Chapter 70
ELI
Deep breaths.
It’s a lot easier said than done when Gerry looks between me and Coach as if he’s forgotten how to speak. The reaction is becoming too familiar, and I sit taller in the imposing bucket chair across from him.
“My attorney filed charges this afternoon, along with—” I pause at a loud knock. Gerry’s executive assistant rushes in.
Brian stands in the doorway, the soft father I’ve come to know masked beneath a sober expression.
With his brown leather briefcase clutched in his hand, he saunters to the empty seat beside me.
The surety he’s cloaked in tilts the room’s balance his way; even Gerry sags in his chair while his EA backs out.
“I’m sorry I’m late to the meeting. As you can imagine, the clerk’s office was busy.
Before we carry on, I have some paperwork for you to sign.
” Brian goes straight to business, drawing two manila files from his briefcase before rounding the table to place them in front of Gerry.
“As my client has chosen to keep his name from public record, we need you to sign a non-disclosure that prohibits the Comets organization from disclosing any information that will identify him.”
“Is this really necessary?”
“Essential.” Brian produces the same gold fountain pen he used earlier while I talked him through what happened the night Presley assaulted me.
Not once, multiple times, and each time, he wrote it down like he was memorizing every detail, recording every nuance in my tone, noting the small shifts between recountings.
When he sets the pen on the agreement, Brian’s stare lands on mine. Blue and cool, yet somehow warm in spite of his all-business demeanor. The slight quirk of his lips holds the same tenderness I adore about Jayden.
Silence stretches a couple of minutes—an awkward power tug-of-war between Brian and Gerry.
At last, with a bitten exhale, Gerry says, “I can’t sign until the legal department has looked through the document.”
“Okay,” Brian croons, pocketing his pen, rounding the table, and closing his briefcase. “Until we’re sure the franchise and my client are on the same page, I’m afraid we’re done here. You have my contact information when you’re ready to resume this meeting.”
“Sylkes—” Gerry starts, but Brian gestures for me to follow him out. I do, without a backward glance, Coach and Gerry watching us go.
Every part of me is twisted up and nauseated as we head toward the lot, but there’s no one I’d trust more to navigate this.
Before we step outside, Brian pauses. “The only way we control this is by steering it where you want it to go and how.”
“Is it going to affect my contract? I don’t want to create a hostile atmosphere with the franchise…the team…”
The whole point of exposing Presley was to protect Jayden and me. To keep us together.
“It would be highly unethical for the franchise to do anything other than support you. The NDA simply keeps your name in a select circle. The fewer who know, the lower the risk of a leak.”
I nod, then ask the question lodged in my throat. “What about the restraining order?”
His swallow drops my gut to my feet. “Because all proven violence has been during games, we weren’t granted the harassment restraining order.”
“But after… I…” If Presley retaliates, he’s unhinged enough to hurt Jayden or Finley. “Brian—”
“Unless he wants to help our case, Tomes will stay away from you.” I open my mouth to say it’s not me I’m worried about, and he adds, “He won’t go near Jayden or Finley, either. If he does, one call to the police and we have him on victim and witness harassment.”
“Okay.” I try to believe Presley isn’t stupid enough—or vengeful enough—to incriminate himself.
“My advice for you and Jayden is to carry on as normal. Focus on hockey. Let me handle the legal matters and Lex the PR. And I’m telling you now what I told Jayden earlier: you do not go into a meeting without me or your agents present.”
We push through the door, and Brian stops, eyeing Jayden as he paces beside his BMW.
“I’m heading back home tomorrow morning before Jonathan gets on a flight to L.A.”
What? “What about the charges? The police… the case…”
Brian’s smile gentles as Jayden finally notices us. His hands are balled in the pockets of his gray sweats, the white long-sleeve he’s wearing stretched taut over tense muscle. An alarmed frown snaps his brows together; he stays rooted to the spot.
“The last thing anyone needs is Jayden and The Sire spinning out at once, and especially not together.”
I agree. JJ needs to cool off and get his focus back on the season. We don’t play the Wolves again for a few weeks, back-to-back. Maybe by then, things will be different.
“I love them with all my heart, which is why I can say they’re hotheaded fools when it comes to the people they love.” Brian sighs and walks straight to JJ.
On average, Brian’s tall, but there’s something sweetly comical about the way he stretches up to meet Jayden’s stare. Their exchange is brief, and the vice around my chest eases when JJ relaxes a fraction.
Brian slides into the back of Jayden’s BMW as I approach. I clutch my rolled baseball cap to leash the antsy thrum before it throws me at him. JJ engulfs me anyway. His heart hammers against my chest; every frantic throb tightens my arms around his torso.
“How was it?” he whispers into my temple and presses a soft kiss there.
“Same as with Coach.” Except Gerry isn’t Coach. He doesn’t know me the way Coach does, so his shock was harder to read. His dismay gave the voices in my head too much to run with. “I keep waiting for it to get easier to talk about…” It doesn’t.
JJ presses a harder kiss to my head before guiding me to the car.
He doesn’t let me go until he’s all but sat me in the passenger seat and then buckled me in.
I know he needs to do as much as he can for me to ease the torment eating at him, and I wish I could do more to make it better.
To take care of him. Because even though he doesn’t believe me, none of this is his fault.
There’s only one person to blame. Presley Tomes.
“How was your call with Trevor?” Brian asks once we’re on the road back to the apartment.
“Terrible,” JJ groans, his knuckles blanching on the wheel. “We are not on the same page about anything. I wanted options. A clear view of what’s out there for me, and he spent the whole damn call berating me.”
“It’s his job to give you the hard truths,” Brian says, earning a glare in the rearview mirror.
“I already know the hard fucking truth. What I need is for him to smooth things over. His job right now is to make me look good.”
“You can’t make an asshole look like a rose, Jayden,” Brian says so matter-of-factly that I glance back at him. His expression matches his tone. “You behave like an asshole, you’re going to look like one. Being one to Trevor won’t make this better.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“It’s not about sides; it’s about best interests. You want Trevor to make you look good; give him something to work with. You know how it goes. Give and take.”
JJ falls silent, but I can hear the things he’s not saying screaming in his head.
I rest my hand on his thigh and give the tense muscle a firm squeeze. We’re still here. Still together. That’s what matters. Soon enough, no one will care that he went at Presley, especially once the charges are public.
It’s all a matter of time.
That’s what I keep telling myself whenever I have to talk about that night. With every pitying glance. With every quiet room.
Soon, the focus won’t be on me. The attention won’t be on Jayden and the way he let loose on Presley.
Soon, all eyes will be on Presley Tomes.
It’s only a matter of time.