Page 121 of Pucking Tangled
“That’s because itis, Vanessa,” Waylon interrupted. “It’s real. It happened. Itishappening and that’s not going to change.”
“Nor should it,” she said, shocking them all. “Things could have gone a lot worse, but the way you made individual statements? I don’t know if you’ve seen those comments yet, but the fans are eating it up.”
That was news to them. They’d basically shut the whole world off after Mia made her personal statement.
“Wait, so can we get to why we’re here? Are we suspended? Getting traded? What’s going on?” Owen asked.
Vanessa shook her head. “Nothing like that. You haven’t broken any league rules. There’s no contractual language prohibiting personal relationships—as long as there’s no coercion, no conflicts of interest, and no incidents that reflect poorly on the team from you guys directly.”
She paused and let that sink in.
“What happens now is we work together to control the narrative…”
Vanessa opened up the tablet she was holding and laid out their plan.
No personal statements without clearance. No moresocial media posts that referenced Mia directly. Coordinated messaging would go through PR. If the guys wanted to be open about their relationship with Mia, the club wouldn’t stop them—but they’d be trained, coached, and supported so that they didn’t feed the trolls or sink the ship trying to protect her.
Mia cleared her throat. “And what’s my place in all of this?”
Vanessa’s expression softened as she looked at her. “You handled the media shit storm with more grace than a lot of professionals. That says a lot about you. We were already looking for interns for the fall,” Vanessa said slowly. “We’d like to offer you one. Paid. Working in PR, operations, or legal counsel review. Your choice. It’s not a guarantee of anything long-term, but it’s a door. One you’ve earned.”
Mia blinked. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
There was a long silence as they all sat, stunned.
Finally, Waylon muttered, “About damn time someone noticed she’s the smartest one here.”
The guys all smiled, but before Mia could accept the offer and they could celebrate, Tom Larson coughed and stepped forward from his post.
“I do have one question that I think everyone needs to think about here.” He straightened his tie. “What happens when this little…show…falls apart?”
All eyes turned toward him, various levels of disbelief and defiance on their faces.
“When she decides she wants out. Or one of you gets jealous. Crosses a boundary and pisses someone off? How is this going to affect game play? You think I didn’t hear about the little fight in the locker room?” He looked at Casey with a raised brow. “You think the media circusnowis bad?Imagine the fallout when this implodes mid-season and we’re expected to keep the locker room together.”
His eyes landed on Mia.
“And do you really want your first experience in this industry to be handling damage control statements for the mess you helped create?”
The sound of four chairs scraping across the floor echoed through the room as Owen, Luca, Casey and Coach Micheals stood.
“I think that’s enough, Tom,” Coach Micheals interjected.
“She deserves to hear the risks,” Larson replied, his distaste for the situation no longer veiled.
It wasn’t about Mia knowing the risks.
Ol’ Tom Larson had been outvoted and he wasn’t happy about it.
“With all due respect, I think I’ve already lived the risks. More than once, Sir,” Mia answered in defense of herself.
“Then you should be well aware how fasteveryonecan turn on you.”
Waylon crossed the room in three quick strides to stand in front of Larson. When he spoke, his tone was deceptively calm. “One more word out of you that makes her feel like she’s not good enough, and I swear to god, I’ll take my suspension with a smile.”
“I think he gets the point.” Coach Micheals stepped between them.
