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Julianna is probably going to lose the fucking team. If she doesn't go to jail.
“That’s complete bullshit,” I say into the microphone. I should be more forceful, but what Ethan’s done has just hit me like a fucking rock. He hasn’t ever liked me, but I thought we’d been able to move past that. I thought at Bull and Bear we actually made some fucking headway. I thought…
“Let me ask you something, Commissioner,” AJ says, taking complete control of the press conference at this point. “What’s more realistic?”
There is a deadly silence in the room at this point.
“That two of the best players in the NFL that have had a storied rivalry that I’ve covered, who have even gotten into a fight on national television, all of a sudden fall in love with the same woman who just happens to be the owner of the team they play for, and while they do that, end up finding out that they have feelings for one another in one of the most unconventional relationships that the league has ever seen – even entering into a relationship that could get them thrown out of the league. Or…” AJ pauses again, as people hang on his every fucking word. “That two players who hated each other were traded to the New York Nailers, where Julianna Heaton exercised her deep antipathy and hatred for men by coercing both players to engage in a sexual relationship with her, telling them that their careers were on the line. And when one of them refused, she coerced the other to sexually assault him and bring him back into line.”
Holy shit.
People aren’t going to believe us for a second.
We’re fucking finished.
AJ looks over in absolute fucking triumph. “I told everyone from the beginning that she was unfit to own a team, and then this happened.”
Cameras go off, and people are talking. They’re on the phone calling into tomorrow’s major fucking headline. It’s going to be carried all over the country. Fuck, all over the world.
How could I let this happen to Julianna? I look over to her. Her face is steely – as if someone’s kicked her in the stomach. She’s strong. She’s not going to break down on national television – even if she is staring the end of her career in the face.
“Do you have anything, anything at all to say for yourselves, you despicable human beings?” AJ says, his killing stroke now released. He’s probably counting the dollars that this book deal and paid TV spots this is going to generate. Fuck.
“If they don't, AJ, I’d like to get in a few words,” a voice calls out from behind the swarm.
In a second time in an hour, the entire room turns their heads back to the door. I try to look over, but with so many people standing now, it’s hard.
That’s when I hear Julianna gasp and grab my arm.
It’s Ethan fucking Blake. And he’s walking up the room – almost same route I took when I got here.
“What?” Ethan asks the room. “You all had a party and didn’t invite me?”
Motherfucker.
Ethan
“What? You all decided to have a party and didn’t even invite me?” I ask with a Colt Stackfordesque smirk as I walk up the room. The press is going positively insane, snapping pictures of me and shouting out questions. I finally make it up to the podium where I see Julianna look at me - there's hurt in her eyes. And for the first time, pain.
Then I look over at Colt and see something I never thought I’d see. Fear.
Well, I better remember their faces being like this.
“Ethan,” Julianna says and for a moment there, I’m worried she might actually start crying. Poor little rich girl. Miss Bad Girl. Now that would be a sight, wouldn't it? The one woman that can tame any man – that tamed Colt, that tamed me, and that brought us both to heel – starting to cry on national television.
“Bro,” Colt says, taking a step towards me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“What's wrong?” I say to him, and give him a smile. “Don’t want me to hog up the spotlight? Should be trained on you?”
He literally jerks back. Julianna looks at me like I’ve gone batshit crazy too. I think it’s the smile. Why would any sane person be smiling during a moment like this?
But I have good reason to smile.
You’re probably wondering what that reason is, aren’t you? Wondering if I’m the douchebag that threw both of the people I love under the bus so I could keep playing as defensive end and finally get one over Colt that he’d never be able to come back from.
Well, short answer – yes.
But wait, before you roll your eyes in disgust.
