Derek remembered that conference. Some woman had approached him as a patient, complaining about back pain. He had taken a look, and she had leaned in, rubbing against him. The hotel hallway. Her stammering about not being interested in him like that. The way she'd tried to push him away when he’d grabbed her breasts. The complaint she'd filed the next day, sexual assault, she'd called it. Hysterical overreaction to what had been mutual attraction that she'd later regretted.
That complaint in Massachusetts had gone nowhere, of course. No witnesses, and no evidence. Just some woman's "feelings" about an encounter in a hotel hallway.
Her word against his.
Just like tomorrow would be Rachel's word against his.
Poor little hysterical Rachel Morrison, small-town librarian with her traumatic past.
And taking down Ellie Winters or Hansen, now, for her professional interference? That would just be the cherry on top of publicly humiliating Rachel after she'd turned him down. Two small-town women who thought they were too good for him, destroyed in one evening.
Rachel especially. She still haunted him, that polite, pitying smile when she'd turned him down at the team event when he’d cornered her near the bathroom. She had wanted it, the way she looked at him. Flashing her body in that tight dress that hugged her hips. Her porcelain skin, her vanilla scent. But she’d pushed him away, run. Like Brad Reese was worth being faithful to. LikeDerek Matthews wasn't a hundred times the man Brad would ever be.
Of course, she'd learned better later. That night in her apartment when Brad was away. She'd understood then what she'd been missing.
But Rachel had fled town after the engagement ended, disappeared to some nowhere town before they could have another… conversation. Thinking she could escape.
Finding her in Evergreen Cove had been a gift. And now she was dating another hockey player? Giving herself toanothermediocre athlete? What a waste.
Tonight, he would make her pay for every rejection. Every polite smile. Every time she'd looked through him like he didn't exist.
Derek always won. Because he understood something they didn't:
Credentials beat emotions every time.
He raised his scotch glass to his reflection in the mirror.
"To tonight," Derek said quietly.
43
Mac
The Evergreen Cove Community Center was already filling up when Mac arrived with the team at 5:30 PM, ninety minutes before the official 7 PM start time. The center usually smelled like floor wax and stale donuts from the morning AA meeting. Tonight, it smelled like rain damp wool and anxiety.
The air conditioner was broken again, a low, rattling hum that did nothing to cut through the stifling heat generated by three hundred bodies packed into a room meant for one-fifty. People were lined up against the wood-paneled walls, standing on tiptoes. It wasn’t just the regulars. It was the hockey moms, the fishermen who usually skipped town politics, and even Old Joe from the gas station, wiping sweat from his forehead with a grease-stained rag.
"This is way more people than usually come to town meetings," Luke observed, looking around at the crowd filing in. "Last time I went to one of these, there were like twenty people total and half of them were asleep."
"That's because last time the most controversial topic waswhether to repaint the gazebo," Tyler said flatly. "This time we're publicly destroying a man's career. Much more entertaining."
"That's a cynical way to put it," Luke said.
"That's an accurate way to put it," Tyler corrected.
Jamie was already at the front, setting up his laptop and projector with the manic focus of someone who'd consumed too much coffee and not enough sleep. His presentation was loaded, triple-checked, and ready.
Cole stood near the stage. Ellie beside him looked terrified but determined, holding a thick folder of documentation.
Sophie was setting up chairs.
And Rachel—
Rachel sat alone in the third row, staring at her speech notes, her hands shaking.
Mac crossed to her immediately.
"Hey," Mac said quietly, sliding into the seat beside her. "How are you feeling?"
