Page 83 of Token

“Roger’s personal email was part of the hack, and apparently, there’s more to the original video than what the public saw, and none of it’s good.”

Kennedy froze, air escaping her lips in a rush. Her shoulders slumped as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh crap.” After a moment, she peeked at Mina from between her fingers. “How not good is it?”

Mina made theyikesemoji face. “I sent you a link to the video. It’s already gone viral. I’m sure you’ll be getting a call from his management any minute now.”

“Okay, thanks for the heads-up,” Kennedy said. Turning to her computer, she tapped her finger on the keyboard, opened the email in question, and watched.

She watched it two more times after that.

Okay, then.She closed the browser.

After his injuriousandinjudicious use of the N-word, her lovely client had gone on to make his displeasure known at the attempts being made to change the names of sports teams derogatory to Native Americans. Shockingly enough, he didn’t find the names offensive. Kennedy was sure Cecelia’s Cherokee ancestors had something to say about that.

Hell,Kennedyhad something to say about that.

The video had only gotten better when his friend Weston had started them down the road leading straight to #MeToo hell. His opinion of what should be considered sexual harassment and assault should have him locked in #MeToo prison until he learned the meaning of consent. That the wordnodidn’t meantry and change my mind. Roger’s noncommittal grunts probably saved him from a life in hiding, but his friend wouldn’t be spared the pitchforks coming for him. But then again, there was the matter of guilt by association, so Roger’s relative silence on the subject didn’t necessarily put him in the clear.

But Roger’s most egregious crime came with his enlightened commentary on all the recent protests and marches: civil rights, police brutality, women’s rights, transgender rights, gay rights, voting rights, abortion rights, et cetera, et cetera. To that, he’d said,Jesus Christ, people need to lighten the fuck up. Go live somewhere else if they don’t like it here.

Kennedy inhaled deeply through her nose. She felt a migraine coming on, and she’d never had one in her life.

Roger was well and truly fucked.

Her office phone rang then, and the caller ID indicated it was exactly who she’d expected to call, the team’s head of PR.

Kennedy spent the next fifteen minutes agreeing with Louis, that yes, the hack was reprehensible. But it didn’t matter now that his comments were public. He would be judged by them, and not favorably. Even the people who privately agreed with him, none of them would stick their necks on the chopping block to defend him.

Since Roger was already working with the diversity outreach program, and his former neighbors had already lent their support the first time around, there wasn’t much else she could do for him. Truth be told, there wasn’t much shewantedto do for him. The idiot had managed to cast his insult net wider than before. At this rate, he was going to send his poor mother into witness protection. From shame.

She’d barely hung up with Louis when her cell phone rang. Kennedy looked down at her screen to see it was the nowtwice-disgraced hockey player himself.

Snatching it up, she practically stabbed at the screen. “You lied to me,” she said, her tone flat and anger threading her voice.

“No, no, no. I swear I didn’t lie to you.” He sounded panicked. And as well he should.

“I asked you if there was anything else—”

“And there wasn’t anything else. This was from the same day, and I didn’t even realize the fu—the video uploaded to the cloud automatically. I thought it was deleted everywhere.”

“But you knew you said those things when we talked.”

“Oh, come on, Kennedy. Did you expect me to tell you? I was ashamed enough as it was. And I knew if I told you, you’d—” He broke off and emitted a heavy sigh.

“I’d what?” she snapped, her patience with him already threadbare and that little bit was quickly fraying.

“That you’d look at me different. That you might not want to help me. I didn’t want you to think I was some bigoted dipshit.”

Suddenly weary, Kennedy closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Bone-deep tired of it all. “Are you a bigoted dipshit?”

“I’m beginning to think so,” he admitted grimly. “I didn’t know what the fuck I was talking about. Obviously. Working with the kids at the program is showing me that. You want to talk about toughness and resilience?” he huffed. “Most of those kids have more at their age than I will in my whole life.”

“That’s because theyhaveto. They aren’t given a choice. They either toughen up or the world around them will eat them alive.”

“Yeah, but they shouldn’t have to.”

“No, they shouldn’t, but this is life, and life isn’t always fair. Actually, life is usually never fair.”

Roger snorted. “I guess that means I’m going to get what’s coming to me. No more hockey, no more endorsements. There’s no coming back from this, is there? Everyone hates me now. My mother was at a march last week. She said she can’t believe I’m her son.”

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