Page 89 of Cross-Checked

“I mean, a few select people know. And she has a meeting with Frank Hartmann about this today. I know she wants to be recused from any part of negotiating my salary.”

He hisses out a low whistle, but then looks almost pleased as he sits back in his chair and says, “This is going to be a total shitstorm. The media’s going to have a field day over this, and your teammates are going to be up in arms.”

“Yeah,” I agree, wishing that this was easier, even while I’m willing to walk through this shitstorm if that’s what it takes to be with AJ.

He rubs his hands together. “Well, this will be fun.”

“Fun?” I must be looking at him like he has three heads.

“Yeah. Now that Colt’s turned into a respectable human being, I haven’t had any crises to deal with in a while.”

“And that’s your idea of fun?”

“Getting ahead of the story and outsmarting everyone . . . yeah. That’s fun.”

I let out a low rumble of laughter. I played with Jameson for a year before he retired and became an agent, but I’ve never really seen this side of him. “I’m glad one of us is looking forward to it.”

“Want me to have my assistant draft up a letter for Trevor, letting him know you’re releasing him from your contract? And get a new contract drafted up?”

“Yeah, I think the sooner we do that, the better.”

“You know there’s nothing I can do to speed up the contract process, though, right? Until the playoffs are over, we can’t negotiate anything.”

“Yeah. I know. But I do want to stay in Boston, and at this point, I’d settle for that one-year extension at my current salary if that’s the only thing possible. I’m just not ready to walk away from the team, or from her, unless they don’t give me a choice.”

He shakes his head, and with a chuckle, he says, “Man, you’re down bad.”

“Yep.” I don’t even try to hold back my smile.

“We’re going to need to figure out a plan for when and how the news of your relationship is going to come out. I’ll talk to her publicist and the Rebel’s PR Team to make sure we’ve coordinated everything.”

“Okay. I’ll mention that to her.”

He nods. “I do think we can get your contract settled before the July 1st deadline when you’d become a free agent. And I’m not going to mention your desperation to stay, because I think you deserve a better contract than that. But I’ll be completely honest with you about what they’re offering.”

“Why do you think Trevor would lie to me about this in the first place?” I ask.

“My guess is that he thinks he can get you a much more lucrative contract elsewhere, and since he stands to make a percentage off whatever you make, it’s in his personal interest to negotiate a better contract wherever he can make that happen.”

Anger flares through my chest when I consider that the man who’s been my agent since I entered the NHL has betrayed me. “I thought he was supposed to be doing what was inmybest interest.”

“He is. But did you indicate that you’d be willing to go elsewhere?”

“Yeah, I guess maybe I did. My sister and her kids are in Nashville, and since I’ve had Abby, I’ve been feeling like it would be nice to be closer to my family.”

He glances out the window, then looks back at me. “Speaking from experience, there’s the family you’re born with, and there’s the family you choose. Sometimes the two overlap, and sometimes they don’t.”

“I guess that until AJ was in my life,” I say, wondering why I’m admitting this to someone I hardly know, “I didn’t really feel like I had family here.”

“Not even among your teammates?”

My teammates are great guys, but I’ve always held myself at a distance. I guess I never saw myself as a family man, like Walshy and some of the other married guys, and yet never saw my teammates as my brothers, either.

“Nah, not really. I mean, I was always close with Renaud, but because he’s been out this year, I don’t really have my person, you know?” Honestly, Renaud’s not really the kind of guy who’d have any idea what to do to help me with a kid or give advice about this relationship, anyway.

“I do, actually,” he says. “Before Lauren, I always had Audrey and Jules, but that relationship was different because I was almost like a dad to them.”

“Yeah, but you’ve also got Colt.”

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