Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Justin
“I don’t know about this,” my agent, Carey, says to me. I smile at him and adjust my tie when I get out of my car and walk into the building. I fasten the button on my blue suit jacket, and we walk to the elevator. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Relax,” I say, getting in the elevator and looking forward. I see from the reflection that he’s rubbing his forehead. I look at myself in my blue suit and white shirt. This morning when I put it on, Dylan laughed at me and said I looked like a banker.
“You know that, as your agent, I have to be on your side,” he says.
“But this … it’s just …” He puts his hand on his chest, and I have to laugh again.
He’s been with me since the beginning. “I thought your brother was nuts, but this …” Now I laugh.
“It might kill your career.” He doesn’t just represent me; he has my whole family under him.
“That’s okay,” I say. “I made enough money to last a long time.”
We walk out, and the receptionist greets us and asks us to follow her. “Here we go,” he says when we get to the conference room. She opens the door, and we walk in.
I spot all the key players sitting around the table. The general manager for the team, Hartley. The owners of the team, Albert and Charles, and finally, the coach of the team, Claude. “Gentlemen,” I say, and they each stand and shake my hand. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“No problem,” Albert says.
“Anything for you,” Charles chimes in after him.
“Well, not really anything,” I say to them, and they don’t say a word as I unbutton my jacket and sit down in front of them with Carey beside me.
“Well, gentlemen,” Carey says. “I bet we are all wondering why we are here.”
“I mean, I don’t think it’s actually that much of a surprise,” I say. Putting my hands on the table in front of me, I fold them together.
“We were going to reach out to you,” Hartley says.
“But you figured that before you reached out to me to get my side of the story, you would suspend me.” I look at them and see Claude lean back in the chair and side-eye the rest of the guys. “And tell the press before picking up the phone and telling me?”
“Justin.” Charles starts to talk. “You have to understand that our hands were tied.”
“You were charged with assault,” Hartley says, “in front of a church.”
“Charged doesn’t mean convicted,” Carey says from beside me, and I know that he is nervous, but I also know by the way he just leaned in his chair that shit is going to go down. “Especially now that the DA has thrown the case out, and all charges were dropped.”
“We stand by what we did,” Charles says. “It’s a family-run company, and we can’t let it slide, even if we didn’t want to.”
“Funny you should say family,” I say, looking at them, “because a family-run company would have called me to ask if I was okay. Would have been at the police station making sure I was all right. A family would have had my back no matter what.” Claude just nods.
“A family doesn’t just turn their backs on each other because it’s going to get messy. ”
“I agree,” Claude says.
“See, me assaulting that man was me protecting my family,” I tell them.
“Not that any of you asked. I have been a part of this ‘family’”—I raise my hands and use air quotes—“since I was eighteen years old. I’ve gotten on that ice every single day, having the backs of my teammates.
I’ve never once questioned any of the decisions that you guys have made over the years.
” I smirk now. “And there have been some shitty ones, and some not so smart ones, but I’ve stayed true to my commitment to this organization and to who I thought were my brothers. ”
“Your commitment to the team is not in question,” Hartley says.
“You’re right, it’s not. What’s in question right now is how I can skate for an organization that doesn’t stand with me,” I say and then look over at Claude.
“I’m sorry that I am doing this, especially to you.
” I then look over at Carey, who just nods.
“I refuse to get on the ice with this organization going forward. I will not be attending camp. I will not be on that bench, and I will never wear that jersey.”
“Surely, you don’t mean that,” Hartley says. “You can’t just do that. We can …”
“You can, what, suspend me?” I shrug. “Whatever.”
“You’ll be in breach of contract,” Charles says.
“Oh, well, I guess you can either sue me or pay me out,” I say. “Or here is something, you can trade me.”
“That’s crazy. You are the franchise name,” Harley says.
“And not even that was good enough to stand by me,” I say, pushing my chair back. “I’ll let you guys think about it, and Carey will call you this afternoon to know which option you pick.”
“You would ruin your career,” Albert says. “All because—”
“All because in my time of need no one was there,” I say and then look at Carey. “You ready?”
“This is fucking bullshit,” Hartley snaps.
“No, what’s bullshit is getting a fucking phone call from SportsCenter asking me to comment on my suspension.” I push the chair back in. “That’s fucking bullshit.”
“I’ll trade you to the bottom of the fucking barrel,” Hartley says, foaming from the mouth.
“You can try, but obviously, my agent has my back, and there is only one team I’ll go to.”
“Fuck you,” Hartley says.
I nod at them, smiling. “Have a great day, gentlemen, and good luck in the future.” Then I turn to my coach. “Claude.”
“We’ll talk soon,” he says, and I turn and walk out of the conference room. Pressing the button on the elevator, I wait. I don’t know why I thought they would come chasing after me or even apologize for what they did, but I don’t get any of that, and it just makes my decision easier.
When we walk out into the hot sun, I turn to Carey. “I say give them five and call them with my offer.”
“I’ll let you know,” he says and walks to his car. “Never a dull moment with you.”
“Hey.” I smile. “Could be worse.”
I get into the BMW and make my way back to the rink when the phone rings, and I see it’s Carey. “Don’t tell me they called you already?”
“I was shocked also,” he says. “You can thank Claude. He said he didn’t want you sitting on his bench.” I laugh.
“Did you give them my demands?” I ask him.
“Please, you think I’m a rookie?” he asks. “I’ll let you know if they approve.”
“I’ll be on the ice,” I say and disconnect.
When I get to the rink, I walk in and say hello to a couple of kids who see me and then I walk into Caroline’s office.
She is sitting behind her desk typing away on the computer, and her eyes come up when I walk in her office.
I smile when I think about her here with me.
“Hi,” she says, smiling at me, and I walk over to her, turning her chair and kissing her on the lips. “It’s not my lunch break,” she says and wipes off the lip gloss that is now on my lips. “How’d it go?”
“It went the way it was supposed to go,” I say, not telling her anything yet.
“Well, do you think they will still suspend you?” she asks, and I shrug.
When I made the decision about quitting the team, I made one phone call and then decided not to tell her until the end.
I didn’t want her to think this was another thing I did for her.
In reality, I wasn’t doing it for her; I was doing it for us.
“No clue,” I say, and I kiss her again.
“You look really sexy in a tie,” she says. Twirling the tie between her fingers, she looks around. “Maybe tonight I can take it off you.”
“Sweetheart,” I say, looking around. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to close the blinds on your window, lock the door, and then fuck you on this desk.
” I lean in now. “All while wearing the tie.” She shudders in her chair.
“That isn’t helping.” I’m actually thinking about how mad she would be if I did that when my phone beeps in my pocket.
“Saved by the bell,” she says and pushes me away from her. “Now go teach hockey stuff so I can work.”
“Fine,” I say, kissing her one more time and then taking my phone out of my pocket and seeing it’s a message from Carey.
Carey: Deal accepted. I’ll send over the contract.
I look back now. “Change of plans tonight. The three of us will have dinner.”
“The three of us always have dinner,” she says, laughing.
“I mean out. Let’s get pizza,” I say, and she just shrugs.
“Whatever you want,” she says, and I have to say in the past three weeks she’s grown into her own. She’s also started hanging around my sisters more, which makes it worse for me. You see, after everything that happened, they decided to spend the whole summer in Canada with me.
I don’t get on the ice that day. Instead, I watch from the stands and pick ten kids who I want to extend the program for. I had to choose, and it was the perfect day to do it.
When we finally decide dinner everyone agrees that we should just go home. Dylan starts talking about the weekend and how he wants to go to the cabin we went to last week and try fishing again.
“We can,” I say. “I’m sure everyone is going again.”
“Michael said he’s going,” Dylan tells me, and Caroline just looks at me.
“So,” I start, and she looks at me. “I had a meeting with my team today.”
“Are they still mad at you?” Dylan asks, and I look at him. He was very upset when some of the kids said I got kicked off the team. I had to explain to him that sometimes you get in trouble, and this was my time-out, which just made him even madder since he didn’t understand any of it.
“No,” I answer, and then I look at them both. “I’m mad at them.”
Caroline just looks at me and waits. “Why?” Dylan asks me.
“Because when you are with a team, you expect them to have your back and be on your side,” I tell him.
“On that team, on the ice, they are your brothers.” He just nods, and I decide I’m just going to have the rip off the Band-Aid moment.
“I told them I was not getting on the ice in Edmonton anymore.” Dylan opens his mouth, and Caroline gasps.
“What does that mean?” she asks quietly.
“It means that tomorrow, the whole world will know that I’ve been traded,” I tell them, and Dylan starts to cry. “What’s the matter, buddy?”
“You’re going to move away from us,” he says, “and you are going to get another family.”
I decide that maybe doing this during dinner was not a good idea, and I get off my stool and take Dylan in my arms. “Let’s sit on the couch.”
I carry him to the couch, and Caroline walks behind me, her own tears hidden when she sits down and just holds Dylan’s hand.
“I know that this is your home,” I tell them. “I know that you love this city, and you have lots of friends here. But I was hoping …” I start. “I was hoping you guys would come with me.”
“You want to take us with you?” Dylan asks.
“Of course, I want to take you with me,” I say, kissing his forehead. “Obviously, I want you guys with me always,” I say, looking at Caroline who blinks away tears. “Would you be willing to move with me?”
“Yes,” she whispers at the same time Dylan nods his head.
“Just like that?” I say, my heart finally beating. “Without even knowing where I’m going?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Caroline says, coming to me. My hand goes around her shoulders, and she puts her head on my shoulder. “Doesn’t matter where it is, we’ll follow you always.”
I turn to look at her and kiss her lips softly. “I love you,” I whisper.
“So where are we going?” Dylan asks.
“There was only one place I would accept,” I tell them. “Home.”
“What?” Caroline says, sitting up.
“Next stop,” I tell them. “New York.”