Page 64 of Second Shot

With a feeling of dread, I ask, “What do the texts say?” All I can think about is how Ryan will feel if he sees them.

I hear papers being shuffled. “Well, they’re not flattering. The gist of them is that you were supposedly texting with Freddy about making Ryan pay for bullying you as a kid. You were also complaining that Ryan was still bullying you, even as an adult. That he harassed you in the locker-room.”

“What?”I say in a clipped voice. “That’s an outright lie. Why would I be defending Ryan if that were true?”

“According to Freddy, you’re only doing that to look like the good guy. But your real goal is to expose Ryan Caldwell as the monster he really is.”

I count to ten just so I don’t explode on Jed. When I finally speak, I take great care to sound calm. “Jed, Freddy was a worse bully than Ryan. Why would I have reached out tohim? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know. I know. But the public doesn’t always listen to reason. They just go with the loudest voice and right now that’s Freddy.”

I huff. “That’s why I need to do the press conference. So that my voice can be louder than his. He’s lying. The texts are fake. I can say all of that during the press conference.”

“I completely get what you’re saying, believe me.” He sounds uncomfortable. “The problem is, management would prefer to run everything past Legal before you say anything publicly.”

“Then do that. How long could that even take?”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Jed, if I don’t say anything, people will believe Freddy,” I snap. “I can’t just stay quiet. He’s making meandRyan look bad. Why would I stay quiet when I know he’s lying? The longer I wait to say something, the guiltier Ryan looks.”

“Look, don’t shoot the messenger. This is all coming from the top.” There’s guilt in his voice.

“So management seriously expects me to sit back while Freddy smears my name and Ryan’s, just because they’re afraid of getting sued? I’m sorry, but that’s not okay. I have every right to defend myself.”

“Of course you do.” He lowers his voice. “Listen, Gabe, just between you and me, the best thing we could do is to discredit the text messages. We need to go on the offensive. Prove they’re fake.”

“Okay, how do I do that?”

“Give me and my team full access to your phone. I believe you when you say the text messages are fake, but we need to prove it so Legal feels more comfortable letting you speak. There are specific things I can look for, like the wrong font or layout in the messaging app, or timestamps that don’t line up. Once you know what to look for, the inconsistencies stand out.”

“I’m happy to give you access to my phone. But how would Freddy have faked text messagesfromme?”

He snorts a laugh. “There are a bunch of ways people can fake texts these days. They can take a screenshot of their phone’s messaging app and use an image editor to change names, timestamps, and message content. There are even fake text generator apps. If you give me full access to your phone, I can help prove Freddy is lying.”

“Done,” I say gruffly. “I’ll drop it off right now.”

“Excellent.” Jed sighs. “I’m really sorry you and Caldwell are going through this, but I feelconfident we can prove that Freddy guy is a lying piece of shit.”

I laugh because Jed is usually such a mild mannered guy.

“Excuse my French,” he says sheepishly.

“I’ll forgive anything, as long as you can prove Ryan and I are innocent of what Freddy’s accusing us of.”

“We’ll do just that,” he assures me. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

I hang up, frustrated and anxious. Management wants me to wait before standing up for Caldwell, but every second I stay silent makes him look more guilty. It feels like I’m abandoning Ryan when he needs me most, and I’m sure he sees it that way too. Freddy’s out there lying, and I’m just sitting here letting it happen. That’s not who I am. And it sure as hell isn’t what Ryan deserves.

But I also don’t want to go against management and risk them taking it out on Caldwell. So for now, I’ll hold my tongue and let Jed and the legal team do their job.

Chapter Sixteen

Ryan

Officially, I’m what’s known as a healthy scratch for the game tonight against the Monterey Tides. Unofficially? I’m the team’s scapegoat until the PR storm dies down. But whatever you call it, I’m not playing tonight. Coach assured me that I wasn’t being punished and that not playing me was managements attempt to shield me from the media frenzy.

I call bullshit.

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