My Ex's Football Rival Wants Me
Russell James called me plain. He said I didn't have what it took to drive a man crazy, then crawled back into bed with the supermodel he'd been hiding from me. I found out the hard way, with my own eyes and what little dignity I had left. By then, he'd already signed his professional football contract, become a rising star, and decided I was no longer in his league.
A year later, my life is falling apart. My mother's surgery is unaffordable. My younger brother's hockey dreams are slipping away. My final semester fees are overdue.
Then my half-sister offers me a deal.
Seduce a powerful fashion executive at an elite Madrid nightclub and help secure her place in Europe's most prestigious fashion show. In return, my family's problems disappear.
I say yes.
I spend the night with the man she described.
By morning, I discover I've slept with the wrong man.
"Connor?" he repeats, amused. "My name's Andre."
Andre Fernandez.
Real Numancia de Madrid's golden boy. Europe's most sought-after footballer. Forty-eight million followers. A €150 million market value.
And the biggest rival of the ex-boyfriend who shattered my heart.
Before I can process what happened, Andre finds me. He clears my family's debts and makes one impossible demand:
"Be my girlfriend."
I say no.
Andre Fernandez clearly isn't used to hearing that word.
When paparazzi catch us kissing at a high-profile party, the internet explodes. To save Andre's reputation, his PR team pushes us into a fake relationship complete with staged appearances, rehearsed interviews, and public displays of affection.
None of it is supposed to be real.
Except the longer we pretend, the harder it becomes to remember where the performance ends.
Russell sees the photographs and is annoyed at his rival's proximity to me.
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Chapter: 27: The Name Across my BackCarmen's POVI had been to football matches before, mainly when Russell and I used to date and I was already familiar with the some stadiums that were half full and you could hear individual voices from the pitch, but walking toward Real Numancia's stadium for the first time was something I had not prepared for. The building was enormous and I could see that the photographs had really failed to communicate its size. There was white concrete rising above the surrounding streets, and even an hour before kickoff, the crowd moving toward the entrances was loud enough that I had to raise my voice to thank the driver who dropped us off.Sofia had collected me from my apartment at noon, which gave us four hours before the match and, according to her, just enough time to get me through the family accreditation process without either of us losing our minds.She had not been wrong about that part.The first camera found me before I found my seat, which I say because I need the record to show th
Last Updated: 2026-07-24
Chapter: 26: Russell's BetrayalCarmen's POVAs the evening progressed the conversation shifted into something else. Andre had finished explaining Numancia's new pressing trigger several minutes earlier but we were still at the kitchen island with our empty plates between us and my coffee cooling near my elbow. He had drawn a rough pitch on the back of a delivery receipt, using salt and pepper shakers for the centre-backs and two bottle caps for the opposing midfielders."If their left centre-back receives with his body closed," he said, moving the pepper shaker toward the edge of the paper, "I go immediately. Diego blocks the pass inside, our striker cuts off the goalkeeper, and the touchline becomes another defender.""Unless their fullback drops before the ball arrives."Andre looked up.I reached over and moved one of the bottle caps closer to the pepper shaker. "Then you press too early, the centre-back plays around you, and their fullback has space to carry it."He studied the new arrangement without speaking.
Last Updated: 2026-07-21
Chapter: Chapter 25: What She Won't SayCarmen's POV"You haven't been to the apartment in nine days." Andre said to me over the phone. I was standing in my kitchen, trying to decide whether reheated pasta counted as dinner or a cry for help."I've had coursework.""You've had coursework for nine days straight.""It's a demanding programme, Andre.""Carmen."I paused and took a deep breath. He already knew I was lying and wasn't going to waste breath calling me on it directly.The truth was uglier than coursework and I had no intention of saying it out loud to him or to myself if I could avoid it. The truth was that every time I thought about walking into that apartment, sitting across from him at that kitchen island, existing in a space designed specifically for the two of us to learn each other's habits, my whole body went on high alert and it really was a complicated scenario.“I will come to the apartment when I am free, it’s really nothing”He didn’t say anything again until I hung up, not fully resolving anything, whi
Last Updated: 2026-07-02
Chapter: Chapter 24: Not Made to be a WAGCarmen's POVAbout four hours after Andre dropped me home, still riding the strange high of an afternoon that had felt more real than it had any right to, I heard a knock on my door and opened it without checking who it was, which was how Mirabel ended up pushing her way into my apartment before I had a chance to stop her."My half sister seems to have secured herself a wealthy man," she said, walking past me into the living room like she paid rent there, "and has been enjoying her little internet moment for a while now. Too bad you don't actually have what it takes for this kind of thing.""That's such a beautiful way to start a conversation in someone's home," I said, closing the door because there was no version of this where letting her leave immediately was going to happen."Carmen, how did you even bag Andre Fernandez?" She turned to face me, arms crossed, her expression somewhere between disbelief and outrage, like my existence in this situation was a personal insult to her. "D
Last Updated: 2026-07-02
Chapter: Chapter 23: Two Young People in LoveCarmen's POVVictor’s statement about the paparazzi photos were out on a Thursday morning. He had granted an interview with one of the media personnel and spoke about it so lightly that I would have easily believed myself if I didn’t have an idea of this whole drama. He'd called me the evening before to talk through the wording, treating me like an actual stakeholder in the decision rather than someone he was managing around, which I appreciated even though I suspected it was strategic on his part too."We want the tone light," he'd explained. "Almost dismissive of the drama, not defensive. Defensive reads as guilty but a light would show everyone we are unbothered, which indicates everything is real.""So the goal is to sound like none of this matters.""Yes, exactly! A private relationship being made public against your will is annoying, not devastating. People who are actually hiding something sound devastated. People who are just mildly inconvenienced sound like you."I hadn't ex
Last Updated: 2026-07-02
Chapter: Chapter 22: Andre Wants What I HaveRussell's POVOne of my best buddies, Callum had flown in for a few days between international breaks, using the gap in his own club's schedule to visit, and we were sitting in my living room with the match highlights running muted on the television when I finally said what I'd been avoiding saying since he arrived."I think I am going crazy thinking about all of these""What is it that you are thinking about?""This whole thing about Fernandez and Carmen."Callum looked at me for a second, then reached for his beer without saying anything, which was his way of telling me to keep going because he wasn't going to do the emotional labour of dragging it out of me."He's got everything," I said. "The trophies, the money, the family name, the whole world already handed to him before he kicked a ball professionally. And now he's got her too.""You don't even like this girl anymore, mate. Why does it matter who Andre dates?"That was the question, and I'd been turning it over myself for week
Last Updated: 2026-07-02
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