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 immediately suspended him. 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 he won’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.”
“Thanks. I’m on my way.”
***
I arrived at the office half an hour later. Declan texted me that everyone was up at the bar, so I took the elevator straight to the top floor. Since it was three o’clock in the afternoon, the place was empty except for my family. Reese was here too. They were all sitting at a round table. The bartender, Lance, wasn’t around.
“You were fast,” I told Reese.
She blushed, fiddling with her thumbs. “I was in the area, sort of. I was heading to Tyler’s place, but after Declan called, I came here.”
Travis straightened in his chair, looking around the table. “So, the plan is to come up with a strategy to what? Get the team to un-suspend him?”
I frowned. “I think so. I haven’t thought this through. I just saw him and knew we had to do something. I usually don’t like interfering—”
“Yes, yes, we all know that,” Declan said impatiently.
“I was pointing out the irony of you being the ones saying we have to do something,” Sam said with a shit-eating grin.
Luke cocked a brow at me. “Tate, I don’t know why you always think you’re not interfering. You’re the one who suggested from the get-go to take the lawsuit off Gran’s hands.”
“That was just common sense,” I countered.
“Can we focus on Tyler?” Declan said in a no-nonsense tone, silencing everyone at the table. “We need to pool our resources. Who knows the team’s management?”
Travis pointed at Declan. “I really don’t think Tyler would appreciate us talking to his team’s management. We need another strategy. I, for one, can entertain him. I have all the time in the world.”
Reese looked straight at Travis. “I like that idea.”
“That’s not going to solve the issue, though,” Luke said.
Declan frowned. For him, distractions were not solutions. Travis was usually as practical as Declan, but maybe his perspective was changing now that he’d sold his company and had a lot of free time.
“But it’s going to help his morale,” Sam added, narrowing his eyes. “Besides, no one said we couldn’t multitask. Since we don’t know how to actually solve the problem, we can start with the fun part.”
Everyone started talking at the same time. It was impossible to follow all the conversations taking place simultaneously.
Reese held a hand up, indicating she wanted to speak. I chuckled, shaking my head. I forgot that things got so loud and crazy when we were together that it was necessary to raise a hand to get to speak.
“I’ll coordinate all our efforts,” Reese put in. Her shoulders sagged. “I can’t believe this is happening. I feel guilty as hell.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear in a nervous, jittery movement.
“You don’t have to feel guilty about anything, Reese.”
“Well, I do. But that’s not why I want to spearhead this effort. I’m a master at organizing stuff.”
That she was. Her favorite activity as a kid was organizing a schedule for games.
“Let me call Kimberly,” she continued. “She always has great ideas.”
“Does she already know about the video being online?” I asked in surprise. She was back in Paris already.
“Duh. She called me before I got here. Bad news crosses the ocean too.”
She took the phone out of her bag, putting it on speakerphone. Kimberly answered after three rings.
“Hey, Reese,” she greeted. “Gang all gathered?”
“Yes, and you’re on speakerphone. We’re coming up with strategies to cheer up Tyler.”
“And let me guess. Luke and Sam are on board, Tate hasn’t said much yet, Declan is annoyed because that won’t solve anything, and Travis is with Declan?”
I chuckled. Yeah, that was pretty close.
“Almost on point, cousin dearest,” Travis said. “I’m Team Distract Tyler right now.”
“Holy shit, that sale really changed you, huh? I approve. Okay, so what if I bring him to Paris for a week or so? A change of scenery would help.”
“He has physical therapy daily,” I put in.
“Damn. Okay, so we keep the party in Chicago,” Kimberly murmured. “Are Lena and Emmett there too?”
“No,” Reese replied. “Should we call them?”
“Hell no,” Sam explained. “I have about a million ideas, and none of them should reach our parents’ ears.”
We all burst out laughing, and for the next half hour, we passed ideas around. We had more than enough to keep Tyler occupied for a year. My ears were ringing even after Kimberly disconnected from the call.
My phone beeped with a message while we were all talking over each other, and I forgot about it. I took it out now, checking my messages.
Lexi: How is Tyler?
Lexi: Tate.
Lexi: Hellooooo. I’m worried.
Tate: Sorry. My siblings and I met up to brainstorm ideas to help Tyler.
Lexi: Wow, you all move fast. I have some ideas too! I’ll tell you all about them this evening.
This woman. She kept surprising me at every turn. I’d been with her when I saw the video online, and she was just as concerned as I was. I couldn’t believe she cared about my family’s troubles so much. Lexi fit in my life so perfectly—as if she’d always been part of it, of me. I couldn’t wait to go home and show her exactly how much that meant to me. I planned to prove my appreciation with a lot of orgasms.
“Not to be a buzzkill, but what are we doing about Malcolm?” Travis asked, sounding more like his old self.
“Leave Malcolm to Tate and me,” Declan said in a calm and collected tone, which could only mean one thing: he was finally doing things my way. We were going in for the kill.
“And me,” Reese said. “I’m done playing nice. He doesn’t deserve it.”
