Page 48 of Find Me Again

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Neil was tapping his fingers over the wheel as he drove to the radio station. Because of scheduling issues, they were going to do a pre-recording for later in the day, so he should have enough time to get back home and forget about the rest of the world for a while. Let the internet explode without him.

He was good. He was fine.

Nervous, too, obviously, but he'd thought he'd be a total wreck at this point, and yet… he wasn't.

His phone rang, and when he saw the GM calling, his heart sped up.Fuck. Now he was rapidly sliding towards a wreck. Would Bednarski shut him down at the last minute? Was the team pulling out their support?

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Neil was glad nobody was there to see his hand shaking a little as he accepted the call.

"Hey, boss," he said, hoping the speaker phone would help his voice appear somewhat normal. "Wait a second, I want to pull over."

"Hey, Neil. Take your time."

He didn't sound too bad. Neil had heard him give come-to-Jesus speeches a few times and they hadn't started off like that, so maybe it would be fine.

Please, let it be fine.

Neil turned the engine off. "I'm good. What's up?"

"Well, we have some good news," Bednarski said, and Neil's eyebrows shot up. "But first, let me assure you that whatever you decide is ultimately up to you and we'll stand by you, as we said."

"Okay?" Neil swallowed hard. "I mean, thank you, again. Ireally appreciate that."

"And we appreciate you, so that works out nicely. Thankfully, we are able to actually give you a real choice today. You can still go through with the plan, but you don't have to. Josh has been dealt with."

Neil froze. "What?"

"Two more players came to us, and when we went digging, we found another two who were hesitant to contact us about this but spilled the beans when asked. To be honest, I was surprised Josh had so much stuff on so many people, but, well. That's the locker room for you."

Yeah. Neil would never do something like that, but he could name several people on the team he could create problems for if he wanted.

"Anyway, we decided to go to the source and put an end to it. And we did." The GM's voice grew harder. "You don't have to worry about him anymore."

Neil didn't know what to say. He heard the words, but they weren't making much sense, and his heart was still pounding in his chest.

"Is he—" he started, then stopped, unsure if he really wanted to know.

Bednarski huffed. "I'm not a Godfather, Neil, relax. I simply know his language and I used it against him, that's all."

Which could mean either paying Josh off or holding something even bigger over him.

Neil decided not to press any further.

"Okay," he said instead. He honestly didn't know what else to say—his life had been turned upside down once again, and he was left hanging on the edge, unsure what to think, let alone do.

"For what's it worth, I'm sorry this is so last minute. I was hoping we'd have good news for you on Christmas' Eve, but things were stalled for a bit there. I'm glad I caught you beforethe recording, at least."

"Yeah, I'm… Thank you."

"Neil, I feel like I should say it again—this doesn't change anything on our end. We're ready. We're ready for the press, and the shitstorm, and whatever else. We'll deal with it. Or not, if you decide otherwise. But I wanted to tell you, not only as a boss, but from me, personally. Your place on the team has always been about how good you are on the ice, and I'm standing by it."

Jesus, Neil was not going to fucking cry on the side of the road.

He wasn't.

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