Page 105 of Racing Heat
“You can stay here if you’d like,” Amelia offers. “Since, you know, somehow I got the three bedroom. I have the extra space if you don’t want to be alone tonight.”
“Thanks. I don’t feel like being alone tonight.”
“Stay as long as you want.”
Eventually, sleep finds me. I wake up from fitful nightmares of August firing Jase before he’s whisked off to the airport and I never get to say goodbye. I have no idea what my punishment will be, but my brain is working overtime, because in my dreams I’m running the concession stand for the Blaze. Because according to August, I need to learn the value of a hard day’s work and how to be respectful of people who give you a shot.
By three in the morning, I can’t sleep anymore. I decide to head out to the couch and retrieve my phone. The only text thread I open is Jase’s.
Jase:I’m so sorry. Let me know you made it home safely.
Jase:I have a management meeting in the morning. Not sure what it means for you, but I’ll let you know what I find out.
The last text is the one that breaks me all over again.
Jase:Being with you these past few weeks has been the best time of my life. I’ll never forget it.
It sounds like he’s saying goodbye to me. I should reply to him and tell him that I feel the same. Or that I’m still hoping for a miracle and that we’ll be able to be together again. But to be honest, after my dreams, all hope has left me. I’m starting to accept the fact that Jase and I are really over.
Chapter Thirty-Six
~JASE~
August:We have a mandatory management meeting at 8 am tomorrow. You better be there.
Iread and re-read the words. He’s pissed and he has every right to be. I have no indication what this means for Cassie or me. Frankly, I’m not as concerned about me as I am Cassie. She’s a rookie, and a rookie who was fired for fucking a coach doesn’t have a shot to be anything other than a team’s water girl. And that’s assuming she could get hired as that.
I dress in a pair of dress pants and put on a Blaze polo. When I’ve gone into the offices before, I always noticed Coach Watts was dressed like that. I think about sending him a message and letting him know what he’s walking into but decide against it. August probably wouldn’t appreciate my covert attempt to warn him or Andie.
Breakfast doesn’t appeal to me. The only thing I want is some coffee. My stomach feels like it’s in knots. Filling it with food would only make me puke again. I puked up my dinner last night when I finally got home. I couldn’t keep it down, or the waters and bourbon I tried to drink to numb the pain. Nothing wasworking for me. Everything in my body decided that if Cassie was leaving me, then it should too.
I have no idea what she wants to do after all this. I just know that with August finding us, this is deadly. How could she even fathom staying with me when it might cost one of us our jobs? I tried to do some Googling on what could happen if someone broke their company’s fraternization clause. The answer was always the same, no matter what website I clicked on.
Termination.
So that’s how I think of today. Termination day. The termination of my coaching career, our relationship, and maybe even the termination of her career. The Cromwell’s are powerful people. And as immature as he could be sometimes, August has a good sense for business. He isn’t going to let this slide. And he sure as shit isn’t going to look the other way. How could he? It’s a risk to his organization. There are no happy endings here, which I knew when I jumped in. But I hadn’t cared any more than I do now. I jumped because the prospect of being with her, breathing the same air as her, tasting her skin, was the more desirable option than being without her.
I pull my Audi out of the garage and make my way toward the stadium and office complex for the Tampa Bay Blaze for what might be the last time. It’s time to get Termination Day underway.
The offices are still dark by the time I get here. There are other cars in the parking lot. It’s not even 7:45 yet. Here I thought I would be early, but that’s not going to be the case. As I make my way inside, I notice how peaceful it is. There are no booming voices coming from anywhere, so August isn’t having a cow with the other coaches and the management team.
I turn the corner and make my way to the conference room. There’s already a meeting in progress inside. Nate Watts, Andie Chapman, and August Cromwell are all seated around the table.Off to the side is a breakfast spread, and coffee set up, but it looks like no one has touched it.
Fuck. They had a pre-meeting. My heart starts pounding in my chest. My palms begin to sweat. I rub them on my pants to try to keep my hands from feeling clammy. I feel like I’m about to take a penalty shot that’ll decide whether or not my team is going to win the big game. The level of stress that my body’s under is akin to that, and frankly, I’d rather the penalty shot over this mess.
August is the first one to notice that I’m standing here. He gets up and comes over to the door. “Just give us another minute or two and then we’ll bring you in.” He gives me a tight smile. “Why don’t you wait around the corner, please?”
I nod. He must not want me watching them discuss my and Cassie’s futures. I want to be in there. I want to help her. I think over all the ways that this could go and decide that it’s not a me-or-her thing. They need to fireme. Let me go and let her continue to play on the team. Maybe make her earn her starting spot back as punishment. But she needs to stay, and I need to go. That’s the only way I know she’ll survive this. I can either go back to Manchester and the shell of a life I left behind, or I can find a job with another team. Though I doubt that my agent would be able to get me another gig.
Fuck. It dawns on me that I haven’t called Austin to let him know that I’ve severely messed up and that damage control may be needed. I’ve been in survival mode, which should have included a call to him. But my thoughts haven’t been clear, and my goal is to save her job, not mine. Austin wouldn’t be any help in that area. He’d be more interested in saving my skin than hers. I’m his client and that’s his job.
“We’re ready for you.” Nate peeks his head around the corner.
I can read the disappointment all over his face. It’s a look I’ve seen a few times from my father when he caught me drinking or smoking, or even that time he had to come bail me out of jail.
“I’m sorry, Nate,” I offer.
He nods. “I’m sorry too. I wish you would have come to me, though. Maybe I could have helped.”
