Page 34 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Where the hell did he even start?
“Oh, we know, lad,” Augie answered as he shook Libby’s hand.
“I hope you don’t mind, Erasmus. I contacted your trainer and your agent,” Madelyn said, then addressed the new arrivals. “Erasmus is concerned about his championship fight and how tonight’s turn of events may impact his image and standing in the boxing world. Maybe you could shed some light on how we can address his concerns.”
Briggs puffed up. “The video of you and Miss Lamb is everywhere. The whole boxing world has seen it. Honestly, anyone with a mobile has probably seen it. But don’t you worry, mate. I took care of the media for you.”
Bloody hell.
“And how did you do that,mate?” Raz pressed, his voice a low rumble.
Briggs smoothed his sports coat. “I explained to the press that what they witnessed was simply part of your training.”
“My training? Did your mum drop you on your head when you were a baby? We got handcuffed and arrested,” he shot back.
“Look,” Briggs continued, holding out his phone.
Raz glared at the screen.
In the dim glow of the streetlamp, he sprinted and turned on a dime, snatching up vibrators as Libby launched them haphazardly at him.
“We’re calling Libby your spiritual advisor,” the agent gushed with a dumb grin plastered on his face.
“His what?” Libby exclaimed.
Raz shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Not at all. I made it up on the spot,” the sports agent answered, looking pleased as punch.
“Aug, this is for real?” Raz asked, searching his trainer’s face.
Aug sighed. “Briggsy here did most of the talking. But yes, we told the press what they’d witnessed was a facet of your training, and the arrest was an exercise in handling stress.”
“A yoga teacher hurling sex toys at me is afacetof a professional boxer’s training?” he replied, incredulity coating the words.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Listen, mate,” Aug said, pointing at him with his toothpick. “You’d be smart to put on a smile and be right chuffed about this. It was that or take the chance that the press would peg you and Miss Lamb as bloody perverts.”
Shit! Was Aug right? Had he and Libby been backed into a corner?
“Fortunately, the audio on every recording of the event we’ve seen is garbled. It’s hard to make out much besides Ms. Lamb demonstrating rage yoga with that bloodcurdling scream and the wordschi,plum, andbeefcake. That bit of luck allowed me to inform the media that what they’d witnessed was a new, cutting edge, unorthodox training method, carefully crafted to make you ready for anything at any time, any place.” Briggs paused dramatically, then lowered his voice. “As vigilant as he is powerful, the Lion is always ready to pounce. An agile powerhouse, the British Beast doesn’t win. He dominates. He obliterates.”
Everyone stared at Briggs, who now assumed the role of the room’s chief lunatic.
Raz scrubbed his hands down his face. “That’s what you said?”
“Yeah, and it’s everywhere,” Briggs answered, his eyes glittering. “Word is, Silas Scott’s people are getting nervous. That’s what we want, champ.”
Did people actually believe this?
“Aug, you’re on board with this?” he pressed.
“Briggs threw that bucket of bullshit at the media, and they gobbled it up. I nodded along, but there might be something to it, lad.”
“To training me with plastic cocks?”
“To keep your reputation intact and to bidding bloody farewell to the wobbly git who’s got a fight in sixty days. Watch the video, Raz. I timed it. You cut two seconds off your sprints chasing those plastic cocks,” his trainer replied, tapping Briggs’s mobile as he spoke.
