Page 109 of Wild Catch
“Hmm.” Machado runs his hands over his stomach. “I think I need to go on a diet.”
“Dude, no.” Starr smacks Machado’s chest with the back of his hand. “We need all the power you already have.”
“That kinda muscle would probably give me more power,” Machado muses.
Since my laser beams have turned completely ineffective on that new terrible trio, I turn my attention to Rose again. She’s still recording me, all right, her camera fully trained on the goods.
But so are her eyes. Like, they’re not fixed on the footage but on the real thing.
“Should I just take it off?” I mutter, and I think my question gets lost among the ruckus of the guys, but then her eyes lift to mine.
And she bites her lip like she’s mulling it over.
Okay, I mean it when I said I’m not a clown. I know that she finds me attractive. I know I could play that up—try to get her interested. But that would be a copout and it would still lead to the same outcome.
That she’s better off without me.
Finally, she shakes her head. “No, I think that really would break the internet.”
Nodding, I drop my shirt. “Are we done here?”
“What? Already?” Rivera complains.
“Actually…” Rose hesitates. And she never does that. My eyebrows pinch as she takes a cautious step toward me. “Can we talk after work?”
I have trouble unsticking my lips but somehow I manage. “Me?”
“Yeah, I—” She clears her throat. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
My heart does a thing. Like it attempts a cartwheel but sinks, because her expression has turned all weird and I don’t think it’s because my abs are still affecting her. So I nod and after returning the gesture, she transforms back into happy-go-lucky-Rose.
“C’mon, you guys, show me your abs,” she jokes to the other three.
I swivel around right away before any of them can see the volcanic annoyance on my face. I don’t even know what the conversation topic will be, but the fact that it has to do with me and how it sours her entire demeanor rankles.
Meanwhile, she’s all smiles and sunshine for the others.
Chopped damn liver, I am, and the sooner I come to terms with it the better.
CHAPTER37
ROSE
“So what are we going to do about this?” I look from my boss to his boss and back, waiting for a reaction that doesn’t come. “There has to be something. Do we talk with HR? Put out a statement?”
Dave’s expression is the definition of confusion. “But Rosalina, I thought we were here to talk about you?”
I—Yes. Originally the topic of the meeting was to talk about whether it even makes sense for Logan and I to continue fake dating for social media engagement, and also about what this means for my career now that it’s clear that my expectations weren’t aligned with Dave’s.
But then this happened.
I point at my laptop screen showing a frozen frame from the viral Logan Kim video of the moment. It must’ve been captured by someone from the New York Eagles stadium staff, or perhaps a teammate. The star of the show is Lewis Kim in the middle, and only peeks of Logan can be seen through the open door where Lewis came ejected from.
The whole thing is maybe thirty seconds long, cut to shed the worst possible light on Logan. None of Lewis’s abusive behavior is shown on screen. Instead it’s just about the moment Logan shoves him out and Lewis crashes on his ass.
The comments are mixed. Some hardcore fans recognize that it’s unthinkable for a player from one team to invade the clubhouse of their series rival, and they’re calling for sanctions on Lewis.
But the bulk of the commenters are condemning Logan. People are calling him violent, unstable, unprofessional, and many worse things. They’re calling for his suspension, some even for a full-on ban, even though this was a private incident that didn’t happen during play.
