Warning Track (Callahan Family #1) - Carrie Aarons Page 0,80
thing. Walker, thankfully, is on my side during this one, and is one of the only people able to keep his father at bay right now.
The thing is, even though the rest of my life is falling down around me, Hayes and I have never been better. I finally get to go over to his house without parking my car around the block. We’re able to talk to each other in the hallways at the stadium without feeling like someone might see us and imply anything about our body language. Not that we’re making out in full view of the entire Pistons staff, obviously I keep it professional while we’re in the building, but it’s nice not to have to ignore my boyfriend when he walks past me.
And we’re able to fall that much more in love, now that this obstacle is removed between us. It’s like, the minute our relationship could be moved from secrecy and shadows, we could allow ourselves to be more open with each other. I’ve been more vulnerable, talking to him about my father and the letter. He was furious when he read it, but glad that I shared it with him. We agreed together that no more contact was needed with that man, that he wasn’t worth my time or tears. Hayes apologized for pushing me on the subject of a confrontation, and could now see it would do no good.
“I don’t know what it is with your side of the family, but you rot the whole fucking carton of us with your actions. First your father, and now you. I knew I shouldn’t have given you this position, that I should have used a loophole in the will.”
He’s trying to sting me, to sink beneath my skin, and it’s working. But I keep my face impassive, not letting him see how much he’s wounding me.
“I admit, we haven’t had the most scandal-free year, but I hardly think my actions are comparable to my fathers.” I make sure to lift my chin and keep from fidgeting.
“This press conference is going to be a disaster,” he growls, and I can feel every ounce of his ire.
“Everyone in that meeting thought it would be a good idea, so I’m not sure why you’re going back on that now,” I point out, politely again.
The rest of the higher-ups in the front office agree that a joint press conference with Hayes and me would be the best thing before the World Series starts. They need to hear directly from us, something that hasn’t happened yet, to take some of the heat off the club before the championship games.
We are also going to address the Shane Giraldi situation during the sit-down as well, for two reasons. One, the team needs to come out hard against what he has done. I am going to speak, and tell them just how vehemently we are against abuse of any kind, specifically against women. It’s also a tactic we’ll use, not that I’m proud of it. But if we can paint the Shane situation as the more notable one, the scandal that people should be paying attention to, maybe it will take some of the spotlight off Hayes and me.
“I’m not sure why you decided to fuck one of our players and put us in this position in the first place. You’ve disgraced this family. You’ve disgraced your job,” he spits, venom flying at me and I almost flinch.
That is enough. I’ve already beaten myself up to hell and back for how much negativity this has caused my team, my family. I’ve warred for months on whether I should let my heart be free to love a good, kind, deserving man. I’m not going to be gaslit and verbally assaulted any longer.
Straightening my back, I find every bit of courage I can muster. “I’m done having men, especially the ones in this family, dictate how my life or career goes. I’m damn good at my job. No, I’m great at it. I’ve turned this club around in a season, brought it back from the ashes and with the help of all our support staff and some great playing by the team, we’ve made it to the World Series. If I were a man and I’d been dating my secretary, she’d quit and either we’d carry on an affair or get married. No one would even be that scandalized by an inter-organization relationship, if I had a penis that is. Hell, so many of