Page 62 of The No Try Zone
For some ridiculous reason I can’t explain, I actually believe him. So I raise the glass in a toast, take a small sip, and confess the entire sordid story for the second time today. Minus the sex on the very same couch we’re sitting on.
When I’m done, he finishes his drink and takes mine out of my hands. “Yer kind of an asshole, you know that, right?” He smiles as if that’ll lessen the sting of his words.
“What choice have I had? If I go to the president and tell him, I’m fired and Sam loses her job.” And I lose any chance I have of getting Sam to forgive me. And Ollie.
Shit.Ollie. Nausea swirls in my gut at the thought.
Lennox pours my Scotch into his glass and raises it to his lips. “I still think you need to speak up.” Then he drinks.
“Not happening, Campbell. And I need you to keep this quiet.”
His eyes flash to mine. “Who all knows?”
“You. Sam.”
He sucks his teeth. “You know that means Elodie and Kari know.”
My blood goes cold. “No.”
“Aye,” he states. “Those three are thick as thieves.”
I groan and curse as I rub my hands over my face. How does this get worse with every passing moment?
Lennox grunts. “Eh, it’s fine. But you need to make this right.”
“No shit. I thought you said you were better at this than my sister?”
He chuckles. “That was before I knew ye married her and bailed on her in under twelve hours. That’s the most arsehole move I’ve ever heard of. No offense, of course.”
“Offense taken.”
He grins. “Fair. But listen. Kari won’t let a peep out. No way will she let a scandal rock the team.”
I study him. There’s a story there. I can’t pinpoint it, but it’s there. Something about the way he says Kari’s name. “You’re right. And you? You’ll stay quiet?”
He tosses back the last of his drink and stands. “Not a word.”
I rise and hold out my hand. “Thank you.” I’m not sure how confident I am that he’ll keep his mouth shut. But it’s not like I’ve got a choice here.
He shakes it, a shit-eating grin on his face. “No thanks needed. I absolutely think you’re doing the wrong thing.” His eyes are bright. “And it’ll bite you in the ass before yeh know it.”
I stare at the darkened pitch after he leaves, lost in thought.
If Kari knows…she’s PR. Surely she’ll keep it quiet. But what if rumors start? Maybe I should go to Scott and confess now, before the season starts. I’ll take the hit so Sam can stay. Ryan and Elliot will step up and take care of the coaching duties; maybe one of them will get the head coach job. And Ollie. I’d have to talk with him privately, somehow explain things in a way that keeps him from hating me. The kid has wormed his way into my heart, nearly as much as his sister has.
“Do you love her?”
Lennox’s question rattles around my head. Do I? She frustrates the absolute hell out of me. She’s smart, so fucking sexy it hurts to look at her sometimes. The way it feels to make her laugh, and the brief second she let me in on that couch…
No one can know. Keeping this quiet is the only way I won’t hurt someone I love. Because it really might be love.
I am so fucked.
Chapter23
Sam
WE’RE ACTUALLY MARRIED. We’reactuallymarried. It’d been so long that I’d finally assumed that we weren’t. That it was all a fever dream that I still didn’t completely remember.
