Page 58 of Off Pitch

“Well, I had a girlfriend at the time—Emily. We’d been together for maybe six months at that point. When I was drafted, Emily planned a night for us to celebrate my achievement. I was a horny twenty-one-year-old, so I’m sure you can guess what that entailed.”

“I’m going to guess you spent that entire night in your bedroom,” I say with a snicker.

“Yeah,” Knox says quietly. “Really wish I hadn’t, though. Because what Emily didn’t tell me was that she had set up cameras around my room when I was in the shower. Every part of that night, the sweet, sensual, and very X-rated parts, were recorded in HD.”

“She recorded you!” I say, gasping at the audacity of this woman I’ve never met. “I can’t imagine what it was like when you found out.”

He runs a hand through his hair. I’ve started to notice he does that when he’s nervous. “I wish I could say that’s the worst of it, but that’s really just the beginning. It doesn’t get better from here.” He sighs, clearly uncomfortable.

“Knox,” I say, cupping his cheek in my hand. “You don’t need to tell me anything more.”

“No,” he replies. “I actually want to. I’ve never told anyone about this because my life could’ve been ruined, but I want to get it off my chest. Iwantto tell you.“ Knox takes a few more deep breaths before continuing the story. “From the recordings Emily took, she made several… sex tapes,” he says as if in physical pain. “But the tapes weren’t for her or for me. She planned to sell them.”

“Oh my God!” I shriek, completely dumbfounded. How could somebody do that to such a sweet man like Knox?

“She had left her computer open once and had an email on her screen. I didn’t have a reason to suspect anything, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to see that email. So, I peeked… and found that she had been communicating with a certain tabloid. They’d formed a plan. Once I made my debut for the Stars, they would distribute the videos. They were going to be plasteredeverywhere. When everyone knew who I was, they were going to put that out.”

“Why would she do that?” I ask, fighting back tears. I can hear the hurt in Knox’s voice as he tells me this, and it breaks me to see him that way.

“When I confronted her about what I found, she told me it was because she wanted to be famous. Evidently, there are reality TV stars who were propelled into stardom after their sex tapes leaked. For hers to matter, it needed to be with someone with a name people recognized. Once I hit the majors, I was going to be that person. She was going to launch herself and become ahousehold name. I was just collateral damage on her quest for fame.”

Tears spill from my eyes as I can’t hold them back any longer. “Knox, I’m so sorry. What happened after that?”

“I broke it off immediately. I couldn’t stand the sight of her. I was thoroughly embarrassed by what happened, but I knew I needed to talk to somebody about it… so I spilled everything to the agent I had just signed with—Simon. It was hard to admit all of it, but without talking to him, I never would’ve known to contact a lawyer. That her releasing the tapes could be seen as revenge porn since we weren’t together anymore. A strongly worded letter from an attorney to both Emily and the tabloid she was working with that threatened legal action with possible jail time if they released the video was enough to get them to back down. The attorney ensured Emily erased all the footage so there was no more threat. Since then, I haven’t trusted people or the media. I don’t open up because I don’t want anybody to find ammunition to use against me again. I can probably count on one hand the amount of hookups I’ve had since, but they’ve all been in my hotel room. It’s the only way I can make sure there aren’t cameras around.”

“Knox,” I say as I all but launch myself at him, wrapping him tight. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. You never deserved that.”

“I wasn’t the greatest guy or anything, Lo,” he says as he returns the hug, bringing me in close with my face flush against his bare chest. “Maybe I did deserve it.”

“Never, Knox. Youneverdeserved that. You’re not the man everyone thinks.”

“Do you actually think that, Harlow?” he asks, lifting my face up by my chin. His eyes are glassy and full of worry and sorrow. I’ve never seen him like this before.

”Iknowthat. I think you’re a great person, and I think my life is better having you in it. She never deserved you, and she also doesn’t deserve to still have an effect on you.”

Knox smiles softly. “Thank you,” he says as he brushes a stray tear from my eye. “You know, you’re not supposed to be the one crying.”

“Your fake girlfriend is an emotional mess.” He laughs before lightly kissing my forehead.

“Did you, uh… want to stay here tonight? Just to sleep. It might be nice to have someone beside me tonight. That’s the first time I’ve told that story in almost seven years.”

I give him a reassuring smile. “Of course I will. I feel like that’s the least I can do after you just poured your heart out.”

Knox chuckles softly. “I really didn’t think I’d enjoy your presence so much when we started this whole thing. But you’re not at all what I expected.”

We both sit up on the bed to finish off the onion rings we’ve been neglecting. Knox grabs one and holds it up for me to take a bite. “Look at you being all cutesy, Spencer.”

He barks out a laugh. “I’m not fucking ‘cutesy,’ that’s for sure. But that does remind me of something. You know how the Stars’ Charity holds an annual dinner, right?”

“Of course I do,” I tell him. “My brother does play for your team.”

“I’m ignoring the sass,” he says while laughing. “But the dinner is next month on one of our off days. Significant others are all invited to attend. Do you want to go with me?”

“Seeing as everyone thinks I’m your girlfriend, I probably should.” I smile at him. “That sounds like fun. I guess you’ll get to see me in a gown, after all.”

“I think I like the idea of that.” He grins. “Do you have a gown you could wear?”

I sigh. “Well, running a blog doesn’t really send me to anything where I need formalwear, so I do not.”

---