Page 158 of Call the Shots
Oh.
Oh no.
Bear and I catapulted into this connection—he meant more to me than I could explain. The trust we shared made it feel like I’d known Bear for years, not months. Xavier was yammering about something or whatever, but I put a hand to my chest, feeling the steadythump-thump-thumpof my heartbeat.
Oh my god—I had feelings for Bear. Likefeelingsfeelings.
“No, you don’t,” I whispered. “That’d ruin everything.”
The door for my appointment opened and the lawyers called me in. I abandoned Xavier, who started yelling—I really wasn’t paying attention to him—I was too busy thinking about Bear.
“June.” Kurt smiled, shaking my hand.
I had a dozen lawyers to talk to about the Gladiators. Their team would be going under if I didn’t do everything I could to stop that. I took a deep breath, shaking more hands, sinking into the resolution. Having feelings for Bear didn’t matter. He meant so much to me and I’d do anything to make sure the Gladiators wouldn’t dissolve.
“It’s terrible what happened to your hockey team,” Alonzo said sympathetically. “What did you want to speak about?”
“It’s an unfortunate development,” I agreed, taking my seat on the other side of the table.
“It’s hard to believe a coach would take advantage of the system.” Kurt clicked his tongue.
I pulled out a paper from my folder. “I read the Marrs’ statement. Disappointing that a coach would neglect his team and conspire against the university—it’s a great statement.Except…youwereinformed.” I slid papers across the table. “Here, here, and here.”
The warm smiles on the lawyers’ faces disappeared until I was left with a table of people in business suits, staring at me.
Kurt paused. “June?”
“Marrs University was informed of his behavior fromme—there’s my official MU email address, Cleo Bennight, Denali Maddox, and Bear Moreau…those emails start at the beginning of the summer. You were separately informed in meetings I held with the athletics directors, and I have snapshots of my name on the front desk sheets?—”
Tom reached for a paper, and Alonzo jerked over. “Don’t touch those, Tom.”
“I understand Marrs’s playbook,” I said. “Put the blame on Vernon, avoid accountability. But we tried multiple times to contact a higher-up about Vernon’s behavior and were rebuked at every turn.”
“We get complaints about every professor who fails an athlete, every security guard who gives them a parking ticket, anyone who’s deemed disrespectful,” Kurt said carefully. “How were we supposed to know?—”
“Marrs willingly allowed someone to mismanage their team because the Gladiators were a last-minute ploy for donations.”
Alonzo held up a hand. “We don’t confirm that?—”
“I apologize, I’m not one of the athletes who depend on you for a paycheck, I’m Frederick Basil’s daughter, who’s running for mayor, and he’s incredibly interested in this as a platform.”
“On what grounds?” Kurt demanded.
“Students go to the polls. My dad sees this as an easy path for votes, calling for universities to take care of their own.”
“Who do we call?” Tom whispered.
“Tom, quiet,” Alonzo muttered back.
I pulled out the paper with my dad’s letterhead. “My father will be only too happy to provide lawyers for the Gladiators in their ongoing lawsuit againstMarrs,not Vernon, unless of course…Marrs is able to sign on another coach and my boys get to play together.”
“She’s bluffing,” Alonzo announced.
I pulled my face together, keeping my emotions in check.
I was bluffing.
The emails were real, but my parents shied away from anything controversial. A lawsuit with the family name was unthinkable. I stole the letterhead from my dad’s desk and photoshopped his signature at the bottom, writing over it carefully with a pen, smudging the ink at the end.
