Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“Miss Greene filmed the entire interaction with her brother,” Gary says. “We have him on video admitting to flagrantly fouling with the intention of causing you injury. He said he wasn’t going to stop because he didn’t like that you and Miss Greene are seeing each other. We saw him strike her and saw that you were simply trying to defend her.”
I glance at Bailey, surprised at the news. She doesn’t look back at me, and I can see the torrent of emotions crossing her face. No matter how bad their relationship is, Eric is still her brother, and by making a secret video, she has betrayed him.
“The simple answer is to trade me. That ends all this nonsense,” I say.
“Well, I was just on the phone finalizing a trade, actually. That's why I was late coming in this morning. I was updating Coach Holman,” Gary says.
“Great. Where are you sending me?”
“We’re not sending you anywhere,” he replies. “We’ve traded Eric to Washington.”
I look from Gary to Bailey then back again. “What? Why?”
“In light of the video and the situation as a whole, I made a deal with Miss Greene,” Gary explains. “In exchange for her agreeing to not report on this story and suppressing the video she made, we traded Eric rather than you.”
I sit back and look up at the ceiling, taking a minute to process what Gary just told me. On the one hand, it’s fantastic news. Being able to stay in LA, close to Bailey, is the best possible outcome. On the other hand, there is a sliver of fear in me that in time, she’s going to come to resent me for what she had to do to save my ass.
As strained as their relationship is, like I said, at the end of the day, he’s still her brother. And as they say, blood is thicker than water.
“That’s not to say you won’t suffer some consequences for your actions,” Gary continues. “You know from your days in Dallas that Coach Holman has a zero-tolerance policy in regard to fighting."
I nod. “I do.”
“That means, you will be suspended for the rest of the preseason, with pay,” he says. “You can participate in team workouts, practices, things like that. But you will not be allowed to be in the arena on game days. You can rejoin the squad for the first regular season game.”
“That’s fair,” I say. “Thank you, Gary.”
“One more thing. Because Miss Greene is a member of the media and our team’s beat writer, we don’t want you two acting like a couple while you’re in the building,” he says. “Obviously, you’re welcome to do whatever you want when you’re not on team property, but as long as you’re in the facility, your relationship must remain strictly professional.”
I glance at Bailey again and nod. “Of course.”
Gary stares at me for a minute, perhaps waiting for me to say something or ask any questions. When I don’t, he nods.
“Okay. That’s it,” he says. “Go ahead and go home. Thanks for coming in.”
I get to my feet and extend my hand. “Are we good?”
“We’re good,” he replies and shakes my hand. “Clean slates all around. As far as I and Coach Holman are concerned, we're both glad to put all the bullshit drama to bed and get back to focusing on basketball again."
“I’ll be locked in. I give you my word.”
He smiles at me. “I wouldn't expect anything less from you.”
“Thank you, Gary.”
“Thank Miss Greene,” he replies. “She really went to the mat for you.”
“See you tomorrow,” I say.
Bailey gets to her feet, and we walk out of Gary’s office together. Our trip through the building is silent, and it’s not until we’re in the parking lot that she finally turns to me and, for the first time since she walked in, offers me a smile. She throws her arms around me and squeezes me tight then plants a long kiss on me. She finally pulls back, but I keep my hands around her waist and look deep into her eyes.
“That was intense,” she says with a nervous laugh. “I can’t believe how this whole thing actually worked out.”
“I’m still trying to figure out what happened,” I admit.
“I knew after what happened at practice the other day that the team was fed up with the drama and was going to trade either you or Eric. They were split on which one of you was going, though, so I put my finger on the scale to make the decision easy for them.”
“You set this whole thing up,” I say. “You knew you would get Eric to crack, so you set him up and orchestrated the trade.”
“I figured he’d say or do something stupid, yeah. I didn’t expect him to admit to trying to hurt you, and I certainly didn’t expect him to smack me. He gave me way more than I had been anticipating. It was more than enough to leverage Gary and Coach Holman,” she says. “It showed them who he really was, and as PR-conscious as teams are these days, there is no way they were going to tolerate a player who smacks women and admits to headhunting his teammates.”