Page 122 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
“Oh, I should text our families.” Dean started texting his mom.
“Shit. It’s a good thing that I told some of my family before now.” I glanced at my phone on the bedside table. But I didn’t have the energy to do more than let the parents know I was awake and tell Sissy that she didn’t need to come out.
Verity came back and snuggled me. “I’m right here.”
“Mmmm, what’s this about bonding to save me?” I nuzzled her, though I tried not to breathe in her direction because my breath was nasty.
“I’d do anything for you.” She wrapped her arms around me and held me while Dean slipped off to the bathroom.
AJ came back into the room. “Doctor’s on the way. Um, Princess? Why did I just get an alert that Spencer Thanukos had a press conference saying that Cal Daughtry doesn’t deserve a hockey team and he will hostilely acquire the Knights if he doesn’t rehire Grif?”
Verity shrugged. “Spencer figured since the idea of him buying a team scared the crap out of people, him threatening to acquire one might do some good.”
“I love that.” I leaned in more.
The nurse checked on me and helped me to the bathroom. Dr. Arya came in and basically told me everything my pack had. Though she reassured me that as long as I took good care of myself, I could still play.
Which was half the battle. The other was that I needed a team.
Someone would want me, right?
“Thanks, Dr. Arya. I appreciate all your help,” I told her, grateful she’d come to the hospital. I’d probably fared better because she was here.
“I’m so sorry you’ve been outed. We’ll be doing more tests today and tomorrow. Someone from the Center will be here in a bit to talk you through all your options.” She glanced at her tablet and left.
Tests, great.
“We need to get the Omega Rights Coalition involved, like they did for me,” Dean agreed, looking something up on his phone.
“Whatever helps. Where’s Jonas?” I looked around. He’d been gone awhile. But he’d mentioned getting food. I could eat.
A few moments later Jonas came back in, holding a sack and something wrapped in a Knights workout towel.
“I let the team know you’re okay. They have quite a spread out there, so I brought some. It’s in the bag. Some of the MASO are creating a signup to bring us homemade food. Stu and his agency are doing major work trying to spin this. Also, you’ve had offers,” Jonas added, setting the bag down.
“I have? That’s wonderful news. Let me guess, the Mexico City Tigres?” I snorted. They weren’t a horrible team, and had a loyal fan base. They were just far.
“Yes. They’ll take us all. The Hurricanes will take you back. The Daredevils will take us all. So will the Sasquatches. The Belugas will take you,” Jonas read off his phone, then glanced up at me.
“Oh.” There were some good offers there.
“The Sasquatches would take usall? I’d love to see the budget gymnastics on that,” Dean chuckled.
They were the number two team in the PHL and had some very well-paid players. The three of us made decent money.
“Daredevils? Nice. We’ll make it work, even if it means you three leave New York.” Verity looked at us.
“We will,” AJ agreed, squeezing my shoulder.
“That means everything,” I told them. Especially Verity, because she couldn’t work remotely like AJ.
Jonas’ eyes rested on me. “We have options. Though Stu’s confident that the Knights will cave. Remember, being fired has nothing to do with you. It’s because the owner owes Chet’s dad money. Just like you being outed is Chet trying to bully you into dropping the lawsuit.”
“Bertie owns part of the team. I’ve got spies trying to figure out how much and who else in society might have traded Cal’s debt for shares,” AJ replied.
“Wewillfigure this out. Stu said that as of right now, your All-Star spot is still safe. Though you’ll need a team by then,” Jonas assured, still holding whatever was in the towel.
Shit. That was coming up in a few weeks. “At least they didn’t take it away.”
