Page 130 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
“Can I help you?” Elias asked, stepping forward to speak for the team.
“I hope so. I’m Louis Daughtry, Cal Daughtry’s son. My family owns the Knights. While we love it, it’s also a business. It’s hard for the Knights to operate when our players are on strike and management is subject to countless pranks and glitter bombs. I’m here, without my dad’s knowledge, to fix things. What do we need to do to end this walkout?” His look was both frustrated and earnest, and his posture seemed sincere.
There it was. The Bantams were trying hard, but we were playing some tough teams soon. Every loss affected our chances of going to the playoffs.
Game attendance was still down. Not because of the Bantams, we’d been encouraging everyone to support them, but because fans didn’t agree with what management was doing. Or they didn’t want to deal with the protesters.
Or the glitter.
Many people were calling for Mr. Longfellow to retire and for Cal Daughtry to step down. Our assistant GM and Kylee looked ready to quit at any moment.
Dean leaned into me. “Is the son coming good or bad?”
“Good, I hope?” I whispered back. Hopefully it meant they were scared.
Elias crossed his arms over his check and gave him a measured look. “You know why we walked and what you need to do. All of this happened without proof or even talking to him, less than an hour after he collapsed and was carried off the ice. We won’t stand for this.”
“Not to mention even though numerous organizations, including the PHL, have informed Mr. Daugherty and Mr. Longfellow that their actions are illegal, and given them instructions on how to rectify the situation, they’ve ignored them,” Winston added.
Though so far they hadn’t been arrested or anything. Probably money and privilege at work. The Knights had been fined, though.
“To be clear, we want Grif hired back, not bought out or traded or given away,” I added, arms crossed over my chest. We were already pursuing them legally. Though that could take a while. The quicker we got Grif back on the ice, the better it would be for his mental health.
Louis nodded. “I see. You’d play with an omega enforcer?”
“We have this whole time. It’s not a problem,” Elias told him.
“I don’t see what the issue is, other than the father of Grif’s old agent is friends with your father,” I snapped.
“Yes. Bertie and the whole Chet thing.” Louis grimaced as if the thought gave him a headache. “I’m sorry for all this. Our parents and Bunty have always been very closed about the way they handle things and we’ve always been content to let them handle it. Now, my sister and I are taking a closer look at things and becoming more involved.”
As they should. I was curious who else might own little bits of the Knights besides the bit Bertie owned. Not that he owned it any longer.
Elias gave him a look. “We told you what we want.”
“Does Grif even want to come back? Also, can he?” Louis frowned and rubbed his chin.
“Yes and yes,” I replied. Okay, he needed a few more days to recover, but that was it. He’d been meeting with some awakening specialist from the center that worked with athletes and she had lots of good ideas.
“Besides being reinstated, he needs an apology from Mr. Longfellow and a fruit basket.” Dean joined us, hanging on my shoulder.
Louis blinked and nodded. “A fruit basket. Okay.”
Clearly, he didn’t see the meme–or Verity’s video.
“The pranks are all the Maimers and that’s because Mr. Longfellow went after Verity in his press conference. Don’t you own the Maimers?” Dean asked.
Louis raked his hand through his hair. “My children and niblings own the Maimers, not us or my father. He brought it up, given the glitter is becoming excessive. They shrugged and saidFAFO, Grandpa, FAFO.”His look grew exasperated. “I don’t even know what that means.”
That was funny, because that’s exactly what happened. Mr. Daughtry and Mr. Longfellow fucked around and found out.
Louis looked at the rest of us balefully. “If we rehire Grif back, you’ll all come back?”
Elias looked around at all of us. “Yes?”
“Yes,” the team agreed.
“Okay, good. Also, Compass BioTek won’t really try to buy us, right?” Louis’ brow furrowed.
