17. New Edition
Chapter 17
New Edition
Kolby
When we walked into the meeting room, CJ, Matthew, and Remington were there, but two older gentlemen, brothers and grandfathers to the Boss Babes, John and Jack Ross, were also there.
“Knights, we have news,” CJ announced as we all sat down. “We received word that four arrests have been made. The suspects worked for the electrical company that had been contracted for the new security system. The owner of the company, a lifelong friend of Jack and John Ross, a man who hunted Ross property for longer than any you have been alive, whose kids hunted the property, and hell, even their next generation. Three of them got drunk and smoked up and decided to cut the lines. Their motive?—”
“Aside from being asshats,” comes from John Ross.
“Yeah, Gramps, aside from that.” CJ chuckles. “They were pissed prime hunting was being taken by this team. One of them is in the hospital in Canada.”
“Fucking morons,” Jack Ross mumbles.
“Obviously, had they taken him to Syracuse, we would have heard about a man being electrocuted.” CJ shrugs. “And had their grandfather not had a heart attack?—”
“Because the fucking morons drove him to it,” Jack adds.
“—we’d have heard the suspicions from him. All that being said, everything should be up and running at The Stables by five tonight. That gives you two nights in your own beds, if you choose.”
Hart raises his hand, a smirk playing on his lips. “Question: what were their names?”
CJ scrubs a hand over his face, hiding a chuckle. “Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, and Mike Smith.”
“Fucking knew it!” Hart laughs. “They were at the brewery that night. Total dicks. Which one got sparked up?”
“Mike,” Matthew answers.
“He gonna live?” Hart asks.
“He is,” CJ answers.
“Can’t wait to tell Brooksie.” Hart chuckles.
“All that said, we’re still asking for check-ins until after the game. You have two more days that you are required to do so. We’ll revise when you win on Sunday.”
“Two days in our own beds,” someone hoots.
* * *
After practice, half the team still plans to go to Hart’s. Me? I got called to the office, and Ryan Brooks is the one walking me.
Before we turn the corner, I ask, “Anywhere you and I can talk alone for a minute?”
“Yeah.” He nods left. “My office.”
Ryan is in charge of maintenance, but his office isn’t full of parts and pieces; it’s pretty damn plush. When we walk in, he doesn’t sit behind a desk; he sits in one of the two chairs on the opposite side. Behind the desk are bookshelves with binders lined up neatly and pictures—so many pictures—of his kids, of Lo .
The door opens, and Jade walks in. “Oh, hey, Kolby.”
“Jade.” I try to smile, but she sees it’s not in earnest.
“Do you two need …?” She stops. “I can come back.”
“No,” I say loudly. “I’m sorry. I just … this is difficult and not thought through, but it needs to be done. It’s good you’re here.”
“Okay?”
“Sit, babe.” Ryan stands.
“Sure thing.”
“Gonna start by saying Lo already knows all of this, and if she’s already told you, it’s okay.”
“That she loves you?” Jade smiles. “That you love her? We figured that out?—”
“No.” I shake my head. “But yes, too.” I start pacing and have to stop myself to take a deep breath and tell them, “I don’t want this in the media. I don’t want this whispered about in the locker room or the stands, but the people I hope are in my life for the rest of it to know.”
“Go on, son.”
Son, he called me son, and fuck, that tightens my heart in a way I just don’t understand but do. Regardless of whether he feels that way, in two minutes, at least I had it for that long.
“My name wasn’t always Kolby Grimes; my name used to be Ryan Johnson, and I killed my father when I was fifteen.”
I expected silence, but that’s not what I get. I expected Jade to be the first to respond, but she isn’t.
It’s Ryan, with a quiet rage in his voice when he asks, “What did he do to you?”
* * *
“You gonna be able to stop the tears when we get to the Brewery?” Ryan chuckles, and Jade elbows him.
“These are happy tears,” she says and looks back. “We’re so happy for you, but mostly for us. We get you here for five more years at least.”
“Hoping it’s longer than that.” I chuckle.
“It will be,” Ryan states.
When the three of us walk into the Brewery together, it’s packed. Locals, Knights, all celebrating the news of the arrests and getting hyped up for the game. The dark has seen light, which seems to be the theme of this week.
Ryan whistles loudly, and quiet fills the space.
My eyes lock with Lo’s.
“We want you all to know that Kolby Grimes has just turned down contracts with LA, Vegas, and San Fran and has unofficially signed a five-year one with our Knights.”
The whole place erupts in celebration as Lo rounds the bar, runs to me like a tiny, beautiful toy version of a linebacker, and then launches herself at me.
Laughing, I catch her and twirl her around.
She grabs the sides of my face. “Congratulations, Grimes.”
“Thanks, Lo. But there’s something else, too.”
“More good things?”
“Ava crossed that line.”
“Of course she did,” she says.
“No divorce.”
Her face falls.
“I’m getting an annulment.”
She grins. “Like she was never there.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, as soon as they’re done fighting over numbers.” I shake my head. “But numbers really don’t mean shit now.”
“Good contract?” she asks.
“Great contract.” I lean in and whisper, “And I decided to come clean with your folks about my past.”
Her head whips around, and she looks at her mom, who smiles sadly then back to me.
“I told Ava and Lucas, too. They assured me it wouldn’t get out unless it came from me.”
“Are you okay? I can leave if you want to?—”
“No, I’m good. Better maybe. But definitely exhausted on a level that?—”
“Emotionally,” she whispers.
* * *
When we get word that The Stables are open, Lo being Lo, and seeing me in a way I don’t even care to unknot in fear I won’t be able to knot it back up, tells me I need to lock in and tells me she will see me on Sunday.
Took a minute to realize she was doing this for me. For me …