Freaking Harvey Price. He was right, as much as Flynn didn’t want to admit it. There was no way he could ignore this. It wasn’t going to just go away. In fact, it would probably get worse if he never acknowledged their questions. He’d always talked to the media. They liked him for the most part, and he played up his wholesome-boy image as best he could. He’d figured any sort of attention was good for his public image, right?
Not this sort of attention, though.
First thing tomorrow, he was talking to Harvey—and Aubrey—about the situation.
A world-weary sigh escaped him as he glanced in his rearview mirror, noticed three cars trailing behind him. One of them had a guy hanging out the passenger-side window, camera in hand.
Great.
Chapter Six
“Your ignore-it-and-it’ll-go-away strategy didn’t work? Is that what you’re telling me?” Harvey rested a hand against his chest, his expression aghast. Though th
e twinkle in his eyes was undeniable.
Flynn wanted to sock him in the face, and he never wanted to hit anyone. He usually got all of his aggression out on the football field. “I’m not even going to bother answering that.”
He’d come into Harvey’s office at eight o’clock on the dot, not able to sleep hardly at all last night. He’d finally given up around six and crawled out of bed, restless as he’d paced the near-empty rooms of his house. The sun wasn’t up, the sky was a gloomy, wintry gray, and he’d finally gone out for a run.
Only to be trailed by a handful of photographers asking where his new girlfriend was and why she wasn’t running with him. And if she was back at the house, hadn’t she given him a good enough workout last night…in bed?
Yeah, he’d ended that stretch of exercise real quick.
“From what I saw for myself yesterday evening, the photos of you and Aubrey made it on TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and fucking SportsCenter,” Harvey said, slowly, shaking his head. “SportsCenter. They all sat around speculating about your love life, like gossip columnists. I’ve never seen such a thing. Well, maybe when Tom was first dating Giselle and the scandal erupted, with the previous girlfriend having his baby and all, but still.”
Flynn hung his head, exhaling loudly. It was one thing to be put in the same league as Tom-freaking-Brady. It was another thing entirely to be compared to Brady because of their complicated love lives. Talk about ridiculous. “It’s gotta be a slow news day, right? I mean, this is insane.”
“I heard from Charlie Monroe myself before I even got out of bed,” Harvey continued, his voice low. “He is not pleased.”
Flynn grimaced and looked up to find Harvey glaring at him. He and Charlie got along pretty well. Flynn always believed it was because Charlie loved his wholesome good-ol’-boy image, whereas so many of the Hawks were a bunch of punk asses. “He mad at me?”
“He’s mad at the entire situation.” Harvey paused, his gaze like laser beams, searing right into Flynn’s brain. “He suggested I consider firing Aubrey, citing the no-fraternizing policy. Sordid little affairs like the one you and Aubrey must’ve indulged in disgust Monroe. We are a family organization, and he wants it to stay that way.”
Shock coursed through Flynn at the suggestion, at Harvey’s words. He’d kept away from Aubrey on purpose so no one would see them together and get suspicious. Yeah, he worked directly with her, but he wasn’t sure how he’d react around her after what had happened between them. Instead, it only had made the two of them look worse. “No. Hell no. She shouldn’t lose her job over this. Nothing happened between us.” Lies, lies, all lies, but no way would he let her get fired for this.
“I know. You already said that.” Harvey smiled, but it had “fake” written all over it. “But what’s done is done. So I have a proposal for you.”
“What is it?” Flynn asked warily.
“Let’s just cut to the chase.” Harvey leveled him with somber eyes, his expression like stone. “Don’t bother denying something happened between you and Aubrey. We know it did.”
Flynn clamped his lips shut. No words said were better than another protest.
“Aubrey’s sweet and young and a hard worker. You’re our benched Golden Boy, wholesome representative for the Hawks.” Harvey sat up straighter and pointed a finger at him. “I think you should go out with her for real. Play it up for the press, but go ahead and pursue her.”
“I thought…” Flynn’s voice drifted, his thoughts jumbled. This was the last thing he’d expected Harvey to suggest. “You just said it’s against company policy for Hawks employees to date each other.”
“It is.” Harvey nodded. “But when I was talking Monroe off the ledge, in regards to Aubrey’s future employment with the Hawks, I came up with this brilliant idea and suggested it to Charlie. He had to agree the two of you do make an adorable couple.”
Flynn grimaced. Adorable. Really? “So you’re encouraging me to go out with Aubrey,” he said slowly, wanting to make sure he really understood this. One wrong move, and he could get Aubrey fired—no way could he deal with the responsibility of that. He needed to protect her.
“I am.” Harvey smiled and rubbed his hands together. “The media seems to already love the two of you together. Don’t you think?”
Huh. Flynn supposed they did. But would Aubrey be game for this? Or was she mad at him for avoiding her? “What if Aubrey’s not interested?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Harvey said. “She’ll be interested.”
And how the hell would Harvey know? “I won’t make her go out with me.”