CHAPTER 10 Everleigh Bradley
The Aces Fam
I can feel it.
I’m starting to crack his resolve.
I’ve spent the last two weeks meeting him in the mornings and working through some of the rumors swirling about him as I try to get to know the man beneath that tough, sturdy, tall wall he’s built around himself.
We have a quick meeting before the game, and we both spot another player on the team as he walks through the lobby.
He’s probably leaving for today’s game. The Aces are playing at home today, and I’ll be there up in the stands as I watch Maverick on the sidelines.
Call time is nine for players, but since he’s not playing, he’ll get there around noon.
A short time later, I’m chatting about public perception of his image when the door opens. I freeze, but then I see it’s just Dex. I rise and give him a hug. “Knock ’em dead today, bro.”
He turns toward Maverick. “Is this media one-oh-one? Train the new guy on what not to say publicly?”
“Eh, your sister’s here to keep on top of me for things like that.” He shoots me a wink. “And, you know. Whatever else.”
I glare at Maverick. “Knock off that bullshit.” I turn to my brother. “Good luck today.”
He nods and doesn’t say another word as he leaves, and I resume where I left off. After our meeting, I head upstairs to get ready for the game as I think through this morning.
If he truly didn’t care about his reputation, he wouldn’t have flirted with me in front of my brother. It’s a macho man thing, a pissing contest. But it’s also a breakthrough, as much as he won’t admit that.
I thought about bringing up what I found in my deep dive into the man sitting across from me, but somehow asking about his marriage felt too personal. I’m supposed to be getting personal, but I’m still treading lightly.
But…yeah. That was pretty shocking, the whole marriage thing.
He was in love at some point. Probably. I guess people get married for other reasons.
Maybe it was someone else trying to rebrand him, though I can’t possibly see him agreeing to marry someone for his image.
Maybe he was someone different before. Or maybe the marriage changed him.
He's insanely private about his personal life, and that translates to all the research I did.
Jack gave me access to the owner’s suite, and I’ll observe from up there. It’s far away from the field where Maverick will be standing, but it’ll give me the same sort of perspective a fan might have.
Okay, fine—not a normal fan, obviously. Most fans don’t get to sit in the owner’s suite.
As much as I want to force Maverick to carpool with me to the stadium, I don’t.
I’m just starting to make a bit of progress, and I don’t want to hinder it by coming on too strongly too quickly.
He’s like a scared little bunny, still to all movement, eyes watching warily, careful not to let anyone get too close, or he’ll take off running.
I won’t let him run.
I mean, I can’t. If I do, I lose my job, so that’s certainly a motivating factor.
I arrive in the suite about a half hour before game time, and I’m highly impressed with everything I see here.
A buffet is spread out on two sides of the suite, and in the middle are high-top tables we can stand by to watch the game on televisions inside the suite as we eat, or we could opt for the stadium seating stacked below the suite to get the full perspective of the field.
It’s not my first time in a suite at an NFL game. I have four brothers who play, and my dad has a suite at Soldier Field for the Bears’ home games. But it is my first time in a team owner’s suite, and it’s already packed with people—none of whom I know, so I feel awkward as I walk around.
A woman with dark blonde hair approaches me, and she grins. “First timer?” When I glance over at her, she says, “Hi. I’m Ellie. I can always tell a first timer to the suite—mostly because I’m here every game.” She giggles as she sticks out a hand to shake mine.
“Everleigh,” I say. “The team hired me to—”
“Babysit Mav? I know. Who’s doing his PR, by the way?”
I laugh. Who is this woman? She must be someone important if she knows I’m babysitting Maverick.
“Terry Dornan out of Dallas. I haven’t spoken with him yet, but it’s on my list for the week,” I say.
“Yes,” she says, nodding. “Do you think he’d be amenable to hiring a local publicist?
I work with several players on this team.
Oh! I’m just realizing you must think I’m a weirdo since you probably have no clue who I am.
My husband is Luke Dalton. He used to play for the Aces, and now he does some work with the wide receivers.
We work together on agency and publicity. Jack’s my brother-in-law.”
“And I’m her sister-in-law,” a striking woman with chin-length dark hair says, holding out a hand to introduce herself. “Kate Dalton. Jack’s wife and former babysitter.”
Both Ellie and Kate giggle at their inside joke, but I recall Jack saying he hated the idea of a babysitter when he first arrived in Vegas. And now he’s married to his.
Hm.
Could that happen for Maverick and me?
I glance down at him on the field. He’s standing by himself on the sidelines.
My God, he really hates everybody. He’s staring at the field where his teammates are practicing, and it’s hard to read his expression from here, but even if I could, I wouldn’t know what it said.
He’s wearing sunglasses, so I can’t tell who he’s focusing on or where his eyes are looking, but he’s definitely studying.
At the same time, he’s cold. Expressionless.
Detached. Arms crossed as if he won’t let anyone in.
And it’s my job to find something he cares about enough outside of football to attempt to turn his image around.
It’s a huge hill to climb, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I have it in me.
So…no. The answer to whether that could happen for Maverick and me, whether he could fall in love with me as I, well, babysit him…that’s a clear, hard no.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I say.
“You’re Dex’s sister, right?” Ellie asks, and I nod. “So you have two reasons to be here. Welcome to the Aces fam. It’s a fabulous place to be.”
She seems genuinely sweet, as if she cares about the team and the players in her own right, not just because her husband is a former player, brother to the team owner, and quasi-coach.
The welcome to the fam comment feels sincere, like this truly is one big family.
And I think maybe in particular due to the fact that I’m working with the sourest of the bunch, it would bode well for me to have allies here.
Ellie and Kate seem like good nominees for that position, and maybe we can even become friends since I’ll be here for the next year at a minimum, even though I’m already itching to get back home to Chicago.
“Let me introduce you to everyone,” Ellie says, and she takes me around and does exactly that, introducing me to some familiar faces or names that could potentially become friends and allies in this town.
I meet Grayson Nash, former defensive back, and his wife, Ava.
I meet Desi Nash, whose husband, Asher, is a tight end for the Aces.
I meet Jolene Nash, whose husband is the head coach, Lincoln.
I meet the wives of players Tristan Higgins, Jaxon Bryant, and Travis Woods: Tessa, Mandy, and Victoria, respectively.
The list goes on, but the suite is filled with wives, some kids, and family members of the Vegas Aces—including my new sister-in-law, Ainsley, as she makes a semi-late entrance just before kickoff.
I sit with her in the stadium seats to watch kickoff since she’s someone I know. It’s more comfortable than sitting with strangers I’ve just met, though my instinct tells me that I won’t make friends and allies by staying in my comfort zone.
When the Aces score a field goal on their first run of the game, some players run off the field while others run onto it. I keep an eye on Maverick, but when I know it’s a pause in the action to accommodate television commercials, I excuse myself from Ainsley and head back up into the suite.
I find Ellie, and I march right up to her. “Tell me more about your PR firm,” I begin.
She chuckles. “You know, I never wanted to work with football players. My brother played, and until I met Luke, I didn’t know much about the game at all other than the fact that grass stains are impossible to get out of those short white pants.”
I laugh.
“That was thanks to my mother. I never did my brother’s laundry.”
“Who’s your brother?” I ask.
“Josh Nolan.”
“Oh, right! He played for the Bears for a long time, didn’t he?”
She nods. “He finished his career here. I actually met Luke at my brother’s wedding.
Well, his bachelor party.” She rolls her eyes.
“Long story. But I came here to start over, and Luke was my first client. I needed a job, he needed a publicist, and voila. Five years later, we have two kids and a thriving public relations firm that he chartered for me, and he added in the agency when he retired so we can tag-team our clients. It’s a perfect setup, and I asked about Mav’s representation because he should have someone local. ”
“I didn’t want to work with football players, either, but my boss was asked for his best brand strategist, and he offered me up.
I agree with you about Maverick needing someone local.
My branding background gives me a bit of insight into public relations, but he needs someone like you.
I’ll float the idea of your company to him and see what he says, though he hasn’t been overly amenable to anything I have to say,” I admit.
She huffs out a laugh. “Sounds exactly like how things started with Jack and Kate. But he came around eventually.” My cheeks turn pink at the insinuation, but if she notices, she doesn’t say a word.
“Listen, if you think it would work better for me to approach him instead of you, I’m totally open to trying. ”
“It’s probably better if you do it,” I admit.
“Is there anyone here, a coach or teammate or whoever, that you think he might get along with? Because so far, I’ve seen him rant drunkenly about my brother and, in turn, channel all his negative feelings about my sibling toward me since he’s being forced into this partnership.
So I’m just wondering if there are any allies here that could help me get into his good graces. ”
She presses her lips together as she thinks about it. “I’ll ask Luke. He’s around practice a lot and picks up on things like that. Maybe Lincoln, too. He might know.”
“Perfect.”
We both hear a roar come up from the stadium, and we turn toward that direction to see my brother running across the field with the ball in his hands.
Defensive ends don’t typically break away and run for touchdowns, and I totally missed what happened. I’m guessing it was a fumble and Dex recovered it, but either way, the crowd is going absolutely wild as he crosses the white line into the end zone.
Ellie and I both cheer, too, and I glance down at Maverick as the grin spreads across my lips.
He’s still standing there, stock-still, arms crossed over his chest, with that cold, detached expression on his face.
I think I might have even more work ahead of me than I thought.