Trigger warning! More talk of the 'outing' of Drew and Ev, and some talk of domestic abuse.
Third POV -
"We can't do much," The lawyer summarized.
Tara Wright was Stephanie's friend from college. She had told the boys they meet when they got the wrong class lists by having the same last name. A tall ginger, with pale skin and light eyes Tara wore a dark green suit and emanated look at me funny and I will sue you into oblivion.
She was explaining how they had very little legal ground to prosecute Louis Stone.
"We can serve him with a cease-and-desist so he can't publish anything else, but we can't prosecute him for what he already wrote. Even if we charge him with decimation of character, it would draw this out and you won't get much if you win other than a cease and desist. He may have to take down the article, but it truly wouldn't matter. The cat's out of the bag and it can't go back in."
Ev sighed and raked a hand through his hair. He had done it so many times it was a mess.
They were at the stadium, in Drew's office. The group had been making a plan and telling their story for the past half hour.
"We are going to have a team meeting in twenty minutes about this. You should probably not come, Green. We can gauge the crowd and then make the final edits to the NDA's for everyone featured in the article. We'll hand out the players' NDA's in the team meeting." Stephanie thought aloud. She was wearing black yoga pants and a blue Giants sweatshirt. While she didn't look as tired as Ev and Drew, her nerves were more frayed.
"That's a good idea. And Steph, we have to have that meeting about that other issue." Tara hinted and glanced at the guys.
"Whatever you need to say to me, you can say in front of them. Drew already knows about Max and Ev already heard it from Drew's big mouth."
Drew faked offense but Steph raised her eyebrows as if to say, It's true, isn't it?
"Alright, well I took the footage from your door, the garage, and all the other places he followed you. Plus, the note and the threatening messages-"
"Wait," Drew interrupted, "What note? What messages?"
Stephanie sighed and reached in her bag. She pulled out a scrap of paper with a messy scrawl on it.
"You're going to pay for what you did to me." Ev read aloud. "What does he mean? What did you do?"
"I took everything when I left him. He was on a 'Work trip' which meant he was going to party, get wasted, and cheat on me for a few days with his friends. I told his boss what he was doing to me, and even though he had a crappy warehouse job, he got fired. I took all the furniture I bought, sold the apartment, drained our shared account that I was paying for, changed my phone number, and avoided every place he would go for the next two years. He said I ruined his life."
"What about the messages? Were there other notes?" Drew questioned and in response Steph showed them text messages on her phone.
There were over a dozen that were all sent within the last two months. They ranged from I need you, please come back to I'm going to k*ll you and your b*tch husband.
"We could get a DVRO, Domestic Violence Restraining Order," Tara began again sliding a folder to Stephanie, "If you had told me when it first happened, we could have gotten one years ago. But I know you were scared and it's completely not your fault. This will last for seven years and there's real consequences if it's broken. Jail time or hefty fines are good motivators to stay away."
She opened the folder, scanned the paper inside, and handed it back with a nod.
They had a plan. Ev would wait in Drew's office until the team meeting was done and they had finished with five minutes to spare.
The room they went into was the Full Team Conference Room. Out of every conference room in the stadium, it was the biggest so it could fit the team of 53 players.
Tara, Drew, and Stephanie opened the door and took the head of the table. Not only were the players there, but the main coaching staff and their assistants. The emergency meeting was mandatory and only for coaches and players. Not one person had a valid reason or wanted to miss it. Emergency meetings were not called every day, and most players were curious to see what happened.
Drew cleared his throat, silencing the few conversations being had and officially beginning the meeting.
"I'm sure you've all read the article by Louis Stone talking about my relationship with one of our newest main holders. I'm going to break this down into three points to keep this short. 1, It was a very long time ago and we hadn't been in contact with each other for seven years until the day he met you all. 2, Louis Stone did not have permission to make an article about this and what my lawyer, Tara, is handing out are NDA's. Everyone must sign before leaving this room. 3, you can have your opinions about your religion, who people should date, and everything else. But I am still your coach and nothing has changed. Does anyone want to say anything?"
One of the captains that happened to be an offensive line man raised his hand.
"I think I speak for the whole team when I say that we are loyal to you, no matter what. You got us here and we need you here to win. This will be the year the Giants win the Superbowl and you're going to take us there." Drews lips quirked into a smile. There was some cheering and clapping and when the room quieted, Clinton stood.
"And a fight with one of us is a fight with all of us. No one here will be talking to Louis Stone about this or anything else until further notice. If we had a no blacklist, he would be number one."
"I still don't like you Garcia. But Louis had no right to go into your private life, that was below the belt." Preston told him as he stood and handed back the signed form to Tara.
"That's probably the nicest thing you ever said to me, Preston."
"Don't get used to it." He replied taking his seat again.
Pens were clicking and Tara already had a large pile of signed documents.
Drew hadn't played in a team in so long, he had begun to forget how it felt when they all rallied around one member. He had to admit, it felt good to have a team family again.
After they finished, the meeting was handed over to Clinton to talk about the new plays.
"You also know that some of our guys changed teams in the fourth quarter, thinking we were going to lose." Clinton said, turning on the smart board.
He started showing the plays that the coaches had finally agreed on. It wasn't enough for the entire playoffs, but it would have to do for now.
Drew was standing in the back with Tara and Stephanie.
"You're lucky to have a team like this." Tara whispered.
"I am." Drew whispered back, his smile turning to a grin.
Multiple announcements this week! I will be creating a cover for this specific story and make more chapter headers. I also want to hear feedback about the plot. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall, and I want to know your opinions of the story! See ya next week - Naomi
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The Story of D & E
General FictionThese two guys at my school always acted really cute, and all couple like whenever they were together, and they were in our class so me and my writing friends would talk about how canon they were. So, we made all these stories and decided we could m...
