Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
HENRY
DID YOU SERIOUSLY ROMANCE-BOOK-FAKE-DATE ME?
I didn’t think either of us got one lick of sleep last night.
We talked…a lot. We weighed every possible scenario, played out the worst-case outcomes like a bad movie on repeat. But no matter how we tried to slice it, we always came back to the same conclusion.
We needed to come clean.
There was no other way around it. Logically speaking, my father didn’t have hard evidence.
All he saw was a single piece of paper with our signatures and a few vague rules.
So what? It wasn’t like the media had access to it.
Not unless someone handed it to them, and after the big scare we had, even though I refused to throw it away, because it will always carry the reminder of how we started, I made sure to put it in a safe place.
“Are you sure about this?” It was the first question she asked when I opened the passenger door and helped her out of the truck. We were parked in the employees’ parking lot at HQ, ready to face the music.
I nodded. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“We’re both idiots for thinking this wasn’t going to blow in our faces,” she muttered.
I squeezed her hand and brought it to my lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. “I don’t regret it one bit. It led me to you.”
Her eyes softened for a moment, but she let out a low laugh. “You have to accept it was kind of crazy, though.”
“You can blame the guys for that,” I quipped.
She patted my arm playfully. “Stop trying to pin your crazy ideas on them!”
“It’s the truth.” I chuckled. “When I proposed the idea to you, all I wanted to do was help. But…” My cheeks heated. I couldn’t believe I was confessing something so stupid. Like we were in goddamn high school.
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, giving me the silent go-ahead to continue.
“Donovan may or may not have asked Aurora for advice since she loves to read romance books, and they may or may not have come up with the idea for me to take you to all these fake dates and spend time with you so you could see the real me or whatever,” I mumbled.
Saying it too loud felt ridiculous and pathetic.
She gaped at me. “Did you seriously romance-book-fake-date me? Like—like I’m the unsuspecting heroine and you’re the broody love interest with a secret plan to win me over?”
I scratched the back of my neck, trying not to laugh. “I mean…when you put it like that, it sounds worse.”
“Oh my God,” she said, half laughing, half horrified. “And the whole team?”
“Hayes was the master planner,” I muttered under my breath. “There was a group chat.”
Her mouth dropped open again. “A group chat?!” she groaned into her hands. “I cannot believe I fell for something so cliché.”
“But a good one, right?” I wiggled my brows. “Slow burn, fake dating, forced proximity—”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you a reader now or what?”
I scrubbed my face, where some stubble was already growing. “I didn’t read any books, but I could probably get into it. Sounds fun as fuck. I could learn a thing or two, make things interesting.” I wiggled my eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes without a word. I dropped a kiss on her cheek with a laugh, and she pushed me playfully as we strode into the building.
Once we were right outside the conference room, I stopped and gently tugged Kennedy back toward me. Sometimes things could be fun and games, but now, everything was on the line. We didn’t know what was going to happen. There was so much up in the air; the uncertainty of it all was terrifying.
“Whatever happens in there,” I said, brushing her hair behind her ear, “we face it together. Okay?”
She smiled, just barely, with a silent nod.
I took a deep breath then knocked twice before opening the door.
Anthony was already inside, seated at the head of the small conference table. Coach Sloane was sitting to his right, arms crossed over his chest, with his face serious as always.
“Morning,” Anthony said as we stepped inside. “You said you needed to talk to us?”
I nodded, motioning for Kennedy to sit before I did. My palms were already sweating. “There’s something we need to be upfront about before someone else has a chance to twist the narrative.”
I caught Kennedy’s eye. She gave me the tiniest nod.
Anthony and Coach stared at us expectantly.
Here goes nothing.
“The relationship between us…didn’t start as a real one,” I admitted, my face cringing.
The words felt heavy against my mouth. I was struggling.
“When the whole article dropped, the pictures were taken out of context, but the PR backlash Kennedy was going to receive wasn’t fair when it wasn’t even her fault.
We both did what we thought was best at the time for both of us. ”
Kennedy gripped my hand in reassurance as we both held our heads high. There it was. We laid everything on the table. There were no takebacks. Just pure honesty.
Coach leaned back slowly, tilting his head with that unreadable expression that always made me sweat during lineup reviews. Anthony just stared with a blank expression. Both were completely silent.
My stomach was in knots. I could practically hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Fuck. This was the part where everything came crashing down, wasn’t it?
This was it for us. As soon as the playoffs were over, I was going to be dropped. And good luck to me finding another team. Who the hell would want a player dumb enough to fake a relationship and risk PR hell?
And Kennedy? She’d lose everything. Her job, her reputation. It was unfair. She didn’t deserve that.
Panic clawed its way up my throat. I actually thought I was going to throw up right in the middle of the conference room table.
After a long, agonizing beat, Coach glanced at Anthony, then back at us, and chuckled. The man who barely laughed actually chuckled. This was worse than I ever imagined.
Anthony let out a long sigh. “Yeah, we were wondering when you were going to come clean.”
Kennedy and I blinked. “What?” we said in unison.
“Come on,” Coach said, gesturing between us.
“You two weren’t exactly subtle.” He looked at Anthony.
“Remember when they met with us? Kennedy practically jumped out of her skin when Anderson kissed her hand.” He shook his head.
“And when we grilled Anderson with questions, he jumped to her defense.” Coach’s eyes settled on me.
“That’s when I knew that even though it was obvious you got together to put the rumors to rest, it was going to become real at some point. ”
Anthony nodded then added, “We’ve been watching this little soap opera unfold for months. Quite entertaining.”
“I’m surprised he made a move so quickly. He’s been pining for Kennedy for so long,” Coach said. “I thought for sure he wasn’t going to do anything until at least next season.”
Anthony clicked his tongue. “Nah, I was rooting for him since the beginning.”
Unbelievable.
I gaped at them. “Why are you both talking like I’m not in the room?”
Kennedy chuckled but didn’t say a word.
They both laughed, which made my shoulders relax and share a laugh with them, too.
“But why now?” Coach asked, his tone turning serious underneath the amusement. “What made you decide to finally tell us the truth?”
I swallowed hard. This part was harder to explain.
“My father,” I said. “He’s a difficult man, to say the least. He showed up at our place and threatened her. Told her to break up with me or he’d tank her career—and mine.”
Anthony scoffed. “Wow.”
“He found out about our past arrangement and tried to use it against us,” I continued. “Tried to pit us against each other. I just didn’t want to keep secrets from you guys, not when it could blow back on the organization. I’m sorry.”
“And just so we’re clear, this isn’t fake anymore,” Kennedy added. “But we both know this was unprofessional and risky. As a PR professional, I should have known better, and for that, I am sorry. We’re willing to accept any punishment you all see fit.”
Anthony was quiet for a second before leaning forward, resting his arms on the table. “Let me make something very clear. Even if your father brought this to our attention, it wouldn’t change a damn thing. You two are part of this organization. You’re practically family.”
Coach nodded. “Do we like the way you both went about it? No. It could’ve exploded in all our faces if the media ever sniffed it out.”
“And even though I’m sure coming forward was scary, you guys did the right thing, even if it meant risking it all. That counts for something,” Anthony said.
“You’re not getting benched,” Coach added.
It was like he was reading my mind, because that was the one question I had on the tip of my tongue.
“The focus will stay on your performance, Anderson. You’ve earned that.
We can all accept that you had a rocky time in the beginning, but you earned your spot back fair and square. The relationship had no play in it.”
Anthony nodded and leaned back in his chair. “We’ll spin this the way we need to if it ever comes to it.”
Relief swelled in my chest so fast it made me dizzy.
“Thank you,” Kennedy said beside me, her voice trembling slightly.
Anthony smiled faintly. “Don’t thank me yet. We still have to get ahead of this. Brad will probably want to draft a statement just in case.”
Coach shook his head. “I played with Vincent for years. He’s a prideful man, and his reputation is important to him. I don’t think he’ll go to the media with this information. Especially since he has no evidence, right?”
We both nodded as I replied, “Right.”
I suspected as much. My father wasn’t going to taint the Anderson reputation. He wasn’t that stupid. But Kennedy was still fair game.
“He will try to come after Kennedy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s meeting with Marcus as we speak,” Anthony murmured.
His comment didn’t shock me. Marcus—Thunder’s team owner—and my father go way back. And that…was not good news.
“What does that mean for me?” Kennedy asked. “And don’t sugarcoat it. If I need to step down from my job and this organization, I will. I care about this place so much, and I don’t want to see it damaged because of all of this.”
Anthony held Kennedy’s stare for a few beats. “Your work for this team hasn’t gone unnoticed. I hope you know that.”
“With all due respect, Anthony, that doesn’t answer my question,” Kennedy said. Her voice was steady, but the grip she had on my hand was vise-like. I was so damn proud of her. She was so strong, even when everything felt like it was hanging by a thread.
Anthony leaned back slightly, lips tugging into a faint smirk.
“This is what I like about you. Always so honest. So direct.” He let out a short breath.
“Brad’s going to be pissed I ruined the surprise, but…
he already submitted the name of the person he’s recommending to take over the PR department when he retires. ”
Kennedy’s eyes bulged, her lips parting like she wasn’t sure if she had misheard him.
“It’s you, Kennedy,” Anthony said, his tone gentle now. “Brad said you were the only one with the grit, heart, and vision to lead that department the way it deserves.”
I watched her eyes widen, watched her try to process it all. Damn, I was so goddamn proud of her. I could only imagine how overwhelmed she must have felt.
Kennedy blinked, stunned silent for a moment. “But…even after everything? Maybe you should think about it—”
Anthony cut her off with a shake of his head. “You’ve built something here, and we want to see what you do next. The last thing we would do is punish you for falling in love.”
Her eyes welled, but she held it together with a single, shaky breath. “I didn’t expect this.”
Anthony’s smile was soft. Kind. “And he also wanted to be the one to tell you that after launching an internal investigation into Matt Smith, some things came to light. He was officially terminated this morning.”
“So fast?” she asked. “I only brought up my concerns less than two weeks ago.”
“You’d be surprised how many people came forward and made this investigation a slam dunk. And while I cannot go into details since it’s sensitive information, on behalf of the management team, I want to say I’m sorry for not noticing what was happening.”
Kennedy took a deep, shaky breath. “Thank you.”
Anthony nodded without a word.
“So, what do we do now about our situation?” I asked.
Anthony sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “We stay ahead of your father. I will meet with Marcus and talk to him. We won’t let anything happen. This team stands by its people.”
Coach nodded. “And you’re one of us, Kennedy. You both are. Always have been. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”