Chapter 12
RIGBY
The only thing better than the high from winning a game, especially at home, was watching Cleo fall apart in my arms.
The atmosphere in the locker room was rowdy and victorious. I was even drawn into it and exchanged a few congratulatory words with my teammates.
When things died down, I undressed and hit the showers, in a rush to get ready because I was anxious to collect my girl and get back to my apartment, where we could celebrate alone.
As I grabbed my phone, I saw a news alert and my mood darkened.
After the last misunderstanding, I’d set a crawler for any articles mentioning Cleo’s name with mine, or Gustavo’s.
I wasn't about to let the world interfere in our relationship again.
So when I scanned the headlines, rage ignited inside me and I gripped my phone so hard I was surprised it didn’t break.
Gustavo’s mystery date revealed when caught cheating!
Will Rigby and Gustavo come to blows over being the other man?
Gustavo’s mystery woman caught cheating! Will he let Rigby steal her from him?
Cheating triangle! Who knew about who?
I quickly skimmed a couple of the articles to get the gist of things. Most of them showed a picture of me kissing Cleo at seven this morning when I put her in a black cab.
Son of a bitch.
The articles portrayed Cleo as a social-climbing bitch who cheated on her movie star boyfriend with me.
I was pissed as fuck, but I was also worried about my girl.
Cleo was bound to be devastated at being accused of something like that.
And knowing how this could affect my career if my coach and team owner didn’t know me so well, I was concerned about what this scandal might do to Cleo’s future.
There was a reason overdramatic and judgy people were called drama queens.
On a split-second decision, I stomped out of the locker room and made my way directly to the exit where I knew the press would be camped out. The crowd would be larger than usual since we’d just won, which was fine with me.
However, before I could open the door, a firm hand landed on my arm, and I whipped around to see Ames watching me with his brow furrowed.
“Are you sure you want to go out there right now?” he asked quietly. “I’ve never seen you talk to the press unless you have to, and I’ve never seen you this furious. Seems like that might be a bad combination.”
I balled my hands into fists at my sides to keep from snatching his hand off my arm and shoving him backward.
Instead, I clenched my teeth and gritted out, “Are you telling me not to go out there and defend my woman? Or to claim her as mine once and for all so people stop painting her as a money-hungry whore? When I know damn fucking well that it’s all bullshit?
Should I just let the press make a villain out of the most beautiful, sweet, and honest person I know? ”
Ames’s eyes widened, and he shook his head as he took a step back. Then he walked to the door and opened it, gesturing for me to walk through and gave me a nod of solidarity. “Do what you gotta do, man. We’ll all back you up if shit goes sideways.”
As I stepped out into the open, I was momentarily blinded by the flashing lights and bombarded by a cacophony of questions.
It was hard to single out any one query, but as I tried to get my bearings, I realized they weren’t all directed at me.
Glancing behind me, I saw that several of my teammates had followed me out.
At first, I thought they’d come to ensure I kept my cool, but they stood with their legs wide apart and arms crossed over their chests, with frightening expressions on their faces.
Just like they did on the field, my mates were there to back me up. The shouting subsided when the press didn’t receive answers out of any of us. Finally, I took a few steps forward and waited while they stared at me in disbelief, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Then the crowd exploded.
“How do you feel about being the other man?”
“Did you know Cleo was cheating with you?”
“How could you be with a cheater?”
“Have you talked to Gustavo about stealing his woman?”
“Will you stay with Cleo after stealing her from Gustavo?”
And on and on until I held up my hand, causing them to go silent once more.
“I’ve got one thing to say about this, so listen up because it’s the last I’m going to talk about it. I will not be answering any further questions. And no, Cleo will not be available for comment. Ever.”
Microphones stretched out in my direction, and a few more flashes of cameras went off. But no one spoke as they waited for me to continue.
“Cleo never cheated. On Gustavo or anyone else. She was never with him in the first place. As usual, the media twisted what they saw into a bullshit story, and I refuse to let you drag my girl through the mud. We didn’t set the record straight earlier because it was none of your damn business.
The only reason I’m talking to you now is because Cleo deserves better than your baseless accusations.
She is everything that is good, honest, and beautiful in this world.
So let me be clear one last time. There was no change of possession, she's always been mine.”
They barely waited a breath before hurling more questions at me. I rolled my eyes before spinning on my heel and stomping back to my teammates, who still looked ready to commit murder should I give the word.
I raised my chin at them in gratitude, and they parted to let me walk through the door before filing in after me.
“Never thought I’d see the day,” drawled Brady—a second string quarterback I’d known since his rookie season.
“Love does crazy things to a man,” Prentice remarked with a chuckle. “Just wait until it's your turn.”
Brady scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
I shook my head as I walked away. After a few steps, I tossed over my shoulder, “Famous last words.”
Several of the players chuckled, but I didn’t wait around to see Brady’s reaction.
I had one thing on my mind, and that was getting to Cleo.
I wanted to make sure she was all right.
She was in a study session for an upcoming test for most of my game, so I didn’t know if she’d seen the article or my impromptu press conference.
Cleo didn’t answer when I called, so once I was in my truck and headed toward campus, I dialed my agent and asked him to get me in touch with Gustavo’s rep.
Less than five minutes later, my phone rang with an unknown number. I wouldn’t normally answer, but I assumed Gustavo’s publicist was calling me directly. To my surprise, when I answered, it was Gustavo on the line.
“Me desculpa, Rigby,” he immediately apologized.
“It’s not your fault,” I grunted. Although it would have been convenient for my rage if he’d been to blame.
“Merda. I tried to quash the rumors after the first article, but it seems I made the mistake of underestimating Beatriz. She is…Ela é a rainha do drama…a drama queen? I didn’t speak to her after the article about me and Cleo came out.
But the second my agent saw the news today, she was on top of things.
It took very little time to discover that Beatriz was the source behind the story.
She found out who Cleo was and paid someone to follow her until they found something she could use against me.
I’ve already scheduled a press conference to clear things up from my end, and I doubt Beatriz will be trusted by the press in the future. ”
I was impressed by Gustavo’s integrity and swift action—which irritated me because I really wanted to hate the guy. “Thank you. I appreciate that you got out in front of this.”
Gustavo chuckled. “I can’t say that my motives were entirely altruísta. No man wants to be seen as a chifrudo…I think you would use the word, cuckold? Stories of being cheated on by my girlfriend won’t help my image.”
Amused, I muttered, “Anything I can do to help your image?”
“Perhaps if Cleo has a sister…”
He trailed off, then laughed when I growled, “Anything but letting you anywhere near my woman.”
“I figured as much. Tchau.”
“Tchau.”
I was close to Cleo’s campus when we hung up, so I focused on finding a parking spot near her dorm, figuring it was the best place to start looking for her.