Page 77 of Hot Stuff
He lets go of my hand and I race over to my laptop. I already have my phone out, dialing Nat before I even hit a key.
“Hey, I didn’t?—”
“Shut up and listen. The info Jerry told Drake I mentioned earlier came from Dugan.”
“Dugan? How do you know that?” Nat asks.
“Because he’s in bed with Kristina.”
“Well fuck.” Nat sighs. “I knew I should have come with you to New York.”
“Get on the first plane you can. If it’s not soon enough, I’ll send the jet. No wait. Call Pa. Get him to fire up the family one.”
“I’m not using your grandfather’s plane!”
“I need it anyway. Don’t worry. I’ll call him next. Just get to the airport.”
“Oakley—”
“Do it, Nat. And bring Blake. I think we’re moving the announcement forward. It’s the only way to get on top of this.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck. We don’t need this bullshit. We’ll have enough to deal with when the old boys find out we got the team.”
“One battle at a time. Get Blake and get up here.”
“See you in a few hours. And keep me posted on what you’re organizing.”
“Will do.” I don’t bother saying goodbye. I’ve got too much to pull together and Nat knows it.
Once I open up the file I’m looking for, I skim through the report and find the dates I need. I’m noting them, as well as scribbling down possible ways to deal with this as they occur to me and hoping this doesn’t blow up our dreams.
“I hope to fuck those bastards don’t break our contract,” I mutter.
“Get in front of it and they won’t. They can’t anyway. The backlash would be horrendous if they pulled it for something you didn’t do. It would look like they freaked out about your gender. Or we could make it look that way.”
My gaze snaps to Drake’s and a slow smile curls my mouth. “Oh, I really do like you.”
“What do you need me to do?” Walker asks.
“Call Rafe. Let him know what’s going on with Jerry. You can tell him Drake gave you the info; you don’t have to reveal who he said got the team. Just give him the bare bones so he knows the league is going to want to punish the Knights.”
“They can’t penalize them when he’s not the owner, can they?”
“Probably not but they’d need to know that,” Drake adds.
“I think this scandal may eclipse the franchise announcement.”
I glance at Walker. “Let’s hope so. Although if it does, it won’t distract them for long.”
“We don’t need them distracted forever. Just long enough to get some things put in place.”
Drake clears his throat. “And by your use ofweI’m assuming you’re looking to be involved with the new team?”
“Ah…”
I hide a grin. Walker just put his foot in it if his plan was to keep Drake in the dark about his new job. His sigh filled with resignation makes me laugh.
“Yeah, I’m involved. Oakley?”
