In Her Element #2
“You’re coming with me,” I tell her, and finally plant a soft kiss on her lips.
A minute later, she’s settled into her seat, belt in place, but still hasn’t said anything.
The smart thing would be to take her home. Let her rest. Let her process the fact that our lives just got turned upside down.
But there's no chance in hell I'm leaving her alone.
I know Riley.
She'll spend ten minutes by herself and decide the best thing she can do is pack a bag, slip out the front door, and shoulder this mess on her own.
Not happening.
Not on my watch.
The drive takes twenty minutes. By the time I arrive, I head for Coach Brennan’s office, but not before taking care of Riley.
“You're going to stay right here while I talk to Coach and Diane.” I point to the chair against the opposite wall in the hallway. “I won't be long, and I'll do everything I can to find a solution that works for both of us.”
I take her hand and press a kiss to her knuckles.
“Then I'll take you home, and we'll figure out the next step together.”
I hold her gaze. “Deal?”
She looks at me. Without a word, she walks toward the chair and sits. I follow her. Her eyes are on the floor. I lean down and kiss her temple.
With one final look, I go in.
Coach is behind the desk. Diane is standing at the window in a black suit with her arms folded, the exact posture of a woman who has been managing a bad morning since seven a.m.
“Easton.”
“Coach.”
“Sit down.”
I sit.
Diane turns.
“Nike has been on the phone with legal since ten. Two other sponsors have quiet-flagged. The team publicist has been fielding calls from three national outlets. The story is trending in the sports vertical and it has not even hit the gossip cycle yet. That is coming. That will be worse.”
“I know,” I sigh.
“Do you? Because a few weeks ago you sat in this office and told me you would keep her invisible. And now I'm watching a photograph of your hand on her back circulating on every platform I monitor, with a caption written by Preston Sinclair's people, and I want to hear from you what the plan is.”
I look at her.
“The plan is I'm not hiding her anymore.”
Coach Brennan’s eyes land on mine, and I see his jaw lock.
“Blake.” The name he calls me when he’s about to hand me my ass.
“Coach. Hear me out. Preston isolated her for six years. He decided who she could see and what she could do and how loud she could laugh in her own kitchen. Every time I have let her be seen in the last month, she has come more alive. Every time. Hiding her plays his game. He came by my home a few days ago with a silent threat, and he’s acted on his words.
He’s engineered this to force her out, but this works in my favor.
In our favor. Going public is the only move that pulls her out of his frame and puts her in her own.
And also secures my public image over time.
There’s nothing that could be done now to erase the damage this release has already done, except to play by it and give them the truth they’re looking for.
With that, he’ll have nothing left to threaten us with and everyone can move the fuck on. ”
Diane looks at me.
“You are asking me to sell that to the sponsors?”
“I'm asking you to help me sell it. Soft launch. Controlled. On my terms. Not his. This is my private life with my woman. I have the right to date whoever I want. This woman, being Preston Sinclair’s ex, doesn’t exempt her from my radar.
This isn't a crime, nor does it speak for my person or public image.”
She's quiet for a long beat.
“Preston Sinclair is exactly the wrong man to make an enemy of.”
“I’m not scared of him. He’s done the worst he can. Unless you want to tell me his influence can pull me out of the team forever. If it’s the sponsors on me, maybe I was never the right player for them.”
Coach’s eyes widen.
“Blake.” He’s absolutely dumbfounded, but I couldn’t care less. Hockey has paid me enough to let some money slip if it’ll cost me my peace. “Are you sure you want to go down that road?”
“It’s a decision I made the moment he showed up at my doorstep.”
Diane shakes her head.
“You won't enjoy the next six months.”
“As long as I’m on the team and playing, I’ll be fine.”
Both of them watch me for a minute. Then Diane speaks, and I hear her shields dropping, except her words punch me in the gut.
“And if anything else comes out… If there is anything about you I don't know…”
I hold her eyes.
“There is nothing coming out that I can't handle.”
She looks at me for a long second.
“Fine. Soft launch. My timeline. My messaging. You go where I tell you and you say what I tell you until this steadies.”
“Thank you.”
“Be careful, son.”
I nod at Coach.
A minute later, I’m out. Riley is on the chair. She stands up and I take her hand. We walk to the parking lot, wordlessly.
In the car, on the way home, we don’t talk.
Diane’s last words sit on my mind.
I think about Maya.
Every camera that is now pointed at me is a camera Maya is watching. Every headline is a headline that raises her price. I have known this since the article opened on my screen in the greenhouse, and I have been carrying it since.
I have made her more dangerous by choosing Riley.
I think about Mason.
I think about him at the bar, telling me to tell the woman the truth before it blew up on her.
If only he knew.
He doesn't know she's the Sinclair bride. He doesn't know I'm about to be the other man in a national story. He doesn't read sports coverage. He doesn't follow gossip. He doesn't live in any of the rooms this is going to move through. He won't know unless I tell him.
I will handle Maya first. Then I will tell him. Later. When it is handled.
For now, my one mission is to make sure my woman gets her life and freedom back.
No more living in fear.