He stared at her. “So do you tell all your clients you love them to get them to do what you want them to do?”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
“You heard me. Is that your newest form of manipulation? A declaration of love? How many of them did you sleep with to get your own way?”
She went pale, and even as the words fell from his mouth, he couldn’t believe he was saying them.
“Gavin, you should know better. I have never slept with a client before. But you know what, this was a mistake. Everything about us has been a mistake from the very beginning.”
She cut her gaze to Mick. “Is that what you wanted? Well you know what? You got it. You win. I concede. Give Don Davis my regards when he signs Gavin.”
She shifted her gaze back to Gavin. “Gavin, I can no longer represent your interests since it’s obvious you want something other than what I can give you. At your earliest convenience please find other representation. I’ll follow this up in writing immediately.”
She turned and walked out the door before he could form a coherent response.
What the hell had just happened?
She’d told him she loved him, and he’d accused her of sleeping around with all her clients?
And then she’d fired him.
Of course she’d fired him, because he was a dick.
He fell into the chair and listened to the sound of her car pulling out of the driveway.
“What the hell was that all about?” his father asked as he came back into the room and took a seat.
Gavin couldn’t form words to explain to his father what he’d just done.
“Did I hear correctly, or did Elizabeth just fire you?”
“You heard right, Dad,” Mick said.
“And what part did you play in all of this?” his father asked Mick.
“A lot, I think.”
“Michael, I try not to interfere in your life, and I understand that Elizabeth made some mistakes with you and with Tara and Nathan, but don’t you think it’s about time you got the hell over it already? I’ve never known you to hold a grudge.”
Mick sat and put his hands in his hair. “I was mad. Really mad. I love Tara and Nathan like I’ve never loved anyone in my life. And what Elizabeth did, the way she manipulated them, hurt me. Hurt them.”
“And she apologized and made it right, didn’t she?” his father asked.
“Yeah, she did.”
“But you couldn’t let it go.”
“I was afraid when Gavin started seeing her.”
Gavin lifted his head, turned to Mick. “Why?”
“Because I was afraid she’d hurt you.”
Gavin let out a laugh. “You didn’t think I could take care of myself ?”
Mick shrugged. “You’ll always be my little brother, no matter how old we are. I was trying to protect you. I guess I overprotected. Shit. I fucked this up bad, man. I’m sorry. I have to fix this.”
Gavin shook his head. “No, I think you’ve done enough. I’m the one who has to fix this. But I’m not sure I can. The things I said to her. She said she loved me, and I stabbed her in the heart.”
“You realize she was only looking out for your love of the game.”
Gavin looked at his dad.
“She knows you love the game. We talked about it on our walk. She sees what I see, how much you love baseball. It’s never been about the money with you, ever since you first started playing. You would have played for nothing. Fortunately, you had Elizabeth in your corner to negotiate a good contract, because you would have signed for nothing. She told me she’d never known anyone else who would have played for the pure love of the game. And watching you the past couple of weeks has killed her, just as it’s killing me, because the light has gone out of your eyes. She wanted you back in the game because your joy is gone. I told her to do whatever it took to convince you to get back to work.”
Gavin stood and dragged his fingers through his hair, the burn in the pit of his stomach so intense he didn’t think he’d survive it.
God, he’d hurt her. He was so afraid of leaving his dad, so afraid of losing him. What if he wasn’t here and something happened?
And yet his dad and Elizabeth had pegged the loss he’d been feeling.
He missed the game.
He had to go back.
He turned to his dad. “I have to go back.”
His dad smiled up at him. “I know you do. I want you to. It’s what you do. It’s what you love. I’d be disappointed in you if you stayed here because of me.”
He went to his father and kneeled down in front of him. “I was afraid something would happen to you again if I left.”
His dad leaned forward and touched his shoulder. “I’m gonna be fine, kid. I’m not made of iron, but I’m not made of Jell-O, either. I had my wake-up call. I’ll take care of myself, and I promise not to fall. But you can’t watch me every second of every day. You have to let go.”
Gavin shuddered in a breath and stood. So did his dad. They fell into a hug, Gavin careful not to squeeze his dad because of the incision.
“I’m not gonna break, kid.”
Gavin fought back the sting of tears, then pulled back and nodded. “Okay, time for me to go back to work.”
“Gavin.”