Page 8 of Here Be Dragons
Shane watched as one player sighed with relief and a few more started to tentatively smile. The lawyer from Detroit being a good thing? Sure, maybe. She was a good thing last night when she was in his bed. But now? Well, negotiations weren't close to being over.
Chapter Four
"So how are things going there?"
Ava looked out over the bay, the sky pink and orange as the sun was setting. "Scenery is nice, negotiations suck."
She could hear Jack's laughter come through loud and clear from the speaker of her phone. "I always like no-nonsense lawyers."
"Luckily, your no-nonsense lawyer is also related to you."
"So does that mean you're giving me a family discount?"
Now it was Ava's turn to laugh. "Not at all."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
She could hear the amusement in Jack's voice on the other end of the line. They had genuinely grown up to be friends, albeit competitive friends, which is probably why they ended up so successful in their careers. Jack was the co-creator of a tech start-up that he and his partner sold for millions of dollars. He was only 33 years old when he sold the company, moved back to Detroit, and bought a hockey team. Ava, meanwhile, had been involved in several major business and merger negotiations by the time she was 30. A local paper in the city once named both of them to a list of "Top 35 Detroiters under 35." Their mother actually framed the article about them and hung it in her living room to make all her friends jealous.
But now they were working together, which Ava actually liked. Well, aside from the fact that negotiations weren't going as well as she hoped.
"Hey, I'm calling because I need a favor," she told him.
"Is this going to be a billable hour?" Jack asked.
"No, because you're doing the work for me," she said. "I need you to figure out what Jason Stewart is up to."
Jack audibly groaned. Jack always sounded like this at the mention of Jason's name, especially after Jason told a tech magazine that Jack was a coward for running back home and buying a hockey team instead of doing real work like the tech guys.
Then Jason bought a hockey team.
"What has that idiot done this time?" Jack asked.
"I'm not sure," Ava replied. "That's why I need your help."
Ava started to explain George the lawyer's behavior today. She mentioned all the times he blocked her from trying to negotiate something with the other lawyers or the players union. She told him about how George would speak over another lawyer or interrupt someone to push his agenda. And she definitely let him know about the times he brought up the cost of something.
"Wait, did you say he complained about the cost of things?"
"Yeah," Ava replied. "Concussion protocol, health care, salaries, bonus. All of it. The only thing he didn't seem concerned about was the salary cap because it kept costs down."
There was silence on the other end that lingered for quite a while. Ava thought she had dropped her call with Jack.
"Hello?"
"Hey, yeah, sorry," he stammered. "I was just thinking."
Ava scowled at the phone even though Jack couldn't see her. "About what?"
"Uh." The silence returned except now she could at least hear her brother shuffling papers around. "I, uh, I'm not sure yet. It may be nothing or it may be something. I'm going to have to get back to you if that's OK."
"The sooner the better, Jack."
"Understood," he replied reassuringly. "How's the rest of the trip?"
Ava took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. Her brother was hiding something, she just wasn't sure what it was yet. And to be fair, she was hiding something too.How's the trip? So far, I negotiated some stuff and I banged Shane Taylor and it was glorious.
"Trip is fine," she tried to reply casually. "You can tell some old guy in a stuffy office picked this place."
