Page 5 of Hot Damn
My gaze darts to Oakley. Why is she deferring to this woman? She’s the owner, it’s her call, probably more than mine, and that thought grates already raw nerves.
Oakley knows where I stand on the subject of my daughter but now that the secret is out, I’m going to have to give the press something other than my usual ‘no comment’ or refusal to speak about my personal life at all. Not that I’ve faced this particular question before.
“You need to control the narrative.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demand. I hate that this reporter’s words confuse me. This is my life, not some article.
“It means you’ve got no choice but to publicly acknowledge you have a daughter. You can’t keep Whitney a secret any longer and if you want to get back to the peaceful life you had before tonight you need to tell the world about her?—”
“No! No fucking way. Not happening. I’m not giving those vultures anything.”
Cami shoots me a dismissive smile before facing Oakley again. “It’s the only way to control this.”
“Okay, so he does what? Gives an exclusive interview?”
“That would work.”
“I’m not giving squat. Whitney is off limits. Period.”
Both women sigh but it’s Oakley who speaks. “You don’t really have a choice, Beckett. It’s the only way to keep things under control.” She nods at Cami. “Tell him.”
“Beckett, I understand your need to protect Whitney but if you don’t give them what they want to know, and believe me, after years of knowing nothing about you having a child, they’ll want to know everything about her, about you. They’ll dig. And dig. They’ll dig so deep and so far they’ll find the nursewho was there when she was born, the girl she was friends with at day-care, the next door neighbor of the woman who cleans your house, the guy who delivers your pizza, the checkout clerk who serves you at the grocery store to find out what Whitney eats.”
Cold sweat breaks out along my spine. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Unfortunately, I can tell you from experience, it’s not. But if you give them something to talk about, whatyouwant them to talk about, you take the mystery out of it because Whitney’s no longer a secret. And without a juicy secret to uncover, you stop the digging. Why dig when they’re being handed what they want?”
“And what do they want?” I know. Of course I know. They’ll want to know how I ended up a single father at sixteen, where Whitney’s mother is and why I’ve kept my daughter hidden her entire life.
“Besides the basics, name and age, they’ll want to know why you chose to hide her away.”
I close my eyes and drag in a breath. “How?” I don’t expand. Everyone knows what I’m asking.
“An interview, preferably on camera, not paper.”
I glance at Whitney. “On camera. With Whit?”
“That would be wise. If you let them see her, they won’t go hunting for her,” Cami explains.
Fuck.
The thought of cameramen lying in wait for Whitney drenches my entire body in cold sweat. “When?”
“I’d think as soon as possible,” Oakley answers. “But I’m wondering… Cami, what if we did a series of interviews with every player on the team? Coaches, management, the families of those who moved to join the team…”
Cami’s eyes light up, I can almost see the idea developing in those dark blue orbs.
Shit.
This isn’t going to be over quickly. If I’m reading these two correctly, and I make my living reading people, then we’re aboutto be splashed across screens countrywide for more than a few minutes.
“Okay, okay, give me a second.” Cami paces. Two steps, spin, two steps. It’s the tightest pacing track I’ve ever seen but it’s her facial expressions that have me mesmerized. “We can start tonight. Do the exclusive reveal of Whitney Higgison and the lead-in to the series of ten, fifteen minute interviews that we will air every night throughout the pre-season.”
“That’s only a couple of weeks’ worth of airtime. If we agree to this, and Nat, weigh in on this please, then I think we would want far more than that in publicity. We’re giving full, exclusive access to the entire team. Something we haven’t allowed to date.”
Oakley’s brain is turning as fast as the reporter’s and I’m not ashamed to admit that watching these women plot and negotiate is fascinating.
“Full season.” The GM joins the discussion. “Pre and regular season as well as playoffs.”
