Chapter 17
PACE – LATE SEPTEMBER
Life Size Me
“Tanner! Colton! This way. Max, over here!”
We’re being hollered at from reporters and cameramen on the red carpet for the youth charity event we’re attending. It’s a charity to get underprivileged kids into sports. The Bears support it and personally Colton, Max and I donate to it, too.
“Give us a smile, guys!”
We’re all dressed in our finery. My stylist chose a classic dark blue suit and white button down for me, and despite them being my size, the insanely polished shoes on my feet are killing me already.
“Arms around each other, guys!”
Colton is the first to leave our spotlight as soon as our allocated time is up. Standing to the side of the carpet with the event PRs is Sas, looking lovely in a floor-sweeping black dress, her hair pinned up and lips painted red.
She’s here as Colton’s significant other, rather than in her capacity as our agent’s associate, so it’s not surprising when Colton kisses her then tucks her into his side. I don’t even think they notice the cameras trained on them.
Max’s on-off girlfriend is here tonight, too. I’m not a fan of her, honestly. She knows how pretty she is – she earns a good living as a model – and uses it like a weapon to pick up and drop Max whenever it suits her. But they beam at each other now as they walk inside.
I trail behind the four of them like a gooseberry as we make our way into the drinks reception of the venue.
Hundreds of finely clad guests fill the space where there’s a pianist playing and canapés are being served from trays.
All around the room are signed life-size cutouts of…
me. Well, me, Max, Colton and some of the other Bears.
We’re split off in a thousand directions by people wanting to chat and have photographs with us, asking us to sign things “for their kids”.
Usually, I lap it up, the attention suits my extroversion, but tonight, I feel flat.
It’s a relief to sit down at our table ahead of dinner service and be wedged between my guys, Sas and some of the Bears staff.
As we wait for the charity reps to make a welcome speech, I have a chance to ask Colton, “How’s Annie holding up?”
“I’d tell you if she was speaking to me.” He shakes his head as he drinks from a glass of water.
“You blew up, huh?”
His mouth twists. “I don’t get why she met him and why she didn’t tell me she was going to. I could have told her that a public meet at a fucking airport wouldn’t go well.”
“Playing devil’s advocate, though, man, maybe she didn’t tell you because she knew how you’d react.”
“One hundred percent. I’d have been right, though. Look how it ended. Auston’s a fucking idiot and now Annie and Nelson are back under public scrutiny.”
“I’m not saying you’re wrong, Quinn, but this is something Annie’s got to take control of. It’s her life. Hers and Nelson’s. I don’t know what the right answer is and I’m a step removed. Her head must be all over the place. She’ll be hating that the whole thing’s gone viral.”
Sas leaves a conversation with the Bears’ Director of Communications and leans around Colton to tell me, “The agency has assigned a new PR exec to it. She’s done some work for my brother and she’s great. She’s doing what she can to quiet the noise around it.”
“Jax’s PR exec?” I scoff. “She must be good if she can keep your brother’s playboy lifestyle in check.”
“Right?” Sas agrees, finally making my lips curve up. “Colton’s got a security guy at the ranch, too, as of today.”
“Have the media been to the ranch?” I ask, my chest automatically puffing up like a silverback.
“Paps. Only one,” Colton says.
“One’s too many,” I tell him.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Alright, guys, let’s not bicker among ourselves here,” Sas says, giving us an exaggerated toothy grin as a reminder of why we’re here tonight.
“I’m not picking a fight, I’m just saying it’s a ranch,” I add. “One guy isn’t going to stop preying eyes on that amount of land, and what about when she goes to college?”
Colton widens his eyes at me in a way that reminds me of his sister. “She’s going to have to lay low for a few days, Pace.”
“Lay low? Hide with a ten-month-old kid? Stay indoors? She’ll hate that.”
“I know. All of this is exactly why I’m pissed. She’s got no experience or protection from all the attention. She doesn’t have a bubble around her like we do. I’m not angry with her, it’s the situation I can’t stand, but she’s exacerbated it.”
“Unintentionally,” I point out.
“Regardless,” he gripes. “How am I supposed to protect her if she doesn’t tell me what she’s doing?”
“Alright, you two, enough. Smile and applaud,” Sas says, doing as much herself when the charity’s Chair takes to the stage.
While she’s making a welcome speech, I take out my phone beneath the table.
Me
How’re you doing, Annie Quinn?
Given the time, she might be putting Nelson down, so I tuck my phone into my jacket pocket but it buzzes almost instantly.
Annie Sunshine
Why, I’m positively peachy, Tanner Pace.
My chest literally aches for her.
Me
As a cobbler?
Annie Sunshine
Something like that.
Are you with Colton? How pissed is he?
I consider the set jaw of my buddy as he pretends to focus on the stage.
Me
He’s concerned, not pissed.
Annie Sunshine
I messed up.
Me
Auston fucked up, not you.
It takes so long for her to reply that I check my phone three times before she sends…
Annie Sunshine
Have a fun night.
But I don’t. I can’t. Not knowing she’s stuck at home like a caged animal, hiding because Auston is incapable of handling himself like a fucking man. Because he’s an idiot who wants to duck his responsibilities.
I swear when we play the Archers in three weeks’ time, our defense better fucking punish him.
More than that, I wish Annie was here, so I could make her laugh, get her out of the house for a night to enjoy herself.
I don’t even have time to pay her a visit to check in with her because tomorrow morning the Bears are flying to Brazil for one of our international games against the Las Vegas Chargers.
But I think about her all night, even as I’m superficially smiling and joking with guests, when I’m on stage auctioning off my own cardboard cutout and signed Bears’ jersey.
That’s how I get an idea to make Annie smile, as soon as I’m back from South America.
“Hey, Tamara,” I say, leaning into our head of socials after she’s taken more videos of me and the guys for reels, “are all these cutouts being auctioned or can I keep some?”
She raises one brow. “I won’t even ask why but yes, there’ll be spares.”
“Could you send them to my place?”
“Tanner, what are you up to?”
I shrug, smirking. “Can you?”
“I guess so.”
“You’re one in a million,” I tell her, watching her roll her eyes. She loves the showiest ponies among the Bears boys and I am numero uno.