Page 130 of The Wildest One

I stopped outside his door and listened.

“Jolene, I do not understand why you didn’t stay at that pool. I specifically asked you to watch over the team and make sure nothing happened. Do you want to know why I gave you that order? Because my gut told me something was going to take place and I was right. Which raises the question, where were you when the incident with Kirk occurred?”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Dad, I went up to my room. What more is there to say?”

“But why? When I asked you to stay down there? If it was to use the restroom, there are restrooms at the pool. Something isn’t adding up here.”

“I needed a real moment. That’s why.”

“What the hell is a real moment, Jolene?” He paused and then continued, “The incident took place at six in the evening. According to the few people I asked—and you know I check my sources when I conduct any kind of investigation—the last time you were seen at the pool was at three. You never returned, so what were you doing in your room that kept you so occupied that no one heard from you until the next morning?”

Through the wall that separated us, I could feel her anxiety.

I could feel her worry, knowing whatever she said could potentially jeopardize her future with the Whales.

But I had a part in this.

I was the reason she had gone to her room. I was the reason she had never checked her phone that night and still hadn’t until the morning.

I wasn’t going to let her tackle this alone and take all the blame.

Even if that meant putting myself directly in front of the goal without a single piece of equipment on.

I knocked on the door and heard, “Come back.”

Instead of following that order, I turned the handle and popped my head through the crack, earning a very intense glare from Mark.

“Beck, I’m speaking to my daughter. Would you mind returning in about thirty minutes when I’m done?—”

“Jolie was with me.” I opened the door wider and stood in the entrance. “That’s why she wasn’t at the pool when Kirk’s incident happened.” I closed the door behind me, and I took a seat next to her in front of his desk.

“Beck—”

I cut Jolie off and said, “That’s also why she didn’t answer her phone that evening.”

I glanced at her, knowing we hadn’t discussed coming clean like this to her father, hoping she wouldn’t be upset with me for airing our laundry. But if Mark was going to understand what had gone down in Vegas, he had to hear it from every side.

“And that’s why she was unreachable until the next morning.”

My gaze shifted to Mark. “I got your text. I don’t know what you planned on discussing with me today, but it was my intention to have a conversation with you about Jolie. I got to the arena early, I came up here to have that talk, and when I heardwhat you were saying from outside your door, I couldn’t let her take all the blame. This is on me too.”

Mark leaned his arms on his desk. “Jolene is an employee of mine. She works for the team. That means when I call her or her colleagues call her, regardless of what time it is, she answers her phone. When she’s given an order—like the one I gave her in Vegas—she must follow it. So, no, this isn’t your fault.” He was turning a silver pen in his hand, the movement halting. “This is her fault, Beck.” His head pointed down, and he looked at me dead-on. “But do you want to tell me what the fuck you were doing with my daughter, which goes against the code of conduct she signed?” I went to respond, and he added, “Or do you want me to tell you what I know about the two of you?”

My heart was pounding something fierce, and the inside of my palms were getting wet and clammy.

He knows?

“You know?” Jolie said the words I’d been thinking, her hand going against her chest.

“It wasn’t hard to piece together.”

Jolie shook her head. “But how?”

His thumbs circled as his hands linked. “Let’s see … the first hint was when you called her Jolie right here in this office.” He nodded at me. “The second was when we made the announcement in front of the team that the purchase had gone through. Your mother was in for the week and wanted you to join us for dinner. She called you, and when you didn’t answer, she tracked your location.” He was now looking at his daughter. “Guess where you were.”