Page 74 of Passing the Red Line
I’m so enthralled by my work, that I don’t notice that my dad has approached my seat until he’s right next to me.
I slide my headphones off and look up at him. “What’s up?”
He has a weird look on his face that I can’t pinpoint. Does he look nervous? What is there to be nervous about?
“Walk with me to the back of the plane, yeah?” he says, nodding his head to his right and walking away before I can even say yes.
Instantly I start to worry, but I push it down as I get up from my seat and follow my dad. On the way back, I catch Christian’s gaze from where he sits next to Liam and he raises his eyebrow at me after seeing my dad walking in front of me.
I just give him a shrug and continue walking until I’m with my dad at the back of the plane.
“What’s going on?” I ask my dad as soon as we are alone and away from prying ears. “Am I getting fired?” I ask, not being able to hold in the question any longer.
“Why would you get fired?” He asks, his face going from worried to confused.
“I don’t know, why else would you bring me to the back of the plane?” I say looking up at the man.
“You’re not getting fired. You’ve been on the job not even two weeks and everyone is loving you. That’s not why I brought you back here.”
“Are you going to tell me that HR changed their minds on my relationship, and we have to end it?” I knew it was a possibility that they would back track, they don’t want a lawsuit on their hands.
“No, that’s not it either,” he tells me, shaking her head at all my crazy ideas.
“Then why are you looking at me like you are about to tell me that someone died? It’s freaking me out, dad. What is going on?”
My dad looks down at me for a long minute before he lets out a long sigh. “The social media team is going to be asked to make a post about a new acquisition. One player for the sixth-round pick at next year's draft.
“Okay, why are you telling me this? Tell the social media team.” I’m sure they can get a post done before we even land.
“I’m telling you because of who the player is,” he answers, his eyebrows furrow.
“Why would I care what player the team acquires?” I ask him, not understanding why this is all so important.
“Because you know this player.”
That’s when it all clicks.
The new player acquisition is from Vancouver and if my dad is telling me before it goes public it’s because he was trying to prepare me.
It’s Kalen. I know it deep in my bones that it’s him.
I want to ask if he’s lying but by the look on my dad’s face, I know he is telling the truth.
Kalen Bradford is officially a Dark Knight.
“H-how?” I stammer out, my mind going fifty miles a second. All I can think of is that he released the pictures. I didn’t go to my dad and now my body is on the internet for the whole world to see and somehow Kalen is a Knight.
“His agent knows how to play dirty. Apparently, Kalen has something incriminating against someone on the team and in exchange for not releasing whatever it is that he has, he asked to be traded to the Knights. The owner and GM talked about it for a few days and finally agreed to his terms and contacted the Canucks yesterday morning and the deal went through ten minutes ago.”
He got what he wanted.
He used what he had against me and got what he wanted. Now the Knights, and my dad are now paying for my mistakes from when I was eighteen, with a player that will possibly destroy the team connection that they currently have.
This can’t be happening.
“I don’t want him on my team any more than you do, but I don’t have a say. Are you going to be okay with it?”
Never. I will never be okay with it. Yet, I find myself nodding yes to my dad.
