“So itwasabout money,” I declare, coming to join this little party.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Montgomery, you can’t—” the woman starts, but I hold my hand up an inch from her face to silence her.
“I’m fucking sick and tired of being told that Ican’tdo something. In fact, this conversation no longer concerns you. Grey can find you when we’re done.”
“Vox, now’s not a good time,” Grey growls at me.
“Makeit a good time or I’m going right back to the media tent and telling anyone who will listen about the shit you’ve been pulling.”
Grabbing me by the upper arm, he pushes me to the corner of the tent as he says, “We’ll finish this later,” to the woman he was arguing with.
Connor is already there, waiting for me. His murderous eyes lock onto where Grey’s hand still rests on my arm.
“You have two seconds to remove your hand from his armbefore I remove it from your body,” Connor says through gritted teeth.
Grey drops his hand, looking no more apologetic or remorseful than he did a moment ago.
“You lied to my face foryears, kept me away from my father, and locked me into a shitty contract all because of greed?” I ask incredulously.
“It’s notgreed,Vox. It’s business,” Grey argues weakly.
“It’s myLIFE,Grey. You always made me feel like the son you never had, like it was you and me against the world.”
“Youarelike a son to me,” he says,finallysounding pained by this whole ordeal.
“I find that hard to believe. If you control Jenn’s life like this, it’s no wonder she doesn’t come home that often, and when she does, she brings an army of friends with her.” This comment hits its intended mark, and I know I’ve wounded him.
Good.
“Cat’s out of the bag, Patterson,” Connor says, stepping slightly in front of me. “We heard the argument. You struck a dirty deal with the event committee to entice boarders to sign up, using Vox as bait. You allowed Vox to think he was only competing in this event because it’s the most anticipated event of the year…but you failed to mention that it’s only the most anticipated eventbecauseit’s the one he’s competing in. You took away his opportunity to do the thing he loves most, citing this prize purse as the thing he needed to focus on, but you don’t get it. When you’re an elite athlete, the paycheck is secondary. We ride for the thrill of it, and Vox deserves to be represented by a company that understands that. Hell, he deserves to be represented byeverycompany that understands that.”
“What are you trying to say, Lang? Vox still owes me five years.”
“I will never compete in another event for Patterson Performance,” I manage to say, making Grey’s attention swing back to me.
“Then you’ll be in breach of your contract, just like Mr. Lang, here,” Grey says, thinking he has the upper hand.
Wrapping his arm around my waist, Connor kisses my cheek and whispers, “Go ahead, hotshot.”
Looking Grey in the eye, I tell him about the loophole Connor found that my father confirmed.
“My grandmother was never my legal guardian. She didn’t know how to navigate the system, and my father never gave up his parental rights. The original contract we signed was null and void because I was a minor, and she didn’t have the right to sign for me.”
“We updated that contract when you turned eighteen,” Grey argues.
“But it wasn’t a full contract,” Connor says. “It was an addendum stating there were no changes to the original contract. Because the original contract was null and void, the addendum was too. Vox has been boarding for you through a verbal promise only.”
“And I’m ending it now,” I chime in. “This can be over right here, right now, with each of us going our separate ways and moving on, or we can drag this out, make it expensive, and start a scandal,” I say, laying the options out for him, when Connor speaks again.
“But you can’t afford that, can you?” Connor asks Grey, making my eyes narrow as I wonder what he means. I don’t have to wait long to find out. “Patterson’s going under. That’s why you orchestrated this entire thing in the first place, isn’t it? Ohmygod,” he laughs, turning to me. “You were right, Vox. You told me Patterson had gotten lazy and started putting hybrid cambers on everything. They cut costs in production, andthey’re seeing the loss in revenue as well. Their boards are no longer the superior brand they once were.” Turning back to Patterson, Connor continues. “You told me yourself; he’s the only one on the team who can win. Which means you pulled together a team not of athletes whose talent would be suitable for the competition, but athletes whose talent wasgood enoughto pass, but were still within your waning budget to support.”
Anger heats my skin.
“How fuckingdareyou endanger them like that! Theytrustyou!” I yell.
Grey’s face reddens as he realizes he’s lost, and he turns his sights on Connor again.
“I saw the way you two looked at each other at Jenn’s birthday dinner. I’d suspected before, but I knew then that you were fucking him. I should have kicked your ass off this mountain right then and there.”
