Page 76 of The Anaconda Downstairs

“Everett, my man. You were on fire on Sunday. You're not listening to the press, are you? Sara is very excited about the Take Up Space work she and the ladies are doing.”

I was really enjoying my agent's enthusiasm. He was usually a bit of a grump. “Hey, Maguire. Yeah, that's sort of what I wanted to talk about.”

“Great. What's the plan, what can I do?”

I took a deep breath. “I need to reach out to KnightWear. I'm going to do some work on this body positivity campaign, and I want to make sure they're okay with that.”

“Hold up,” Maguire interrupted. “Are you sitting down? Because man, do I have news for you.”

I frowned, lowering myself into my desk chair. “What's going on?”

“KnightWear called me this morning. They're launching a new inclusive clothing line called KnightNight, and they want you to be the face of it.”

For a moment, I was speechless. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” Maguire chuckled. “They said, and I quote, 'If we had known Everett was such a body positivity advocate, we would have approached him ages ago.'”

I leaned back in my chair, my mind racing. “This is... wow. Talk about perfect timing.”

“You're telling me,” Maguire said. “But wait, there's more. They've got an ad spot booked for the Super Bowl, and they want to get some footage of you telling your story ASAP.”

“My story?” I'd never mentioned the puke story to Mac.

“Yeah, you know, your journey with body image, why this matters to you. That kind of thing.”

This couldn't have aligned more perfectly if we'd planned it ourselves.

“Maguire, this is incredible. When do they want to shoot?”

“They're pushing for next week. I told them they'd need to work around your practice schedule since you’re starting the playoffs, but I figured you'd want to make this work.”

“Absolutely,” I said, already mentally rearranging my commitments. “Set it up.”

“Will do. Oh, and I heard through the grapevine that Swoosh wants to match energy too. Looks like they're jumping on the body positivity train as well. So tell Dec to get on the phone with Alexis.”

I let out a laugh that was excited and relieved that fate seemed on our side. “You're kidding. Dec and Kelsey will be over the moon.”

“From what I hear, they're already planning his video shoot. You Kingman boys are going to be all over the bowl this year.”

I hung up with Maguire and blinked a few times at the screen. This was more than just a sponsorship opportunity. This was a chance to make a real difference, to amplify the message Pen had been working so hard to spread.

There was no fucking way Odin could match this energy. People were going to forget he even existed, and that was going to be worse than death for a narcissist like him.

I headed back upstairs, eager to share the news with Pen. I found her curled up with all the blankets on the bed. Was I pleased with myself for fucking her so well this morning that she was completely zonked out? Yeah. I was.I almost didn't want to wake her up, but this news was too good to wait.

“Hey, baby.” I pushed her hair from her face and nibbled on her ear the way she liked. “Wake up, sweetheart. I've got good news that you're going to want to hear.”

I was this close to crawling back under the covers with her. She groaned and peeked one eye open at me, and it was so fucking cute. “No more orgasms, Ev. I need sleep, you sex god monster.”

“Pen,” her name was half of a chuckle. “You're not going to believe this.”

As I filled her in on the KnightWear opportunity, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Ev, this is amazing. It's like the universe is aligning to help us spread this message.”

I pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her temple. “It feels that way, doesn't it? And it's all because of you, you know. You inspired this.”

Pen shook her head, but I could see the pleased flush making her glow. “We inspired this. Together.”

The next two weeks were a rollercoaster of emotions and events. Odin, true to form, posted more videos, but his venomseemed to be losing its sting. He definitely didn't have the same reach as before.

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