Page 64 of Gross Misconduct

She closed her eyes and brought one hand to her forehead, massaging it. For the longest time, she didn’t say anything. She sat there, absorbing it all.

“You asshole,” she finally said.

Her words were like a knife. I’d let her down. “I’m sorry. Orla thought it was best to deny it all. The plan was to go on with our lives. I had no idea she’d stab me in the back.”

“Oh no,” Jill said, a scowl on her face. “You don’t get off that easy. You were a willing participant all along. From having sex with her, to going along with her ridiculous plan to keep it a secret. At any point, you could have come clean, but no, you lied about it. To me! You let me go along with this stupid fake relationship to save your ass when the whole time you were keeping secrets. What does she have planned now? You seemed pretty pissed off, so it must be bad.”

She was furious now, and I deserved it all. And when she found out the whole story, she was going to kick my ass.

“Her publisher wants her to drum up some publicity, so she plans to spill all the details. She thinks it’s a good idea because the book is loosely based on our affair. At least her first book is.”

“Shit,” Jill said quietly, hanging her head. “When does she plan to do this?”

“She mentioned something about the book coming out late spring. She wrote the book over the summer and got the bookdeal in September. I guess she didn’t mention it to me. Why would she? She didn’t think the affair would come out, but now that it has, she’s going to use it.”

Jill got up and quietly went into the kitchen. I could hear her making coffee. I sat on the sofa, and Chloe stared at me. Did she sense the tension in the room? I had no idea if Jill was going to talk to me again, and I did need to leave for practice soon, but a few minutes later, she returned with her coffee. She set it down and stared at me with her big blue eyes. They normally were welcoming, but now they had a deadness to them, just like her father’s had. And I was responsible for it.

“This is what we are going to do once I clear it with Clay and my team. We are going to hold a press conference. You are going to admit to everything you just told me. We will prepare the statement and you can approve it with your agent. The statement will be short, and you will take no questions. The only way we get around this is if we beat her to the punch. Hopefully by the time her shitty book comes out, the story will be old news. This is the only way I see out of it for everyone. Except maybe Orla.”

“Jill, I’m sorry?—”

She put up her hand to stop me. “Talk to your agent. I’ll go into work this afternoon to start the process.”

I wanted to go to her, but that seemed like a really bad idea. “I know this is the last thing you need right now. I’m so sorry.”

“Bad things happen in threes,” she said. I had no idea what she was referring to, but I nodded along. “This was the third thing. And it’s what I’m paid to fix.”

“I’ll make it up to you. Whatever you want.”

She took in a deep breath and made eye contact with me. “I want you to leave. To pack up your things and go.”

My heart lurched. No. This wasn’t what I wanted. “Jill, wecan work this out. I know I lied and fucked up, but I don’t want us to end.”

“I need space and to be away from you right now. I have so much going on, and the last thing I need is to clean up your messes too. So just go, okay?”

She was so upset, and it was breaking my heart, but I had to respect her wishes. “Okay. If you need help with Chloe, I can come by.”

“We can talk about that later. Just go.”

She took her coffee and went into her room, closing the door behind her. I glanced down at Chloe, and I could swear she was judging me too.

I couldn’t think about much because I had practice, but I sent Taylor a text to let him know we needed to talk. As I got dressed for practice, I looked around the locker room at my teammates. I’d just gotten back in their good graces, and now I was going to have to tell them the truth. Thankfully, our break week was coming, so I hoped that Jill could schedule my press conference around the same time. Maybe the week off would soften the blow, although I really doubted that.

I got through practice and headed out before anyone could catch up with me. I needed to talk to Taylor before he heard anything from anyone else. I was in my car when I called him.

“I got your text,” Taylor said. “Is this about Orla?”

“Yeah, it’s about that. She’s decided to spill the beans again. Her book comes out in April, and she plans to come clean. I guess that means throwing me under the bus. Jill has come up with a plan to have me go public first and told me to contact you about it. She’s likely going to reach out to you.”

“All right. I’d like to know her thought process on this. Inthe meantime, I’m going to give Lex’s agent a call to see where his head is at. I’ll keep in touch.”

The usual warmth in Taylor’s voice was gone. I’d let him down. I’d let Jill down. All to protect Orla, and who was I kidding? To protect myself too.

“Thanks, Taylor. And I’m sorry about this.”

“I’ve dealt with worse. We’ll talk later.”

Now I needed to find a way to make it right with Jill.

---