“Yeah,” he said tightly. “For guys like you and me? It’s everything we hate about playing.”
Once he’d given some instructions to an assistant coach, we started walking toward Beatrice’s office, and I thought about what he said.
Everything we hated about playing. Great.
NOAH
“Thank you for joining me, gentleman,” she said from where she sat across a massive, gleaming desk. Her ice gray eyes landed on my face, and she smiled, a completely different kind of smile now that we were on her turf. “How’s the transition to Washington going, Noah? It can’t be easy to change teams so close to kickoff.”
The guy holding the camera in the corner had it pointed straight at my face, and the focus, solely on me, made my skin prickle.
“I’m excited to be here.” I answered like I was facing the media and not someone in-house. “And I’m excited to get to work.”
Logan sighed. “Exactly. Work. Practice. Which is where we’re supposed to be right now.”
The grumpiness was so evident that I almost cracked a smile. Only two days into my time at Washington, and I found someone with less people skills than I had.
Beatrice sliced her gaze to the camera and nodded. “A moment, please. We won’t need this. And tell Molly I’ll be ready in five.”
My jaw clenched involuntarily.
Silence cloaked the office as the camera guy stood and gave us some privacy.
“I’ll cut to the chase. Amazon is including Washington in an upcoming season of their
All or Nothing documentary, and you’re the player they’d like to highlight.”
I sat forward, eyebrows tucked in tightly over my eyes. “What? Why?”
Logan rubbed the back of his neck but didn’t say anything.
“The narrative for this season is finding and fitting in to the culture of a team. I’ve been working on this deal since the day I told Cameron and Allie they should hire me, and we just needed the right player.” Her smile softened, and it changed the hard angles of her face. “And that player is you.”
“I don’t want to have cameras on me all season.” I shook my head. “Don’t get me wrong, they do a great job. I watched the LA and the Michigan season, and they were great. But being under that spotlight is the last thing I want. I’m here to play football.”
She took a deep breath. “Let me rephrase this while it’s just the three of us in this office, okay?”
Something about the way she said it made me sit back again and breathe deeply to dismantle the brick that suddenly appeared in my stomach. Logan gave me a quick, uncomfortable glance, and I had a feeling he knew exactly what was going through my brain.
This wasn’t a negotiation. It was a courtesy.
“You are the best defensive end in the league. By the time this season wraps up, no one will be able to touch the records that you’ll break.” Her eyes were so intense, words so coldly delivered that I practically saw frost come from her mouth. Not in a mean way, but in a way that I knew, without a doubt, I’d hate whatever she was about to say next. “But all of that will be overshadowed if people think you got kicked off your team because you hit on your team captain’s drunk wife while she was unable to defend herself.”
I was out of my chair before I took another breath. “That story is bullshit, and you know it.”
Logan stood, laying a calming hand on my back. “Of course, she does. We all do.”
My heart was thrashing wildly, every iron shred of my will gone in tatters at the mere suggestion that I’d become a salacious headline. Slowly, I lowered myself back into my chair and fought with white-knuckled grip to gain control of my irritation.
“The story is bullshit,” she said calmly. “I never doubted it. The people in the front office in Miami know that, which is why there hasn’t been a single whisper about it to the media.”
“Yet you know about it.”
She smiled. “Professional courtesy from someone in their offices who I used to work for.”
“What does this have to do with the documentary, Beatrice?” Logan asked.
She watched my face carefully before answering. “One part of my job is to facilitate positive brand awareness for Washington. A documentary like this is priceless for what it allows our fans to see. Normally, they wouldn’t get access to meetings, film rooms, trips … the kinds of things that would never make it on social media. But we can give them that, and this way, we’re controlling the narrative. Yes, it’s documenting the reality of an established player coming into a new organization, but Noah, this allows you to show people the kind of man you are. Behind the helmet and pads and stats.”
My hands, loosely clasped between my thighs, tightened briefly as I dropped my head and processed what she was saying.
“The truth is, I don’t think what happened in Miami will be an issue. Not now and not in the future.”
I lifted my head. “Aren’t you supposed to be convincing me that that’s why I should be doing this?”
“Probably,” she said with a wry smile. “But I’m not trying to manipulate you. I’m simply stating the truth. You’re a compelling person, Noah. Your reputation as a machine didn’t come from thin air. But the players who matter to people are the ones who inspire devotion because they’re heroes, not just record breakers. Look at JJ Watt or Peyton Manning or Drew Brees. Yes, they’ve broken all sorts of records, but they are beloved for so much more than that. That is why we’ll remember their names and treasure their legacies long after they stop playing.”
Logan shifted in his seat. “You’re asking him to show the other side.”
“Yes,” she said. “Show your fans that even for The Machine, it’s hard to start over. It’s challenging. But you’re strong enough to overcome that challenge and find your place in an organization known for its positive culture.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I could already imagine telling my father that I was doing this, could hear the disbelief in his gruff voice.
But my father wasn’t here. I looked over at Logan. “What do you think?”
He held up his hands. “This is not my decision. Honestly, I’m not even sure why she needed me here.”
Beatrice answered that easily. “Because you’re his coach, and this will require your support when we’ve got cameras on every angle of his life.”
Logan grimaced. “That sounds awful.”
“Helpful, thank you,” I muttered.
He gave me an apologetic look.
The skin on my knuckles turned white when I tightened my fingers again. She wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t fully believe she was right either. I didn’t need to be adored for all of eternity, but I did want to be the best at what I did. I shouldn’t need something like this to prove it. Numbers proved it. Rankings proved it. Wins and losses and trophies. The respect that I earned on the field was subjective, based on who was judging me, but all the things outside of it that could be charted and reported and put into history books were cold hard facts.
But if no one remembered me, no one cared about the man behind the helmet, would the numbers matter?
Not being able to answer that question for the first time in my career made me feel like someone just tossed me into a pool of oil, slimy and thick. I couldn’t push through it no matter how hard I tried.
“I’ll do it,” I heard myself saying.
Beatrice smiled. “Excellent.” Then she looked past us to the doorway. “Perfect timing, Molly. Have a seat.”
It would’ve been comical—the way that Logan and I froze in tandem at the entrance of his sister. But it wasn’t funny … it wasn’t funny at all.
“I need you to stay in coach mode,” Beatrice said to the man next to me. The one who was sitting as rigidly as I was. “Can you do that? Because your sister assures me that your role within this organization has nothing to do with hers.”
My eyes narrowed at the way she said it, disbelief rife and heavy in the words.
Molly took a seat next to me, and I caught the slightest hint of peaches as she did.
Fine. I didn’t need to breathe by her. No problem.
“Molly got this job on her own merit,” Logan said tightly. “And I’m always in coach mode.”
Glancing quickly at Molly, she was settling in her chair, focused entirely on her boss. For a split second, her chin tilted in my direction like she knew I was looking but she refused to acknowledge me.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.