He meets my gaze. “He could. No one fucks with my money and definitely not with my team.”
“I didn’t know anything about it,” I say quickly. “I hope you believe that.”
“If that’s the truth, then you have nothing to worry about. Now, Bodi, you need to pack for a road trip. I’m officially putting you back on the roster.”
“Who’s going to coach the team?” Bodi asks.
“For this road trip, it’ll be Coaches Panzetti and Quinn. And I have a few names in mind as a replacement for the rest of the season. We’ll see what happens.”
“Thank you, Mr. Carrier.” Bodi stands up and holds out his hand. “I won’t let you down.”
Mr. Carrier studies his face for a beat and then shakes his hand. “You know, my gut tells me you won’t. I appreciate your honesty and willingness to be open with me, even though your personal life isn’t really my business. Take care of yourself, Jayne. And if you need anything while Bodi’s out of town, let me know.”
“Thank you.”
He walks over and opens his door, letting Bodi and me walk out ahead of him. Before I’ve taken two steps, someone lunges in my direction.
“You stupid little whore!” My father seems to appear out of nowhere. “What did you tell him?!”
Bodi immediately pushes me behind him and West jumps up, grabbing my father’s arms.
“Do I need to call security, Hugh?” Mr. Carrier asks calmly, his expression inscrutable.
“You can’t listen to anything she says!” my father yells. “She’s been nothing but trouble since her mother died and?—”
“All right, that’s enough.” Mr. Carrier holds up his hand. “You and I need to have this conversation in private. No need to air dirty laundry here in front of everyone.” He holds out his arm, inviting my father into his office.
I’m pressed against Bodi’s back, peeking over his shoulder as my father practically sneers at me. Mr. Carrier glances back and nods. Then he quietly and firmly closes his office door behind him.
“What happened?” West asks a moment later.
“Looks like I’m going on the road trip,” Bodi says with a bemused smile.
“Yeah?” He grins. “Good news, right?”
“I think it’s a probationary thing, but yeah, very good news.”
“Everything okay with the two of you?” West asks as we wait for the elevator.
“Everything is fine.” Bodi puts his arm around my waist and presses a kiss to the side of my face. “In fact, everything is perfect.”
West laughs. “Good to hear. I’m happy for you both.”
“Thanks, West.” I smile at him and then lean into Bodi.
He came for me, my real-life knight in shining armor.
And he loves me.
Nothing else matters.
Chapter
Forty-Five
Bodi
Our new head coach is arriving today and there’s nervous energy in the arena conference room as we wait for him to get here. Everything happened quickly while we were on the road trip. Coaches Panzetti and Quinn were in charge for all three games and then an announcement was made: Coach Morrison resigned and a former player named Jamie Teller was coming to Atlanta as the new head coach for the Thunder.
