Page 142 of Unexpected Shot
But it’s not because she’s abandoning me. Far from it. Seems as if my spouse has been making her own rounds tonight, her new best friend and PR manager making sure to introduce her to anyone who could even have a vague interest in bringing Shelby on board for an advertising campaign.
At first I thought she’d hate it. There’s nothing in her past to indicate she’d enjoy these kinds of interactions. Then she met a vice president from an athleisure line that I know is fifty percent of her closet. And, they have a men’s line. Needless to say, they are very interested in bringing both of us on board. And when they told Shelby she could keep any clothing she’d wear for any campaigns, suddenly my wife was very interested.
After that, Kat moved her on to the next conversation and I was forced to talk to an old man who loves to corner me every year and tell me about the first set of golf clubs he got back in 1949.
“Excuse me, I need to steal Beau for a second,” Ethan says, his hand on my shoulder as he pulls me away.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “At this point, I can recite that story.”
“It’s out.”
Ethan doesn’t need to say more than that. I hurriedly grab my phone as he walks us to a corner of the room while the story loads on our screen.
Inappropriate touches and sabotage: The real reason Shelby LeBlanc fired her famed swing coach
“Now that’s a headline,” Grayson says, suddenly appearing next to us. “Good pick on the reporter. She didn’t hold back.”
I quickly skim the article, and, as we were warned, there’s nothing that’s shocking to us.
The article talks about how Chad behaved as Shelby’s coach, including the gaslighting and improper techniques that set her back. Obviously, she laid out everything he did in Vegas, including him not showing up for the practice rounds. It also hits on the number of times he touched her in a way she wasn’t comfortable with, laying out how even though she was the professional golfer, he was still in a position of power as her coach.
But what shocks us, and what I’m guessing Emily hinted to Grayson about, is that other female golfers—ones who wished to remain anonymous—were also speaking out about his methods. How they never felt comfortable. That every time they tried to part ways, he always laid on some sort of thick excuse of why he needed to stay.
I knew he was a shitty human, but this is disgusting behavior, and I hate that I at one time called him a friend.
I look up as whispers and murmurs start circulating the ballroom. There are a fair amount of attendees with their phones out, all of them looking down, reading something. Gee, I wonder what?
“And that’s the power of the internet,” Ethan says. “We’re watching a man being ruined in real time.”
I scan the room quickly, wanting eyes on Chad. I need to see how, and if, he realizes what’s going on. The problem is, I don’t see Chad.
And I don’t see Shelby.
“Shit.” Stuffing my phone back in my pocket, I make a beeline out of the room.
I know she can hold her own—hell, she can probably throw a punch better than I can—but that’s not stopping me from sprinting all over, looking around every corner trying to find her.
I don’t know what Chad will do, but I do know that even though I’m quoted in there too, he won’t go after me. He’s a weasel. A weak man who can’t hold up the talk he talks. And even though he should be more worried about Shelby than he should be of me, he still thinks the misogyny of small-town Louisiana is his upper hand when it comes to her.
That man might be dumber than I thought.
I turn down an empty hallway to hear words that send ice down my spine.
“How dare you say those things about me! You fucking whore!”
Oh he did not just call my wife that.
I clock Chad’s voice and turn around, racing the other way toward voices that become closer and closer with every step I take.
“What? The truth!” she screams. “Show me the lie, Chad. Go ahead. Oh, wait. You can’t.”
When I get eyes on the two of them, he has Shelby pressed against a wall, but she’s not cowering in any way. Oh no. Shelby’s in his face, aggressively pressing her finger into his sternum. She is not backing down.
Little does she know, she’s about to get some backup.
“You slandered my name!” he yells. “You knew the grip worked. You didn’t give it a shot. How dare you call me a shitty teacher.”
He’s mad about that but not talking about how he was inappropriately touching her? Weird battle to pick, Chadwick.
