Page 86 of Truth or Tequila (Grand Slam 1)

“Do you want to explain to me—on the record—why that is? And why Gentry has a black eye? Someone told me you gave it to him.”

“Sure,” I say, laughing. “I’ll go on the record. Are you ready?”

He pops out his phone and turns on the recorder. “I’m always ready.”

“Gentry found out that I had a personal relationship with a player. He threatened to tell his dad and get me fired. He said he wouldn’t tell if he and I made an arrangement. He put his hand on my butt. I elbowed him hard in the eye and kicked him even harder in the crotch. I told him if he ever touched me again, he was going to lose an arm. I left. I resigned the account. End of story.”

Ray clicks off the recorder. “You know if I print that,” he says, raising his eyebrows, “you’re going to lose a lot of clients.”

“Maybe, but I think I’ll pick up some new clients—the right kind.” I shrug. “And if I don’t, then it might be time to find another career. I handled the situation the right way. He was way over the line. I don’t have time for bullshit like that. No one should. He needs to be publicly shamed.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that one incident is enough of a story. Do you know of anyone else who would go on the record?”

I pull the folder out of my bag and place it between us on the bench.

“And what is that?” he asks, eyeing it.

“It’s five other women who Gentry harassed. They filed official complaints with the team, but Gary buried them. No one at the team will cross him. They’re scared of losing their jobs. I’ve only talked to one of them. She’s willing to go on the record. You’ll have to ask the others yourself.”

“Who’s willing to go on the record?” He picks up the folder.

“The first one.” I flip the folder open and point to the first name.

“Liza Murray?” He glances over at me, a confused look on his face.

“Yep. Long story, short, she knows something potentially damaging about a player’s family member—”

“What? The story about Seb’s mom? That she did time?”

I try to hide my surprise. “You know about that?”

“I’ve known about it since Liza found out. We shared the same editor at the paper. Liza pitched the story to her. Our editor turned it down because she didn’t think it was newsworthy. I mean, it happened decades ago. It was an insider trading thing—illegal, but not really all that interesting. Liza wanted to report it from an angle of Seb growing up with a hardened criminal. It wasn’t a story. Our editor told Liza to not pursue it. She did anyway. She approached Seb. I don’t think Seb even knew about it until then—”

“He didn’t.”

“Yeah, I figured. The PR staff lost their minds—came down hard on our editor. She fired Liza. I didn’t ask why, but I knew that was the reason. I always figured there was more to the story. What is it?”

“You’ll have to talk to her further, but basically, she told me when she was kicked out of the clubhouse, Gentry offered to get her back in if she slept with him. She went right to Gary and threatened to sue. Gary reinstated her credentials and has been paying her to keep quiet.”

“She’s willing to go on the record about the payoff?”

“She said she was,” I say, leaning back on the bench and closing my eyes. “I think she feels bad about it—wants to come clean.”

“Is Seb paying her, too, so she’ll keep quiet about his mom?” He pauses for a second.“His mom doing time is not a story, but him paying Liza off is, especially as it relates to the bigger picture of Gentry. I’d have to include it in the story.”

When I open my eyes, he’s staring down at me. I shrug. “Seb didn’t tell me that.”

“That’s a good non-answer, Sophia. Who did tell you that?”

“I’ve told you what I’m going to tell you. Anything else is between you and Seb. What Gentry and Gary are doing is wrong. I hope you report on the story because the harassment needs to end.”

“Have you talked to Seb about this?”

“I haven’t talked to him since the night I left the team.”

“I’m guessing he’s the one you have the personal relationship with—”

“Had.”

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