Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
~MAC~
Iwake up in a tangle of arms and legs. Danny is still here, and that makes my heart happy. I do my best to wiggle out of his arms so I can watch him sleep.
He looks so peaceful and sweet lying there.
Like a little boy with his mussed-up brown hair.
I want to reach over and touch his face, but I don’t.
It was late when we finally went to sleep last night.
Exhaustion took both of us so quickly, neither one of us bothered to put clothes on.
Danny just discarded the condom and gathered me in his arms.
I roll over to see it’s after eight. I don’t have training today.
Coach said something about a scrimmage with the Pride.
They’re on a bye this week, same as us, and had asked for a friendly game at our home stadium.
I thought it sounded like a terrible idea, but Coach Watts was excited about it.
I reach for my phone to see if there are any more updates on it.
I have so many messages from Cassie.
Hendrix.
Amelia.
Coach Watts.
But the worse one of them all has to be from August.
August: We’ll need to see you this morning, Mac. Please come to Cromwell’s office by 10 am. We’ll be waiting.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I decide to open the message from Coach to see what he wants. Maybe it’s about the game and not as bad as I think.
Coach Watts: Why am I being called to Cromwell’s office this morning because of you and the reporter? What is happening, Mac?
“No,” I say, tears pricking my eyes.
“Mac, are you okay?” Danny asks, his voice thick from sleep. “What’s going on?”
“I’m being called into Cromwell’s office today by ten. And my coach will be there too.”
“Oh,” Danny replies. “I’m so sorry, Mac. I shouldn’t have let you lead me onto the dance floor. We could have blamed it on the alcohol or something.”
“Think we can still blame it on that?” I ask him through my tears.
“Nope, I think it’s too late for that. I think we just have to come clean,” he tells me.
“Which is kinda what I think you were going for last night.” He reaches over and places a kiss on my shoulder.
“It’s going to be okay, Mac. I won’t let anything happen to you.
I’ll take all the blame. I know how important this team is to you, and I won’t let them fire you. ”
“Think they will?” I ask him. That thought had not occurred to me. I knew they would be pissed at me, but I hadn’t imagined that they would fire me.
“I won’t let them.” Danny pulls me into his arms. “It’s going to be me and you against the world. I’ve got you.”
And I believe him. I believe he does.
“What will this mean for you?” I ask.
He rolls over and looks at his phone. “Well, Martin would like to see me as well.”
I shake my head. “For a Sunday, everyone is so excited to meet with us.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I think it might have something to do with the scene we caused last night. And these pictures that August sent me.”
I lean into him and look at his phone. August sent him pictures of me in Danny’s arms while I was grinding into him. There’s even one with his hands in mine while he leads me out of the bar.
I groan. “It’s so nice of him to capture those. You’ll have to thank him for me.”
Danny chuckles and kisses me quickly. “I think you’ll be seeing him before I will be.”
I shake my head. “Yeah, I guess I will be. That’s not that far away. I guess I should get ready for it.”
“It’s going to be okay.” Danny watches me as I grab all the clothes I’ll need to take with me into the shower. I need a quick one. I smell of sex and sweat. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I just need you to promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Don’t give up on me, okay? Don’t let them ruin this. Because, Mac, we have something very special here. We may not have come together in the most conventional way, but baby, what we have works.”
I fly across the room and into his arms, then kiss him passionately. “I’ve been waiting a long time for someone like you. They’re not going to take you from me,” I tell him, determination in my voice.
He pinches my ass. “Good girl.”
I’m sitting in the lobby outside of Cromwell’s office, waiting to be called in. It feels so much like being called into a police interrogation room. I can see Coach Watts, Coach Andie, Maxwell, and August are all in there. They’re talking loudly, but not loud enough that I can hear them.
My knee bounces in anticipation. I just wish I could go knock on the door and ask that we just get this shit over with. But I know it’s best to wait until they call me in.
August finally opens the door. “Mac, come on in.”
“August.” I grab his arm, stopping him before we enter the office.
“Yeah?” He’s having trouble looking at me as he shifts from foot to foot.
“Why did you turn us in?”
He sighs. “Because I had to, Mac. You guys didn’t leave me much choice. I’m sorry for doing it. I really am.”
I just nod.
We enter the office, and all eyes are trained on me. I look to Andie to see if she’ll be my only friend here, but she’s avoiding my eyes. Clearly, I don’t have a friend in this room. And I probably shouldn’t, because I may have crossed a line. But I had a damn good time doing it.
“Mackenzie, I’m sure you know why you’ve been called in here.
” Maxwell Cromwell starts the conversation, and I nod.
“Okay, I’m just going to get right to it.
We know that you’re sleeping with Danny Taylor.
What I need to know is if last night was the first time or if this was occurring while he was interviewing you. ”
I sigh. There’s no point in lying to him, so I just put it out there. “It started the night of the charity bartending gig. He came to see me and then took me home with him.”
I study the floor, and it makes me wonder why office carpet is always so bland. Why is it not brighter? Perhaps people would be happier in offices if it was. It’s a weird thought to be having while my career hangs in the balance, but I’d rather focus on anything other than why I’m in this room.
“So, you were dating while he was writing the article about you?” Maxwell clarifies.
“Yes, we were.” There’s no sense splitting hairs. He doesn’t care about that, and I’d rather not explain my relationship to him.
“I see.” He shakes his head. “What if this gets out? How is this going to look?”
It doesn’t take much to realize that he isn’t necessarily talking to me. He’s looking in the direction of Coach Watts, who just sighs and looks over at me.
“So, tell me, Mac, was it worth risking your career over?” Coach Watts asks. “Because you definitely put that in jeopardy. I thought you were smarter than that.”
It feels like a scolding, and I can tell he’s disappointed in me.
I hate that I disappointed my coach. All my life, I’ve tried to avoid doing that.
And if and when it did happen, I hated myself for it.
I wish I could say that I hate myself for falling in love with Danny, but I can’t.
He’s one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time.
“We didn’t mean for this to happen. But you all put us together.
You had us spending a lot of time together.
We bonded over the pressures of parents and sports.
It’s not like we meant for it to happen, because trust me.
The last time I was in this office with this being assigned, I did not like him. At all.” I stress the last part.
Andie laughs. “I know you didn’t like him then, but Mac, it’s not ethical.”
“Not for him,” I admit.
“What is that supposed to mean?” August asks. “Your integrity will be called into question here too. He wrote an article about a woman he’s sleeping with. How can anyone trust that what he wrote wasn’t because he was fucking you?”
“August,” Maxwell warns.
“You paid the paper for the article,” I tell him. “That wasn’t exactly ethical either. What I did was wrong and shouldn’t have happened. But one could argue that you paid for good press.”
“We did not pay for good press,” August defends.
I roll my eyes. “Really? Did you actually think he would write an unflattering article when his paper was paid money for it to be written in the first place?”
Coach Watts laughs. “She’s got you there.”
I smile at him, and he winks at me, making me think he’s just playing the disappointed-dad card because he thinks he should be.
Maxwell sighs and comes out from behind his desk. I guess he’s done pretending to be intimidating. “I think you’re forgetting that your contract has a no-fraternization policy in it. You shouldn’t have been sleeping with an employee of the team.”
“And you shouldn’t have been paying for press,” I point out.
“Oh, grow up Mac, this is just how it works,” August says. “It wasn’t exactly ethical, but neither was what you two did. Did you even think about what this would do to his career before you took a cock ride?”
“August, too far,” Coach Watts yells at him. Andie starts to yell something too, but I can’t hear it that well because August and Watts are yelling at each other.
“Enough, everyone.” Maxwell’s stern voice breaks through the yelling.
“Mackenzie, there is a no-fraternization policy in your contact, sure. And yes, we shouldn’t have been paying for the story, but I was trying to help the team.
It’s been done before, with other teams. You just may not have realized it. ”
“So, what are you going to do to me? Suspend me? Fire me? I can’t do anything about what happened. I outed us last night and your lap dog came to tell everyone—”
“I didn’t have to rat you out,” August defends. “Other team members saw it, and they were bound to talk. I had to tell my father. I had to save us from any media backlash that we may encounter for this.”
I nod in understanding, saying nothing else.
“While you technically didn’t break any rules, I need to know if your conduct is being called into question,” Maxwell says, watching me closely.
“Your contract is only for two years. Fuck up again and I’ll pull it.
Got it? I did want to suspend you, but you have some great advocates on your side.
” He motions to Coach Watts and Andie. “This won’t impact you’re playing time.
Just watch yourself. And know that Mr. Taylor probably won’t receive the same treatment from his employer. ”
“Thank you, sir. I didn’t mean to cause issues. I just fell in love with a man. I shouldn’t have but it was hard to fight. Surely you can relate to that?” I ask him, knowing full well that he’s been married three times, so he might know something about getting carried away with love.
“I do. But be careful. Just because you feel a pull to do something doesn’t mean you should.”
“Got it.”
“Good, now get out of my office,” Maxwell tells me.
I get up and hurry out. I feel someone hot on my heels and turn around to see Coach Watts and Andie behind me.
“Please keep your nose clean, kiddo,” Watts tells me. “We have that scrimmage later today, so go get ready for it. Do not pass go, do not collect your boyfriend. Just get your team and get ready.”
“Yes, sir,” I say, hurrying far away from Cromwell’s office before anything else can be said to me about the matter.