"It's a public accusation of misconduct. Your draft prospects are at stake. Your reputation." He's pacing. I can hear it in his voice. "I'm calling the university president. This needs to be retracted."
"It's not getting retracted. She has sources?—"
"Anonymous sources. Convenient. She's a hack with an agenda, and you need to destroy her credibility before she destroys yours."
My father has two modes, disappointed silence or aggressive offense. There's no middle ground.
"I'm handling it."
"How? By doing nothing?"
"By doing the follow-up series they're requiring. Bygiving her full access so she can see how wrong she is." The words taste bitter, but it's the truth. "Dean Whitmore already arranged it. She has to write redemptive pieces or the paper loses funding."
"Redemptive pieces." He spits the words. "She should be fired. Blacklisted from every journalism program in the country."
"That's not how?—"
"Listen to me, Carter. You're projected second, maybe third round. But if this sticks, if scouts start asking questions about team culture, about your leadership..." He pauses for effect. "You'll drop. Or disappear entirely. Is that what you want?"
No. It's not what I want, but I also don't want to be the guy who ruins a journalist's career because she told an uncomfortable truth.
Even if that truth is incomplete. Outdated. Designed to make me look bad.
"I said I'm handling it."
"Handle it better. And Carter?" His voice drops. "Your sister read the article. She has questions, thinks you’re becoming like me, I mean that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
He hangs up.
I stare at my phone, that last sentence echoing in my head.
She thinks you’re becoming like me.
Maya. My little sister. The only person in my family who actually understands me. Who knows why I study psychology, why I care about changing the team culture, why I'm not just another hockey robot.
If she thinks I'm turning into our father...I pull up her contact and call.
She answers on the third ring. "I was wondering when you'd call." No hello, straight to it with her.
"I'm not like him." I get to the point with her.
"I didn't say you were. I said I have questions." She sounds tired. She's always tired these days. "The article, Carter. Is that stuff true?"
"Some of it was true. Years ago. Before I was captain. I've been changing things?—"
"But did you know about it? When it was happening?"
I close my eyes. "Yeah. I knew."
"And you didn't stop it?" Now she sounds disappointed with me.
"I was a freshman. I didn't have the power?—"
"You always have power. You just have to choose to use it." She's quiet for a moment. "I'm not attacking you. I'm asking because I need to know that my big brother isn't turning into the kind of man who ignores problems because they're inconvenient."
"I'm not. I swear. I've been working to fix this shit since I became captain." I need her to believe me.
"Then tell that journalist. Show her what you're actually doing instead of just being angry that she called you out."
