Page 88 of The Blame Game

“True.” He gritted his teeth, so fucking tired of the way people were treating him now. Like he’d break if they said one little thing wrong.

“Now, anything else?” she asked, her tone businesslike again.

“Not on my end. Although, I did want to ask. Why’d you choose to meet here?” Dom gestured around Kate’s office. “I thought we were avoiding this because of the leak.”

“Well. I’ve had my office soundproofed. While the team was on the road, maintenance came in and put up sound-deadening panels. I still can’t believe we were forced to go to that extreme but here we are. The lock was also fixed. Apparently, someone had messed with it so that the door would appear to shut but not quite latch, making it quite easy for someone to stand outside and listen in.”

“Holy shit,” Dom said. “That’s crazy.”

“It is. I’ve never … it makes me sick to think that someone would go to those lengths to get dirt on the team but apparently that’s the case.”

“Do you have any suspects?”

“Yes.” She leaned in, speaking softly even though there was apparently no need. “Obviously this is in confidence, but there are two. Mitchell Nash and Birdie Pope.”

“Birdie?” Dom said. “You think one of the WAGs—uh, SAPs is leaking info to some gossip rag?”

“I don’t want to believe it. She’s a sweet girl but she does have a little bit of a reputation as being a gossip. Even Colton admits as much, and they’ve been dating for years.”

“Sure but—”

“I know. Chatting to other people involved with the team is far different from outright selling private information about the team.”

“Exactly. Although I don’t want to believe anyone who works for the organization would sell it either,” Dom admitted.

“It’s awful no matter how you look at it.”

“But why would Birdie do it?” Dom asked. “I mean, what would she have to gain? Sure, she’s not graduated from school yet and Yates is on an entry-level contract so he’s not exactly raking in the big bucks but the guy is on his way to being a superstar. His next contract is going to be a monster deal.”

No matter how bitter Dom was about being replaced—and yeah, he could admit he’d harbored some bitterness about it—Colton Yates was a big fucking deal. He’d had a blockbuster rookie season and while there had been the very common second year slump, he’d still played very well.

Well enough to supplant Dom as their top line center, which maybe wasn’t saying much but …

He was currently leading the team in points and he’d been near the top of the league all season as well.

“But even without that huge contract, he’s got great endorsement deals already,” Dom said aloud. “I can’t imagine he and Birdie are hurting for money badly enough to jeopardize everything they already have.”

“I wouldn’t think so, no.”

“Revenge of some kind?” he suggested.

“Maybe? But what would Birdie want revenge over? As far as I know, everyone around here loves her. She and Mitchell are friends from university and I know she’s joked a few times that he ‘stole’ her job but I can’t imagine that she thinks that she’ll set him up for it, then swoop in to steal the position after he’s fired.”

“That seems like a very big stretch,” Dom agreed.

“Exactly. She’s a bright, hard-working young woman and I’m sure she’s ambitious but I can’t imagine she’s that diabolical.”

“Agreed.”

“But Mitchell makes even less sense,” Kate argued. “He’s a nice kid too. He was the hardest-working intern we’ve ever had and he’s very good at his job.”

“You wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.”

“Exactly. I didn’t even know who his father was when I hired him.”

Dom frowned. “His father?”

“Yeah. Mark Goodwin. He’s the executive director for business operations for the team.”

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