Page 74 of King of Hearts

“The evidence is not concrete but they have a few people who were there last night who are happy to make a quick buck saying it happened. It’s not good.”

“My arsehole boss asked me to write an article on it all. People are savages. I’m ashamed to say I work for this industry today.”

Andy glanced out at the field in a cogitative silence, his eyes flickering as he processed what I said.

“I won’t do it. You know I wouldn’t, right?” I sat up straighter on his lap, my hands falling to my thighs. I was suddenly desperate for him to believe me, to know he would always come before money or glory.

“Of course. I know you, but – you argh, you should.” He vacillated, shaking his head. “At least if you do it the players will be given a sense of justice. Integrity.”

“Andy, I can’t. It’s a conflict of interest. Not to mention –”

“Arns,” He cut in, “They already know my brother is involved. Mum and Dad are beside themselves. Please. Please. If anyone can work this, it’s you. I don’t trust anyone else.” His resolve conveyed his trust in me to make this better, a small twinkle in his eye as if I was the only way out.

“Babe.” The uncertainty lodged itself in my chest like relentless heartburn. There were so many reasons why this wasn’t a good idea. Why this could backfire and ruin what had only just started between us, but he looked so desolate that I knew I would do anything to help him. His tenuous relationship with the media had caused him and his family such pain already that I felt it was kismet that we met. In my position, I could possibly be the mediator. The one to heal some of the past wounds with more than just a bandaid response and save his brother the same fate his mum suffered.

But if I was doing this, I was doing it my way and not to please Darren or even the Hearts. I was doing this for Andy and him alone. I pushed myself off his lap and stood before him, the hunger to fix this for him tingling in my fingers.

“Right, then. I need to speak to your PR team, your coaches, Jack, Jay and Dylan. I want transparency so it is abundantly obvious there’s no dubiety. Let’s go!”

It was 4:30 am when I sent my article through to Darren’s inbox, finally closing my laptop. Andy had only messaged me an hour earlier to say he was home from the clubhouse, two hours after I left with everything I needed to write the press release Urban Pulse was going to drop in a couple of hours.

Even as I typed, I was ruminating between telling Andy I didn’t want to do this and thinking it was best coming from someone who actually cared about and knew these people as he had said.

Instead, I focused on facts over emotions. I told Andy I would be honest and sincere, and that’s exactly what I did. But he wasn’t there when I spoke to the boys and there were things which were going to come as a surprise. It didn’t sit well for him to not know what the outcome was but he insisted that he wanted to stay out of it all and trusted me to do the right thing. He needed to focus on the rest of the team so he eventually left me with the PR personnel to manage perception while he went into another meeting with the coaching staff.

I made sure that every person involved agreed to the narrative and how I would pitch it because I wasn’t going to be another disappointment to this team and most especially, the man I loved. Before I hit send, I had Kieran give his tick of approval to ensure it was a realistic, yet authentic portrayal. It wasn’t going to encourage bullshit lies and gossip, which I knew would be mildly disappointing to Darren. However, it was the truth, and the truth didn’t always need to stampede over the lives of innocent people to increase the bank accounts of a few.

If Marlee answered my call, I would have joked about being a Hearts’ hype girl now and the media’s very own version of Robin Hood. Instead, I settled for Dad harrumphing his approval into the phone and Queeny screaming from the background about how “society thesedays was too soft for their own good”and that“the players should be allowed to have fun regardlessof legalities”. She had a point but she was a law unto herself, my nan.

Andy was struggling with being the captain whose role it was to lead and constantly feeling he let the team down. His self-reproach routine was like a shadow, walking alongside him, but this wasn’t something he could carry and I had done everything I could to reassure him of this. I wished I was laying beside him right now, the world below too far to reach us, but this was the best way I could help.

With my words fortifying the strength and ferocity of the club and him as their leader.

I reached for the small orange container holding my preventative pills and shook two into the palm of my hand. Between the stress and lack of sleep, I could feel my eyes twitching with the beginning of a migraine. I needed to rest but set my alarm to sound in just four hours because today was going to be big and I needed to be present for Andy through it all.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Andy

Pick up the fuckingphone, Arna.

“Hi, you’ve reached Arnabelle Frost with Urban Pulse. Sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message and –”

She should be at work by now, I thought, disconnecting the call, and this was the third time I’d heard her voicemail. Which could only mean one thing – she was ignoring my calls.

Of course she was. Of course she didn’t want to speak to me.

Because the whole thing was total bullshit. It was all a fucking lie and she really was just like the rest of them.

And I was a fool to have believed otherwise.

“I’m sorry, kid.” Kieran’s scruffy appearance was comforting given the scrambled state I too was in. It was the first time I had seen him in anything other than a suit and if it was any other day, I would be having the medics assess him.

“Why would you approve this shit? You’re supposed to be on my side.” Unable to look him in the eye, I stared ahead into the empty shower stalls.

Thankfully, the rest of the team were out on the field running drills until Coach said they were done. When one of us messed up, we all paid. But I needed time. I barely trained at all today because in the span of twenty-four hours my life had gone from what I thought was perfect, to an absolute shit show – which was also flawlessly laid out for the entire world to see. A front row seat to the dissolution of what I stupidly thought was me having it all.

“Andy, I read it! This isnotwhat she sent me. Honestly, mate. I would never approve this shit. Urban hasn’t answered my calls either but this was not in the agreement and I will fight for a redaction.” He took his phone from his pocket and started tapping quickly. “Here, let me show you what I approved, it wasn’t –”

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