Page 55 of Puck with Karma
“You’re going to fire him right now?”
My voice comes out shaky. I want to sound more confident, but I just can’t control it. I know it’s impossible, but I can’t help spinning everything in my head in a million directions as I try to come up with a way to warn Xander.
“Take notes,” Laura smirks at me before her eyes go back to the screen of her computer. She is typing fast, searching for something. Once she found what she was looking for, a final click of her mouse signals that she is about to print it.
When she turns her chair to grab the papers off the printer, I force my legs to carry me to my desk. I grab a pad of a paper and a pen, unsure of what else I might need. Since I have no idea if I’ll have to speak at this meeting or not, there is no way for me to prepare myself in any way for what’s to come.
Commotion from the hallway distracts me for a second. There’s some yelling before the door opens with a hard yank. There is no doubt this is one of the players, his sheer size filling the office space. Since I’ve had more time to read on the team, I recognize him. This is Cole Samson. He plays second line. He is very aggressive, and it is obvious that he would like to move up a bit.
I’m not even sure he realizes I am sitting right outside Laura’s office when he marches right up to her, finger pointed to her face.
“I really hope you’re on your way to suspend that motherfucker. For good,” he grumbles at her.
Laura doesn’t look intimidated in the least. In fact, she just rolls her eyes, a smirk forming in the corner of her mouth.
“I would’ve expected your future father-in-law to explain to you by now that it is not that easy.” She sounds cool, calm and collected, maybe even a bit bored. “The contracts you, the players, sign are actually legal binding,” she continues. “They hold provisions on both sides. You can’t just break them, guns blazing, just because.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cole explodes at her. “Are you telling me that him punching me in the face today means nothing?”
Laura lets out a big sigh and stops what she’s doing. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks at him down her nose despite the fact that’s she is probably more than a foot shorter than he is.
“Was the attack unprovoked?”
“He… I…” Cole sputters, trying to regroup. “What difference does it make?”
Laura lifts a shoulder in a casual shrug. “It makes a huge difference,” she informs him. “If it was truly unprovoked in any way, shape or form, then, it is easy. He’ll be put on waivers, effective immediately. However.” Her voice becomes steel at this point. “If you ran your mouth, like I know you like to do, and there are witnesses to it, he can get maybe a one game suspension, and a warning.”
There’s a long moment of silence, and I am scared to breathe. At this point, I’m pretty sure they both forgot that I am present and I can hear what’s being said.
“He had it coming,” Cole finally says, but Laura is not impressed.
“That’s what I thought,” she rolls her eyes. “I told Roger multiple times that we needed to be patient. But you refuse to listen, both of you.”
I press a hand to my mouth when a small gasp of shock escapes me. Roger Richmond is the owner of the Minnesota Cats organization. The only logical conclusion is that Cole Samson is dating his daughter, and it is obvious that he is using that to get ahead. Apparently, he wants to push Xander Hamilton out of the way to achieve his goal.
“Who the fuck is this?” Cole asks, finally noticing that I am in attendance.
Laura waves him off. “She is just the intern. This will be her first lesson in what it means to work in this business,” she chuckles.
It hurts when I swallow around the hard lump in the back of my throat. No words pass my lips. My hands feel clammy now, and I just want to be out of here. This is a sure sign that I would be a terrible sports manager. I just can’t handle this kind of stress.
“Time for you to go, Cole.” She picks up all the paperwork off the printer and sticks it in a folder along with a legal pad. “I don’t need for anyone to notice you in here right now. Bad timing and all that.”
She walks around the desk and steps out of her office, stopping right in front of my desk, her back at me.
“Don’t fuckin’ boss me around,” Cole snaps at her. “And do your fucking job.”
Laura pulls her shoulders back, not intimidated in the least by his tone of voice.
“I wouldn’t have to deal with this at all, ifyoudidyourfucking job properly.”
She starts walking toward the door that leads to the hallway, her steps brisk and full of purpose.
“Abigail,” she calls back without even looking to see if I am following her or not. “Get moving.”
With my heart in my throat, I grab the pad of paper and a pen off my desk before rushing to catch up with her. Neither one of us says anything as we head toward what seems to be the coach’s office.
“Where is he?” Laura asks as soon as we walk in.
