"Hi, Mol," he piped up in the background. "Mommy looks scary right now. She's got angry eyes."
"I'll bet." I rubbed my forehead. "I need to start going through my things. And, ugh, someone from HR will be here soon."
"Bullshit, this is complete and utter bullshit," she muttered. "What happened? What's her reasoning for firing you?"
"Can we talk about it when I come over?" I asked wearily.
"Yeah, sweetie, we can." She was quiet for a second. "I love you. It'll be okay."
"Love you too, Paige."
The call disconnected, and I snatched a tissue from the box behind my computer monitor, noisily blowing my nose. It took me a few minutes of doing my best zombie impression before I started opening drawers and staring blankly at what needed to stay and what I should take with me when I heard two things at once.
The stomp of a man's feet.
The click of heels coming from the opposite direction.
"Paige," I whispered. "What did you do?"
Logan arrived at my door just before Allie Sutton-Pierson did.
"What happened?" they asked in tandem.
Logan ripped his hat off and rushed over to me, wrapping me in a hug that had me fighting not to go blubbering again. "I'm so sorry, Mol. This is bullshit."
I was wiping my face when Allie closed the door to my office.
Allie was just past forty, and as she stood, arms crossed, worried expression stamped on her stunning face, she looked barely over thirty-five. "She wasn't in her office when I walked down, but I will have words with her as soon as I see her."
"It's okay, Allie," I said. "You don't have to do that."
As the owner of one of the most financially successful football franchises of the past decade, Allie wasn't accustomed to people telling her what she could and couldn't do. "I know I don't have to," she said calmly. Underneath that calm was steel. "But you, your sisters, Emmett, you are part of my family. And I do not like people messing with my family."
Logan rubbed a hand on my back. "Let her help, Molly. You don't deserve this happening to you."
I gave him a sad smile. "You don't even know what I did."
"Because it doesn't matter," he replied instantly.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, it does. What if I punched her?"
"Did you?" Allie asked.
"No."
"Did you sexually harass her?"
"Of course not."
Logan shook his head. "I knew I didn't like her. Not from that very first meeting."
"Come on, you guys, people get fired all the time. It sucks, but I'll be okay."
Allie propped her hands on her hips, which were wrapped in a sleek black skirt. "People who are phenomenal at their job do not get fired all the time."
Logan chimed in. "Exactly. And you are good at your job."
The two of them started building off each other, tossing ideas back and forth. Words like harassment. Unlawful termination. Performance Improvement Plan. Firing Beatrice. I closed my eyes and tried to tune them out, but finally, I held my hands up, and yelled, "Stop, please!"
They went quiet.
"I screwed up, okay?" I looked at both of them. "I-I slept with Noah on a filming weekend, then lied to her about it when she asked if I'd violated her contract, which included a no-fraternization policy."
Logan's face flushed red, his jaw clenched tight, and he stared at the floor like it held the world's secrets.
Allie deflated like a snipped balloon. "Oh," she said weakly.
"I've stayed away from him since then," I continued, tears building in the back of my throat, "but it doesn't matter. She knows. I-I thought that I’d thought it through all the way. That I knew what I was getting into. That's always been my problem, right?" I wiped my face, daring Logan to argue with the look on my face. "How many times have you had to step in over the years when I didn’t think something through? When I did something because I felt like it or because it was fun or silly or … felt right at the time."
"Molly," he said on an exhale. "You're young. Making mistakes is a part of life."
"I know. But so is stuff like this, Logan." I shook my head. "I don't regret my time with Noah, but I knew it was a risk when I did it. If this is the fallout of the weekend I got with him, then I'll take it."
Allie sighed. "It still feels wrong, Molly. There's no rule in the Wolves handbook that prohibits a relationship with a player and another employee."