Page 24 of Here Be Dragons
George had his little coalition of lawyers crumble away day by day as more news leaked out about what Jason was doing with this stupid accounting charade of his. Any number of team owners would love to do what Jason did by moving money away from their teams to help out their other companies. But all of them had some sort of business ethics that kept them from doing so or loved hockey too much to mess with their teams like that. Those that didn't were pissed off that Jason had found a loophole while they hadn't. But once it was exposed, they didn't dare get their hands dirty by trying to do the same thing with prying eyes on them.
One by one, they abandoned George and the Bay City Bears. One by one, they came to Ava's defense. There were times when she would punish lawyers who switched sides like that. Too little, too late. But the Detroit Pirates were her brother's team and she had friends who were players. She would swallow her pride and take whatever extra help she could in order to get this deal done.
Even if it meant saying goodbye to Shane because he would be going home to play hockey again. When she talked to him the other night, she could tell he felt the same way. He admitted he liked spending time with her and being with her away from all the craziness of the hockey season, but he also admitted that he missed hockey. He missed the games and the players and the fans. He missed the adrenaline rush when he strapped on his skates.
If he had to choose between Ava and hockey, Ava knew he would choose hockey every time and she had no problem with it. After all, this was just a little fling between them. They were just trying to fill the time until they could get this deal done. Then the season would start and this would all be over.
But until that happened, she was going to have fun, not just in her bedroom, but in this stupid conference room as well.
"I don't think this is a good idea," George said as he looked down at the paper in front of him.
Ava gave him a sinister smile and leaned in to stare at him. "I think it's a great idea, George," she said. "Are you just saying it's a bad idea because your boss doesn't want to pay for the new health care initiative?"
"Maybe we should put it to a vote, Ava. All those against this hike in health care costs?"
"You mean, all those against a reasonable health care increase to ensure that players stay healthy."
She gave him an overly pleasant smile and he responded with his usual scowl.
"All those against the health care stuff?" he mumbled.
Two hands went up out of 20 lawyers sitting there. One of them belonged to George.
"All those in favor?" he said in a dejected tone.
The rest of the hands went in the air, including Ava's.
"Well, I guess that solves it," Ava said with a matter-of-fact tone that once again conveyed who was really in charge in this room now. "I'll look it over during lunch and take it to the players this afternoon."
Only a few lawyers were smiling at her. Most of them wouldn't make eye contact with her. Oh well. A good lawyer wasn't in it to make friends.
"Alright, should we get to work on the salary cap package?"
There were a few mumbles and some depressing shuffling of papers. But a few of the lawyers like Neil, who had welcomed her from the beginning, gave her a smile or a quick glance before digging in. She could tell today was going to be a good day. In fact, this whole week would be good. They would have a deal in place soon and everyone could get back to playing hockey again.
The thought of seeing the Detroit Pirates back on their skates made Ava smile. But the thought of seeing Shane back in Cleveland playing with his team? Well, she didn't want to think about that right now.
* * *
"Damn, your girl is good."
"My girl?" Shane asked.
Dylan gave him a perplexed look from across the conference room table. "I was talking to Jordan," he said.
"Ava is not my girl," Jordan replied. "She's just the sister of my team owner."
Dylan continued to stare at Shane as if he didn't even hear the words coming out of Jordan's mouth. "Why would you think I meant you when I said 'your girl,' Taylor?"
"You were looking at me when you said it."
"No, I wasn't," Dylan replied incredulously.
"Just stop," Jordan demanded as he stared over at both of them. "We're almost done today."
Shane gave one more small stare at Dylan before turning away. He didn't need to give the guy any more ammunition to use against him. And Shane definitely needed to calm down, get his head on straight, and focus on the task at hand. They just needed to sign off on this paperwork for their health care coverage for injuries and they could knock another issue off the list.
Ever since that story about Dylan's boss leaked, negotiations seemed to go much faster, which was good for all of them. It meant the season could start soon and they would be back to their normal hockey-playing lives. A few of the players on the Cleveland Dragons were texting Shane on a regular basis checking to see how things were going or asking when the preseason would start or when they would have to report to Cleveland. Most of the players were still at their offseason homes in Canada or somewhere in Europe, spending time with their families or girlfriends.
