator to find him. It wasn’t that hard. And when I was in Minneapolis last month, I arranged to meet him.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered, yanking my hand away. “Why would you do that? He clearly hasn’t wanted anything to do with me, so why look him up? What the hell were you thinking?”

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t missing out on a father. I should have minded my own business.”

By the tone of his voice, that said it all. “You confirmed he’s a piece of shit.”

He looked at me and frowned. “Pretty much. I’m sorry.”

I wanted to scream, but a budding headache was warning me against that. “And you have no idea what he wants?”

“Not a clue, but I doubt it has to do with a happy family reunion.”

I was so angry about everything that I wanted to cry. Instead, I got up, went into the kitchen for a glass of water, and marched back to Jeremy. “After the day I’ve had, I need some sleep. I plan to take a sleeping pill because all I want to do is forget all of this for a few hours. I’m sending my staff an email to say that I won’t be in tomorrow. You are sleeping in your room. Alone. Chloe is coming with me.”

He didn’t argue.

I got the sleep I needed, but I was a bit groggy in the morning. I checked my phone, and it was after nine. I’d had a decent sleep. I slowly sat up and yawned a few times. I looked around for Chloe, but she was probably with Jeremy. I could hear his voice softly from the living room. Was he talking to Chloe? No, he was on the phone.

I reluctantly got dressed and walked toward the living room. I stopped when I heard Orla’s name.

“You’re being unreasonable. Orla, we had an agreement, an agreement you insisted on.”

I froze in place, my heart picking up beats. What was this about? I inched closer, hoping not to alert Chloe. She’d easily give me away.

“Look, you blow us up like this, I’ll tell my own truths. This goes both ways,” he said quietly but with venom in his voice. I’d never heard him so angry, and when Orla was finished saying whatever it was, she was saying, he lashed outsome more. “This is to sell some fucking books! You will take me and Lex down for some money? I should have never trusted you. You’ll hear from my lawyer.”

He hung up, and I stood there a moment longer. The headache that had threatened to come on the night before was now hitting me hard. I took the last steps into the living room, and Chloe yipped with happiness. Jeremy whirled around to face me, shock marring his face. There was no use drawing this out.

“You better tell me the truth, Jeremy. And this is your last chance.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Jeremy

Ishould have been more careful and checked to see if Jill was awake. I figured Chloe would let me know, since the dog didn’t miss a thing, but I had no idea how much Jill had heard, and there was no use in lying about it anymore, especially if Orla was determined to do her tell-all.

That had been the reason for her call. Her courtesy call before throwing me under the bus along with Lex and anyone else she could find. She’d called me out of the blue with her bombshell, all so she could make a few extra bucks. And by the look on Jill’s face, Orla was about to blow up my relationship with Jill too. More casualties.

“What did you hear?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter because you’re about to tell me everything. From start to finish, and you aren’t going to leave out any details.”

She sounded more disappointed than angry, and that hurt the most. I was about to let her down, and if she didn’t forgive me for it, I was the one to blame.

“You probably want to sit down for this,” I said.

She glared at me and clenched her jaw as she took a seat on the sofa. I sat on the chair opposite her. Every part of her looked tense, as if she were ready to explode. I had no idea how I was going to soften this.

“Here it goes,” I said, suddenly feeling a little clammy. “I lied to you and to everybody. Orla and I were sleeping together. It started toward the end of last season and briefly resumed when I got back to Vancouver for training camp. Then the shit hit the fan, and it was over.”

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