“How old is he?” Kylie asked.
“I think he’s my age or a little older. If I had to guess, he’s 28. What does Luc think of him?”
“He hasn’t said much, but I think he’s happy that he’s willing to close the deals on the players we need in the lineup.”
“Notably, his brother…”
“Uh, huh.”
“Are we still keeping the relationship between the two of you a secret next week?”
As Sam’s pitching coach, Luc was a guest at the wedding and would stay with us in the rented villa. Kelsey and Sam were bound to be wrapped up in their wedding plans and own business, but someone else was bound to see through Kylie and Luc.
“Yes. It wouldn’t be the right time even if we were ready to take it public. I would rather focus on Kelsey and Sam.”
“I don’t understand your relationship at all,” I said. And then instantly regretted speaking my mind. My sisters gave me shit about acting like the authority on everything, and since I had never had a successful relationship, I really shouldn’t judge.
“You and me both. But the wedding is not the time.”
“Okay. I never planned to out you, but I’ve seen you two together. You’re more likely to out yourself.”
“We’ll see.”
We spent the rest of the call discussing logistics, including the flight and how we would manage to keep our dresses wrinkle-free during travel. The more we talked, the more excited I became, even knowing that I would be working on a major work presentation that was due right after we returned.
There was a knock on my office door, and I looked up to find Hawk standing in the entrance. To be fair, he blocked my exit. Between his height and broad shoulders, the man looked better suited to a football field than a boardroom.
“Did you ever play football?”
Did I actually say that out loud? Yup, judging by his smirk, I did.
“I played hockey in middle and high school. I was surprisingly bad at baseball, to my family’s great disappointment. Now I stay fit on a treadmill and at theindoor gym. Why?”
“As part of my research, I’m looking up team culture in sports. I asked about football because of your height and it happened to be the sport I just read about. But hockey, those players have always had a reputation for bad behavior.”
He nodded in agreement.
“I notice you aren’t trying to correct me.”
“One of the teams in my league was suspended for sexual assault. They probably would have gotten away with it, except one of them had recorded it. They not only thought they would never get caught, but they thought so little about the girl that they sent the video to most of the school.”
“What is it that creates this culture? I mean, these hockey boys have involved parents; otherwise, they could never play in travel leagues. You would think their mothers would be heavily involved.”
“Having all sisters, have you ever been in a group of all men? And watched how they interact?”
I thought about that. In college, a group of guys from my dorm took over the common area to game, and on Sunday, they religiously watched football. When they were together, they joked at each other’s expense, and when they didn’t know women were around, they made some shitty comments. I remembered one of the guys getting ridiculed for never receiving a blow job.
“Ugh.”
“Now add adrenaline to a team sport and plenty of people telling them how great they are all the time.”
“And women and girls lining up to give them attention.”
“MLB requires each player to receive training on domestic violence and assault each spring. It’s contractuallyrequired. I have HR reviewing the content to see if there are ways to improve it for our team. I want you to know that I heard you loud and clear and I’m taking it seriously. I’ve also got legal, looking at the teeth in our contract language.”
“Inspired by Tyler?” I asked, meeting his eyes hesitantly.
“A little. But it was more because you mentioned that he had passed several tests before you even met him. If someone that shitty got through your tests, how bad were the men you declined outright?”
