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“I need a massage right now.” I wink and wiggle my eyebrows.
“Do you ever get tired?”
“Yes, after we…”
“No, we aren’t having sex. You’re hurt and I’m going to make sure you get better.”
I lay down cash for our overpriced dinner. Placing her napkin over the plate, Talynn stands up as I guide her out with my hand on the small of her back. She admitted a few weeks ago that she loves that. She loves feeling connected to me, and anytime I’m touching her my body reacts.
She gives me a light massage when we get home but after, we watch a movie and eat popcorn that I made myself. She puts salt on hers, so I put my tongue to good use and lick the salt from her lips.
“I’m not a tequila shot.”
“No, you’re more like a Bloody Mary—a spicy body warmer.”
“I’ll warmyourbody,” she warns.
She always gives in. She loves me as much as I love her, but we’re both too scared to say it.
ChapterTwenty
TALYNN
We’re flanked on one side by ESPN personnel and on the other by Sharks personnel. And Archer sits with Tackett and me. As Tackett’s agent, he’s here strictly to act in Tackett’s best interest.
My head is swimming by the end of their presentation like I’m literally swimming with Sharks. This sounded fun when Nic proposed it but now it sounds transactional. They follow me to work and would have to get permission from the owner and respective employees. The Sharks have the ability to act on behalf of the team so even if Ortega doesn’t want to be shown, he won’t have a choice.
Megan concludes the meeting with everyone shaking hands. Then Archer takes Tackett outside while Megan keeps me.
The old divide-and-conquer routine.
“Okay, sis. Tell me why you want to do this,” Megan says with her no-holds-barred voice.
I fidget with the clasp on my purse. “I could support myself. Buy myself a house sooner rather than later. And I think it would be fun to show the world how athletes are behind closed doors with their partners. The general public thinks all athletes are hot-tempered, cocky, and possessive. Tackett is the opposite of that.”
“You don’t think Tackett’s cocky?” She pauses. “Did you see him flip the bat after his homerun last week? That’s cocky, although his willingness to sign every ball until the line is gone keeps him being the most requested player for events. And I agree with you, outside of baseball he’s the opposite of his on-field persona.”
She sits in front of me and grabs both hands, which are tiny compared to mine. She has so much strength in her hands. She’s been through so much, but in the end she won. She trusted her gut that Archer wouldn’t hurt her, and she was rewarded with a promotion, a wedding, and a family to call her own.
Megan thinks my childhood was Hallmark perfect but what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her. My story is nothing compared to hers, but it is mine. I was ignored and left to fend for myself. My foster parents were less than conventional. They swapped partners and didn’t hide it. Once their biological kids were out of the house, they flaunted their lifestyle in front of me. Let me put it this way, I learned my lesson the hard way about having friends over on the weekend.
“Talynn, I know you’ve been sheltered your whole life.”
Sheltered, yeah, that’s what it’s called.
“You may think the cameramen and videographers will be your friend and not shoot while you’re breaking down or having a fight and they might be, but the cameramen aren’t deciding what gets on television. Nic’s not deciding either. The higher ups at ESPN will decide what gets edited and how it gets edited. I just want to make sure you understand, you will not come out of this looking like the picture-perfect couple.”
“Then why are you agreeing to it?”
She sits back and crosses her leg over the other. Megan looks beautiful and powerful in her navy skirt and ivory keyhole blouse. She more than holds her own with the corporate men she deals with all day long every day. And the way Archer smiles as he watches her devour the suits is admirable. Your one true person in life should love you the way you are.
“Honestly, it’s a good business decision for the Sharks, but I really want to advise you against it. I can talk them into doing a behind the scenes like ‘the struggles of Triple A baseball’ and it can encompass all of us.”
At that moment Tackett and Archer emerge from the patio where the office personnel usually take in practice, or where they bring scouts and agents to observe the players.
Tackett slides in beside me, grabs the bill of his hat, takes it off, then runs his fingers through his hair with the other. “Do you want to do this?” He asks, then puts the hat back on like I’ve seen him do hundreds of times…always the right hand on the bill and the left on the back of the hat bringing it down perfectly on his forehead.
I think about it for zero point two seconds. “Yes.”
