Page 11 of Playing for Keeps
Justin covered his eyes with a hand. Of all thethings he could have guessed, this wasn’t it. “He did what?”
“Focus, man! You got over a million views from stuffing your face with the cliche cop stereotype.”
Good grief. Justin had severed his civil relationship with four a.m. months ago, and shaking off the fog of sleep was taking too long. “Send it to me.”
Justin’s phone dinged, and he pulled it away from his face. Opening the message from Nick, he scanned the post—one linked to Justin’s social media account that his PR team managed.
One point seven million views. The post was time-stamped twelve hours before. Justin read the words, glanced at the video, and read the words again. “This guy needs a date to cuddle this Christmas!” Justin shouted. So much for waking up slowly. His heart was about to race right out of his chest.
“It’s pretty clever. I’ll give him that,” Nick said, less outraged than Justin was experiencing.
“Can you make it go away?” he asked. “It’s still new. You can take it down, right?”
Nick made a tsk noise behind his teeth. “I’m afraid this one has morphed. It has over fifty thousand shares.”
Justin sucked in a quick breath and choked. Bending at the waist, he coughed past the attack on his throat. “How many?”
“Fifty thousand. Oh, look. It has three hundredthousand more views now than it had an hour ago when I woke up to the Google alert.”
Justin sat back down on the bed and focused on calming his breathing. Caroline would know he was in town. Well, she’d know soon. She was probably still sleeping.
This wasn’t the way he wanted her to find out. He’d been trying to work up the guts to approach her since he came home. Now, she would think he was looking for a Christmas fling.
Garrett was going to get an earful. Justin hadn’t exactly filled him in on his past here and the desire for anonymity. That part was on him.
But looking for a date to cuddle this Christmas?It had Garrett written all over it.
“There’s no way you can stop it?” Justin asked.
“I can, but it would be messy.”
“What is it you’re not telling me?”
“Well, I guarantee your visibility will skyrocket after this. I could get you a donut commercial deal.”
Justin groaned. “Be serious, please.”
Nick knew how to spin publicity into whatever leverage he needed. He was the reason Justin could disappear from the athletic world and still make more passive income in a year than most people made in their entire lives.
“I’m kidding. What about a charity fundraiser?”
Justin dropped the hand from his eyes. “What does that have to do with donuts and dates?”
“Win a date with Justin Mckinnon. A sweepstakes. Those are still popular, but not quite as powerful as they were in the early nineties.”
Justin shook his head, rattling his brain inside his skull. “You want to auction me off for a date?”
“Not an auction. People make a donation to a charity of your choice to enter, and one lucky entry wins an evening of your time. A Christmas date in your picturesque hometown of Redemption Ridge.”
“No, no. I’m not?—”
“Before you say no, think about it. You could bring in a ton of donations. What about a food bank or a safe house? We’ve partnered with those before.”
Because they were the two causes that hit close to home for Justin. Growing up with an abusive dad left plenty of invisible scars.
“I can’t. I—” Justin flopped back on his bed. “Nick, have I ever mentioned that I’m in love, and I’m pretty sure she hates me?”
“Well, there’s a bit of news,” Nick said.
