Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
JESSIE
“ W hat exactly is it you want?”
“Simple, Richard.” Graham leaned forward and addressed the head of his legal team, resting his forearms on the boardroom table that separated him from me and my agent, Steve Waters.
He’d removed his hand from around my throat when he dragged me out of his house yesterday, but I was convinced he was still throttling me in his mind. His hands shook with rage as he reached into the middle of the table and turned the volume up on the conference call he’d urgently requested.
“I want to discuss the immediate termination of Jessie Callaghan’s contract with the Dallas Destroyers.”
Steve shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I’d called him last night to warn him this would be happening, but he still looked surprised when Graham declared his intentions.
Holding up a hand, he opened his mouth to speak, but Graham immediately shut him down.
“I don’t want to hear it, Steve. You have represented this boy”—he pointed to the middle of my chest with venom—“since I made the biggest mistake of my life—signing him. This time, he’s gone too far, and he’s not only a danger to my team and the future of the Destroyers.” He paused and cleared his throat. “He’s a danger personally too.”
Steve turned to me then, his brows knitted together, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Someone needs to fill me in. All you said last night was you’d fucked up again. I assumed in the same way—too much booze, or you needed me to deal with your dad and the press.” He looked back over at a red-faced GM. “What do you mean, a danger personally?”
Mia’s face flashed through my head, her tears staining her cheeks. I imagined the state she’d been in when she texted me over and over again last night. I read each one and typed out a reply to nearly all of them. But I never hit Send on any. I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye, even though I had known that was exactly what this was. There was no way Graham would settle for anything else.
Graham lowered his voice and leaned closer to the phone speaker. “For the sake of my daughter.”
“Oh fuck,” Steve interjected.
Graham nodded at Steve, and his eyes flicked to mine. “For the sake of my daughter,” he repeated. “This is to go no further than these four walls and whoever I trust. The fraternization policy between staff and players is clear. Ordinarily, it would be non-playing staff that leave. But there’s not a chance in hell I’m throwing my daughter’s career under the bus. She’s destined to take over the team. She’s damn good at what she does, even at such a young age. She’s learning the ropes and fast.” He leaned back in his leather seat and crossed his broad arms over his chest. “But for all her potential, she is still nineteen years old and impressionable.” Uncrossing his arms, he pointed at me again, and accusation laced his tone. “And you took advantage. After everything—all the years I put you through college, paying for taxis and equipment to get you to practice and games because your parents drank away any donations I made—this is how you repay me. You looked me in the eye and told me you wanted to be the best, to rule the goddamn league. You told me you wanted the world and you’d make sure I’d never regret my decision to stick by you. I boarded planes to speak with your college coaches and convince them you were worth starting. Fuck me.” He ran a furious hand through his hair. “I even cleaned up your puke when you drank yourself silly at frat parties. And, yes, I know you spent more time fucking girls than you did on the ice.”
I felt the blood surge to my face. I had no response, no leg to stand on. Every decision I’d ever made worked against me in that moment. “I’m sorry, Graham.”
“Fuck off,” he scoffed at me.
Steve opened his mouth to speak again, but Graham shoved his hand up in the air. As he leaned forward across the table, further than he had before, I could feel his disgust absorb into my bones. Graham’s face was twisted with hatred, all too similar to my dad’s.
Oxygen thief.
“My late wife always used to tell me to trust my gut. Especially when it came to you, Jessie. She said you were the right boy from the wrong side of town and you needed more support than most. She said she could tell you wanted this, even if you were messed up.” His voice shook with emotion. “She’d kill you herself if she knew your true agenda. All you wanted was our only daughter.”
“It wasn’t like that.” My hands were freezing cold, the pain was shooting into my chest, and my heart was hammering at an unsteady rhythm, reverberating throughout my body.
“Was she a bet?”
My head whipped up to him, anger swelling in my gut. “Mia is everything to me.”
He huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “You’re just sorry because you got caught before you could put your dick in her.” He paused again, straightening his tie, before he pinned me again with a glare. “You’ll never see her again. I’d be tempted to say you might catch a glimpse of her when you play away games, but I doubt your career will last more than a season with the way you’re playing. I’ll be calling in my final favor on your behalf, if only to get you off my team and out of my fucking life. But mark my words, Callaghan. You so much as LOOK at my daughter again, and you won’t have legs to skate on.”
Silence stretched throughout the room.
Steve dropped his pen to the notepad in front of him as he pushed it away, resigned to my fate. “What’s this favor you’re speaking of, Graham?”
He picked up his cell phone and started tapping on the screen a few times. “Mike Burrows is a former teammate and a good friend. He’s got serious pull with the GM of the Seattle Scorpions. I know they have been watching game tape of Jessie for some time. They were interested at one point and likely still are if we can bury this scandal and Callaghan can keep off the fucking bottle.”
“We will need to look at the terms of Mr. Callaghan’s contract with regard to a trade deal,” Richard added.
Graham shook his head at the speaker. “You mean the contract he’s already in breach of? This is misconduct of the highest order. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a free agent.”
Steve threw me a despondent look and drummed his fingers on the table. “I don’t want this to be dragged out. Jessie needs to be on his new team ASAP. If we can get discussions off the ground, I want negotiations to follow quickly afterward.”
Graham nodded vehemently and pushed back his chair; he was done with the conversation. “Agreed.”
I was barely able to inflate my lungs. I needed to get outside. I was either going to pass out or puke at any second.
“Like I said, Callaghan …”
I paused on my way out of the room and spun back around to eye Graham for what I knew would be one of the last times.
“Not one fucking word about this from you, not even to your parents. This trade is by mutual agreement. You’re a disturbance, and you dislike the way I run things, and I can’t see a future here for you anymore.”
I nodded as he turned and walked out of a second door leading to his office.
He had it all wrong if he thought I’d be breathing a word of this to anyone, let alone my dad. He always told me I was a fuckup, but if he knew, he’d have the evidence to prove his theory right.
I flew out of the room and left Steve to finish the call with Richard.
The hallway out to the parking lot was thankfully empty. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, especially not the rest of the team. They were already pissed at my performance and the way Graham had given me way more chances than they would ever get.
I got right to the end of the hallway when a hand landed on my shoulder from behind, spinning me back around. Other than Graham, this was the last person I wanted to see.
Tate Coulson, our captain and experienced hard-ass defender. Other than Zach Evans, who played for the Scorpions, he was the guy no one wanted to mess with in the league. I didn’t like the way he looked at me. I knew he wouldn’t start a fight right here, but I could tell he knew what had happened. He was close with our GM. Unlike me, when Graham had put Tate through his program, Coulson had taken the opportunity with both hands. He was one of the first success stories for Graham’s foundation, and at this point, he was more like a family member to him. He’d also known Mia since she had been really young. Part of me thought he wanted her, but he wasn’t that fucking irresponsible.
“So, the cat finally ran out of lives,” he sneered, getting right in my face.
“Leave it, Tate,” I replied, stepping back toward the door, feeling less sure that he didn’t want to get into it right here.
He shook his head and tutted at me. “The GM’s daughter. I mean, I always knew you were a fucking idiot. But I never thought you’d bury your career with a sex scandal.”
“Fuck off. You got what you wanted; I’m gone.”
I pushed at his chest, and he stumbled back from me, fire burning in his eyes.
“I don’t think you realize how much Jenkins did for your sorry ass. He believes you’re the best. And I’m not just talking about a generation; I mean the best ever. Period. But you know what I see? I see an average player. A rookie too scared to shoot for his potential, combined with a selfish prick consumed by addiction. Yeah, that’s right; I know about your little secrets. Too wrapped up in finding your next drink to give a fuck about anyone. When Graham called me last night, he told me how gutted he was to lose you, even after everything. You know what I told him?”
“What?” I spit.
Reaching out, he fisted a handful of my orange-and-black hoodie. Spitting on my Destroyers logo, contempt overwhelmed his features. “I told him he’d dodged a bullet. But Mia had avoided a fucking land mine. You’re not destined for greatness, only the fucking sewer.”
I thought about what it would feel like to connect my fist with his nose as he released his grip on my top. “Say all you want about me. But never speak Mia’s name again. You don’t know shit about us.”
Tate huffed out a sarcastic laugh. “Good luck with the Scorpions. Coach Burrows will eat you alive, and Jon Morgan makes me look like the fucking fairy godmother.”
He turned on his heel and headed through a door to the right, no doubt back to Graham’s office.
I’d lost everything—the people who believed in me the most.
As soon as I pushed out the back door to the private parking lot, I leaned on the hood of my black Mustang and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the ground. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and my body shook as I brought my fists down on the metal over and over again.
I’d done exactly what I had known I would. I’d taken her happiness and selfishly absorbed it until there was nothing left to give and my dark world seeped into hers. The only saving grace was my dad would never know the real reason behind my trade, and therefore, he’d never find out about Mia. I could keep her at a safe distance.
When there was nothing left in my stomach to puke up, I raised my head and saw the image of Mia leaning against my windshield, a memory from when we had gone stargazing in the cornfields. Her black hair was swirling around in the freezing winter air, held down only by her fluffy earmuffs. Her smile was brighter than the summer sun beating down on my clammy skin.
“Always?” she’d whispered, her eyes full of hope.
I beat my fist once more on the hood, and pain shot through my wrist. I ripped my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and brought up the pictures app, opening the password-protected file with the photos we’d taken during the months we snuck around. One by one, I deleted them, desperate sobs punctuating my actions.
When I got to the final photo of us, one I’d taken when she slipped into the locker room after I deliberately stayed late for practice one night, I paused over the red button.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” I said, bringing my thumb down until the screen turned black.