“I like to make things easy for you,” Carter says then adopts a too big grin.
Maddox waggles his phone, showing us his Instagram feed. “Nice shot.”
“You saw that already?” I ask, kind of amazed.
“You posted it twenty minutes ago,” Maddox points out.
“Exactly.”
Carter shoots me a knowing look. “Our agent tracks us online. We can’t get away with anything.” Then to Maddox, he says, “Just kidding. We don’t want to get away with anything.”
“Good. I like that. Keep being upstanding gentleman and I’ll keep inking new deals for you both,” he says, then updates me on one of my sponsors before he shifts his attention to my friend. “Speaking of your partnerships, Date Night is quite sweet on you.”
I kick back as Maddox updates my buddy on his partnership with a dating app.
When they’re done, Carter says to me in all earnestness, “Drew, when you’re ready again, this app is the real deal. For anything. It’s all about real romance, real connections—either friendship or love. If you want to meet someone to play ping-pong with, you can. Or to yada yada yada.”
“You mean have abeachside-shave-likeexperience,” I say in a smoky tone.
Carter cracks up. “You know it.”
Maddox turns to me, genuine concern in his dark eyes. “I take it the second date with the woman from last weekend didn’t go well.”
Carter holds up his hand, like he’s going to hold my beer. “I got this, Drew.” Then to Maddox, he says, “Turns out she works for the Mercenaries.”
My agent winces. “Forbidden love is a tough one,” he says, sounding wistful.
Carter tilts his head. “You got a forbidden love story in your past?”
Maddox shakes his head.
“Or did you meet a new dude who’s all hot and off-limits?” Carter pushes.
Maddox just dips his head but smiles slyly. “You’re not getting any of that out of me.”
He’s notoriously private about his love life. But a man’s choice is a man’s choice.
Mine is no dating for now.
My other choice is to send the barber shop pic to Brooke. Once I reach my condo in Santa Monica, I sink onto my couch overlooking the ocean, and I fire it off to her.
Drew:Venice Beach officially has everything now. Sidenote: how cool are we?
Brooke:The coolest. Also,nice shot. You look good.
Good thing I have to get to the field for practice. Otherwise I’d spend the rest of the day texting her.
Wait. Shit. Is this definitely her now?
Drew:Hold on. How do I know this is you?
Brooke:This pic makes my Surf Angel chest flutter.
Drew:Excellent. Let me do another test. Another word for car.
Brooke:You want a McLaren.
Drew:Boat.