10– Gabrielle

“Wait!” Kayden’s shout ripped through the silence behind me, his voice bouncing off the high ceilings of the living room.

“You’re dripping all over the place,” I threw the words over my shoulder, refusing to slow my frantic pace or turn around to look at him.

My heels clicked against the floor as I headed toward the kitchen.

He caught my arm right before I could round the curve of the hallway. His grip wasn't rough, but it was firm enough to wrench me to a jarring halt.

The heat of his palm sent a shiver down my spine. I snatched my arm from his hold, spinning around to face him. My hands balled into tight fists at my sides, my eyes narrowing into vicious slits as I glared up at him.

“What do you want, Kayden?”

“Why are you angry with me?” he asked, his chest heaving as he stared down at me, looking bewildered.

“I’m not angry,” I lied through my teeth, masking the tremor underneath my tone.

He stepped closer, his brows knitting together. “Are you sure about that?”

I offered a dismissive shrug, crossing my arms over my chest. “Positive.”

“Okay then,” Kayden sighed, running a hand through his damp, messy hair, sending a few stray droplets onto the floor. “I’d like to eat breakfast now.”

“You probably should listen to your trainer,” I shot back.

“What she said back there has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

“It has everything to do with you, Kayden!” The dam finally broke, my voice rising as the built-up humiliation spilled over. “And in case you haven’t noticed, everyone in your life seems to blame me whenever you go off course.”

“Then you should take it up with them and not me,” he countered, his own frustration bleeding through his tone. “Just like out there, you practically flipped a switch on me when I didn’t even do anything wrong.”

“That’s exactly my problem!” I yelled, stepping into his personal space, my index finger digging into his chest. “The fact that you didn’t do anything. You just stood there like a coward and watched her speak to me like I was a piece of trash!”

“I didn’t get an opportunity to talk!” he defended himself, his eyes widening in exasperation. “And honestly, I felt like you wouldn’t appreciate it if I cut into the conversation to defend you. I didn't want to undermine your authority as my handler.”

“Yeah?” I let out a humorless scoff, turning my face away from his intense gaze. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Kayden.”

“What is wrong with you?” he demanded, his voice dropping into a rough register. He reached out as if to touch my shoulder, but caught himself, his hand hovering in the air. “Why must you blow hot and cold all the time? We were just so cozy with each other a moment ago, Gabrielle. Last night... last night was real.”

“Which was a mistake. Obviously.”

Kayden flinched, his jaw tightening into a rigid line. “A mistake?”

“You heard me.” I forced my eyes to lock onto his, ignoring the foreign ache in my chest. “Our relationship is strictly—”

“I know what it is!” he roared. “You don’t have to spell it out to me at every single turn! Just… I need you to understand that I didn’t say anything out there because I had every intention of speaking to her after you left. I was going to address her behavior privately.”

“Or perhaps,” I sneered, the words slipping out of my mouth before my rational mind could stop them, “you weren’t trying to take sides because you’re sleeping with her.”

Kayden froze. The color drained from his face. “Excuse you?”

“You heard me, Kayden. It wouldn't be the first time you tangled with a staff, would it?”

“That is…” He shook his head, a look of hurt twisting his features. He placed his palm against his forehead, letting out a ragged breath. “That is the most ridiculous, unhinged thing anyone has ever said to me, Gabrielle. And it’s deeply insulting.”

“Is it really? Or are you just ashamed to admit that you’re so horned up you can’t even keep your hands off the women on your management staff?”

“I have never touched a single person who works for me!” he bellowed.

“But you touched me!” I threw back at him, my voice cracking.

“You…” Kayden stopped, his voice losing its venom, dropping into a breathless whisper. He took a half-step forward, his gaze burning into mine. “You’re different, Gabrielle.”

“Different?” I chuckled bitterly. “How exactly am I different, Kayden? I work for a PR company. I am assigned to your account. We were not friends. I have never once given you a single signal of interest. So how am I any different from the rest of them?”

Kayden stared down at me, his shoulders slumping as if a heavy weight had just settled over them. “Is that really the notion you have about me, Gabrielle? Do you honestly believe I have no respect for myself? Or for you?”

“You haven’t exactly proven otherwise,” I whispered, my walls snapping back into place, sealing me away from his vulnerability. “It’s always one thing or another with you.”

“We’re deviating from the conversation at hand,” Kayden said. He looked down at the puddle of water surrounding his bare feet, his jaw twitching. “And… it breaks my heart to know that this is the lens you view me by. That you think so little of me.”

“I don’t care.”

“No, you don’t,” he agreed, his eyes lifting to meet mine, hollowed out of their usual playfulness. “You don’t know me, Gabrielle. You don’t care to know me, and you refuse to actually see me. You’re just more interested in judging me based on…”

He didn’t complete the statement:

Silence followed. 

“You know what?” Kayden muttered, stepping past me toward the stairs, his bare feet slapping against the floor. “I’m gonna go to the facility earlier than intended and I won’t be coming home until much later tonight. You don’t have to come to me. Just… take the rest of the day off after your meeting or whatever.”

“I’m not taking the day off, Kayden,” I called after his retreating back. “I have a job to do.”

“I’m not asking,” he ground out, not bothering to turn around as he climbed the stairs. “Just make yourself scarce for today. Please.”

11– Kayden

“Yo, Alvarez!” Tony, my linesman and one of my closest friends on the team, called out. I heard his slides squeaking against the floor as he jogged up behind me, throwing an arm around my neck. “What’s up with you, man? You were completely checked out during the video briefing.”

“Nothing much,” I muttered, reaching up to uncurl his arm from my neck. My voice sounded as hollow as I felt.

“Bad day?” he asked, falling into step beside me as we walked past the row of equipment bags.

I nodded once, my jaw tight. “Something like that.”

“Girl problems?” he further inquired, a knowing smirk touching his lips.

That question made me stop dead in my tracks. I turned my head, locking an icy glare onto him. “You know, your wife mouthed off to my girl at the arena yesterday. I didn’t exactly love hearing about what she had to say,” I told him simply, my tone dropping and becoming low. “And I don’t love the fact that you’re apparently telling my personal business to your wife, T.”

“Your girl? You mean your handler?” Tony blinked, his smirk vanishing.

I just stared at him, a muscle ticking in my jaw.

Tony threw his hands up in surrender, flashing me a wide, apologetic grin. “Hey, my bad, man. My apologies. It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“It better not.”

“But… you’re not really dating her, are you?” Tony asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as we leaned against the wall outside the lounge.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I challenged.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe you’re just playing around? Pulling a standard publicity stunt to clean up your image?”

“Do I look like a man who plays around?”

“With women? Yes,” Tony answered without a shred of hesitation. “You’re a renowned playboy, Kayden. The media calls you a manwhore for a reason.”

A humorless laugh unintentionally slipped past my lips, echoing off the locker-room walls.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. “You just sounded exactly like Gabrielle just now.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” I leaned the back of my head against the wall, closing my eyes for a fraction of a second. “She called me a whore, more or less, right before I left the house.”

Tony snorted, letting out a loud bark of a laugh. “She did?” he asked between cackles.

“It’s not funny, man,” I ground out, shoving my hands deep into my sweatpants pockets. “I don’t know what the hell to do anymore.”

“Wow.” Tony stopped laughing, his eyes widening as he took in my rigid posture. “I didn’t think the day would ever come where I’d see you in this state because of a woman.”

“A great sight for you, yeah?”

“Not so great. You look like a total mess,” he teased, though there was a flicker of sympathy in his eyes.

I ruffled my hair. He wasn’t wrong. I was a complete mess. My head was scattered all over the place, and the memory of the disdain in Gabrielle’s eyes this morning was burning a hole through my chest.

This was only the second day of our thirty-day contract. That left me with exactly twenty-eight days to make this work, and nothing was going according to the plan I had built in my head. 

I knew I needed to be patient with her, but I couldn’t help the rising panic that twenty-eight days would never be enough to tear down the walls she had built against me.

I huffed out a ragged breath, my fingers tightening in my hair again. “How do you propose I win her heart, T? Seriously. Give me something.”

“Women are a bit difficult,” Tony said, scratching his head as he thought it over. “But I think the secret is to always be agreeable. Listen when she speaks—not just to find a quick response, but to actually understand what she's trying to say. Honestly, they like us best when we’re silent. And maybe... spend some money on her.”

“Gabrielle doesn’t care about money,” I shot down the idea instantly.

“See? That smart mouth is exactly what will keep getting you in her bad books.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Even if she doesn’t care about the cash, you should throw her your black card every once in a while and just let her spend your money to her heart’s content. It works like magic with my wife.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The secret is just finding the perfect moment to do it.”

Truth be told, a tiny part of Tony’s advice actually made sense. Listening to understand, not just to react. That was exactly where I had failed her this morning when my personal trainer started screaming at her. I had been so shocked by the confrontation that I had frozen, and Gabrielle translated my silence as betrayal.

Before I could respond to Tony, the heavy thud of shoes approached from behind us.

“Alvarez,” my head coach’s booming voice cut through the space.

“Yes, Coach,” I answered, immediately squaring my shoulders and turning to face him.

Tony took a subtle step back, giving us space.

Coach stood there, a tablet clutched under his arm, his eyes drilling into mine. “Care to explain the text message you sent to me?”

I didn't blink. I stood tall, my voice steady. “I would like to change my assigned personal trainer. Immediately.”

Coach raised a slow, knowing brow. “You specifically requested her, Kayden. You said working with her kept you motivated. And up until today, you had no complaints. What exactly changed between yesterday and today?”

“Nothing changed regarding my motivation, Coach,” I asserted, my jaw clenching as I thought of the way she had spoken to Gabrielle. “I would just like to work with someone else moving forward. Preferably a man.”

“Give me a reason,” Coach pressed, his tone demanding clarity. “I can’t just pull her without good reason.”

“She crossed a line,” I told him, my eyes darkening with an intensity that made the coach pause. “She insulted my woman on my property. And I don’t tolerate anyone disrespecting Gabrielle.”