Page 20 of Breakaway

Can I be objective?

You’re already withholding information from the team owner. Your friend.

Fuck. Grabbing my phone I dial his number. I don’t give him time to speak. “Where are you? We need to talk.”

“In my suite. Rooftop. Come up. Door will be open.”

“What’s up?” he asks looking up from the papers he was studying as I walk in.

“I need to resign as team doctor. But before I do there’s some things you need to know.” I pause, “Or maybe it’s after I resign.”

Clark stands and crosses to the mini fridge, grabs two bottles of tea and tosses me one before opening his own and chugging half. Dropping into the closest chair he nods to the other. “Ok, does this have anything to do with you having the hots for my team captain?”

“I—”

“It’s obvious. At least to me and your sister.”

“Yes. I’m attracted to Cat.”

“About damn time. I was starting to worry about you. After that bitch tried to trap you because she was looking for a doctor to marry, I thought you’d gotten yourself neutered.”

“I’m perfectly intact.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I’m the team doctor. There are ethics.”

“I have an experienced athletic trainer. As team doctor you just need to be there if something goes seriously wrong. Right now, you are as much a friend and confidant as anything. Someone whose judgment and experience I trust. I know your own career is on the verge of exploding. Selfishly, I wanted my friend by my side to have my back until this is all set up and running on its own.”

“I’ll always have your back, you know that.” I assure him.

“And me yours.”

I drag a hand down my face. “To that end, there’s something else you need to know. Cat may be in trouble.” I share that she was arrested, works for lodging and food at the diner, that she’s in debt to a stepbrother who is a crook, and that Baylor may be involved.

“Dad is on it. He feels that she was used and manipulated. He still has connections on the force, and they’re working with him to see what they can find. My biggest concern is she could be in danger. Her stepbrother has a reputation for being vindictive.”

“I think we need something stronger.” Clark finishes his tea, stands, and crosses to the mini bar. Popping open a coke he splits it between two glasses and adds what I assume is rum before handing me one. “That’s a lot to process. Give me a minute.”

He grabs his laptop from the table and flips it open. “What is the name of her stepbrother?

“Stephanos Leonidas. Street name is Slack.”

I watch as he clicks away on his keyboard. This is Clark at his best. He started out in tech and his first love is research—as he calls it. The rest of the world might call it hacking.

“I recently acquired the list of silent partners from the team’s previous owner. A somewhat minor shareholder was a company called Leon’s Share. Kind of catchy don’t you think?” he raises an eyebrow. “I wonder….”

He goes silent for a good twenty minutes before his face goes stone cold. “Leon’s Share is a small company with their signature on several bars and clubs around Baltimore. Several of which have less than stellar reputations.”

“Meaning?”

“They’ve been shut down for drugs, gambling and prostitution but seem to re-open pretty quickly. He must have friends in the right places.”

“That would fit with what my father is looking into.”

Clark clicks around some more then holds out the laptop to me. “I was checking something myself when you called. I need you to watch those two clips carefully, very closely. Watch his lips.”

The first one is Baylor and Missy in one of the men’s restrooms at our home arena. He’s fucking her on the counter. When he’s done, he pulls something from his pocket and dangles it in front of her. She reaches for it and he pulls back shaking his head, raises his eyebrow to make a point and says something to which she nods.

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