CHAPTER 6 LINCOLN

My mother and I shared a tearful goodbye before I left for work, and I'm groggy and bleary-eyed as I walk into my office ready to tackle this day.

Except the truth is I'm not ready to tackle a goddamn thing.

I text both Mike and Andy.

Me: Come to my office as soon as you get in.

Andy shows up first. "What's going on, Coach?"

"I won't be at practice today. You know what to do."

He knows better than to ask me why I won't be there. "Will you be at the meeting?" he asks instead.

"I'll be watching from the back. You can run film with defense without me." I just don't think I'm in the right state to lead a team through film as we discuss our game plan for the upcoming week, but I've given the plan to my coaching staff, so they should easily be able to execute without me there.

He nods. "Everything okay?"

I shake my head, and he doesn't press.

"I'm sorry, Coach. Anything I can do?"

"Your job," I say thickly, and he nods.

"I'm on it. You can count on me." He turns to leave, and Mike walks in next. He's not quite so forgiving as his counterpart who just headed out.

"I won't be at practice today. You know what to do." I repeat the same directive I gave Andy.

"Where will you be?" he asks.

"None of your business. Do your job."

"But you don't have to do yours?" he asks.

I clench my jaw before I say something I'll regret. "Get out."

He purses his lips as he stares at me, but then he turns to leave without another word.

I close my blinds. It's too goddamn bright in here, and I'm not exactly in a cheerful mood.

So when Jack appears in my doorway, he glances around with a look of curiosity on his face. "Why's it so dark in here?"

I glance up at him. "I closed the blinds."

He sighs as he walks in, and he opens my blinds, not that I asked him to. The sunshine streams in, and I squint as my eyes try to adjust to the change.

"Why aren't you down at practice?" he asks. He doesn't sit, instead gripping the back of one of the chairs across from my desk as he leans forward on it.

"I'm giving my coordinators a chance to coordinate," I say dryly.

"Look, Lincoln. I get it. I've been there myself."

"Been where?" I ask—as if I don't know exactly what he's talking about.

He ignores my question. "It's dark. It's lonely. And, if we're being honest, it hurts. Badly. But there's light on the other side."

I shake my head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Too fucking bad," he says, and though his words are harsh, his tone is gentle. "If it's affecting how you do your job, you need to fix it."

He's right, and I know that…but I have no idea how to fix any of this.

"It's not affecting my job." It's a total lie.

"If it wasn't affecting your job, you'd be down on that goddamn field." He lets go of his grip on the chair and steps around it to sit. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"My father intentionally hurt Joseph Bailey two decades ago in order to protect me. He made me end things with the only girl I ever loved, and then twenty years later, we reconnected, she found out I knew what my father had done, and she ended things with me. The end."

He sighs. "So you're just rolling over and dying?"

I shake my head as I shrug. "What the fuck else is there to do? She won't answer me. She's rightfully upset, and she told me she'd never be able to trust me. And honestly? I'm not really sure I blame her for that. I wouldn't trust me, either. I haven't given her any reason to."

He nods. "Well, okay. I guess it didn't really mean as much as you're saying it did if you just want to give up."

"Of course it did, but what choice do I have?"

He slams a palm on the desk. "You fight, Nash. I didn't hire some quitter. I hired a goddamn fighter. So you fight."

"How?" I ask.

"That's for you to figure out. But I don't see any fire in you at all right now, and that's not like you."

I nod. "I know. It's just…there's a kid involved, too, and I grew attached to him, and I lost my father on top of it. It's too much all at once, and my mother is moving back to New York and Asher is suspended for a year. I just, fuck…I don't want to mess anything else up."

Jack sighs. "Sounds like there isn't much else to mess up, man. I'm sorry you're going through a rough patch, and I won't sit here and lecture you on how the team needs to come first. You're here, so you know that. But I will tell you that you need to get your shit together, and I am here to help you."

"Then help me figure out how the fuck I win her back," I mutter.

"Will winning her back solve all your problems?" he asks.

I contemplate that. It won't mend the relationship with my dad. It won't fix what happened with Asher. It won't bring my mom back to Vegas.

But those aren't my problems.

"Yes," I finally admit.

He leans in like he's about to let me in on a little secret, and I find myself leaning forward to listen to it.

"Then you figure out what means the most to her, and you use that to fight like hell to prove she can trust you."

Figure out what means the most to her.

Trusting me appears to be a big part of it, but I get the sense that it's not the full story. I could go public with my side of the story. That might mean something to her—to publicly acknowledge that I fucked up in not telling her what I knew.

And then it hits me.

I snap my fingers. "Her son."

His brows draw together. "What about him?"

"Her son means the most to her, and I know part of why she's so angry with me is that she's been fighting for full parental control of her son, and her ex was working with that slimy son of a bitch Rivera at VG-oh-three to blow up her personal life in the media."

"So if you can prove her ex was working with Rivera…" he trails off.

"My dad admitted it, so I know it's facts. But if he's doing that, he's probably doing some other shady shit, too," I point out.

"Fair point. And you can always use the podcast as your way back in with her."

I snap my fingers again. "The podcast. Did you know she quit the station and was planning to capitalize on the podcast?"

He shakes his head. "She quit?"

I nod as Megan appears in my doorway.

"I have a few invitations for you to review," she says.

"No public appearances for the next month," I snap. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm talking with Jack right now."

"I think you're going to want to see this one based on the conversation you were just having," she says, and my computer dings with a notification to let me know I have a new email.

And it's also the first time I realize how much Megan can hear. Granted, the door is wide open…but can she hear in here even when it's closed?

Jesus. I've done some things in here I wouldn't want Megan hearing…specifically with Jolene.

I sigh as I check the invitation. It's for some new product called SmartSports, an automated sports analytics system created by recently partnered companies Global Sports and Vegas's own FDB Tech Corp.

Why does that company sound familiar?

I read the invitation aloud to Jack.

He nods. "I got that one, too. I'm interested enough to go to the launch party, and I'm friends with one of the owners."

I scroll through the list of employees at the company, and that's when I find it.

Jeremy Landry.

Jolene's ex. Jonah's father.

He works for this company. My curiosity is piqued enough about the product that I will be attending the event, but maybe I can also gain some insight into the man who's making Jolene's life a living hell.

It's next Tuesday, and I call out to Megan, who appears in my doorway a few seconds later.

"Fine. RSVP me."

"With a date?" she asks.

"No." My tone is clipped.

I definitely want to see what it's all about since the product does sound interesting, but even as I think it through, some of the dots start to connect for me.

Like I just told Jack, knowing what I know about Rivera and my father, I can't help but wonder how to get Jeremy out of the picture for her. And maybe this event is my ticket in.

I need Jolene to see how much I'm willing to fight for her, and that means it's time to start digging up dirt on Jeremy Landry. It all starts with attending this product launch.

"There's that fire," Jack says quietly, narrowing his eyes at me as his mouth curls into a smile. "I see it on your face. Oh, and I'll be your plus one to the launch."

I laugh, and the laughter feels good after the last two days of misery. For the first time since the accident, I feel like myself again.

I'll find something on her ex, and then I will figure out how to win her back.

But for now…I should probably get my ass down to practice.