For some reason, that seems to mollify her, or maybe she thinks I truly have the power to get her fired, which I don’t nor would I. The woman gives me a once-over, probably noting that I never come up here unless absolutely necessary. “Hold on.”
She buzzes the intercom and Brienne answers. “Yes, Marta?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you.” She shoots me a scathing glance. “But Mr. Navarro is here to see you and Mr. Derringer. He says it’s urgent, but I tried to tell him you’re busy.”
There’s a moment of silence, then Brienne says, “Send him back. And thank you, Marta.”
Marta nods toward the door. “You can go back.”
“Yup. Got that part.” Still the asshole.
Marta buzzes the lock and I push through the door into a maze of hallways. I’ve been up here a few times since coming to the team and know where to go. Brienne’s office sits in the corner, offering sweeping views of the Pittsburgh skyline across the Allegheny River.
Brienne’s expression sharpens the second she sees me in the doorway and she waves me in. “Penn. Take a seat.”
Callum twists in his chair, studying me as I approach. “Something going on?” he asks when I drop down into the chair next to him.
I let out a slow breath and get right to it. “I thought you both should know about something that’s come up in my life that could have adverse effects going forward.”
“For the team?” Callum asks.
I lift a shoulder. “For me, and by association, possibly the team.”
Brienne folds her arms. “Go on.”
My gaze shifts across the desk to her. “Did you hear about the teddy bear I received in the locker room?”
She shoots a puzzled look to Callum, and then back to me. “I did not. Should I have been told about it?”
I turn to Callum. “Did you know?”
He shakes his head, confusion creasing his forehead.
I find this very interesting as well as surprising. My teammates saw it. They pulled it out of the garbage after I threw it away and saw the threatening note. They’ve been piecing things together and I’m truly shocked that word hasn’t filtered up. There’s a part of me that respects it, and a part of me that’s repulsed by it. That’s the team, rallying around me and keeping secrets from everyone else. It’s fucking confusing as to which way is the right way, but I push it aside and explain the incident to Brienne and Callum.
“What does that note mean?” she asks when I’m finished. “I remember. Do you?”
“Let me start at the beginning,” I say with a huff of frustration. The benefit to being a minor when all this occurred was that my name wasn’t released in an attempt to keep me safe. “When I played for the Wraiths in the USYHL, there was a hazing incident.”
“I remember that,” Callum says, but Brienne’s expression is blank.
“Long story short, older members hazed a younger guy. He suffered severe alcohol poisoning and asphyxiated on his own vomit.”
Brienne gasps at the revelation.
“His body was found and no one knew what happened. Except I did. I knew the guys responsible and I went to the police about it.”
Something flashes across Brienne’s face—a mixture of respect and empathy. “You did the right thing.”
“There’s many who would say I didn’t. That I should have kept my mouth shut. That I should’ve had loyalty to those guys because it was all just a terrible accident and they didn’t intend to kill him.”
I let those words hang in the air so they understand that not everyone considers me a noble guy. “My word alone wasn’t enough, however, there was another witness. Her name is Mila Brennan, and she is the sister of the main guy responsible, Peter. Their father was the coach.”
I explain how the guys bragged about it in front of me and that Mila overheard the entire conversation. She had listened to us all laugh, horrified, made worse because of her feelings for Nathan.
It still fucking shames me that I laughed, but I force it down deep. “Our names were kept private, but gossip started and it was soon figured out that I was the whistleblower since I was the only one in the room that night who wasn’t a part of it. It was a little harder to pin it on Mila, though. In the end, her family knew it was her—her parents were involved since she was a minor. Ultimately, the team turned on me.”
“What?” Brienne gasps, sitting forward in her chair and pinning me with steely eyes.
