Page 90 of Troublemaker
Relieved, I sat in the chair. “Thank you.”
She waved me off. “I know how you men are by now. If I hadn’t handled her case first, you’d be barking at me to go do it.”
She was right.
She also got right to work.
“Here’s the deal,” she said. “Marcus and Micah were able to find dirt on Professor Alison Putrovski, and they…spoke to her. Micah looked into her, and it turns out she lied about graduating from her Ph.D. program. She never should have gotten this job in the first place. It took a little leaning on her, but she dropped the charges against Lucy, and will still write a recommendation for some program Lucy’s interested in.”
Oh, thank fuck.
“You, however, punched your university president, and although I can protect you legally, there’s very little I can do to protect your job. Marcus is willing to bail you out, but this will go on your record, and Saul Glazer is unwilling to let you stay on at the university.”
Once upon a time, losing my coaching job would have destroyed me. Now…I shrugged. “I doubted I was keeping my job anyway once my relationship with Lucy became public.” She was more important than any job. “Am I going to have to go to prison?”
“No.” Ilana grinned like a shark. “I was able to work him down from that. But you will have to pay a very, very hefty fine…and it’s going to be difficult to find another coaching job.”
“Which is where I come in,” Marcus said, smoothing nonexistent lint off his suit jacket. “I’ll pay the fine, so you don’t have to worry about it. But I’ll need a favor.”
Ah, here we go.
“Yes?”
“As it turns out, I am deeply in need of a head coach with your talents. You see, I recently purchased an NHL team here in Gehenom, The Beasts, and the coach is…well, let’s just say he’s subpar. If you’re interested in the job, we’ll make all this goaway. If you aren’t…well, I guess you’ll have to enjoy prison…and unemployment.”
Ilana chuckled. “Well, until Lucy comes into her trust in a few years.”
I glowered. Fuck that. I was going to provide for Lucy, not the other way around. She could use the money from her inheritance to start an animal sanctuary for every stray in the world, for all I cared.
Besides. This was a dream.
Head coach of an NHL team? My former NHL team?
“What’s the catch?” I asked.
Marcus’s smirk widened into a smile. “The catch is you have to trade four of the players for my little brother and his three friends. You see, my brother doesn’t always make the best choices, and this will allow me to keep a closer eye on him.”
Ah.
Family drama.
Well, it wasn’t my problem.
I held out my hand, cracked and blood-dried knuckles and all.
“Deal,” I said.
“Deal,” Marcus repeated, and although I felt like I’d signed on with the devil, I wasn’t going to worry about it.
We were in Gehenom, after all.
“Now, let me see Lucy,” I said immediately.
“Of course, you’re free to go. She’s waiting outside.”
I couldn’t have gotten out of there sooner. The police gave me back my things, grumbling about shady dealings with shadier lawyers, and then I was out of the precinct and on the street in the early morning light.
Lucy sat on the steps, tapping away on her phone.
