Chapter 27
Showered and dressed, I knocked on the door to Andy’s office fifteen minutes later. “Come in,” he called from inside.
I pushed open the door and saw Andy on the phone.
He held up a finger to me and then gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
I sat and took the opportunity to look around his office.
It was a hell of a lot smaller than I would have thought for a business tycoon.
The computer set-up on his desk was so sleek and high tech it reminded me of something out of Star Trek, but otherwise his office didn’t look a whole lot different from the dozens of others in the team management.
“You look less than impressed.”
I tore my eyes away from the bookshelf next to him to see that Andy had hung up the phone, and was watching me check out his office.
I shrugged. “Figured it would be bigger. Don’t guys like you have glass walls and leather furniture and all that shit?”
His lips quirked up in a rare smile. “I needed a place close to the rink to handle team business. My real office is over in the Knight Corp wing.”
That made sense. The complex that housed the arena and our practice facility was huge and sprawling and included the headquarters of Andy’s multi-billion-dollar empire.
My eyes fell on the single picture on his desk. It was him and Grace, arms around each other’s shoulders. She had her head thrown back with laughter while Andy smirked at her side. Seeing her like that, so happy and comfortable, had a sharp pain radiating through my chest.
Suddenly, the whole day—the whole past week— seemed to crash over me at once and I felt exhausted. “What can I do for you?” I asked wearily, wanting nothing more than to get out of there and go home.
Andy leaned back in his leather chair, watching me. “The team is not doing as well as I would like.”
I snorted. “You’re not alone in that sentiment.”
He nodded. “I know I’m not. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”
I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to go on.
He sighed, running a hand over his face. “I saw what happened on the ice.”
Ah. So he had been watching. “Did you also hear what happened in the locker room?”
His eyes sharpened. “No. Why don’t you enlighten me.”
“I punched Ryan Cane in his stupid fucking face,” I said evenly. I had zero shame about it. The punk deserved it.
Andy’s face remained impassive. “Care to share any more details?”
“He’s an asshole,” I said. “He was talking shit about Skylar Vaughn right in front of her. His attitude sucks. He talks down to half the players on a daily basis.” Andy continued to watch me with that expressionless face and I felt my anger spike again.
“He’s particularly shitty to rookies. And to Gabriel Dalton.
Maybe that’s a coincidence, that he targets the only Black guy on the team, but I doubt it.
” Still Andy didn’t speak. “He’s toxic in that locker room and I’m tired of it. ”
“I’ve been working on a trade for a few weeks,” Andy said, shocking me enough that I sat back in my seat, silenced. His lips twitched again. “I’m not an idiot, Liam. I see the way he talks, the way he acts. He’s not contributing shit.”
I let out a breath. “Well…good.”
His eyes sparkled with amusement. “What else you got?”
I studied his face, wondering how much he really wanted to hear. Andy spread out his hands. “By all means, O’Conner. Let it out. What are the team’s biggest problems, as you see them?”
He really wanted to do this? Well, fine.
“Dillion is a terrible coach,” I said bluntly. “He spends eighty percent of his time working with five or six guys. He lets the assistant coaches do all the heavy lifting. And his attitude is godawful.”
“He’s not the most positive guy in the world,” Andrew began, but I cut him off.
“Look, I don’t need a coach to blow sunshine and rainbows up my ass in order to be inspired.
I’m not talking about that. Dillion is straight up negative about the team and the city and the organization.
He plays favorites. He obviously favors guys he brought from Atlanta—so long as they’re good Canadian boys because he treats the Europeans like shit.
” I took a deep breath. “And he’s awful to Dalton.
He won’t even fucking look at the kid unless he’s screaming at him. ”
Andy’s eyes narrowed. “You think he’s discriminating against Dalton because of his race?”
“I haven’t heard him use a slur, but yeah, I think that’s exactly what’s happening.
Gabe is the best winger we have. He keeps his head down at practice.
He causes no drama and he’s a total team player.
So why is he the guy Coach can’t stand to look at?
Why does he get less playing time than a fourth line rookie?
Why is he constantly getting in his face, spewing f-bombs?
The way he treats Gabe is unacceptable. Beyond that, he doesn’t seem to give a shit about whether the team wins or loses.
He’s the worst coach I’ve ever played for. ”
Andrew was quiet for a long moment. “You think he needs to go?”
It wasn’t my place to say, I knew that. There were a lot of things that went into hiring that I knew nothing about. I hadn’t seen Dillion’s contract. I was sure his long career and pair of Stanley Cup rings gave the fledging organization some much needed legitimacy.
But I also knew he was bad for the guys on the ice. And if Andrew was actually as serious about all of this as he said he was…
“He should be replaced,” I said firmly. “As soon as possible.”
Andrew just watched me. “Okay then,” he said, clasping his hands, posture as casual as if we were talking about what to order for lunch. “I’ll take care of it.”
I blinked. “Just like that?”
He lifted one shoulder. “You’re telling me he’s a bad fit for our team. I don’t think you would do that if you didn’t feel seriously about it.”
“I wouldn’t,” I said quickly.
Andy nodded. “Look, I can tell you want this organization to do well. I know Austin is a good fit for you, with your daughter and in-laws living here. It’s clearly in your best interest to make the franchise as successful as possible.
” His lips quirked again. “Besides all that, you’ve never struck me as a dishonest guy. I trust you on this.”
Well, fuck me. I never in my life would have imagined Andy Knight trusting me about anything.
“I told you before,” he said, voice almost gentle. “I brought you on because I knew you were good for my team. You’ve always been a good guy, Liam.” He chuckled a little. “Shit, why do you think I always hated you so much?”
“Why did you hate me so much?” I blurted out. I always used to tell myself it was just a personality clash, paired with intense competitiveness on both sides. But maybe it was more than that.
Andy was wearing that old familiar smirk that always got my hackles up. “I hated you because you were a good guy, nice to everyone. And it wasn’t just an act—you were truly as easygoing and decent as you appeared. And I was a fucked-up kid from the wrong side of town with an inferiority complex.”
I blinked at him several times. I’m not sure what I expected him to say, but it wasn’t that.
“You had a lot of shit to deal with,” I muttered, my image of him as a surly kid and teenager shifting a little.
I knew how hard Grace had it back then—why hadn’t I ever cut her brother any slack for facing those same struggles?
I used to get so jealous of Andy’s close relationship with Coach Newton back in high school.
Why hadn’t I stopped to think Newton was likely the only positive male role model in Andrew’s life?
“Anyhow,” Andy said, leaning back in his chair again. “I’ll take care of Dillion. Cane is going to be a bit more complicated. He’s worth a lot and I’d rather not trade him for peanuts if I can help it.”
“Sure,” I agreed, even though I would much rather play with a bag of peanuts than ever skate with Ryan Cane again. When Andy didn’t seem inclined to say more, I started to rise. “Are we done, then?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, jaw clenching as he nodded. I stood, walking to the door, that exhaustion kicking in again.
“Liam,” he called when I reached the door. I turned to see a familiar sharpness had settled over his features. “I’d prefer to keep personal issues separate from team matters. But it’s going to be a lot harder for me to trust your good intentions if you keep fucking with my sister.”
I stiffened, tension settling over me like a weight. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt her,” I began, anger flickering in my gut, but Andy cut me off with a snarl.
“Well, she seemed pretty damn hurt when I saw her yesterday.”
Fuck. “Andy, I don’t know what you think happened—”
“You have a history of toying with her emotions.”
Was he kidding me? “I have never toyed with Grace.”
Andrew snorted. “Give me a break, O’Conner.”
So we were back to last names. I breathed in deep, trying to stifle my temper.
I might get away with a slap on the wrist for punching a teammate, but going off on the team’s owner would surely have a more severe consequence.
“Look, I’ve been dealing with some family drama.
My ex showed up and caused a shit ton of problems, but that has nothing to do with how I feel about Grace. ”
His eyebrows went up. “Chloe has been around?”
I snorted. “Yeah. And she brought her usual drama with her.”
“Drama that’s affecting my sister.”
It was hard to have this conversation when I had no idea what he knew about our relationship. “Chloe picked Josie up from school a few days ago and was spouting some shit about us working things out. Which is total garbage, by the way. But I know it upset Grace.”
Andy sneered. “Can you blame her? After everything that happened with Chloe senior year?”
The room suddenly felt very still to me. And very quiet. “What about senior year?” I asked, my voice low.
His expression turned incredulous. “All of that shit with prom. It might not have seemed like a big deal to you, but it really fucked with Grace. She was upset for months.”
My mouth had gone dry, my mind spinning with confusion. “Wait. What exactly did Grace tell you happened?”
He studied my face, like he was trying to decide if I was fucking with him. “You asked her to prom. Or she thought you did. And then Chloe told her she had misunderstood the whole thing and you just felt too sorry for her to tell her the truth.”
All the air whooshed out of me. “What?”
Andy’s eyes were narrowed. “I figured it was just like you. Always trying to be the cool guy, everyone’s best friend.
Mr. Popular. But Grace took that invitation seriously, Liam.
She spent a month’s worth of tutoring money on a dress, for God’s sake.
I’d never seen her lit up like that. She really fucking liked you and—”
I held up both hands, interrupting him. “It was a serious invitation. I wanted to take her. It crushed me when she said her plans had changed.”
I could tell Andy wasn’t buying it but I really didn’t give a shit.
All I could think about was getting to Grace and finding out what in the hell had really happened.
Had Chloe seriously fucked everything up back then?
She’d made it pretty obvious that she liked me throughout high school, but I had never imagined she’d go behind my back and lie to Grace.
Finally, Andy closed his eyes, as if exhausted from our drama. “Grace has had a tough year,” he said. “Her ex did a number on her.” I frowned. I hadn’t heard a word about her ex.
Andy continued. “She’s never been great at confronting things that are uncomfortable or painful. But it sounds to me like the two of you need to grow the fuck up and talk through your shit.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, already planning to go straight to her house and wait for her to get home so she’d have no choice but to talk to me.
“She’s an amazing person, Liam,” he said, voice low and intense. “She deserves better than you. Hell, there’s not a man on this earth worthy of my sister.” Well, at least we agreed on something. “But if you’re what she wants, then I just hope you can step up and at least try.”
I met his gaze head on. Enough messing around. “I’m in love with her, Andy. Always have been. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make that woman happy.”
He blinked at me and I couldn’t tell if he was surprised or not. Finally, he nodded. “See that you do.”
His phone rang and he raised a hand at me in dismissal. Fine with me. I was more than ready to get the hell out of there.
I had only taken a few steps into the hallway when he called after me. “O’Conner, hang on.”
I stepped back into the room, watching while he listened to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying.
“Yeah, he’s right here. Why?” More talking.
Andy’s eyes widened, and something seemed to sink in my belly.
“Are you sure? Okay. The house or the school? Okay.” He hung up and met my gaze with suddenly worried eyes.
“Your in-laws called the front office when they couldn’t get you on your cell. There was some kind of mix up at school. You need to get home right away.”
Suddenly my body felt very cold.
“Andy?” My voice cracked on the word, dread flooding my system. The concern in his expression did nothing to soothe me.
“They can’t find Josie.”