It’s now clear why I’m here.
To validate my suspicions, the door I had just walked through opens up and in walks Dax.
Yup…we’re all here for the lawsuit.
“What’s up, dude?” he says as he holds his fist out to me to bump.
“Not much,” I say and then nod to Sebastian sitting there, who is ignoring us both. “Guess we’re here about the lawsuit, huh?”
“That would be my guess as well,” Dax says.
“Mine as well,” Sebastian says without looking up from his phone.
Dax, Sebastian, and I were sued the first week of October, just as we were coming out of preseason and starting regular play. The bitch that sued us—and I mean that with all disrespect—is lying through her teeth claiming that she was sexually harassed by the three of us.
“Mr. Carlson is ready to see you now,” Hannah says from behind us. She points to the hall that leads to his office before asking, “Would any of you like me to bring you something to drink?”
We all decline and head to the impromptu meeting that was called by the ultimate man in charge and for which there was no thought of ever declining his summons.
Surprisingly, Dominik doesn’t have the largest office. We’d all been given a tour of the arena before the season started, which included the executive suite. I theorize that it’s because he’s not here often, but I also think it means his ego is in check.
He’s on the phone when we walk in. Not the phone on his desk, but his cell phone and he’s standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the Phoenix skyline, with a hand casually tucked into a pocket. I bet his suit is from Italy and costs five figures. Turning toward us, he motions to a round table with four chairs in one corner of the office for us to sit.
Into the phone, he says, “I’ll have the car pick you up at four and it will take you to the airport. I’ll have landed by then.”
There’s a moment of silence then he adds, “You don’t need to pack anything but your bathing suit. Trust me.”
Dax and I grin at each other. Those words coupled with his low, seductive voice and you know he’s setting up what is promising to be a very good time with a woman.
We take our chairs while Dominik makes his farewell to the lucky lady. He approaches us with a broad smile and walking around the table, shakes our hands, calling us each by name. When he’s done, he unbuttons his suit jacket and sits in the empty chair directly opposite of me.
“Thank you for coming in on such short notice.” He clasps his hands on the table. “You probably figured this is about the lawsuit that was filed against the organization and the three of you.”
We all nod.
“My lawyers have done some investigation into Miss Pearson,” he tells us. He’s so professional and polite to call her that rather than “that bitch.” “And it seems she’s got a criminal history…petty theft and forgery. Didn’t do any jail time, but my attorneys say that would be enough to discredit her in front of a jury. The case will be her word against yours, after all.”
“That’s great news,” Sebastian says with obvious relief.
“It is, as long as your stories are true and she can’t surprise us with some evidence that she was sexually harassed by the three of you,” he says, and takes his time to look around the table at all of us.
“I had sex with her,” Dax says, a fact that he’s already admitted to. “But she propositioned me in front of witnesses and she wasn’t subtle about it.”
“I don’t care if you had sex with her,” Dominik replies coolly. “Only if you used your position on the team to promise her something the organization could do for her in exchange for sexual favors.”
“Nope,” Dax replies with an adamant shake of his head. “Just fucked her and it wasn’t that great.”
I cough to cover the laugh that erupts out of me and Dominik’s lips twitch. He turns his attention to Sebastian. “I didn’t touch her at all. Flirted with her one night at the Sneaky Saguaro but I think she went home with Dax that night.”
Dax nods in agreement.
“She came on to me strong in the job interview,” Sebastian continues. “Which you know I immediately reported to Christian after she left, which is company policy.”
Dominik nods at Sebastian with a grim smile because of the lengths this lady went to. He then turns to look at me. I hold both palms up. “I didn’t touch her. Had thought about it, because yeah…she’s hot. But she chose Dax that first night we met her, thank fuck.”
There’s no offense seemingly taken by Dominik over my F-bomb as he pushes up from the table. “That’s all I need, guys. I know you told the attorneys this same stuff before, but I wanted you to look me in the eye and talk to me straight, and based on what you’ve confirmed, I’m instructing my attorneys to tell Miss Pearson to fuck off…but in nicer terms, of course. While I have a strict, no tolerance policy toward any types of sexual harassment, I’m not going to let someone try to pin something on my guys that you didn’t do. I think it’s pretty clear she set this all up to make a quick buck.”