Page 76 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

Her gaze dropped. “No problem. I wasn’t totally coherent either, and I’m sorry about that. It had been a pretty intense twenty-four hours.”

Hope rose up in me. All we needed to do was talk. I held out the bag of doughnuts. “A peace offering?”

Amanda ignored the bag and rubbed her forehead. “Thanks, but right now I have a ton of work to do. After our disastrous meeting, I need to conjure up some interest in the team. What can I do for you?”

I motioned to the files. “Do you have time to discuss our plans, you know, to revitalize the hockey operations and scouting?”

“Given what’s going on between the Millionaires and the Vice, I don’t think you should be working here anymore.” Amanda’s voice was now ice cold.

“Are you kidding me? I tried. I told them that it wasn’t enough money.”

“And you also told them everything that’s gone wrong here in the past few years, and how dysfunctional things are.”

“How dysfunctional theyusedto be. I told them what a good job you and Greg have been doing.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to be working actively to get new investors interested in the team. I don’t need a spy here reporting everything back to the Millionaires, so they can low-ball us even more.”

“A spy? I’m not a spy! Is that all you think of me?” I had worked as hard as anyone here to put together plans to turn around this team. I put everything I had into this stupid organization.

Amanda’s gaze met mine. Her face was again that tight mask that she wore when she was angry—no patience, no sympathy. “I’m sure you mean well, Chris. But at the end of the day, they still pay you. So, I don’t think you should come back and work here while we’re trying to sell to a competitor.”

“Okay, fine. But what about us? Why haven’t you returned any of my calls or messages?”

She got up and came closer, her eyes locked on mine. “It’s because I’m a realist. I had a wonderful time with you at the gala, and... afterwards. But given everything going on, I’m not sure what to believe.”

“I don’t understand you. What don’t you believe?”

“I guess... I don’t believe in us. Why do you want to go out with me? Is it because of the sale?”

I pulled back from her. “Are you shitting me? You think I’m seeing you because my team wants to buy your team?”

She shook her head. “Well, notonlythat, but maybe it’s part of everything between us.”

The anger swelled inside me like a wave. “I thought you believed in me and everything I did here—no, everythingwedid here. And all the time you think I’m some guy who would whore himself out to get a deal done. You’re the freaking sexual harassment expert, who am I? The harasser or the victim? Because I’m feeling pretty used right now.”

She laid her hand on my arm. That was the same move she had pulled at my place, but this time it wasn’t moving me at all. “I’m so sorry, Chris. It’s just been a really confusing—”

I pushed her away. “Save it for the next sucker, Amanda.”

33

Confidentially Speaking

Chris

“So areyou going to tell me what’s wrong, or do I have to get you drunk first?” Jes asked me.

We had gone for a trail run in the North Shore Mountains. It was the first real run I’d gone for in months. My physio had finally okayed every kind of exercise. I was supposed to gauge my body’s reaction tomorrow, but right now I felt fine. Well, my body felt fine anyway. Now we were sitting on the bumper of the Rover and rehydrating.

I rubbed the base of my neck. Maybe my back was better, but my muscles were wound tight. “Fuck. I hate this sharing crap.”

“I’m worried about you. You finally seemed to be coming out of your funk. You were getting your energy back. The return of the old enthusiastic Lucky that we all love to kick around.”

With most people, I could bullshit my way out of this, but not Jes. “It’s Amanda. I slept with her after the gala.”

Jes shook his head. “Well, on one hand, I can’t blame you. She’s beautiful. From everything you said, I thought she was going to be some hound. And you guys seemed to have a real connection.”

“That’s what I thought too. But then—”

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