It shakes me. Because I realize just how much I love Ethan Blake and Colt Stackford at that point that I feel physically ill at the suggestion that I coerced them.
And AJ sees this.
“Are we feeling a bit contrite at our actions there, Ms. Heaton?” he asks with a chuckle. “Are we thinking that we may indeed be supremely unqualified to lead an NFL team?”
I look at the Commissioner. He’s frowning. Most likely at the thoughts of the headlines tomorrow. “New York Nailers Owners Rape Players”.
All of a sudden, I wish I hadn’t scheduled the television stations.
And then there’s another voice that comes from the back.
“Why don't you just leave Julianna the fuck alone?” a male voice calls out.
People turn in their seats and I look past them to the door.
Colt’s standing there dressed in the pre-game suit and tie. He's got a smirk on his face as if this whole thing is just a big game. At that point, I could just kiss him.
But that would probably start a whole new scandal by itself.
“Pick on me,” he says. “I’ve been dying to get in on this for a while now.”
Colt
“I’ve been fucking dying to get in on some of this action,” I say and give my best confident smirk that I have as I walk up the room towards the podium and past the press. They’re staring at me like I’m some kind of a god, and, quite frankly, I feel like one.
I am QB 1 of the New York Nailers and I’m fucking the most beautiful woman alive on the fucking planet. I’m actually doing more than fucking her, actually.
I’m in fucking love with her. She makes me feel ways that I never even knew fucking existed. But it’s not just how she makes me feel when I’m around her. It’s how I feel when I’m thinking about her.
Julianna makes me a different person by her presence in my life. But she hasn’t been alone in causing my metamorphosis. There’s one other person I fucking love.
I’m in love with Ethan Blake.
That goddamn asshole couldn't leave well enough alone. It wasn't good enough for him to try and one-up me everywhere I went. He had to really go stick it to me and make me fall in love with him.
I know for a fact I’m not gay. I don't get turned by seeing dudes left and right. But when I look at Ethan, I almost have this feeling that there’s something about that dude that feels right. That feels like we fucking belong together. Like we’re two pieces of a puzzle. And Julianna is the third.
That’s right. We’re three parts of a fucking love puzzle.
It’s probably taken you a while to read all that but in that time I’ve already walked up to Julianna. She looks at me with one-part relief that I’m here. She was really getting beaten down up there. But the other part of her is looking at me like she’s fucking upset. I guess I can understand that. She doesn’t want me to come in and steal her thunder.
Julianna takes a few steps away from the podium and comes up to me, “What are you doing here?” she whispers furiously. “They’re out for blood!” She’s gesturing to the press folks who are still in an uproar over my surprise entrance.
“Relax, babe,” I say and she winches momentarily. “I got this.”
“Be careful, Colt,” Julianna replies back. “I don’t want to see anything happen to you.”
Fucking Christ. Could that look of anger from Julianna that she was shooting at me, could that actually be because she was upset that she thought I was placing myself in danger? That she wasn't upset that I was going to steal the thunder, but she was more worried?
If that’s the case, then she’s gotta be feeling the same thing for me that’s been going through my brain for her.
That alone brings a smile to my lips. Even as AJ Ledoux – that fucker from the News of the Times – shouts his question, “Colt Stackford, were you coerced into having sexual relations with Julianna Heaton?”
I seriously want to throttle that man. And considering his mousy features, his fucking skinny as shit body except for his potbelly, his beady fucking eyes, and his oily fucking skin, I could do it in one hand while asleep. But standing there, reporters looking to me to answer his question, and I realize this is his field. I’m just here as a guest.
“I was not forced into having sexual relations with that woman,” I say pointing towards Julianna and doing my best Bill Clinton imitation. I actually get a few laughs but AJ doesn’t stop.
“With all due respect, Colt,” AJ continues. “I think you’re being intimidated into covering up for what’s been done to you, and what you’ve been forced to do.”