“What the hell is going on in here?” a voice boomed from the door. I glanced over to see Olsen, our interim GM, face red as hiseyes scanned the cluster of players and Skylar, who was standing frozen in the center of the locker room, looking shocked.
“Just a little team meeting,” Jay said easily, making a few of the guys snigger.
Olsen’s eyes narrowed as they bounced from player to player. “You all need to think about how you conduct yourselves on and off the ice,” he said. “Or you’ll be spending a lot more time on the bench.” His eyes swung to me. “Get showered and dressed, O’Conner. Owner wants to see you in his office.”
I closed my eyes. Just perfect. A one-on-one with Andrew Knight. I had no idea if this meeting was about what had happened on the ice or here in the locker room or something else entirely. But I did know that it wasn’t going to be fun.
Cane was pulling on a pair of jeans when I passed to head to the showers. “I’m calling my agent, dick. Get ready to have your ass handed to you.”
“Have fun with that,” I told him. I honestly could care less if he got the team or the player’s union to fine me. Even a suspension from the league would be worth the satisfaction of finally shutting that asshole’s mouth.
CHAPTER 27
Showered and dressed, I knocked on the door to Andy’s office fifteen minutes later. “Come in,” he called from inside.
I pushed open the door and saw Andy on the phone. He held up a finger to me and then gestured to the chair in front of his desk. I sat and took the opportunity to look around his office. It was a hell of a lot smaller than I would have thought for a business tycoon. The computer set-up on his desk was so sleek and high tech it reminded me of something out of Star Trek, but otherwise his office didn’t look a whole lot different from the dozens of others in the team management.
“You look less than impressed.”
I tore my eyes away from the bookshelf next to him to see that Andy had hung up the phone, and was watching me check out his office.
I shrugged. “Figured it would be bigger. Don’t guys like you have glass walls and leather furniture and all that shit?”
His lips quirked up in a rare smile. “I needed a place close to the rink to handle team business. My real office is over in the Knight Corp wing.”
That made sense. The complex that housed the arena and our practice facility was huge and sprawling and included the headquarters of Andy’s multi-billion-dollar empire.
My eyes fell on the single picture on his desk. It was him and Grace, arms around each other’s shoulders. She had her head thrown back with laughter while Andy smirked at her side. Seeing her like that, so happy and comfortable, had a sharp pain radiating through my chest.
Suddenly, the whole day—the whole past week— seemed to crash over me at once and I felt exhausted. “What can I do for you?” I asked wearily, wanting nothing more than to get out of there and go home.
Andy leaned back in his leather chair, watching me. “The team is not doing as well as I would like.”
I snorted. “You’re not alone in that sentiment.”
He nodded. “I know I’m not. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”
I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to go on.
He sighed, running a hand over his face. “I saw what happened on the ice.”
Ah. So he had been watching. “Did you also hear what happened in the locker room?”
His eyes sharpened. “No. Why don’t you enlighten me.”
“I punched Ryan Cane in his stupid fucking face,” I said evenly. I had zero shame about it. The punk deserved it.
Andy’s face remained impassive. “Care to share any more details?”
“He’s an asshole,” I said. “He was talking shit about Skylar Vaughn right in front of her. His attitude sucks. He talks down to half the players on a daily basis.” Andy continued to watch me with that expressionless face and I felt my anger spike again. “He’s particularly shitty to rookies. And to Gabriel Dalton. Maybe that’s a coincidence, that he targets the only Black guy onthe team, but I doubt it.” Still Andy didn’t speak. “He’s toxic in that locker room and I’m tired of it.”
“I’ve been working on a trade for a few weeks,” Andy said, shocking me enough that I sat back in my seat, silenced. His lips twitched again. “I’m not an idiot, Liam. I see the way he talks, the way he acts. He’s not contributing shit.”
I let out a breath. “Well…good.”
His eyes sparkled with amusement. “What else you got?”
I studied his face, wondering how much he really wanted to hear. Andy spread out his hands. “By all means, O’Conner. Let it out. What are the team’s biggest problems, as you see them?”
