Page 45

THIRTY-THREE

Beck

Mark

When you get to the arena, come to my office. I want to speak to you.

That was the first thing I saw on my phone when I opened my eyes and reached for my cell on the nightstand and looked through the notifications that had come in overnight.

Boss man wanted to talk.

I could only guess what this conversation was going to be about.

Since Jolie had left just a few minutes ago and I couldn’t really fall back asleep, I saw no reason to drag out this impending conversation any further. If Mark wanted to speak to me, he was going to get me bright and early.

I threw on some workout clothes, took a premade protein shake to go, and drove to the arena, parking directly behind Jolie’s Wrangler.

I sipped the shake while I took the elevator to the top floor and walked down the hallway that led to the executive offices.

The arena was silent, only one overhead light was on, and it shone directly over the ice.

And aside from Jolie and, I was assuming, her father, only a few other people were here—the engineers who maintained the building and the rink and a couple of security guards.

As I got deeper down the hallway, I heard Mark’s voice, and the closer I got to his office, the louder he became.

From the midway point between the elevator and the office at the end, I could see Jolie’s closed door, and there wasn’t any light coming out from beneath it.

Which told me the conversation, which I figured they were having now, was in his office.

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 heard what 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.”

“At my house,” I replied.

“Your HR file provided your address, and within minutes, I had my answer. And three, I happened to be walking by the locker room when one of the guys made a comment about Jolene, and you gave that man a real earful.” He leaned back in his chair, his arms crossing.

“Let it be known, nothing happens within my organization that I don’t know about. Even if it involves my daughter.”

I gripped both armrests. “Except there’s a large piece of this that you don’t know.”

“And that is?” he questioned.

I gave her a quick peek. I could tell that all of this was eating her up inside.

“Jolie and I didn’t meet when she came to work for the Whales. We had met when she was a sophomore at BU. That’s how long she’s been in my life.”

“Is that true?” he asked his daughter.

“Yes.” She nodded.

His eyes narrowed, his head almost bopping while he appeared to put together what I’d just admitted.

“That explains why you reacted the way you did when I told you I was purchasing the Whales. In my office that day, you were putting together that you were going to be your boyfriend’s new boss.

And you didn’t know what the hell to do with yourself. ”

“That’s right.” Her voice was soft. “But he wasn’t my boyfriend then.”

“Insignificant,” Mark barked.

“But the timeline of this is significant,” she countered, holding her stomach with both arms. “Even though I signed a code of conduct, things had already happened between Beck and me before my signature dried on that paper. And for what it’s worth, I took that code of conduct seriously.

I told myself that once I was in this role, nothing would ever happen between us again.

I couldn’t do both—I couldn’t be with him and work for the Whales at the same time. ”

“Yet you broke that code of conduct, and you broke the promise you’d made to yourself!” Mark snapped.

“With all due respect, you need to back off of her.” I tried to keep my voice down, but the sharpness was clear in my tone.

“Even if Jolie had been at the pool—or if I had been—I don’t think either of us could have stopped Kirk from doing what he did.

Kirk and that woman consensually made that choice.

But you’re making this Jolie’s fault and blaming her for his action when Kirk is a grown-ass man.

Do you think you could have convinced a guy like him to keep things PG in the pool?

” I waited and got nothing. “Come on, Mark. I know she’s your daughter, but you’ve got to ease up on her a bit. ”

His brows furrowed while he glared at me, but not a word came out of his mouth.

Jolie broke the silence with a deep breath and, “There’s a reason I broke that code of conduct, Dad.”

“Are you going to tell me you’re the reason? That this is your fault?” Mark addressed those questions at me.

I rubbed my palms over my sweatpants and flipped my hat backward, so not even the brim was in the way when I said, “What I am going to tell you is that I’m in love with your daughter.”

Mark stared at me as that news set in.

“Dad …” She waited for him to glance at her, and that was when I looked at her, a flush moving across her cheeks, telling me she felt every word I’d said. “The reason I broke that promise is because I’m in love with him too.”

When she gave me her eyes, they were soft. So was her expression. And mine were gentle and as tender as I could possibly make them.

We couldn’t say anything to each other at this moment, but we were showing the effects of both statements and what they meant to us.