Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 83109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I clear my throat and shift.
I’ve seen his dick countless times, but I’ve never paid it any attention.
And it’s not like I can ask him to flop it out so I can check if it does anything for me.
Okay, how is it possible that I’m more confused than ever?
“Great,” Tripp mutters, pulling my attention back to his mouth. He has freckles above his top lip that my gaze gets stuck on.
“What is it?”
“Get dressed, husband.” He stands and stretches, his shorts slipping down so I get the briefest glimpse of his pubes.
Could I touch them? Maybe. I shake that thought off. “For what?”
“Photoshoot and interview. Apparently, someone wants to run our story.”
“Okay, we’re so not ready for that. We don’t have it all worked out.”
“We don’t have a choice.” He flips his phone around to face me. “Graham’s orders. We have to meet him and our agents at the practice rink before our interview this afternoon. I’m assuming he’ll give us all the notes we need.”
“Our agents?” Oh no. “I’ve been avoiding his calls.”
“Me too. Damon is going to kill me.”
Twelve
TRIPP
Once we get to the head office, I figure I’ll have Dex and his agent, plus Graham as witnesses, so Damon King can’t yell at me.
I underestimated my agent.
“A heads-up would’ve been nice” is the first thing he says when he sees me. Across the reception area. Where a whole lot of office staff can hear.
I close the distance between us. “Hi, Damon. I’m so happy to see you too.”
“You’ve been avoiding my calls.”
“Have I? Or have I just been too busy with my new husband to even hear the phone?”
Damon’s green eyes narrow, and I blink at him innocently.
He turns to Graham and Dex’s agent, Russel. “Is there somewhere I can have a moment with these two alone?”
“And let you steal my client?” Russel asks. “No way. You may have cornered the market on queer athletes, but Dex is mine.”
Damon King doesn’t represent every single queer athlete out there, but he has the majority. It helps that he’s gay and an ex-athlete himself. When he was starting out in the industry, he was the only agent who would give outed-against-his-will NFL player Matt Jackson a chance. From that moment on, he became the go-to agent for queer athletes. He represents the entire queer collective except for Anton Hayes.
“My athlete roster is full,” Damon says. “That’s not what this is about.”
Russel looks skeptical but lets Damon drag us into the conference room without the others.
He closes the door behind us. “Okay, what’s the real story here?”
Dex’s eyes widen, looking a lot like a little boy in trouble with the principal at school.
Damon’s a no-bullshit kind of agent, so I know I have to tell him the truth.
“It’s a PR nightmare. There’s a reason I’ve been avoiding your calls.” I haven’t wanted to disappoint him. “I’ve kind of been hoping this will all go away.”
Damon rubs his chin. “I’ve heard marriages can magically disappear, but you have to make sure you find the marriage genie lamp, not the one that grants you wishes.”
Dex snorts.
“Okay, the real deal is Dex wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to commit because a wedding seemed like a huge thing. He wanted to get a practice run out of the way, but we didn’t know the chapel filed the paperwork. Dex—uh, we thought we had to file it …”
And with every word of the story, Damon’s face morphs from concerned and slightly pissed-off agent to someone who’s trying not to laugh.
When I finish, he takes a moment to compose himself.
I turn to Dex. “He takes my career seriously, I swear.”
Damon waves me off. “The only reason I’m laughing is because this is easy to deal with. Do the year. Get divorced, don’t get divorced … just … play the game, and you’ll be fine.”
“W-what if I’m not completely comfortable with the game?” Dex asks. “I’m a straight guy pretending to be in love with Tripp. It’s … disrespectful.”
My heart pangs as much as I try to ignore it. Even though it is what it is and he could never love me for real, it doesn’t mean hearing it gets any easier.
Damon’s focus darts between the two of us, and then he folds his arms. “Question. Do you love Tripp?”
“What?” Dex shrieks.
“Wow. This doesn’t feel like grade school or anything.”
“I don’t mean romantically,” Damon says. “I’ve seen you guys on the ice, the countless articles about your friendship. You at least love him platonically, don’t you?”
“Of course. He’s …” Dex’s puppy dog eyes meet mine. “He’s everything to me. One of the most important people in my life.”
Urg. I didn’t sign up to be tortured today, thanks.
Damon points. “That. Right there. Tap into that, and you’ll be fine. I’m not going to stand here and give you a lecture about what’s right and what’s wrong, why you did it, or why you can’t get a quickie divorce like anyone else because I could go on hour-long tangents about being in the spotlight and getting situations twisted. Being in the public eye is one of the toughest challenges athletes have to face because people tend to forget they’re human first and foremost. Mistakes are made all the time. The key is to get on top of something that could blow up your careers, your fan base, and squash it before it becomes problematic. Okay?”