Icebreaker (5 page)

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Authors: Deirdre Martin

Tags: #Women lawyers, #Contemporary, #Legal, #General, #Romance, #Hockey players, #Fiction

BOOK: Icebreaker
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As Michael had
advised, Adam asked for the players’ attention before they went out on the ice the next night to warm up—all the players except Esa Saari, who was late.
Well, this will give me the chance to kill two birds with one stone
, thought Adam.
Assure the guys that the lawsuit was nothing to worry about, and then tear Saari a new one when he turns up
.
“Obviously, you all know about the lawsuit,” Adam began.
“It’s bullshit,” Eric Mitchell blurted.
“Yeah, it is,” Adam agreed. “Which is why none of you should worry about the case, because I’m not. I intend to keep playing the way I always have, and I expect all of you to do the same.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Esa Saari came flying through the locker room door, breathless.
“Nice of you to join us,” Adam said sarcastically.
“I—”
“You can tell me your bullshit story in a minute,” said Adam. He resumed eye contact with the rest of the team. “Any questions?” There were none. “Get out there and start warming up, then. Esa and I will be with you in a minute.”
One by one, the players filed out of the locker room. Adam noticed a couple threw Esa a dirty look. He deserved it. It was disrespectful to his teammates to arrive late when the rest of them made the effort to arrive there on time. Short of the death of a family member, lateness wasn’t tolerated.
“Well?” Adam asked when it was just the two of them.
“Subway delay,” said Esa as he frantically began dressing for the game.
“No excuse. If you’re taking the subway, you should leave extra early just in case something like that happens. Not to mention the fact you earn enough to use a car service.”
“Sorry.”
“Me, too. Because you owe the locker room fund five hundred dollars. If you’re ever late again, you’ll owe a thousand.”
Saari muttered something under his breath.
Adam narrowed his eyes. “What did you say?”
“Chill, okay? I’m here now.”
Adam slowly walked over to him, grabbing him by the collar. “I don’t give a shit if you have no self-respect, but as long as I’m the captain of this team, you better start showing respect for your teammates and the game. Do we understand each other?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Saari muttered, eyes darting away.
“Good. Now get your ass out there on the ice.”
Arrogant little prick,
thought Adam.
You’re not going to be so smug by the time I get through with you.
He strode out of the locker room, his anger energizing him. Time to go out and do his job.
3
“Holy shit.”
Sinead sat on the couch in her office beside Oliver, showing him the footage the NHL had sent her of Adam Perry’s hit on Nick Clarey. She knew nothing about hockey violence, but the force of the hit shocked her. It was brutal. She found herself wincing every time she watched Clarey’s head snap back before his body crumpled to the ice.
She’d decided to show the footage to Oliver as a way for her to gauge whether she’d overreacted to the hit. But she hadn’t: Oliver’s eyes popped out of his head the moment the hit was made, his body leaning forward as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
“Holy shit,” he repeated. He turned to Sinead, incredulous. “He hit the guy so hard he was unconscious before his head hit the ice.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Sinead said grimly.
“I can’t believe the dude isn’t paralyzed. Let me see it again.” Sinead showed it to him again. “Poor bastard. It was like he was taken down by the Incredible Hulk.”
“So you agree that hit was incredibly violent?”
“Well, yeah, but I’m not a huge hockey fan, so I don’t know if it was above and beyond the usual level of hitting. I mean, these guys really beat each other up on the ice.”
“I’ve deduced that.”
Sinead turned off the footage.
“Did the league suspend him?” Oliver asked.
“Two games.”
“Has Clarey said anything?”
“No.”
“Perry ever been charged with anything before?”
“No, thank God.”
“What’s your strategy gonna be?”
“Right now? That professional hockey players give their explicit consent to the risk of this kind of on-ice contact, and that this hit was not outside the norm.”
Oliver nodded approvingly. “You’re gonna have to interview enough hockey insiders to prove those points to jurors, who may be as surprised by the violence of the hit as we were.”
Sinead grimaced. “I know. Believe me, I’ve already started compiling a list. Referees. Sportswriters. Retired players. Active players.” She rose, riffling through some papers on her desk. “He’s from a small town in western Canada. Claresholm. I’ll have to go up there, too.”
“That’ll be riveting,” Oliver deadpanned. “You talk to Perry himself yet?”
“He’ll be here soon.”
The thought made her nervous; she kept thinking back to her meeting last week at Kidco, his silent watchfulness, the way his hazel eyes betrayed nothing. There was something unnervingly
primal
about him.
“How’s it going with the socialite gazillionairess?” Sinead asked.
“She dumped me.”
Sinead was shocked. “
What
? Who’s she getting to handle the case instead?”
“She didn’t dump me as counsel. She dumped me as her boy toy.”
“No offense, but you’re too old to be a boy toy Oliver.”
“All together now:
ouch
.”
“Well . . .”
“It’s probably for the best,” Oliver said with a regretful sigh. “I mean, what if she’d fallen in love with me?”
“They all fall in love with you.”
“Too true.” He studied her face. “You look tired.”
“Do I ever not look tired?”
“Come to think of it, no. But I want you to know it in no way detracts from your beauty.”
“Thank you.” She picked up the coffee cup on her desk and took a sip. Stone-cold. She’d gotten so involved in starting to assemble things for the case she’d forgotten all about her coffee.
“How’s it going with the baby bonding?” Oliver asked.
“I’ve got bad baby juju, Oliver. I think Charlie hates me. I’ve had him on my lap a couple of times, and both times you would have thought he was being lowered into a cauldron of boiling oil.”
Oliver laughed.
Sinead scowled at him. “It’s not funny.”
“Yes, it is.”
“At any rate, I’m going to keep trying, not just for me, but for Mags. I’ve hurt her, and I don’t want to lose her.” She sighed. “Maybe the universe is trying to tell me I’m not mother material.”
“It’s just a matter of finding the right man.”
“I’m not looking.”
“There’s always me. If you want a kid with none of the fuss of having to deal with a partner, I’ll gladly donate my sperm. That way, you’d know the kid would have superior intelligence, as well as wit and charm.
And
we could take turns watching it here at the office.”
Sinead shook her head affectionately. “You always make me laugh.”
Oliver looked mildly wounded. “You’re rejecting my sperm?”
“In a word, yes. I don’t really think you’re father material. Sorry.” She checked her watch. “I need you to go so I can get ready to talk to Adam Perry.”
“Sperm rejection, and now you’re throwing me out. You’re a hard woman, Sinead O’Brien.”
“That’s the rumor.”
“Maybe we can catch a drink one night this week. I haven’t been to your folks’ pub in a while.”
“Sounds good,” Sinead said distractedly.
“All right, I can see you’re done with me,” said Oliver. “Good luck with Perry.”
“Thanks. I have a feeling I might need it.”
He was punctual;
she’d give him that. At exactly ten a.m., Sinead’s assistant, Simone, informed her that Adam had arrived. Usually Sinead was unfazed meeting clients, but she found herself a little uneasy, imagining that intense, unwavering gaze of his pinning her.
She checked her makeup and smoothed her skirt, waiting for Simone to bring Adam into her office. Simone knocked once and then ushered him inside. Sinead came forward, extending her hand to shake his. “Thank you for taking the time to come in, Mr. Perry. The sooner we get the ball rolling, the better.”
He seemed a little stiff. “I agree.”
God, he’s huge,
Sinead thought. She hadn’t realized at the Kidco meeting, with him sitting down at the opposite end of the table, how big and broad he was. Strapping, her father would say. A strapping man.
An unnervingly handsome, rugged, strapping man.
“Would you like any coffee?” Simone asked Adam.
“No thanks,” he said.
“Water?”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay, then.”
“Thanks, Simone,” Sinead said gratefully.
Sinead gestured to the couch. “Please, sit. I appreciate your punctuality. One late client, and the whole day’s schedule gets thrown off.”
“Someone wants a meeting at ten, I’m there at ten.”
“Well, like I said, I appreciate it.”
She could feel his eyes on her as she walked to her desk to get her laptop. She straightened her back a little. She wondered : was he mistrustful of her, and that’s why he was watching her? Or did he find her attractive?
God, this is probably the way Oliver started,
she thought self-deprecatingly.
Get a grip
.
She joined him on the couch, opening her laptop. “Have you ever been interviewed by an attorney before?”
“No.”
“Well, basically I’m just going to ask you a few preliminary questions, and then we’ll talk about the incident.”
Adam just nodded. No questions for her. No anxiety-filled eyes. No glancing around her office nervously. This was a new experience.
“Have you ever been arrested?”
“No.”
“Have you ever testified in court?”
“No.”
“Ever been a plaintive or defendant in another lawsuit?”
“No.”
“You’re thirty-five?”
Adam’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How do you know that?”
“You’re my client. I’ve done some research.”
“You could have just asked me.” He looked irked, as if she’d somehow invaded his privacy. “What else do you know?”
Sinead glanced down at her computer screen. “I know you’re from Claresholm in Canada. I know you’ve been in the NHL since you were eighteen. I know you previously played for Tampa Bay. I know you have a reputation as a hard hitter, having caused a number of concussions in opposing players over the years. And I know you’re being brought up on charges of assault causing bodily harm.”
“That about covers it.”
Sinead gave a short laugh. “Hardly.”
Adam looked displeased. “Hardly?”
“The more I know about you, the better I can defend you.”
Adam sat back, coolly assessing her as he folded his arms across his chest. “And do I get to know about you?”
Sinead was taken aback by the challenge in his voice, even though his face still betrayed nothing.
“What would you like to know?” Sinead asked. She gestured at the shelves to their left. “There are my degrees. I’ve been with this firm since I was twenty-five. I’m a full partner. I take my job seriously.”
“So do I.”
“That’s good to know.”
Do you know how unnerving your gaze is?
she wanted to ask him. He probably did. That was why he used it.

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