Page 66 of The Slapshot and the Single Mom
God, this woman kills me. Her strength is admirable, and all I want to do is wrap her in my arms and take care of her forever.
“Please tell me what’s going on,” I beg, my voice just as quiet, just as steady.
Her eyes close for a moment, and she exhales softly. “Jack …” This time her voice cracks, and that almost unmans me.
“Maggie,” I whisper. “Please. Did your ex threaten to take away Liam because you have a boyfriend? Because surely no judge would give him more custody considering he doesn’t even use what he gets. And he can’t make any kind of reasonable case that you’re refusing to give him access when you’re the one filing and the one with all the receipts.” The shake of her head is almost imperceptible. “Then what is it?”
“Jack, please, I just …”
“What, Maggie? I love you, and I know you feel the same way. So what happened? Is it your job?” She doesn’t answer, though her lips tremble, and that makes me think I’m on the right track.“What did he do?” I do my best to keep my voice soft and steady like before, but there’s a harshness to the question that I can’t help.
She closes her eyes again, tears escaping down her cheeks, and I can’t hold myself back anymore. Closing the distance between us, I wrap her in my arms, and thank god, she lets me. She collapses against my chest, arms unwinding from around herself, fingers clutching my shirt that’s rapidly growing damp with her tears.
I stroke her hair, her back, and make soft shushing noises. I hate seeing her like this, and I’m already planning how to find her boss and eviscerate him. Or at least punch a few of his teeth out. Maggie’s mentioned that he has dreams of getting picked up by a network like her ex. Somehow I don’t think a broken nose and missing teeth will help with that.
“What did he do?” I repeat, this time more gently.
Sniffing, she pulls away, wiping her nose with the tissue in her hand. “He found out about us.”
That’s not really surprising. He must keep tabs on gossip about players as much as he does games, and we’ve been photographed together several times now. But she knew that was going to happen all along. “Okay,” I say slowly, hoping she fills in exactly why that’s bad.
“He wants me to use my connection to you to feed him gossip about your team. About you, your teammates, their families. Anything. Everything. Anything he can blow out of proportion and use to make you look like shit. He’s pissed your PR office strong-armed him into taking down your interview—if you caneven call it that. Yeah, they paid him, but he’s convinced that piece would’ve gotten him bigger and better deals.”
I snort. “Fat chance of that. No organization would go anywhere near him. The Emeralds did him a favor.”
She dips her head in a nod. “Try convincing him of that.” She sucks in a shaky breath. “I’ve been looking for another job for months, but between the rumors Kyle spread about me and the taint from Brock’s show …” She shakes her head. “No one wants me,” she whispers. “And if I don’t tell Brock what he wants to hear, he’ll fire me.”
“So you broke up with me because then you wouldn’t have a source of information, and your job would be safe.” It all makes sense now.
Nodding, she spreads her hands. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
The fucked up thing is, I can totally see him firing her for breaking up with me. Even if she lies and says I dumped her, the fact that she doesn’t have access to me anymore could be enough for a fucker like that.
“I’m gonna sue him. I’m going to go after him for everything I can. And I’m going to have my legal team dig up every slightly inaccurate piece of reporting he’s ever done and convince all those people to sue him too. When I’m done with him, there won’t be anything left.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Maggie
The vehemencein Jack’s voice takes me by surprise. Obviously I know he’s capable of being intense—he’s a professional hockey player, after all. You don’t get that far in sports without the ability to set a goal and go after it with everything in you.
It’s just that I’ve only known off-season Jack, who’s easygoing and fun to be around. I’ve never really seen this side of him.
I swallow hard. “But …” I almost don’t even want to say it. “If you do that, I definitely won’t have a job.”
His eyes are blazing when they meet mine. “You will. That’s the other thing I came over to talk to you about. I told Molly about you. She’s familiar with your work. She said to send her your resume. It’s not a guarantee, of course, but …”
My brows crimp together, and I study his face. “Molly?”
He nods. “The head of the Emeralds PR.” Understanding dawns on her face. “She said she usually farms out the social media content to interns, but that means it’s pretty hit or miss. Shedoesn’t have enough time to do it herself. At least not well. She’s been pushing for the C-suite to give her another position. With your track record, she said if she has your resume, she might be able to make it happen.”
I pause, staring up at him. I couldn’t place Molly’s name out of context like that at first. I haven’t interacted with her a whole lot, but I like and respect her based on the times we’ve spoken. I wouldn’t mind working for her at all. “You’re trying to get your team to give me a job?”
He returns my gaze, his dark eyes flicking back and forth between mine. “You want a new job, don’t you?”
“I mean, yeah. Working for Brock has been almost as bad as being—” I cut off, glancing behind me at the closed door, then lower my voice. “Almost as bad as being married to Kyle. Slightly different, but still awful. Only, I don’t have to deal with Brock when I get home. Working for Kyleandbeing married to him was a special kind of hell.” I clear my throat, once again darting a glance at the door behind me. “But …”
“But what? This way, you don’t have to sacrifice your happiness to save me. Or anyone else, for that matter.” Reaching up, he caresses my cheek, and I nuzzle into his hand. I’ve already abandoned my promise to myself that I wouldn’t touch him. What’s the point in pretending I don’t want his caress? “You don’t ever have to save me, Maggie. I can look out for myself. Let me help you. And if you still want to break up with me, I’ll accept that. Just promise me you’ll send Molly your resume.”
