Page 97 of The Maxwell Brothers

"I want to help with party planning."

My daughter looked crestfallen, "Daddy, I love you, but you always sort of look through me when I talk about the party."

Jesus! I needed to do better. "I'll focus, I promise."

Lexi pointed a finger at me. "On one condition. You're not allowed to laugh, not even if you hear the word ‘unicorn.’"

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what exactly they meant, but I held up my hands in defense, "No laughing, I promise."

I had a million things to deal with, including talking to Declan, but I’d start tomorrow. I wanted to enjoy today with the two most important women in my life.

CHAPTER 26

TATE

As Declan predicted,Malcolm didn’t attempt to use the incident from the party in the lawsuit. It made Malcolm look worse, so he avoided the situation entirely. Declan was already singing victory, but I didn’t want to celebrate early. I was sure Malcolm was going to do something.

The bomb dropped one week later, and it hit differently than expected.

It turned out Malcolm’s assistant had indeed recorded the fight—and uploaded the video online. Malcolm had his back to the camera the whole time, so you couldn’t see his face. All you could see was Tyler fighting someone.

The hockey team immediatelysuspendedhim. He wasn’t just benched because of the injury. He was fucking suspended. The second he messaged me with the news, I went to his condo. He lived in one of the high-rises downtown, on the twenty-fifth floor.

“What a fucking clusterfuck,” Tyler exclaimed. He was pacing his living room, his arm in a sling.

“The good news is Declan says there will be no legal ramifications. Malcolm would have to press charges, which hewon’t do because then he’d have to admit it was him. And it was obvious the guy you were fighting was the instigator.”

Tyler turned to me, running his good hand through his hair.

“It doesn’t matter, Tate. I’m suspended. Do you know what that means? Even after my arm recovers, they might not put me back on the ice this season.”

He sat on the armrest of his couch, looking out the window.

Damn. I’d never seen Tyler like this.

“Ever since I was a kid, this is all I wanted to do, you know? It’s why I begged Mom and Dad to take me to practice and everything. I don’t want to let anyone down. The team or our parents.”

“Tyler. Everyone’s proud of you. You’ll get back on the ice. You’re one of their best players.”

“The team might lose some sponsors because of me, so who knows.”

I stepped closer to him, patting his good shoulder. “Focus on your physical therapy. That’s all you can do for now.”

“I know. Listen, I don’t want to be rude, but I’m gonna talk to some of my teammates in ten minutes.”

“I’ll see myself out. I just wanted to check on you.”

“Thanks, brother.”

He didn’t make even one lousy joke. Things were even worse than I thought.

The second I was out of his building, before even ordering an Uber, I called Declan.

“How is he taking it?” he said instead of hello.

“Even worse than I expected. I think we need to call the gang. Maybe between us, we’ll come up with a strategy to help him out.”

“Luke, Travis, and Sam are here. I’ll call Reese too.”