Page 76 of It Happened on a Sunday
“Bullshit?”Tyson squawks. “Are you telling me your dimpleisn’tprecious?”
“I’m telling you I’ve never given a thought to my dimple, precious or otherwise. And neither the fuck have you before today!”
“Yeah, well, that’s before you went on a date with the Black Widow. Now we’ve got all kinds of ideas.” He waggles his brows for emphasis.
“She has a name, you know.” The response is instinctive and has most of the guys in the room crowing with delight.
“Well, well, well,” my best friend intones, looking smug. “You two must have had one hell of a first date. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“We already knew that,” Drew, another one of the O-linemen, tells him. “Sly doesn’t miss practice. Ever.”
“Traffic was shit,” I say as I try to navigate my way around Tyson’s giant form. Unfortunately, he just moves with me.
“That’s it? You just went on a date with one of the hottest women on the planet,” James argues, “and all you’re going to tell us is ‘traffic was shit’?”
“It was.” I shrug.
“Yeah, well, what am I supposed to tell Maria? She’s been goingon about Sloaney for the last week.”
“Sloaney?” I repeat, confused.
“That’s your couple name, man.” James shakes his head, exasperated. “Surely you’ve seen it online.”
“Trust me, reading internet gossip about myself isn’t how I spend my free time.”
“Yeah, well, maybe it should be,” Drew tells me. “According to Anastasia, there are hundreds of Instagram and TikTok accounts devoted to the two of you already. She’s been blowing up my phone every five minutes since you and Sloane ran down that fucking hill at lunch. Which, by the way, dude. Really? Your big move was making her run?”
“Anastasia ships Sloaney, too?” James holds a fist up for a bump. “Hell yeah. I’ll tell Maria. Maybe they can talk to each other instead of floodingmyDMs about it. I’ve told her I work with the guy—I don’t need to see his ugly mug during my downtime, too.”
“Especially not when he’s running down a hill like the fucking Lightning D-line is on his ass.” Tyson cackles.
“Please.” Marquis snorts. “He’s never run from those pricks in his life. This afternoon looked more like him running from abuela Ximena when she whips that chancla off.”
“Truth,” James agrees with a shudder.
“How can one little old lady have such perfect aim all the time?” Marquis wonders aloud.
“Maybe that’s where Sly got it from.” Tyson snickers.
But I’ve got more important things to think about than my abuela’s legendary chancla. “How many videos are we talking about here?” I press. It’s starting to register just how many people are truly invested in what happens between Sloane and me. Instagram and TikTok accounts?Sloaney?
The paparazzi are one thing, but if my teammates’ wives are already talking about us, it means there are a lot more peoplepaying attention than I imagined. Maybe Sloane’s right when she says I have no idea what I’m getting myself into.
“A lot, man,” Drew tells me, and now there’s no amusement in his voice. “You had to figure that, right? Your girl’s a superstar.”
“And not just any superstar,” Levi says, jumping in on the action. “One with a reputation for eating her dates. You can’t blame people for wondering if football’s golden boy is going to be next.”
“The fuck?” I shove a frustrated hand through my hair. “Where do they come up with this shit? And why can’t they just leave her alone? Reporting on her albums and concerts is one thing. But this…”
“There’s a whole mythology around her at this point,” James answers. “Which means there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people out there who are already invested in whether Sloaney sinks or swims. You can’t expect the press not to bite.”
I pull my phone out and open one of my social media accounts. I usually have a shit ton of notifications and DMs, especially right before a game, but the number I’m staring at right now is truly obscene. Especially considering a bunch of them seem to be coming from underage girls, at least judging by their profile pictures.
Oh, fuck no.
I close the app and contemplate throwing my phone out the window. But then how will Sloane get in touch with me?
“The whole world wants to know, and they’ll figure it out eventually. Shouldn’t your teammates—and their wives—get a little preview?” Drew asks hopefully.
