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I shrug, feeling defeated. I glance over to Serj who is rolling his eyes at me. He points to the chair I’m meant to be sitting in by tilting his head. Sighing, I take my seat, ignoring the cameras aimed at me. I just want this whole nightmare to be over. Karl sits next to me, repositioning the microphone to address the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, apologies for the outburst a few minutes ago. That is not how we usually do things here, so I hope that won’t dampen the mood.”
He glances my way before standing and continues to talk.
“Moving forward, the reason we have called this press conference is to officially welcome Jake Tanner to the Crystal Hill Football Club as our newest striker. We are delighted to have signed him for four years, and we hope he will be very happy here.”
He glances at me just as I scoff at his words.
“Jake,” he continues, his eyes darkening, “we hope you will enjoy your time with us—but maybe not as much as you enjoyed yourself last night, hey?” The crowd roars with laughter. I’m shocked he’s actually joking about the photos, but I guess if he doesn’t address it, someone is bound to ask.
“Yeah, I know I won’t enjoy it that much,” I say with a grin. “Thanks for the welcome. I’m looking forward to my time here, and I hope I can show you that you made the right decision in welcoming me to your club.”
“Jake, what happened last night? Did you forget where you left your clothes or something?” a reporter in the front row pipes up. Laughter fills the room. So much for addressing it so that they don’t.
“How are you going to cope with Crystal Hill’s zero alcohol tolerance when you can’t even abstain for one night?” More laughter erupts and suddenly I’m the laughing stock of the room. I lean forward towards the microphone.
“Maybe we should focus on my ability to leads this club to its first win in twenty-six games rather than what I get up to in my personal time.”
“How personal is it when you’re drunk and naked in public?” a reporter asks, a smirk on his face. “Can we hear from the club captain about the acquisition of Jake? I think we’re all curious to hear his thoughts.”
The crowd goes quiet as Murray walks across the room towards the stage. His eyes don’t leave mine as he steps onto the stage and takes the empty seat to my left.
Taking the microphone, he taps it a couple of times and lifts it to his mouth.
“I want to start by offering my sincere apologies for my outburst earlier. My temper got the better of me, and as the captain here at Crystal Hill I should be setting a much better example than I showed earlier.” He turns to face me, a forced smile on his face. I smirk, enjoying how much he’s hating this. “On behalf of the Crystal Hill players, we’re happy to have you here.”
He smiles, then places the microphone on the table. As the coach closes the conference, Murray glances at me from the corner of his narrowed eyes.
“Welcome to your worst nightmare, Jakey,” he mutters under his breath, loud enough so that only I can hear. “You’re about to get majorly fucked.”
Chapter Six
Abbey
"I can't believe someone finally had the balls to call them out on it."
I smile as I listen to Mel chuckle on about The Playbook. She has no idea I'm behind it, and I have no intention of telling her. Especially considering how hard I am on the women that hang off these idiot footballers. Women just like her. Has she even picked up on that? Probably not.
The last forty-eight hours have been crazy.
Everyone is talking about The Playbook and my full frontal photo of Jake Tanner in all his glory. Major newspapers and magazines I’ve only ever dreamed of working at have picked up the story, praising whomever is behind it. I want to shout it from the rooftops and bask in all the glory, but I can’t—not yet. Not until I see how far I can take this.
I could not believe my luck when I opened my email last night and saw that photo of Jake. It was sent in by a woman whose friend had been propositioned by a very inebriated Jake. I have no idea how he ended up naked in that dumpster, but it makes for a hell of a story.
The best part of all this is people are actually reading my blog. My words are influencing people. I can’t express how amazing that feels.
"Seriously, Abs; I wanna kiss whomever it is behind that blog. I mean, did you see that picture of Jake?" Mel sighs. "Speaking of which, did you see how well equipped he is? I have to see that in the flesh."
"Mel," I scold her. Has she learnt nothing?
"What?” she whines. “Come on, Abbey, don’t pretend you haven’t thought about having that slide between your legs. I think the entire female population is thinking it after seeing that photo. Hell, I'm sure I saw my mum—"
"Mel!" I yell, squeezing my eyes shut.
“What?” she protests, laughing. “It’s true. The guy has something that would interest many women. I understand all the hype about Jake Tanner now.”
“Yeah, well, so long as someone does,” I mutter. If you ask me, he’s a player, just like every other footballer who thinks he’s God’s gift. I glance back over at Mel’s iPad. I can’t deny he is attractive. And well-equipped. The problem is, he knows it. The other problem is, like most premier league players, he drinks too much, parties too hard, and has zero respect for women. I roll my eyes. I can’t believe I’m even wasting my time thinking about this.
