Page 26 of King of Hearts

“Oh my god, Marls. This is not good.” My stomach churned with nerves for how this looked. Darren was going to think I was fraternising with a client, and I had absolutely no idea what Andy was going to think given there were photos of us everywhere. Photos which did not paint the story of a journalist and her client.

“Calm down, you can barely tell it’s you. But can we focus on the fact he is literally snuggling you in a restaurant?”

I could hear her voice, but I was still scrolling, starving for every single article aboutme, desperate to swallow every word and headline. Some of the trashier sites had us engaged, another saying I was a childhood sweetheart who had returned after years overseas. How these articles were even written, let alone published in what was at most, an hour since the photos were snapped, was beyond me. They evidently didn’t have an editing process like Urban Pulse. Yet another reason why I wanted to be senior editor. There was no way I would allow our site to print such incendiary bullshit.

“Marls, this is so bad.” I closed my laptop and looked at my phone for the first time since I found myself on the opposite side of the tabloids. Marlee was laying on her bed, her long brown hair thrown up into a bun on top of her head. She was eating cucumber sticks, her eyes dancing with joy.

“You gave him a blowjob under the table and they photographed you bad or you’re going to get fired bad?” She clarified sarcastically.

“Can you be serious for a second? I could lose my job!” I shrieked. “Marls, you should have seen his face. He looked so sad. They are so rude. They literally just kept taking photos of us no matter what he did or said.”

She stared at me smirking.

“What? Why do you keep giving me that look?” I asked, frustrated. “I can’t imagine living a life where this is considered normal or expected.”

“How about you start at the beginning and tell me what you were doing serving up that look at abusiness dinner?” Her eyebrows were almost in her hair line and she used air quotations around business dinner making me huff a laugh.

I leaned back and sighed. “So, it started with him meeting Paul.”

“WHAT?” Marlee yelped.

Chapter Sixteen

Andy

Pup:Big night, huh? Been waiting for your call since I spoke to Dale last night. My phone has been ringing hot – everyone is desperate to know more.

Pup:You okay?

Andy:You coming to the ground today?

Pup:I just arrived. Where are you?

Andy:Family area - Row C.

Ididn’t have the patience to unpack the fallout from last night via text. Sleep didn’t come easy and despite having my phone on silent it was like I could feel the hundreds of notifications whispering my name. The serenity of the quiet stadium was welcomed as the mid-morning sun softly cased the rows of seats. Other than the linesman marking the field in preparation for our upcoming match, the ground was void of bodies and the peace was soothing.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, most likely someone else seeking answers I didn’t have, to questions I’d already been asked. Mum and Dad already called this morning. They knew me well enough that when my face was plastered all over the media for any reason other than football, I would be frustrated. To their credit they didn’t ask who the ‘mystery woman’ was or tell me I needed to settle down.

Instead, they focused on the sickening behaviour of the paparazzi who Dad referred to as theTermite Army. He hated the way they infiltrated any type of outing I tried to have and told me so at every opportunity. Some of the boys would invite their family to join their interviews and I often wondered what my parents would say if they were approached. The thought was almost enough to cheer me up a little with Mum’ssoulless arseholesinsults and Dad’s collective sledges ofmaggot scumandegg rollswhich were apparently the ultimate insults. After my very first interview they had encouraged me to be personable, coaching me on articulately recapping the game and my own performance without giving too much away, but after Mum was introduced to the truth of their cowardice not long after, neither of them again encouraged cooperation. Their stance mirrored my own and the normality and predictability of a conversation with them about this was what I needed after last night.

The minute Serg dropped me off my phone started blowing up with messages from those who had seen Arna at the club and connected the dots. What they thought was innocent fun only enraged me further as they created their own scenarios of why I agreed to be interviewed in the first place. I read every single message yet replied to no one except Jay. Surprisingly, his text wasn’t a stupid joke but to actually check on me as he knew how much I hated this side of our lives. The camaraderie was comforting in an otherwise sea of lunacy.

The articles referring to her as ‘another goal on the board’ or strangers who wrote about her as if they had the right, was exactly why I could never have a relationship. Who in their right mind would subject themselves to this kind of life if they didn’t have to? Being plastered all over social media with headlines painting me as a scandalous playboy were nothing new but what I struggled with most were the lies about Arna.

Worse than that, I acted like a complete dick and barely spoke to her afterwards as ifshehad done something wrong – further playing into the portrayal of the ‘arrogant captain’.

Before the flashes destroyed our evening, I thought she was about to kiss me. The most used picture from the night showed the way my eyes lingered on her lips and some of the trashier sites explicitly called me out for it. I wanted to hate those articles the most but at least for once, they were accurate. Ihadbeen staring at her goddamn lips, and worse than that, I wanted her to lean that little bit further and feel them against my own. When I saved those photos to my phone gallery, it was because I wanted the reminder of why I didn’t share my world,notbecause I wanted to look at them every opportunity I could.

It was just so easy to forget where I was when she was around. She took centre stage leaving everything else to orbit around her beauty and her effervescent spirit. But I was swept away in my own selfish anger and treated her like garbage. Even worse, I still hadn’t reached out to touch base. Regardless of how I felt, the decent thing would have been to check in after what could have been a quite confronting experience. And now, over twelve hours later I still hadn’t even sent her a message. I really was just as bad as they made me out to be.

“What are you doing out here?” Pup’s voice ceased my thoughts as he took the seat next to me, his pressed grey suit pants perfectly matching his shirt and tie.

“My dad sat in this exact seat the first time I played for the Hearts. We won the game, and he still says he knew from the very first moment I touched the ball that I would be captain one day. Refuses to sit anywhere else now.” I said, shaking my head, a soft smile creasing my face.

“You always were destined for greatness. You’ve got the golden touch, kid.”

“Yeah, on the field maybe.” I said, knowing Pup would be all over the media circus. It was his job to keep abreast of what his players did, and he had Google alerts set for each of us so his message this morning came as no surprise.

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