Next morning, I woke up late. I scrambled out of bed, showering and dressing at top speed, pulling my hair in a low ponytail that screamed bad hair day, but between being late or looking unfashionable, the latter was preferable. Why had they held the gala on a weekday?
I was about to skid out the door when I noticed a brown paper bag on the table in the living room with a note next to it.
Woke up too early and bought you breakfast. I’ll miss you. Have a great day.
I love you.
I grinned as I carefully tucked the note in my bag.
On the drive to the club, at a red light, I checked my emails, and found out that my apartment was going up for sale.
I had one month to move out. I drew in a deep breath, telling myself this wasn’t so tragic. Rent elsewhere would be higher, which meant I would be saving less, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with.
I arrived at the club in time, ready to tackle whatever else the day had in store for me. My inbox had emails from three of the five sponsors who had attended the event last night, asking me to call them.
A sense of foreboding gripped me. I hoped they were simply looking for reassurance that Jace was not a violent man and last night’s incident had been an outlier.
My hopes turned to dust during the first phone call.
“Carl, I suggest you wait a few days before making such a drastic move.”
He didn’t just want to drop Jace, he wanted to cease collaboration with the Lords.
“Look, unhappy incident or not, I can’t associate my brand with any kind of scandal.”
“There is no scandal. It was a fight between teammates. All the reporters had
left. Only those who attended are aware of it.”
“You and I both know these things can repeat or escalate.”
My temples were pounding. This could not be happening.
“I understand your concerns. Why don’t we discuss this in person?”
“Feel free to schedule a meeting with my assistant. But I’m warning you, I won’t change my mind.”
He sounded firm, but I wouldn’t let this go without a proper fight.
The second call went about the same. By the time I made the third call, I was bracing for another full blowout, but Jeremy, one of the sponsors who had signed Jace on to market their new sportswear line, merely wanted another player for his campaign.
Still, this was a disaster. The Lords could lose two sponsors, Jace three.
I hated it, but I had to let Tina know. Not only did I need her advice, but she had to talk to the head of PR. If news circulated that two of the Lords’ sponsors were pulling out, even the sponsors who had not attended the event would start calling us, wondering what was wrong.
Tina took the news better than I expected.
“They are being unreasonable. If this was a case of substance abuse or media scandal, I’d understand, but an altercation between players is not that unusual. Besides, our boys have a great chance of winning the cup. That’s what they should care about. You said you set up meetings?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll go.”
I’d lose face with those sponsors if my boss attended a meeting I had set up, but since I was also responsible for this mess, I couldn’t argue. And maybe she could do more damage control than I could, even though the last thing I wanted was for her to think I couldn’t do my job.
Everyone was on edge, waiting for the game the next day, which we watched together in the viewing room. This game was not part of the playoffs for the Cup. Since the Lords had finished at the top, they went directly to the semifinals. But in the break until then, they had two friendly games with international teams.
We’d prepared a buffet and even bought champagne to celebrate, but we didn’t get a chance to pop it open, because the Lords lost. The reporter covering the game spoke to a few players afterwards. Andrew got the brunt of the difficult questions, but when the reporter asked Jace why the team dynamic seemed different tonight, several of my coworkers glared at me. I couldn’t meet their eyes.