Page 109 of Cross-Checked

But I watch the way her shoulders stiffen, and I know she feels slighted, or maybe even attacked. “Just the kind of ballsy move you’d expect from the best GM in the league, huh?” I say.

Instead of seizing on the opportunity to compliment his daughter, Mr. Jones says, “Well, that remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”

My free hand curls into a fist at my side.

“Nah,” Colt says, stepping up next to me, like he’s trying to make sure I keep my mouth shut. “We don’t need to wait for the final round of voting to know she’s the best. She proves it day in and day out with how she’s turned our team—and our whole organization—around.”

And then he’s spouting off statistics showcasing what she’s accomplished, and comparing her to other GMs in the league—even though now the final round of voting is down to only two people: AJ and her mentor, Joey Connelly.

Frank Hartmann and his wife walk up as Colt is wrapping up his pitch for AJ winning the GM of the Year award, and the way the Hartmanns greet the Joneses, I realize that they run in the same circles despite living in different regions of the country—which tells me even more about AJ’s background.

And as the two couples chat, AJ turns toward us, walks through our half of the circle so we turn to follow her, and then stops to look back at Colt.

“You didn’t have to do that. But...” She takes a deep breath, then relaxes and gives us a small, relieved smile. “...thank you.”

I’m headed toward the empty bar on my way back from the bathroom, when Chet steps into my path. I should movearound him and keep walking, but I’m so caught off guard by how he popped out of nowhere that I stop.

“Still following AJ around like a little bitch, I see,” he says.

My jaw clenches, but I force myself to relax as I consider how I can manipulate his insecurities rather than react to his words. “Some people are born leaders; it makes it easy to support them. Not thatyou’dknow anything about that.”

His face starts to turn red like last night when I scored the winning goal, and I realize how good the years have been to AJ, and how unkind they’ve been to him—not just in terms of their looks, but their successes as well.

“You think having her attention is something special? That the way she looks at you is some sort of prize?” he sneers.

I should be worried that he’s seeing something between us, but I’m not. I want him to be jealous. I want him to feel her loss so much that he can’t be happy. Because losing someone like Alessandra Jones is the kind of thing that could destroy a man. And I want to revel in his destruction.

I give him a smirk instead of a response.

“You’ll see what it’s like to live in her shadow,” he says.

“I’m not in competition with her,” I tell him. “I havemycareer, and I want her to achieve everything she sets her mind to inhercareer. I want her to be happy and fulfilled. The level of success she’s achieved...man, the only people who’d be threatened by that are those who are weak, those who can’t let other people succeed without trying to tear them down. So I guess what you have to ask yourself is: why did you have to make her feel small in order to feel good about yourself? Sounds like a personal failing to me.”

The way he shifts his weight, his body rigid, resembles a bull stomping his foot as he gets ready to charge.

“I should have pressed charges when I had the chance,” he sneers. “I thought forcing her to trade you instead would get you out of the picture.”

Blood thrums through my veins, adrenaline rushing my system. Instead of chasing the rush I’d feel if I pounded him into the ground again, I force myself to breathe deeply and stay calm—despite his apparent admission to blackmailing or bribing her to trade me.

I know that, more than anything, Chet wants me to react. He’s goading me, trying to get me to throw a punch like I did all those years ago. And as much as I want to take out my anger about AJ hiding this truth from me, I refuse to let this weak man provoke me.

“How’d that work out for you?” I ask instead. “Because she divorced your ass and ended up in Boston, so I’d say I ended up on top.”

“Of course that little slut would follow you.”

I shove my fists into my pockets, feigning nonchalance at his pettiness. Karma’s going to be such a bitch to him in the end.

“There was absolutely nothing going on between AJ and me back then,” I say. “But I’m sorry that you were so incapable of keeping her happy, of satisfying her, that you worried she’d be looking elsewhere.”

“Quite the opposite. I had to look elsewhere because she couldn’t give me what I wanted. You know she can’t give you kids, right?”

The selfish bastard doesn’t even try to hide his true colors.

“Of course she can. AJ was born to be a mom. Just because she can’t carry a baby herself doesn’t mean she can’t have kids, and only a spineless asshole with serious inferiority issues would think otherwise.”

“There you are, McCabe.” I hear Zach’s voice from behind me before he steps up next to me.

No one feels threatened by Zach; he has a Zen-like calmness about him that puts people at ease. But the one and only time I ever saw him lose his shit, fighting Ashleigh’s ex-boyfriend, I learned how deadly he actually is. And the tone in his voice that’s letting me know he has my back.

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