Killian (On the Line #1) - Brenda Rothert Page 0,2
that first line. Orion was adamant about not letting any of them go.”
“We’ll see. As far as I’m concerned, that first line has to prove themselves every day just like everyone else.”
“Orion did tell us he doesn’t need this job, so . . . just remember that. His conditions for taking it in the first place were firm, and they included keeping that first line.”
I furrowed my brow. “Look, I’m not planning on getting rid of any of them. But they better be as good as Orion says, or we’re gonna have problems.”
Keri tapped on her wristwatch. “We’ve got those player meetings scheduled all morning. The first guy should be waiting in your office right now. I saw him leave the ice a few minutes ago.”
“Liam Holloway, right?”
Keri passed me a clipboard. “That’s right. Here are hard copies of the player summaries I wrote for you. There’s one for each of our meetings today.”
I looked down at the bulleted information on our top left-winger, scanning the summary again although I’d already read through it on my laptop.
“You even included their stats,” I said, amused. “Keri, you’re the best. Coming here with me to help revamp this team means a lot to me.”
“It’s a challenge,” she said as we walked down the concrete hallway of the arena toward our makeshift offices. “And you know I love a challenge.”
Our offices weren’t far from the owner’s box, and I met Keri’s eyes as I reached for the tacky gold doorknob leading to my office. “Here we go,” I said.
As we entered the room, an attractive blond man stood up from the metal chair he’d been sitting on.
“Mr. Holloway?” I said, approaching him. “I’m Sidney Stahl, the new owner.”
We shook hands and I gestured to Keri. “This is Kerrigan Oliver, my director of public relations.”
Keri shook his hand and we all sat down on the rickety folding chairs positioned along one wall.
“I apologize for the state of this office,” I said to Liam. “We just arrived yesterday and we’re having furniture delivered later this week.”
He arched his brows, looking surprised. “You’re using this as your office space? I’ve never known an owner to have an office here at the arena.”
“It’ll be more convenient for us. Moving forward I’ll be very involved with the team and it will be good to be close by,” I said. “As will Keri.”
With a nod, Liam folded his arms across his chest and stared directly at me. “So, am I staying or going?” he asked. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it if I’m out. I don’t really care that much.”
His attitude caught me off guard. In my experience, minor league players were eager, hungry, and sometimes desperate. They played hard in an all-out effort to make it to the big league.
I glanced at Keri, sending a silent message for her to take the lead.
“Frankly, the fact that you say you don’t care is a problem,” she said. “You aren’t being cut, but we have some serious work to do on your image. You haven’t done a single charity event or interview since joining this team a year ago. You don’t sign autographs or interact with the fans. That’s all part of the job.”
He shrugged, looking amused. “With all due respect, I really don’t care about my image. I’m just here to play hockey.”
“Well I care about your image,” I interjected. “Your image is a reflection of this team as a whole. And ambivalence is not an image I’m interested in.”
“You want me to do interviews?” he asked, a challenge in his tone. “You want me to be honest about what went wrong after a game? You want me to say this team’s a fuckin’ mess of lazy and unskilled players? That’d make a nice headline, wouldn’t it?”
I held his gaze. Point made, but I wasn’t about to acknowledge it.
“We need you to be a team player,” Keri said.
“Well, I’m not.” He shrugged. “You might as well just cut me.”
If it had been an option, I would’ve sent him packing right then. Nothing annoyed me more than someone who took their career and their future for granted. Not to mention how much I hated childish, petulant behavior. But I’d promised Orion, and I wanted him coaching my team.
“I can give you some media training and coach you on interview skills,” Keri offered.
“And I can coach you on a thing or two in return,” he said, winking at her.
My blood heated with anger. What a chauvinist. I was about to put