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“Why the silent ambassador? Why not use your fame to help promote something like this?”
This man and his heart—now I feel horrible that I thought the worst. But seriously, these pictures don’t help tell a different story than the one everyone assumes is true.
He drops his hands and shakes his head. “Because then it would blow up, and not in a good way. You’ve seen how my life is—everyone wants to know everything about me. You should see my DMs on Instagram and TikTok, Penelope. It’s insane. Women offering to have my babies and marry me, stalking me every time I post a picture and someone finds out where I am. Imagine them knowing about my connection to this and then using it as a way to get to me.” He clenches his jaw. “It would defeat the entire purpose of what I do—why it means so much to me.”
“And what is that reason?”
He huffs and crosses his arms over his chest again. “How about you tell me the real reason you’re so pissed off about this first?”
“What—what are you talking about?” I stammer.
“You know exactly what I’m referring to. I know an angry woman when I see one, but I don’t think it’s the picture that has you pissed off, sweetheart.”
I shake my head. “No. That’s not how this is going to work.”
“So, what? You’re allowed to call me on my shit, but I’m not allowed to call you on yours?”
“It’s my job to know your shit, Maddox.”
“Well, since we’re dating, I think I’m entitled to know yours, too.”
Shaking from my racing heart, I stare across the room at him, suddenly feeling like the walls are going to cave in. His face softens, and then he takes a few steps toward me, but I put up my hand to stop him. “It’s too risky, Maddox. Someone could walk in here any second.”
He nods and then shoves his hands in his pockets. “If you think that little display in the locker room isn’t already prompting questions, then you’re sadly mistaken. If you think women are gossips, you should listen to a bunch of athletes in the locker room, sweetheart. They’re probably still talking about it as we speak.”
“Don’t worry. I can spin this. The photo is public knowledge, and we’ll just say that this meeting was also necessary to tell you about the next PR move the team wants you to do.”
“Which is?”
I take a deep breath and then decide there’s no better time than now to tell him what Liam wants him and a few of the other players to do. We finalized the details during our call Saturday night, the same night Maddox went out to the club. I should have told him yesterday, but I didn’t want to ruin our night. Plus, I was trying to separate our working relationship from our personal one as much as possible.
Although I’m quickly realizing that it’s becoming harder and harder to do that.
“The team wants a media crew to follow you back home to your football camp to film your life behind the scenes. They want clips to use for promo, and they’re going to do a team spotlight on ESPN during pre-season to generate more buzz.”
He takes a step back and runs a hand through his hair as he turns. “This has already been arranged?”
“Pretty much. And I’m the one who’s been assigned to you.”
That has him spinning around to face me again. “What?”
“Each player participating in this has a representative traveling with them. Since I obviously can’t be in multiple places at once, Liam insisted that I follow you since you’re the most high-profile player right now.” I point down to the picture again. “And not in a good way at the moment.”
“So that means we’ll be flying there together? Spending a week alone?”
“For work,” I clarify.
“For work,” he repeats, smirking because he knows damn well that time away with just the two of us will probably involve a lot more play than work.
“I have a few conditions.”
“Which are?”
“I get to sign off on any information that’s being shown. There are certain things about my life that I don’t want people knowing if I can help it. And I don’t want my family exposed to more publicity than they already deal with. My job doesn’t need to make their lives harder.”
I tilt my head at him. “Well, we needsomecontent with you and them. That’s the point, Maddox. The fans need to know you. Theywantto know you, the real you. So I need you to give me something and them something that will appease all of the invested parties. Because whether you are a talented player or not isn’t the question. The question is: Can you maintain your dignity while still playing according to the rules? And the rules of the NFL are that you will always be held to a higher standard. That means these pictures need to stop.”
He nods, hopefully understanding that in order for me to be able to do my job and do it well, he might have to break a few of his rules about letting the public into his private life.
