Page 100 of Hot Shot
Hunter leans closer to me. “Were you ever going to tell me? Or were you going to keep it a secret forever? Kind of important, don’t you think?” He grinds out the last word, and it makes my stomach drop.
We’re getting into this now, I guess.
“I was going to tell you tonight, but we got interrupted by this.” I gesture to the iPad that sits forgotten on the desk.
I’d planned to tell Hunter the truth tonight. Tomorrow, I was going to call my father and tell him about me and Hunter.
Only now, everyone and their brother will know. All our dirty laundry aired in public for everyone to see.
“Right.” Hunter gets to his feet, and begins to pace.
This is all my fault. Had I not had dinner with EJ, he never would have met Hunter and found out who I was dating. I could have told Hunter about Jake being my dad. Yeah, there’s a possibility he would have been mad, but at least the whole world wouldn’t have known.
We could have gone to my dad together and figured out how to disclose this so his spot on the team wasn’t jeopardized. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen. He’s still waiting on a contract for next season. Will the team even want him now?
“How about we give you two a chance to talk before we sort this out? Otherwise, I have a feeling we’ll be here all night.” Dad pushes back from his desk.
“Come on, Sutton. Let’s give them a minute.” He follows her out and closes the door behind him. Great, we’ve run him out of his office.
I huff out a breath, lean back against the chair and close my eyes.
“At first, I didn’t know you played for the Storm. Then we got to know each other as friends. I didn’t know what kind of relationship I was going to have with my dad in the beginning. For all I knew we were never going to see each other again after the first time we met and telling you too soon would have distracted you. I didn’t want you to be accused of getting special treatment because we were dating. I didn’t want to add to your stress. But I was going to tell you tonight and him tomorrow. Figured things would either work out or they wouldn’t, but I was tired of keeping secrets.”
Hunter stops his pacing and sits back down. “You lied to me.” He turns to look at me and there’s hurt written all over his face. “I asked if you knew my coach, and you flat out said no.”
My shoulders sag and I stare down at my hands. “I didn’t know him when you asked me. We’d only had one conversation.” It’s a lame excuse, but it’s the best I’ve got.
Hunter fists his hands in his lap. “I don’t know what to say. I need some time to . . . come to terms with everything, with all of this. I—It’s hard to digest. Coach is your dad. I can’t. I need some space.” He shakes his head. “But what are we going to do about this?” He sweeps his hand toward the iPad.
“Can we come back in?” Sutton peeks her head into the office. I nod and she and my dad step back into the room.
“We were talking.” She gestures between herself and my dad. “We don’t think there will be any problem with you two dating. I’m going to speak with the general manager, but I think he’ll agree. Once I’ve done that, we’ll issue a statement. You two started dating after Hunter secured his spot on the team. Hopefully in a couple of days this will all blow over.”
Hunter nods.
“Great. I’ll get right on that.” She picks up the iPad and leaves.
“Are you two okay?” Dad asks, glancing between the two of us.
Hunter reaches up to tug on his hair. “Fine, Coach. Peachy.”
I hear the sarcasm in his voice and sigh. I know Hunter. I know he’ll be worried that the Storm won’t want him next season after this news. If I could go back in time and change things I would but I can’t and now I have to live with the outcome.
How could I be so stupid? Why didn’t I tell him weeks ago? Tell both of them.
“Don’t worry about this, Hunter. Nothing’s going to change.”
He gets to his feet. “If that’s it, Coach?”
“Yeah. See you at practice. If you need anything, call me.”
Hunter stalks out the door. I want to rush to my feet. Fly after him. Ask him if we’re alright. If we can talk. I hate that all of this came out the way it did. This is not how I wanted either of them to find out.
Now everyone who reads that article will think Hunter only has his spot on the team because of me. This is a far worse outcome than had I told him the truth. In trying to shield him from stress and worry I made it worse. I hope Sutton can do damage control or else I’ll never forgive myself for ruining his reputation.
“You alright, Madison?” Dad asks.
I shrug. I don’t really know how to answer that.
