“Can’t you see they’ve already won?” Leo replied. “You never thought they’d be willing to sacrifice so much just to be with each other. But theyare,Sal, and they’re also willing to tell the media everything. Which would be so much worse for you than letting them have their way. You should be thinking about damage control now, Sal—not trying to controlthem.” He clenched a fist to emphasize his point. “The harder you squeeze, the more slips through your fingers.”
Mr. Capuano sighed as he considered Leo’s words. It was obvious he trusted Leo and took his opinion seriously. But a flicker of suspicion remained in his eyes.
“I don’t understand how you switched sides so easily,” Mr. Capuano said, his voice laced with the hint of a threat. “Have you really thought this through …allthe implications?”
Leo drew a deep breath. “Lookat Ottavia, Sal. Can’t you see she’s finally happy? She hasn’t been happy foryears—until she met Dakota, that is.”
As Leo spoke, I saw a tear begin to well in Ottavia’s eyes. I squeezed her hand tightly in mine.
Leo continued. “And the truth is,Iwon’t be happy, either, if I have to pretend I’m not gay for the rest of my life.” No one in thelocker room batted an eye when Leo came out—no one but Mr. Capuano, who realized Leo his last bit of control over Leo had just evaporated. “If that means I don’t have a future in politics? Then fuck it. Fine. I’d rather not be in politics at all if it means the rest of my life has to be a lie. I look at how happy Ottavia is, and I want that for myself, Sal.”
Mr. Capuano’s jaw tensed and worked back and forth as he realized he’d lost years of plans.
“The three of you have utterly fuckedme,” he snarled. “And you expect me to do you afavornow?”
“Expect?” I shook my head. “No. I have no idea what you’ll do. All I’m hoping for is that you’ll see it’s better for everyone if you stop fighting and do what we ask.”
“And what’s that, exactly?”
“Again: tell the truth. There’s a group of reporters outside this locker room, circling around like a bunch of vultures, desperate to get a piece of a storyyoucreated. I want you to go out there and clear our names.”
Mr. Capuano’s nostrils flared.
“I’ve got a better idea.” All eyes turned to Rust as the captain stood and spoke up. “First, Mr. Capuano, you’re gonna do what Dakota asked. And then you’re going to announce that you’re stepping down as owner.”
“What!” Mr. Capuano laughed. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m not going to play for you anymore,” Rust said. The captain grabbed his jersey off the hanger in his stall, balled it up, and threw it into the middle of the room. “I’m disgusted, Sal. Disgusted with how you’ve treated our teammate, and beyond disgusted with how you’ve treated your very own daughter. It’s beyond wrong. And you need to take a long look at your life if you think you can treat people like this.”
“Congratulations, Rust,” Mr. Capuano replied. “You can join Dakota in sitting out the rest of your contract, too.”
Upon hearing that, Brett tossed his jersey into the middle of the room, too. “Then you’ll have to sit me, because I’m not gonna play you for you, either.”
Brock added his jersey to the pile. “And me.”
“If Brock’s sitting, I am too,” Connor said, throwing his jersey next.
A pile began to form as the rest of my teammates tossed their jerseys into the middle of the room.
“You can sit my ass out too, ya billionaire bitch.”
“Yup, I’m out.”
“You’re fucked up, pal.”
They didn’t stop until every last jersey had been thrown and the Sin logo on the floor was buried beneath the laundry pile.
“Great. Great.” Pretending to be amused, Mr. Capuano wore a strained smile. “Would anybodyelselike to quit? Is the mascot around? The janitor, maybe?”
He could joke all he wanted, but we weren’t laughing.
“I’m not going to sell my team just because you clowns are threatening a mutiny,” Mr. Capuano snarled. “I’ll have each and every one of you traded.”
Killer had been silently watching this whole time. But now he stepped forward, peeling his suit jacket off his broad shoulders.
“Then you’ll have to hire somebody else to be your general manager, because I’m not trading or sitting anyone out.” Killer threw his jacket into the pile of jerseys. “I built a team I believe in. And I’m not going to throw it all away because you don’t know when to back the hell off.”
Mr. Capuano sighed. “You too, Dean?”
