Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

Maeve 

The night after the gala was pure chaos and I barely remember half of it. Cameras kept flashing even when we left the building, people shouting questions about whether I was really with Rowan or if it was some joke, and my phone would not stop buzzing the whole drive back.

 I got to my temporary apartment, kicked the door shut behind me, dropped my bag, and just stood there in the dark for a minute with Whiskers meowing at my feet like she knew something was wrong.

 I told myself it would blow over by morning. People would move on. The videos would die down. Rowan would go back to being the captain and I would go back to being the new sports medicine intern who stayed quiet and did her job. 

That was the plan I repeated to myself while I washed my face and climbed into bed with my cat curled against my side.

It did not blow over.

I woke up with a headache and a phone full of new messages I did not open. I got dressed in my usual black scrubs, pulled my hair into a messy bun, and drove to the arena telling myself the entire way that I would avoid Rowan. 

I would stay in the treatment rooms. I would keep my head down. I would pretend last night never happened. The second I walked through the staff entrance I felt eyes on me. Not the obvious staring kind, just the quiet ones that flicked away the moment I looked up. 

A couple of the other interns were at the front desk and they said good morning in that flat way that meant they had already talked about me. I waited for the comments. 

The little digs about my body or how I must have slept my way into the claim. Nothing came. They just went back to their clipboards. Players walked past in the hallway and one of them, actually grinned and said, “Morning, doc,” like it was any other day. The staff nodded. The receptionist waved. Everyone was playing it cool and somehow that made my stomach twist harder than if they had been mean.

I headed straight for the treatment wing and almost made it before I heard my name.

“Maeve.”

Rowan’s voice. I kept walking. He called it again, closer this time, and I had to stop or look like I was running. When I turned he was already right there in his practice gear, hair still damp, looking at me like he expected me to say something first. I crossed my arms.

“I have patients,” I said.

“You have me in twenty minutes.”

“I can switch you with someone else.”

“No you can’t.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “We need to talk about last night.”

“There is nothing to talk about. You said what you said for the cameras and now we go back to normal.”

“That is not how this works.”

“It is how I need it to work.” I turned again but he caught my wrist, not hard, just enough to make me look at him. “Let go.”

“Maeve….”

The team manager’s voice cut through the hallway like a whip. “Ashcroft. Conference room, Now!!. And bring that girlfriend of yours.”

Rowan’s jaw tightened but he dropped my wrist. We followed the manager without another word. The private conference room sat at the end of the admin hallway and the second the door closed behind us the man exploded.

“What the hell was that last night?” He was already red in the face, phone in one hand, a folder in the other. “Do you have any idea what you just cost us? Sponsors paid good money for high profile optics. Clean images. Marketable faces. 

They expected you with someone who photographs well, someone with the right look and the right bloodline, not some curvy nurse you decided to claim on live camera because your cousin showed up or whatever disputes you both have going on. Do you understand the position you put this organization in?”

Rowan stayed standing. “It’ll be best to talk between us no? Or watch how you talk about her?”

“I will talk however I need to talk when you pull a stunt like that. Fines are already being discussed. Contract clauses. Reputation damage that spreads past this season. You think the board is going to smile and say well done for the drama? They are not. They are furious.”

I stayed quiet near the wall and watched every word. My face felt hot but I kept my arms crossed and my mouth shut. The manager kept going, voice rising.

“And it gets worse. The London athletes trip is locked. One week promotional tour, exclusive, only three players from every invited team. You were on the list. You were expected to take the companion the main sponsor already approved. Their daughter. Perfect for the cameras. Model type. Slim. Instead you stand there and proclaim this one like it is nothing. What am I supposed to tell them now?”

Rowan did not even blink. “Tell them the claim stands. Maeve is coming with me.”

The manager stared at him. “You cannot be serious.”

“I am.”

“You will pay the fines yourself then. Every single one. And if the sponsors walk…”

“Figure it out, I am not dropping her.”

Silence was  heavy for a second. I could hear my own pulse in my ears. The manager looked at me like I had personally ruined his week, then back at Rowan.

“You are making a mistake that is going to follow this team for months.”

“Maybe. But remember I’m the captain, if you don’t help me, you betray the team.”

Then suddenly, the  door opened before anyone could say another word. A tall woman walked in like she owned the carpet. Dark hair, perfect makeup, a coat that probably cost more than my rent, and a smile that did not reach her eyes. She went straight to Rowan, rose on her toes, and air-kissed both his cheeks like they had done it a hundred times.

“There you are,” she said, voice smooth. “I was starting to think you were hiding from me.”

Then her gaze slid to me. She looked me up and down once, slow, and the smile stayed right where it was.

“You must be the new medical staff. How… brave of you to come to the gala.”