“Almost every man on the team has a file,” she said. “Some are rather incriminating. Others are just embarrassing. There’s one series of images that will force someone out of the closet, and I don’t think he’s ready for that to be public. If we come forward with the cheating allegations, there’s a good chance these images will get leaked. The story will become about us, not the spying.”
No one spoke.
No one wanted to make the call.
Elle continued. “However, if we do this? I have all the evidence we need. Emails. Correspondence. The paycheck I was given with extra money for doing the job. But I can’t make this decision. I wanted to protect you guys—the players. Jack, Cole, Lachlan. It’s your futures. Tell me what you want to do.”
Jack didn’t hesitate. “We come forward. We’re a team, a family. We live together, and we die together.” He squeezed Leah’s hand. “The league and Frank Bennett won’t take any mercy on me.”
Leah wasn’t deterred. “I’m ready for them. We’ll meet with the league and bring it to the media first.”
Jack thought out loud. “Call Sports Nation. Can you get an interview arranged?”
Cole and I both made a disgusted sound.
“Who better?” he said. “Ainsley Ruport’s got a hard-on for all of us. At least it won’t look biased.”
Piper checked her phone. “How much time do we have?”
“None.” Jack swore. “We have to do it today. The regular season starts on Sunday. We can’t go into the season knowing this. If we get caught, last thing we want is to be punished for two years’ worth of fuck-ups.”
Leah was already talking with her office, planning with her secretary. “I can get a meeting set up for this afternoon, but this is going to create a shit storm. An umbrella won’t cut it; we’ll need to seek shelter.”
Cole never backed down from a challenge. “We can handle it.”
Piper hopped to her feet. “You three—say nothing at practice. Not to the media. Not to the coaches. Not to the team. Your agent—” she pointed to Cole and me, “I will speak for you. Jack, I’ll prepare a joint statement with yours. Elle, I need you to go home and bring me everything you have.”
“There’s a lot,” she warned.
“The more the better,” she said. “Leah and I will handle the interviews. And I’ll call my father. Some of the agents at his firm are actual lawyers. You’re gonna need one, Elle.”
If the thought intimidated her, Elle didn’t show it. She steeled herself. More fucking brave than I might have been, and far more poised. This woman amazed me.
And I asked so much of her.
I followed Elle to the door, but she didn’t want to talk. She shook her head before I even spoke.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Now her voice weakened. “Not now. Not with all this happening.”
“Then when?”
“Maybe when our lives aren’t falling apart?”
“Red, you’re the only reason I’m standing in one piece.”
If she believed me, she didn’t say it. I reached for her cheek. She ducked away before I could touch her.
Her goodbye was a half-hearted whisper. I swore as the door closed.
One crisis starting, and another one imploding.
I fucked enough shit up. Who the hell knew if I made the right decision this time?
I slunk to the kitchen. Did I want to drink the coffee or drown in it?
Jack followed me. I owed him an apology, but I doubted it’d matter much once the team was suspended as a result of this bullshit.
I leaned against the sink. “Can I get you anything? A beer?”
“It’s six in the morning,” Jack laughed. “I don’t do that anymore.”
“Right.”
“Elle’s pissed at you.”
“She has every right to be.”
His warning was unnecessary. “Don’t fuck that up, rookie.”
“Might be too late.”
“With a girl like that you make the time.”
He was probably right. “We had a fight…about everything. The pictures. The baby. Me.”
“Did she win?”
“Absolutely.”
“Tell her that. Works for me.”
Not this time. My head ached as much as my body, and I still had ten hours of practice and drills and weight lifting ahead of me. I didn’t know how the vets handled it.
“Do you remember what it was like your rookie year?”
Jack thought the question was amusing for some reason. “Not at all. I drank most of that season away. I remember the women, the money, and the hangovers. But I think I spent most of the games scrambling and terrified.”