Chapter 27
A Change of View
Kodi
“Ican’t believe you stuffed all those cheese sticks in your bag.” Rosa threw her head back and laughed at me.
“It’s not that funny.” I looped my arm around hers to pull her out of the way of an oncoming reporter running to the conference room, where a couple of players were taking pregame interviews.
For better or worse, Kean wasn’t one of them.
And neither was Jimenez, which meant we could hang out before the game.
“But think about it from Kean’s point of view. His coworkers are constantly trying to play wingman and after he leaves you alone with them for two minutes, you take the food he bought and run out the door. He must’ve been so confused.”
“I didn’t run out the door,” I argue. “Besides, me leaving meant he could go. So I’m sure he was relieved.”
Though thinking back, he didn’t exactly seem at ease on the cab ride.
It felt like he was … doing his best to make things not awkward.
And he did a decent job. I couldn’t help but smile at the memory of him taking my hand to help me out and letting me swing our hands around like a kid.
It was a silly impulse, something I wouldn’t have done if I was completely sober.
But he’d gone along with it and that made me happy.
“What’re you smiling about?”
“Nothing,” I said, probably too quickly to be convincing.
“Uh-huh, I bet you went back to his room, didn’t you?” she teased and I gasped dramatically.
“I would never!” Though when I had trouble getting to sleep last night, I did jam one out to thoughts of his hands on me. I mean, how could I not? I knew what his hand felt like in mine, the warmth, the callouses, the size difference. I had to do something with all those details.
And honestly, it wasn’t the first time I’d thought of him during self care. So … shrug?
“Yeah, I don’t believe you one bit,” she said, popping the T at the end. I rolled my eyes and rested my head on her shoulder as we stepped onto the field, a good hour before the players would be out.
“Do you know anything about this hookup play the boys have going on?”
“Oh, Carmen is a little bitch when it comes to that shit. He said if there was a chance to make Kean look good in front of you, go for it. But he didn’t expand at all.
No, 'we think they’d make a cute couple' or 'we caught vibes' or Kean said something, nothing,” Rosa huffed, dropping my arm so we could shuffle into our seats.
“Seriously? Do you think it’s some kind of bro code thing?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a bro code thing. Like, he’d have told me if we were trying to help Brooker out.
But he won’t say shit that involves Carter or Kean.
So like, he only tells me what’s necessary or what folks wouldn’t mind sharing.
He’s very respectable like that and I love him and blah blah blah.
But sometimes I wish he’d dish, ya know? ”
“Mm-hmm.” I wonder what Kean would be like in that sort of situation. I couldn’t picture him being a gossip, but the idea of him spilling the beans on what everyone was saying in the locker room was fun to imagine. I bet he’d be so exasperated with everybody and complain about Brooker nonstop.
“My guess is Kean said something about liking you to get them off his back and they decided to launch a mission to get y’all together.”
“It doesn’t seem very coordinated, though.”
“Well, they’re boys. How much coordination do you expect from them?”
“Imma tell Jimenez you said that,” I said and she elbowed my side. I opened my mouth to give her more shit, but a couple of the guys started to come out and my attention split.
“First-string doesn’t come out this early,” Rosa said and when I turned back to her, she had an all-knowing smirk on.
“I just wanted to get a picture of Kean for socials.”
“Then ask the team or stadium photographers to send you one.” She waved a hand at me, clearly not buying my excuse.
“Kodi!” somebody shouted and I turned to see Lunez running up to me, Renee walking farther behind, face pinched.
“Oh, hey, Carlos,” Rosa said. “How're you doing?”
“Good, good,” he said quickly, giving Rosa a smile before turning to me. “I actually came over to ask for Kodi’s advice.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen what you’ve done for Kean’s socials and how that affected ticket sales for the Whip Snap Cup. So I wanted to run some ideas by you.”
“Oh.” I bit my bottom. I really didn’t want to help him for so many reasons. For one, his success could mean the end of my career at the Dastards. Two, his success was tied to that bitch.
But then he gave me those big, pleading brown eyes and I couldn’t tell him no.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“No.” Renee gritted her teeth, popping up behind Carlos’s shoulder. “I told you, you don’t need her help. I can give you any advice you need.”
“But Kodi has social experience,” Carlos argued.
“She’s a PA.”
“Actually,” I interrupted because I couldn’t help but correct Renee. “I do predominantly have social media management experience. Being Kean’s PA is a stepping stone for managing the team’s social media department.”
“Oh shit, that’d be so cool!” Carlos said with genuine enthusiasm. “See, Renee, she’s the exact right person to ask.”
“You’re going to manage the team’s media? After what you did?” Renee asked, face scrunching up.
“What did you do? And who is this bitch?” Rosa asked in a whisper.
“Later,” I mumbled, then said to Renee, “I’m in the running. But what I’ve done with Kean’s socials proves I’m the best fit.”
“Absolutely,” Carlos said while his agent rolled her eyes and walked away.
“But anyways, I was thinking that since it’s unlikely I’ll get on the field today, I could do crowd work.
And if enough people like what I do, Coach’ll be more likely to put me in next game.
Or at the very least if I get a lot of attention, I might get transferred to a team closer to my family. ”
“Transferred?” Rosa gasped. “That’s sacrilege to talk about, young man.”
“I know, I know.” Carlos looked down, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. “But I don’t wanna replace Kean. So it makes more sense to find a team that needs a keeper.”
“I guess that’s sweet.”
“So what’re you thinking?” I asked before Rosa gave him any more shit.
“Well, actually —”