Page 35 of What If I See You

Ledger takes a bottle of water from Ella and twists off the cap. “So, what are you going to tell him? What are you going to tell Coach? Or Scott Foley?”

“Who’s Scott Foley?” I ask the room.

All the guys answer in tandem. “General Manager.”

“Ah. Right.” I glance at Griffin, worry etching my forehead. “Will they really fire you? For getting married on a whim?”

“They very well could if I turn around and divorce you right away like this is all just a game. If I admit that I made a huge drunken mistake, they could tell me they don’t trust my professionalism and that I’m not reflecting the image of the team.”

“Yeah but we’ve all done stupid shit before,” August reminds me. He gestures to Bodhi. “I mean this asshat slept with Coach’s daughter and didn’t even fucking know it and he’s still around to live another day.”

Bodhi smirks and lifts Corrigan’s hand to his lips, pressing a kiss across her knuckles. “We might have to call that extenuating circumstances though.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because although I was ready and willing to fight for her, I imagine it was Corrigan talking to Coach before the day he pulled me into his office that made him reconsider removing me from the team. He could’ve easily come to a different decision.”

“Exactly.” Corrigan nods. “But he knew damn well I would’ve walked right out of his life and he didn’t want that.”

“Alright,” Harrison says, his arms outstretched on the table. “So, you guys need to stay married. At least short term.”

Griffin nods. “Yes. That’s the resolution we came to as well.”

Corrigan gasps and points at me. “Oh, my gosh, Layken your dad.”

“Right.” I nod too. “He’ll be furious.”

Ledger’s brows furrow. “What’s up with your dad?”

“He’s the family law judge in Anaheim,” I explain, cringing. “If we divorce, our papers go right across his desk for signature.”

Ledger grins. “Oh shit.”

“Right,” Griffin adds. “Look I don’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble for Layken and her family and she doesn’t want to be the cause of my potential removal from the team.”

“Like we would fucking let that happen,” Ledger resolves.

“Yeah.” Corrigan shrugs, giving me a somewhat helpless expression.” I could probably talk to my dad and?—”

I shake my head. “No. We don’t want any of you trying to clean up our mess,” I tell them. “This was our fault and ours alone. We don’t want to bring anyone else into this. I promise we’ll figure something out.”

The last one to say anything, Oliver finally speaks up. “So, what do you two need from us.”

Griffin sits up and pulls his shoulders back as if he’s being interviewed by the press. “We need you to play along. For now. And not out us to the press or to anyone in the front office. Layken is staying with me anyway thanks to the water main break outside her building so we’ve agreed the best thing for us right now is to stay married until we can figure out a way to amicably split that doesn’t hurt either one of us.”

“Easy enough,” August says with a shrug. “So, the story is you’ve been together for a while now?”

“Ooh!” Ella’s smile grows. “Secretly seeing each other like Bodhi and Corri.”

“Right.” I nod.

“Yes,” Griffin says. “And we planned to elope this entire time since we were going to be in Napa surrounded by those we love anyway.”

“Dude, Griff…” August tilts his head, cringing slightly when he says, “What about Gage? How’s he going to react?”

Griffin bows his head. “He’ll be devastated, I know. They all will be, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’ll have to talk to him.”

I lean over and quietly ask, “Who’s Gage?”

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