Page 41 of On Thin Ice (Calgary Mounties #1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

HAVE AT IT

Lincoln

It’s been five days since I last saw Adele. Five days since I said the words that made her face fall. Five days since that first tear trickled down her cheek, and she turned away from me. Five days since I destroyed the one person I never wanted to hurt.

When she’d said she would go with me if I was traded, my heart had leapt for a fraction of a second. Before reality set in.

She broke up with Ben because she didn’t want to leave her family. I couldn’t ask her to come with me and expect her to walk away from everything that’s important to her. I’m not worth that.

So, I’d told her we needed to take a step back. Which is the exact opposite of what my heart was telling me to do.

Adele has become more important than breathing for me, and now, without her in my life, everything feels like it’s falling apart. And it’s all my fault.

“Hey!” Mikayla claps her hands in front of my face, yanking me out of my head and back to reality. “I’m sorry, am I boring you with the details of how we’re going to get you back on the ice?”

She sits across from me at the dining table at Seth’s house, her frustration causing her to be even snappier than usual.

Seth sits beside me, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed while he listens quietly to what Mikayla has been saying after her most recent meeting with the team’s lawyers.

“Sorry. I’m listening,” I reply, sitting up straighter.

I’d been hunched over, staring at my hands while I rested my forearms against the table.

Feeling sorry for myself, like I have been for the last seven days.

I’ve never gone this long without playing before, unless I was injured, and I’m getting antsy.

A broken heart doesn’t count as injured, and that’s my own doing, so I need to get a grip.

Mikayla shakes her head, clucking her tongue. “You’re a mess, Lincoln.”

“Thanks Mikayla, good pep talk,” I reply, crossing my arms.

“I don’t do pep talks, that’s up to your captain here. I just tell you how things are. And how things are right now… You made a right mess of things, and I’m not just talking about letting them film you in the first fucking place.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I think it’s a bit late for that now, isn’t it?”

“Yes. But instead of sitting back and feeling sorry for yourself because you decided to let the one good thing going for you walk away, you should be doing everything in your power to get your career back on track and get your girl back.”

I shake my head. “Pretty sure I’ve blown up any chances of either of those things happening.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Seth mutters under his breath, and I turn slowly to look at him.

“Yes, big guy? Something you want to add to this oh so fun conversation?” I know I’m being an absolute dick, but honestly, I’ve lost the ability to care.

“Yeah, you know what, I do,” he snaps, glaring at me.

“I’ve had enough of the way you’re just letting them dictate how this is going to go.

You didn’t release the tape. You are the one with the power here, not the other way around.

And I don’t know when you suddenly started thinking that you weren’t worthy of being loved, but that stops now, too.

You fucked up with Adele, and you’ve been moping around here ever since, which is annoying the crap out of me.

Now shut up and listen to Mikayla, because she was in the process of telling you that they’ve worked out where the leak is. ”

In our twenty-seven years of friendship, he has never snapped at me like that, and I blink, stunned.

“Um, excuse me, but I’ll just be over here, drooling over my very commanding husband,” Kylie says, having entered the room halfway through Seth’s monologue and is now eyeing him with sex in her eyes.

She’s had a few choice words for me the past few days, so at this point, I’m just glad she hasn’t decided to weigh in.

Seth smirks and settles back into his chair, jerking his head towards Mikayla in a silent command to shut up and pay attention.

“Now, if you’re quite done with your little pity party, as Seth said, one of the team’s staff members has come forward with evidence that it was, indeed, someone within management that leaked the video.

Someone who thought they had covered their tracks but didn’t know there was tracking software on the company computer they used to upload the video.

And we now have a case against them for revenge porn, which makes this a criminal case.

I’ve got the firm’s lawyers working on our case, and we will be taking everything to the Mounties tomorrow afternoon. ”

I blink a few times, processing her words slowly. I haven’t slept properly in over a week, and it’s making my brain pretty fuzzy, but I’m not entirely sure I heard her right .

“Do you know who it was?” I ask, although I’m pretty sure I know who it was.

And the look on Mikayla’s face tells me I’m right.

Once Mikayla leaves, I trudge into the living room with Milo close on my heels.

He’s been my shadow ever since we left Adele’s, and I try not to notice when he looks to the door constantly.

As though he’s waiting for her to arrive.

But Kylie told me that Adele hasn’t left her apartment for days, calling in sick for her last two tours, so I doubt she’ll be showing up here any time soon. Especially if she knows I’m here.

“Okay. So, that’s one part of your life we’re on track to getting sorted out. What are you planning on doing about this mess you’ve caused with my cousin?” Kylie demands, entering the room a minute after I flop down on the couch.

Seth wanders in after her, his expression still a mix of frustration and resignation. Pretty sure both of those things are because of me. The pair of them stand across from me with their arms crossed. And it feels very much like I’m being told off by my parents right now.

“I meant what I said, Kylie. If I get traded, we’d just have to break up anyway, and that’s not fair on her.”

“And why, exactly, do you think that means you’d have to break up?” Her tone has turned slightly menacing.

I’d be a little scared of her if I wasn’t still feeling so sorry for myself.

“She broke up with Ben because she didn’t want to leave Calgary and move to Vancouver. So how much worse would it be if I get traded to somewhere in the States and she has to move even further away?” I stare her down, figuring there’s no way she can argue with that.

“You’re an idiot,” she says.

Guess I was wrong about the not being able to argue with me part.

She shakes her head when I raise an eyebrow at her. “She broke up with Ben because she didn’t love him anymore, and they both wanted very different things. Ben wanted marriage and babies. Addie didn’t. Sound like someone else we know in this room?”

I grit my teeth, hating that she’s making sense but determined I’m still right.

“In all the years you’ve known Adele, have you ever known her to do something she doesn’t want to do? To even suggest doing something she doesn’t want to do?” Seth pipes up, and I groan, sliding down on the couch and resting my head against the back of it while staring up at the ceiling.

Why do my friends have to know both of us so well?

“No,” I concede, annoyed.

“Then why the hell do you think she’d tell you she would move with you, if she didn’t want to do that?”

I bring my gaze back down to glare at Seth.

“Hey, if you remember correctly, I was the one telling you that you should tell Kylie how you really felt and ask her to move here. So, I’m not a complete idiot.

This is different though. Kylie has family here.

Addie would have nothing and no one if I get traded. ”

His expression softens a little, but he still shakes his head, as though he’s dealing with a child.

“Yes, and you were right. It was you who got Kylie back here.” He pulls his wife into his side, kissing the top of her head before continuing.

“So maybe it’s time to take some of your own advice and actually fight for the woman you love instead of feeling sorry for yourself.

Because she wouldn’t have no one. She’d have you. ”

The look on both of their faces tells me that I’m fighting a losing battle. A battle that I’m not even sure I want to win, anyway.

“Fine. So, you’re saying I’ve fucked up and should go and win her back, is that it?”

Kylie nods. “Yes, you idiot.”

I glare at her, growing tired of being called an idiot, even though we all know she’s right. “And how exactly am I meant to do that? You didn’t see her face when I ended things, Kylie. I’m pretty sure there’s no coming back from that.”

She sighs, running a hand through her long brown hair. “Must I do everything around here? You are all about grand gestures. So come up with one that is going to make her see how serious you are about her.”

With that, she turns and stalks out of the room. Seth shrugs my way before following her, leaving me alone with my dog to try and work out what exactly I can do that would make Adele consider giving me a second chance.

The next afternoon, I take a seat across the long board room table from Coach Stevens, who gives me a firm nod.

Mikayla hadn’t been kidding when she said that she had her firm’s lawyers working on my case, and now I’m flanked by four of them, ready to throw down.

I refuse to look further down the table, where Alistair is sitting with his arms crossed, although I can feel his eyes on me as he glares at the side of my head.

“Now, before we start, I want it noted that we believe how the team has handled this situation has been disgusting,” Mikayla says, crossing her arms as she sits at the head of the table.

Her choice of chairs is a total power move, and it’s working, because the men sitting opposite me are clearly terrified of her.

“Now, listen -” the team’s president of operations, Roger, starts to say, but shuts his mouth when Mikayla turns her icy glare his way .

“No, you listen. From the beginning, I told you something was off about this whole thing, but you were too concerned with the team’s reputation to protect one of your most valuable assets.

And now we have the evidence that someone within management leaked both videos in an attempt to destroy Lincoln’s career. ”

Yeah, she’s pissed, and if I wasn’t so gone for Adele, I’m pretty sure I’d be turned on right now.

“What do you mean?” Roger asks, raising an eyebrow and looking over at his vice-president, Michael, who shrugs.

“We’ve been handed the proof.” Mikayla nods, and the lawyer to my right slides a folder across the table for Roger to look at.

He flips it open, his brows knitting together as he reads the file. Slowly, he raises his head and looks down the table.

I allow myself to finally look at Alistair, fixing my gaze on the general manager, who seems to be sweating all of a sudden.

“Tell me this is a joke, Alistair?” Roger says, jabbing at the folder with a thick finger.

Alistair remains mute, flicking his gaze from me to the men who have the power to make sure he never works in the NHL again.

When he doesn’t reply, Michael shakes his head, disgust written all over his face. “Why the hell would you do this?”

Alistair finally snaps. “Because he was going to destroy the team’s reputation with his antics!”

Roger glowers at him. “You’re not serious? If you hadn’t leaked the video, all of this would never have been a problem.”

Mikayla nods. “Correct. Declan and Elena had no intention of that video ever seeing the light of day. Whilst Elena probably shouldn’t have disclosed the details of that night to her friend in public, it’s not illegal to film sexual encounters, provided all participants consent to it.

But you know what is illegal, Alistair?” She stares down the table at the older man, her ice blue eyes filled with contempt.

“Releasing a video like that with the intent of destroying the people on it.”

He swallows hard, and I realize he had no idea just how serious his actions were.

“Fortunately for you, Lincoln has decided not to press charges, so long as his requirements are met.”

All eyes turn to me, and I shrug. “Hey, I’m not allowed to negotiate on my own behalf. So, this is where I leave it all in your capable hands. I have somewhere I need to be.” I push back from the table, nodding towards Mikayla. “Have at it.”

It’s probably not a great look to walk out on an important meeting like this, but like I said, I have somewhere I need to be.