CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"I love all of you on this team, but some days, you try my patience." Kate sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"At least they weren't speculating about a suicide attempt?" Dom said weakly.

Kate jerked upright, staring at him intently. "That wasn't …"

"No!" Dom grimaced. "Bad joke. I'm a dumbass, not suicidal."

"I won't argue with the first part." Her gaze searched his face. "You swear you're doing okay mentally though?"

He shrugged. "I'm not great. Honestly, things are shit right now for me but I'm definitely not any danger to myself except through careless decisions."

"I'm very glad to hear it. Although speaking of …" She leveled Dom with a look. "You went to Shea's place after the team got home last night?"

Dom swallowed hard. That was what he was there to discuss. "He was the one who was on the phone with me when—when I started slurring my words and stuff. The one who noticed something was wrong and got me to knock on Dustin's door."

"Ahh." Her expression softened.

"He was worried about me and I wanted to apologize. For putting him through that. I freaked him out."

"I understand that." Kate gave him another searching look. "However, I thought you said this was just sex. Or, I'm sorry, I believe you said ‘we are uh, involved , but it's not what I'd call love'."

Dom laughed at her imitation of his voice before he grew serious again. "Maybe things are … shifting a little." He looked down at his clasped hands.

Because he could admit that whatever had been happening with Shea lately was different than it had been before the fire.

There had been a certain separation between them before, a certain distance.

They'd enjoyed their time together and they'd connected on a more personal level over hockey but it wasn't … it didn't feel like it did now .

There was a reason Dom hadn't wanted to kiss Shea before. A reason why they hadn't showered together or spent the night together. Why they hadn't slept in each other's beds.

But dealing with the fire, spending time with Shea outside of apartment 571 in the High Park Towers building, getting to know him and his friends, and then Shea saving his life …

Yeah, it had changed things.

Dom glanced up to see Kate still looking at him with a concerned expression. God, he hated that.

"Well, that's understandable," she said slowly. "And if you do change your mind on any of this—how you want to manage the press or what you want to be open about, any of it—you can tell me, you know that right? I am happy to help you pivot in whatever direction you want to go."

"I know that," he said, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. Kate meant well but everyone's concern was getting irritating as hell. "And I appreciate it. For now, let's go forward as planned. You'll work your magic. I'll take Audra to the charity thing. And hopefully people buy what we're selling."

Kate glanced down at the photo on her tablet. "You would make a lovely couple."

Dom snorted. "She'd eat me alive."

Kate grinned. "I think I like her already."

"You would like her," Dom agreed. "But unfortunately, she's not my type."

He slumped back in his chair. It would be so much fucking easier if she was.

"Hey, we don't choose who we fall for," Kate said gently.

"True." He gritted his teeth, so fucking tired of the way people were treating him now. Like he'd break if they said one little thing wrong.

"Now, anything else?" she asked, her tone businesslike again.

"Not on my end. Although, I did want to ask. Why'd you choose to meet here ?" Dom gestured around Kate's office. "I thought we were avoiding this because of the leak."

"Well. I've had my office soundproofed. While the team was on the road, maintenance came in and put up sound-deadening panels. I still can't believe we were forced to go to that extreme but here we are. The lock was also fixed. Apparently, someone had messed with it so that the door would appear to shut but not quite latch, making it quite easy for someone to stand outside and listen in."

"Holy shit," Dom said. "That's crazy."

"It is. I've never … it makes me sick to think that someone would go to those lengths to get dirt on the team but apparently that's the case."

"Do you have any suspects?"

"Yes." She leaned in, speaking softly even though there was apparently no need. "Obviously this is in confidence, but there are two. Mitchell Nash and Birdie Pope."

" Birdie ?" Dom said. "You think one of the WAGs—uh, SAPs is leaking info to some gossip rag?"

"I don't want to believe it. She's a sweet girl but she does have a little bit of a reputation as being a gossip. Even Colton admits as much, and they've been dating for years."

"Sure but—"

"I know. Chatting to other people involved with the team is far different from outright selling private information about the team."

"Exactly. Although I don't want to believe anyone who works for the organization would sell it either," Dom admitted.

"It's awful no matter how you look at it."

"But why would Birdie do it?" Dom asked. "I mean, what would she have to gain? Sure, she's not graduated from school yet and Yates is on an entry-level contract so he's not exactly raking in the big bucks but the guy is on his way to being a superstar. His next contract is going to be a monster deal."

No matter how bitter Dom was about being replaced—and yeah, he could admit he'd harbored some bitterness about it—Colton Yates was a big fucking deal. He'd had a blockbuster rookie season and while there had been the very common second year slump, he'd still played very well.

Well enough to supplant Dom as their top line center, which maybe wasn't saying much but …

He was currently leading the team in points and he'd been near the top of the league all season as well.

"But even without that huge contract, he's got great endorsement deals already," Dom said aloud. "I can't imagine he and Birdie are hurting for money badly enough to jeopardize everything they already have."

"I wouldn't think so, no."

"Revenge of some kind?" he suggested.

"Maybe? But what would Birdie want revenge over? As far as I know, everyone around here loves her. She and Mitchell are friends from university and I know she's joked a few times that he ‘stole' her job but I can't imagine that she thinks that she'll set him up for it, then swoop in to steal the position after he's fired."

"That seems like a very big stretch," Dom agreed.

"Exactly. She's a bright, hard-working young woman and I'm sure she's ambitious but I can't imagine she's that diabolical."

"Agreed."

"But Mitchell makes even less sense," Kate argued. "He's a nice kid too. He was the hardest-working intern we've ever had and he's very good at his job."

"You wouldn't have hired him otherwise."

"Exactly. I didn't even know who his father was when I hired him."

Dom frowned. "His father?"

"Yeah. Mark Goodwin. He's the executive director for business operations for the team."

"Huh. I had no idea. I thought Mitchell's last name was Nash."

"Mom's birth name, apparently. Mitchell wanted to make it on his own merit. Not be accused of nepotism."

Surprised, Dom raised an eyebrow. Like the league wasn't full of nepotism. "That's admirable."

"It is! And I run into the same issue with him as I do with Birdie. Why would he do it? I mean, he doesn't get paid what you guys do but we do pay our staff fairly. And revenge? Who on earth would he be getting revenge against? It makes no sense."

"What other motives could there be?" Dom asked. "I mean, don't they say the three big ones are money, revenge, and—"

"Love," Kate finished for him. "But who would Birdie or Mitchell be in love with that it would make them sell out the team?"

"No idea. Colton and Birdie seem happy together to me." Not that he was any expert on relationships.

"They do to me too." Kate drummed her nails on the desk.

"Is Mitchell dating anyone?"

"I think he might be. He hasn't spoken about it but I did see him talking to a guy once. I was headed out to my vehicle and they were arguing."

"Wow. Even I'm not so cynical about love that I assume that any two people arguing are in a relationship."

Kate laughed. "No, that wasn't what made me think they were dating. They kissed after, like they were making up after a brief fight."

"Ahh. Yeah, that makes more sense." Dom grinned. "I was going to say, I thought you were happy with that husband of yours."

"Oh, we have our moments too," she said, laughing. "I occasionally question if it would be worth going to jail if I strangle him and I'm sure he's thought the same about me, but we always work it out."

Dom laughed too. "From what I hear, that's pretty normal."

Not that he would know. He'd never had a normal relationship in his life. Just a hidden boyfriend in LA and now whatever it was he had with Shea.

Which, honestly, felt remarkably normal if Dom ignored the part where he paid Shea for sex.

Which, there was nothing wrong with that.

Dom had never felt ashamed of paying someone to get his needs met. It was mutually beneficial and if people would stop being so precious about sex and get over their hangups, it would probably do the world a lot of good.

But even he could admit that it probably wasn't a typical way to start a relationship.

This wasn't Pretty Woman .

And if anyone was playing Julia Roberts here, Audra would be a much better fit than Shea.

Which made him Richard Gere, Dom supposed. He thought ruefully of the damned streak in his hair that grew thicker with every year.

At least he hadn't gone totally silver yet.

"Dom?" Kate said and he focused back on her.

"Yeah. Sorry. Just tired."

He'd slept well next to Shea but it still hadn't been enough hours of sleep. And his fucking back was killing him now, despite Kate's comfortable chairs.

Kate cleared her throat. "Well, unless you have something else you want to discuss, I have a lot of work to do."

"No. I'm set. Thanks for not yelling at me too much." He knew that for some inexplicable reason, Kate had a soft spot for him. And she never got as mad at him as she did with the other guys.

"Well, you make too many more bad decisions and I might change my mind," she teased, her eyes twinkling. "Now, out of my office! Scoot!"

"Yes, ma'am," Dom said, laughing as he let himself out.

As he passed Mitchell's desk, he studied him out of the corner of his eye.

Mitchell was … cute, Dom supposed.

He wasn't overly tall or well-built, fairly average, really. Pale, like all of them were after a long Toronto winter, with messy dark blond hair and a little stubble. He was too young to have grown into his features yet but he'd probably be an attractive guy when he got a little older.

It was hard to believe this kid was the mastermind leaking all of the team's secrets.

"Have a good one," Dom said, curious to see how Mitchell would react around him.

He glanced up from his computer, offering Dom a cautious grin. "You too, Mr. Olson."

"You can call me Dom." He winked.

The kid flushed deep red before his gaze darted back to his screen, like he was too shy to meet Dom's gaze.

Okay, so yeah, the guy was probably into men. Not that Dom hadn't believed Kate that she'd seen him kissing a guy but … well, it didn't hurt to confirm things.

Still, none of this made sense. Whether it was Mitchell or Birdie, why would they do this to the team?

What could they possibly have to gain?