“You know … about us?”
“Yeah. I know. Confronted Noah about it and told him to stop. He said he would, but I’ve also known the guy for eight years, so I knew he was lying. What happened? He break your heart and now you want to move? New York’s a big city. You won’t have to see him.”
“No one’s breaking anyone’s heart.” Not yet at least.
“Then I’m going to need a bigger explanation as to why you’d turn down a contract that’s more than you’re worth. No offense.”
I take a large gulp of my scotch and finish it off. “You guys didn’t wonder why a last-minute bid came in for the PR nightmare? If something’s too good to be true, it is.” I get the waitress’s attention and point to my empty glass.
Damon shoves my salad closer to me. “Eat something so you don’t get hammered on an empty stomach. Look, you need to tell me what’s going on. As you’re my client, I promise not to say anything to Noah or Maddox or anyone you don’t want me to.”
I sigh into my empty glass. “Rick Douglas is good friends with Noah’s dad. Although, considering he was blackmailed into giving me a contract, I think friend is a pretty loose term.”
Damon blinks at me as the words tick over in his head.
“The terms of the agreement are I get the NFL back, and his son stops dating Matt Jackson and steps out of the spotlight.”
Damon loosens his tie, and as the waitress approaches with my drink, he takes it out of her hand and chugs it. “Gonna need another one.” He winces at the burn. “No, make it two.”
“Either contract, I’m screwed,” I say once the waitress is out of earshot once again.
“Noah said you guys were temporary anyway, so what would it matter?”
“I don’t care how temporary Noah and I are. I’m not doing that to him. Even without the bribe in play—if this were a real contract—I’ll be scrambling for field time. That’s even if I make it past training camp. The payoff isn’t the only deal breaker here.”
“You could go to the league about the bribe.”
“Fuck that. I’m already in the media enough. I don’t want to add blackmailing scandal to the list.”
He purses his lips. “You should tell Noah about his father.”
I shake my head. “Not gonna hurt him like that. There’s no point. I’m not taking the deal.”
Damon’s fingers drum on the tablecloth as he eyes me. “You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?” I ask in exasperation.
“Did you ever wonder why Noah went to Newport instead of an Ivy League? He could’ve bought his way into anywhere—not to mention his entire family are Harvard alums—so why go to Newport? We couldn’t work it out. I remembered seeing Noah freshman year. I mean, he’s Noah. You can’t not walk past him and ignore the fact he’s insanely hot and moves like he owns everything. He was always with this other guy. We suspected they were together, but they were never blatantly obvious.”
“Where’re you going with this?” I know exactly where he’s going with this, but Noah claims his friends don’t know.
“Sophomore year, Noah comes back to school alone. Joins all the LGBTQ unions and starts sleeping around. When we became actual friends, I asked him what happened to the guy he always hung around with freshman year, and he shut down on me. He’d only tell us that he moved schools. We all figured that guy’s the reason Noah is … well, Noah-ish. We came up with theories. We’ve all met Noah’s dad, and we’ve all heard Noah complain about him. Doesn’t take a genius to work out a payoff was involved.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I try to keep my voice even.
Damon smiles. “You’re a horrible liar, and I take back what I said to Noah a few weeks back. The fact you want to protect him means you have my blessing. Not as your agent, but as his friend. If you want to be with him for real, you should tell him. As your agent, I have to tell you to take the New York deal, because that’s what my bosses will want you to do, but as your friend, I’m telling you I’ll do whatever you want me to.”
“Telling Noah will only make him feel guilty when he has to break up with me like he did with Aron. He didn’t mean to hurt Aron, but y’all made him feel terrible about it. I won’t put that on him. It’s my own fault. I broke our deal.”
“Maybe he’s broken your deal.”
I scoff. “Not likely. Like you say, he’s Noah.”
“He never told any of us the real story of what happened with his boyfriend in college. Not even Aron.”
“He wouldn’t have told me either had I not overheard it between him and his dad.”