I roll my eyes. “God, you’re annoying.”
“Yeah but you like me.”
I pause and this time…I don’t deflect. “Yeah, I do.”
28
SHEPHERD
I’m in the film room when my phone buzzes. My screen shows Harper Meers, my agent, so I step out without a word. By the time I hit the door, I’m already answering.
“Harper? What’s going on?” I ask.
There’s no greeting and no small talk. I know she wouldn’t be calling me midday unless it really mattered.
“It’s handled,” she tells me.
I stop walking. “Define handled.”
There’s a pause on the other end the way there always is when she’s choosing her words carefully. “I spoke with the front office this morning,” she says. “Coaches, ownership, legal.”
My jaw tightens. “And?”
“And I didn’t ask,” she continues calmly. “I informed.”
I lean against the wall, one hand braced behind my neck. “What exactly did you tell them?”
“That your brother and teammates confirmed the allegations. Many of the guys mentioned the things he’s said in and around the locker room.”
My chest tightensat that.
My football family.
Of course they came through for me.
For Sutton.
“And I told them,” she continues, “that if Micah Brannigan remains employed by the Portland Rush in any capacity—locker room, training staff, equipment, anything—you will be terminating your contract effective immediately.”
“Good,” I say.
“You understand what that means?” she adds.
“I do.”
“You’d be walking away from your current deal. No guarantees you land somewhere else immediately. Financial penalties. Reputation fallout?—”
“Zero fucks given.” The words come out flat and final. Hell, I don’t even feel them. “This isn’t even a decision I had to weigh. I love Sutton with everything in me and I’ll be damned if I’m going to work alongside someone who has hurt her in any way…especially the way that piece of shit has. And we both know I don’t need the money.”
“I know you don’t,” Harper says softly. That’s the thing I appreciate with Harper. She doesn’t push when the decision is already made and, quite frankly, in this circumstance, she agrees with me. “They tried to push back,” she confesses. “At first.”
I huff. “Of course they did.”
“Concerns about liability. Public perception. Timing.” A beat. “Then I reminded them what happens if this becomes public without any action on their end.”
Damn right.
My lips press together.
