Page 12 of The Wiener Across the Way

Oh my god. Like... I might need to take another shower.

My notebook lay open, forgotten, as I watched him. One play after another, he dominated the field, a king in his realm.I reached for my pen, an idea flickering, something about bad blood. But it sputtered and died as quickly as it formed.

The alarm on my phone dinged warning me that I had fifteen minutes before I had to get ready to leave for the promo shoot. I clicked the laptop shut and the room was silent, save for the faint hum of the city outside and Wiener the Pooh’s cute little snores. I sank back into the chair, eyes closing, Declan’s powerful form still imprinted on my mind.

I’d just spent almost two hours watching his absolute raw masculinity and power. And now I had fifteen minutes.

That was plenty of time. I wasn’t going to need more than three. I grabbed the little pink silk pouch that stored my vibrator and headed straight back into that shower.

SHOWMANCE?

DECLAN

After a long day reviewing plays from last week’s game and watching even more tapes of our previous matchups with the Tycoons to prep for our upcoming Monday night game against them, I was more exhausted than if it had been a workout day. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to anyone. I just needed a long, hot shower and maybe a beer.

But that wasn’t going to happen because my phone pinged with a message from my agent.

Call me ASAP. Kelsey Best's people want a meeting with you. WTF did you do?

Shit. Had I somehow offended Kelsey or some of her people the other day?

Gimme two mins to get home.

If I was about to get my ass reamed, I wanted the sanctity of my own space to take the blow in. I swear to god that I didn’t do anything wrong. But I also would swear up one goal post and down the other that I wasn’t mean, and yet the whole-ass league thought I was.

The second I shut the door behind me, I called Alexis at the De le Rein Agency. She picked up immediately, and I didn’t even get to say hello before she went straight in on me.

“Deck, we have got to improve your image.” She’d laid into me before about my image, it was part of why I hired her. She didn’t pull any punches with me and wasn’t afraid of me either. But I’d rarely heard her sound both resigned and irritated with me. “Do you hear me? I’m not screwing around anymore. Your grumpy-ass facade is costing us both a lot of money.”

I leaned against the door, taking a deep breath. “I hear you, Alexis, but what exactly do you suggest? It’s not like I’m going to turn into Mr. Charisma overnight.”

I hadn’t been a jack ass to Kelsey or her people though. How the hell was I in trouble with them? All I did was save her dog and maybe get a little bit of a stiffy. Which I had done my absolute best to hide.

“No, but you could at least talk when a camera is pointed at you. Just a few words would do.”

Damn. This was about the PR team and the filming they’d done the other day in the locker room. I had said something. More than I normally did.

So I was going to get my ass chewed for several things on this call. I needed a beer for that. I made my way into the kitchen and pulled a Fat Tire out. Good thing I’d already had my protein.

“I hate talking to the cameras. It’s not like they don’t already know who I am.”

“Nobody wants to do a deal with a player who never says a word to the press. You wouldn’t even get airtime if you weren’t such a phenomenal player.”

I was a good player, dammit. Why did it matter what I had to say? “It’s always the same inane questions that they already know the answer to.”

Except that dance off question wasn’t.

Alexis sighed, her tone softening. “That nomination for meanest player is great for the team, but it isn’t helping off the field, and now this potential shoe deal is in danger. I know you’re not actually mean, Deck, but they’re hesitant when your image is negative. Perception is everything.”

I was only mean when I needed to be. Like when I was sacking quarterbacks or smashing tight ends into the ground. I pinched the bridge of my nose, and then took a swig, frustration mounting. “So what’s the plan? Smile more in interviews I don’t give?”

That comment for the PR team was a one-time thing.

This wasn’t about the money. Sure it would pad my bank account and hers. But I already made plenty. However, the Kingmans were football royalty, and no way I was letting my brothers down by not continually competing with them to be the best... at everything. It’s how we all thrived, and I knew that just as well as the rest of them.

Chris upped the ante with that car commercial, but this shoe thing was actually a bigger deal. Half the athletes in the world would be wearing shoes with my name on them. Including all of my brothers. We’d been working on this for almost a year. They knew who I was when we started though, and it pissed me off they were pussyfooting now.

“Actually,” she began, her voice perking up with a note of excitement, “I have good news. An opportunity that could turn this all around.”

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