Page 68 of A Loser by Christmas
“How about next season? How are your contract negotiations going?”
It’s getting near my July 1st expiration date. What happens next depends on what Valentin tells me later. For now, I settle for saying, “I’m not here on hockey business.” It’s so good to add, “I’m here for my partner.”
That’s my definition for someone who stayed to face the fallout of his revelation. Valentin also stayed for the days when a legal team slammed me so hard against contractual boards that I almost buckled. It was him who rallied his subscribers to keep asking questions. Valentin kept grinding to score me a last-chance intervention, and he was the first person I saw after I got it.
Tonight, I finally see him again. His dark gaze glitters like the city does behind him, and he isn’t alone at the far end of this red carpet. His own team flanks him, Jack on one side and Seb onthe other, who tilts his head to the left. Seb’s eyes narrow, and I see who he’s noticed.
Lito Dixon.
For once, London’s scuzziest photographer doesn’t wield a camera. He clutches an invite for a glitzy event where he’s a guest of honour. That took some planning and deception, but Jack was right—Lito couldn’t resist the lure of walking a red carpet as a VIP for once. When he spots my arrival, Lito also can’t resist scuttling away into the building, but that’s perfect. None of us are done yet with that cockroach, and inside that building is exactly where we want him.
For now, I make the most of this audience of reporters.
“I’m here for my partner because I know how much being asked to present this year’s Juno Award means to him. Yes, he’s aged out of this contest, but the judges also inviting him tonight to screen his latest project proves they know what I do—that no one chases the truth harder than him. His work is the sole reason I’ll get to watch that screening with all of you.”
Valentin is also my inspiration to unzip my lips about my own work.
“All of his projects focus on exploitation. That challenged me to do the same, which means speaking up for players. Because even with union support, and with recent changes to league-wide bargaining agreements, we still don’t always have the final say in our health decisions. Giving players that freedom at a league level would cost nothing but could improve our health outcomes. The payback for the sport we all love could be massive. That’s worth fighting for, I think.”
Valentin inspired me to grind as hard as him for that outcome. He’s just as inspiring once we’re all inside a film institute building.
The lights drop, and I’m not alone in drawing in a breath as a spotlight finds him holding a silver trophy. Valentin’s dad drawsin a breath right beside me. He knows the same as I do. His son could have won that cup with his name on it. Tonight, we both watch him present it to another filmmaker, then blow every entry out of the water by screening his latest project.
Another gasp comes from a seat in the row ahead.
Lito has spotted who features in Valentin’s latest exposé—his own face, complete with snowy nostrils, fills a huge screen.
Thank fuck my surgery was just as successful as little Violet’s. It means I get to witness the star of this drug-dealing documentary sink low into his seat like that will hide him from his sins.
I keep my eyes fixed on Lito instead of on what Valentin’s camera captured at a boat show the same day I met him. I don’t need to watch it. I’ve already seen this footage and so has Valentin’s father. He growls when the version of Lito on the screen starts weaselling.
“You can’t leave without giving me one little Christmas kiss.”
A room full of journalists and filmmakers watch him grab Valentin by the elbow, and I’ve never come closer to dropping my mitts while off the ice.
I rein in that urge—Valentin doesn’t need me to fight his battles. He won the moment he set that red light blinking on his GoPro. It caught Lito digging his own professional grave.
“I’m not letting you go yet,” he says in audio so clear I can almost feel grease. “Not before we finish our little chat about your career. One studio session with me could make you famous. All you need to do is ask me nicely.”
In the row ahead, Lito starts to slide out of his seat. That slimy fuck doesn’t get far.
There’s no way I’ll let him slink away from his actions. I land a hand on one of his shoulders. Valentin’s dad grasps the other. We both shove him back down, but it’s my older brother who hisses, “Sit the fuck down, Dixon.”
Reece and Pat hem in Lito, and there’s no way he’s getting past either of them, not when Trelawneys commit by going all in for our special people. Tonight, that means we surround Lito so he has to watch his own downfall.
It starts with an admission. Valentin highlights it by adding subtitles so any speakers of French can’t mistake what Lito says in English.
“I’ll even sweeten the deal by giving you a discount on some party powder.”
There’s no way he can deny making that offer, like I can’t deny it’s been tough to spend the end of this season apart from Valentin, but the payoff is fucking magic.
A final split screen shows Lito dealing in a boat-show bathroom, caught over and over by a hidden camera. The other side of the screen shows Valentin playing that footage to the police officers who are also guests here.
I know that Christmas won’t come for another six months. I’m not sure I’ll get another present as good as watching Lito get arrested as soon as the lights rise.
At least, I think nothing will top seeing him led away in handcuffs, but my evening gets even better once Valentin finishes tying legal loose ends, and we head for Kensington together.
We’re late for a celebration dinner, but before we reach the restaurant where our families will be waiting, Valentin stops to check a message. He snorts, his face lit by his phone. “Harry says that Dad’s duck has been looking for him all evening.” That bird is so attached to the very first human it laid eyes on after hatching. “He says she keeps swimming around his houseboat quacking for him.” He shows me a smile worth waiting months for, but there’s one thing I can’t wait for any longer.
