Double fuck.

Swallowing loudly, he went for an aloof approach and said, “Hey, guys. Didn’t know you were coming too.”

“I didn’t know either,” Charles said, annoyed, and that had Jordie’s stomach sinking.

“Elli wanted us here,” Bryan answered, and Jordie’s chest clenched. Ignoring the need to flee, he dropped slowly into the seat that was in front of Elli’s desk and glanced nervously over at Charles. He was working his lip, looking over some paperwork in front of him. When he looked at Jordie, he knew he was fucked to the max.

His heart started to slam into his ribs as Elli came around her desk, lowering into her big, puffy teal chair with black trim. Behind her was a massive museum-like display of pictures of her and her family. The sweet faces of her five children—that Jordie could honestly say were the greatest kids ever—smiled back at him in different poses and shots. There was even a picture with all the kids and him, along with some of the other guys from the team. When his eyes settled on that picture, he saw Elli’s oldest, Shelli, was wrapped around him like a koala. She had always been his favorite. She loved to braid Jordie’s beard and paint his nails. He never told her no since she was a mini Elli and, really, he didn’t mind. He loved kids.

He also hoped that kids were in his future, but he couldn’t be dwelling on that right now. Not when his boss was looking at him like he was one of her five children and he’d been caught busting the windows out with a hockey puck.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here,” she started and he shrugged, leaning back in the plush teal chair that was a smaller version of hers.

“I’ve narrowed it down to assuming I’ve done something wrong,” he joked, trying to break the tension in the room. But when her green eyes cut to his, he snapped his lips shut.

“You’ve assumed right,” she said, sliding a piece of paper toward him. Picking it up, the first thing he saw was Suspended written below his name. His heart stopped as his brows shot up, and soon he was unable to catch a breath.

“Suspended?” he croaked out before looking up to meet her gaze.

Lacing her fingers together, she slowly nodded her head. “We don’t tolerate drug use, Jordie. You know that.”

He did, and he hadn’t touched a single drug because of it. He wasn’t into them anyway, so what the hell was this… And then it was like the whole room went still as it dawned on him that he’d never told her about Louisiana like he’d meant to.

“Your last blood test came back with high amounts of MDMA, and also, your trainer is saying you are drinking a lot more than usual.”

He was, but he had always been a drinker.

Dropping the paper, he held his hands up as he scooted to the edge of his seat. “Okay, I forgot to call you and tell you about the Molly when I was in Louisiana. I was drugged, and you can call the nurses and doctors down there and they’ll vouch for me.”

“I already have,” she said and his brow furrowed.

“Okay? Then why is this an issue? Why am I being suspended?” he asked, completely confused.

“Because you put yourself in that position, Jordie. Everyone has heard about your wild weekend in Louisiana. Even the girls you were with have done interviews, saying how you hurt your leg trying to have sex with them.”

He grimaced; it wasn’t the most flattering blog post either. The only good thing about it was that they said his cock was huge. Points for him, but he was sure that didn’t matter to his boss. “Yeah, but—”

She shook her head, cutting him off. “No, you’ve been making some really, excuse me, but shitty choices lately. Your drinking is getting you in trouble. Now, usually I let it go, but you went down to Louisiana, got shit-faced drunk, high out of your mind, and screwed anything with tits. You are all over the blogs about your wild nights, and you’re making our team look bad. You’ve been doing this for a while and I’ve been turning my cheek to it because you’re a good guy, a great player. But the drug use, voluntary or not,” she added when he went to interrupt her, so he swallowed his retort as she went on, “is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Things are gonna change, or I will not be renewing your contract in October.”

What? That was bullshit!

“Are you serious right now? I’m being punked, right?” he demanded, turning to Charles. “I’m not that bad. I have fun, I do what I want, but I’ve always been a team player. And my extracurricular activities have never interfered with my game play. Never.”

Looking over at him, Charles shook his head as Elli went on, “You’re right, Jordie. But you’re supposed to be healing, not going out getting trashed and hurting yourself all over again.”

Meeting Elli’s gaze, he shook his head. “I know that wasn’t the best choice for me, but I wanted to have fun. I was going stir-crazy,” he said, which was a total lie.

He’d wanted to forget a certain someone and thought partying down in Louisiana was the way to go. Actually, it was the worst idea ever, and he still hadn’t forgotten her. If anything, his feelings for her had only gotten stronger, which meant that his weekend that had now resulted in him getting suspended was for absolutely nothing.

Scary shit, feelings were. Trouble too.

“Which is completely understandable, Jordie. But the one bad decision snowballed into a mess. Now we have trainers wondering if you’re even worth working with because you’re drinking all the time and coming up hot on a drug test. And then the blogs are going nuts with this. Questioning Elli’s and my next move. I mean, what we should do is let you go now. But you’re lucky that Elli fights for the people she believes in and did the research needed. Because, if it was me, you’d be gone,” Bryan said, and Jordie’s eyes met Elli’s. She looked sad and stressed out, and he hated that his actions caused her eyes to be filled with all that. “The only thing you should be doing is sleeping and working on rehabbing that leg.”