Page 50 of Broken Promises

“Monroe’s wife saved our asses,” Bouchard says.

Coach smiles. “She sure as shit did.”

I grin, proud as hell of Willa. Sure, I scored and so did Ivanov, but it was only because of her careful observations.

“Mrs. Monroe also has two other members of her band with her, and they’re asking for autographs.”

“They want our autographs?” Fitz, the second line center, asks looking bewildered.

“Probably not yours,” Martinez snickers.

“Cal will sign your naked ass if you ask him to,” I say.

“He’s right. I will!” Cal yells from the other side of the door.

“Get showered and dressed so they can come in here,” Coach says, shaking his head and trying to hide a smile. “I won’t have any of you traumatizing Willa.”

“You’d have to try a lot harder than that!” Cal yells again.

I roll my eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Callahan! Go do something for five minutes so we can get dressed!” I can hear my wife hysterically laughing in the hallway.

“Shower and get dressed. You have twenty minutes before press,” Coach says and leaves for his office.

I’ve never seen the guys change so quickly. They’re all presentable within seven minutes.

“Alright Cal, you can come in,” I shout. He barges in and immediately makes a beeline for Bouchard. Kai and Willa follow at a normal pace until Willa spots me. She runs and throws herself into my arms, kissing me deeply.

The team chants her name, making her blush and laugh. “The only thing I did was pay attention. I’m not a coach.” All my teammates come up to her and thank her, tell her how awesome she is for saving the game for us. More than half ask for her autograph. Cal and Kai seem more starstruck than they should be considering they’re the more famous ones in this room. But I’m glad everyone is having a great time.

Coach pops his head back in. “Press in two minutes. They want Banks, Ivanov, Bouchard, and Monroe,” he says, pausing when he looks at me. “They’re going to ask about Mrs. Monroe. It’s up to you two if you want to be out there together or not.” Then he’s gone.

“What do you want to do, Princess?” I ask Willa. I’ve been holding her hand the whole time, even when she was signing autographs.

She shrugs. “I’m used to interviews. I can go with you if you want me to.”

“I always want you with me.” I cup her cheek and kiss her lips gently.

Leroy is waiting for us outside of the media room. He’s the manager of media coordination or some title like that. Basically, he’s who we talk to before we talk to the press.

“Players will go in first. The media have been instructed to hold questions pertaining to Declan’s relationship until the end,” he says. He turns to Willa. “You’ll stay here with me, Mrs. Monroe. Once the topic changes to you, you can make your way onto the stage. There will be an empty chair next to Declan for you. You don’t have to answer any uncomfortable questions.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve had PR training. I’ve sat down for thirty interviews in the past two months. I’ve got this.” She smiles at him, but he looks shocked.

“T-thirty?” he stutters.

“Oh. I thought you knew. I’m in a band. We’re doing pretty well right now. We just finished our latest tour, but part of a tour is television and radio interviews. Usually at least one morning TV show and one radio show per stop, with an occasional late-night show thrown in. We had fifteen shows and thirty interviews this last leg.”

I snort. “She’s being modest. Their latest album just went multi-platinum.”

“I’m the drummer from Shattered Halo,” Willa offers the shocked man.

“Oh!” he exclaims. “You’re Willa Prince!”

“The hair didn’t give that away?” Gideon asks, amused by this whole interaction.

“I didn’t want to assume,” Leroy says, blushing. His phone buzzes in his hand. “They’re ready for you. You know the drill.”

We nod and make our way to our seats. The reporters ask their usual questions while peppering us with compliments. They think it softens us up to answering their questions in more detail. It doesn’t. We just want to get out of here most of the time.

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