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"Yup," Gavin said "All cleaned out"

"Good Mick, how about you and I go rustle up a turkey sandwich? I’ot up and followed Mick into the kitchen Gavin took a seat on the sofa across froood," she said

"Yeah, he does"

"He’s been ho reet back to the gah"

His smile died and he stood "Don’t tell ent It’s my job to tell you what to do You don’t want toon you You’re paid to play, in case you’ve forgotten"

"I haven’t forgotten anything The Rivers said I could take asthis?"

"I’ because you don’t need to be here anymore Mick and Tara are here to watch over your father and help out yourcare of the bar Your father’s health is good Half of your games are local, and you can check up on your dad when you’re here for ho your career"

"I’m not ready yet"

"You’re not the one who had a heart attack and surgery, Gavin It’s tiet back on the field"

"And I’ll let you and the teaet back on the field Today isn’t the day"

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?"

"Why are you being so insistent about it?"

"I’ll tell you why Because she’s ain"

Gavin shifted his focus to Mick, who leaned against the doorway to the living room

Elizabeth did, too "You stay the hell out of it This is none of your business"

Mick’s lips curled into a sneer "When it affects my brother, it becomes my business And I won’t let you do to him what you did to me"

"Butt out, Mick This doesn’t concern you Gavin is et back to work"

"Oh, right Like your only concern is Gavin Please I know you too well, Liz I know you’re scared to death that you’re going to lose another aht not pay him so much money next tiht And you knoho that’s going to hurt? It’s going to hurt Gavin And you knohat else? If you’d pull your head out of your ass and stop thinking of yourself for one goddamn minute, you’d see that your brother is ets up to bat it kills him, that he wants to be on that field so bad it physically hurts hi er and spite to what’s best for Gavin You only want to continue to get back atyour brother’s career hat you should be doing is kicking his ass right out of this house and encouraging his I’ht you loved your brother"

She turned to Gavin "Look, I don’t knohat your hang-up is about all this, but I love you and only hat’s best for you"

He stared at her "So do you tell all your clients you love theet 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 et your oay?"

She went pale, and even as the words fell fro them

"Gavin, you should know better I have never slept with a client before But you knohat, this was aabout us has been a aze to Mick "Is that what you wanted? Well you knohat? You got it You win I concede Give Don Davis aze back to Gavin "Gavin, I can no longer represent your interests since it’s obvious you want soive 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 hi 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 tiot the hell over it already? I’ve never known you to hold a grudge"