“How do you know what you found?”
“I went to a friend, a pharmaceutical expert.”
“Jesus, Holly.”
“It was off the record, Pace. He has no idea where I got it, or why. He says the stuff is undetectable after a few days in your system. Which means—”
“I know what you think it means.” He let out a long breath. “It means a player could certainly risk a few days without being tested, because we have that much warning, at least.”
“Yes. It also means that there’s going to be athletes who use it to cheat the system. Which in the long run means falsifying records, encouraging kids to—”
“Whoa, hold up. Tucker isn’t a professional athlete.”
“No, but he’s likely supplying them with this stuff.” And here’s what was bugging her. “Why don’t you sound surprised at this?”
“Holly.” He sounded tired. Frustrated. “You’re thinking you’re sniffing out a story, but you don’t have one.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You have no proof that he’s given the stimulants to anyone.”
“You tested positive, Pace. And you don’t know how.”
“So, what, you’re suggesting that a lifelong friend drugged me?” he asked incredulously. “Without my knowledge?”
“I don’t know what I think. All I’m saying is that you tested positive for a drug you don’t use, a drug he has in his possession.”
“Okay.” Pain was clear in his voice, and she knew it wasn’t all physical now—her fault. “I’ll get to the bottom of this, Holly. You—”
“Stay out of it?”
“Please.”
“Pace, this isn’t something I can hold back on like I did your injury. This crosses the line.”
“What line?”
“My personal line of right and wrong. And hopefully yours, too.”
“Don’t, Holly. Don’t even try to line my morality up with yours, because I’m not sure I could measure up. I’m not sure anyone could measure up.”
“I have to do this,” she said quietly.
“So what was that line you fed me about not walking away? Because to do this, you aren’t just walking, you’re running.”
“No, I’m not. I’m just doing my job. It’s what I’m doing here, Pace. I have to. But I’m not walking away from you.”
He was quiet a moment. “I guess that’s a matter of opinion,” he finally said.
“Pace—”“I’ve got to go.”
She shut her phone, throat so tight she could barely breathe. She’d been right to tell him, right to insist that she had to do this. She just hated that she did.
And that was very new.
And very unwelcome.
Pace tossed the phone aside. Swore. Then struggled out of bed and staggered to the spare bedroom, where he slapped on the light.
Tucker blinked like an owl and sat up. “Dude.”
“Wake up.”
“You okay? You need something?”
“You have anything to tell me?” Pace asked.
“What do you mean?”
He had fire burning through his entire body. He’d skipped the meds, on purpose. Now he wished he hadn’t as he had to grip the doorway through a wave of pain. “I need you to swear to me that the vitamins you’ve given me are just vitamins.”
Tucker scrubbed a hand over his face, squinting sleepily through the bright light. “What?”
“Is it possible I got the wrong packet from you, say a day or two before my surgery?”
“No.”
“Tuck—”
Tucker sat up and leaned back against the headboard. “The vitamins are pills, Pace.” He paused. “Anything else is a powder. You couldn’t have mistaken the two.”
Okay. So he had two pieces of news, one bad, one worse. One, he hadn’t accidentally ingested anything from Tucker. Two, Tucker did have the illegals. Shit. He turned off the light and went back to bed.
The news of Pace’s drug test hit the sports world and blew up. Gage had promised to try to keep it undisclosed until after the appeal and subsequent second testing, but he hadn’t succeeded.
Sam swore she had no idea how it’d gotten out of the Heat’s office, and though she didn’t bring it up, Pace knew everyone was thinking it’d been Holly.
He preferred to think someone in the testing office at the MLB commissioner’s office had gotten his pockets greased instead. Still, it was yet another betrayal, and already hurting and pissed, Pace went back to bed to try to sleep it all off.
He couldn’t.
Because he’d been hard on Holly, unfairly, and he knew it. He tried calling her, but she didn’t answer.
He wouldn’t have either.
The commissioner claimed innocence in putting out the test results. Pace’s agent and attorneys were on it, but it didn’t matter. The damage had been done.
The news was everywhere, and when Wade and the guys brought him a loaded pizza three days later, they ate in silence as they watched all the sport shows tear into him, until finally, Ty turned off the TV. “Assholes.”
Henry reached for his beer and thought better of it. “I’m driving,” he said glumly.
“I’ll drive you,” Wade said. “We’re not taking any more chances with anything. This is our year, goddamit.”