A Pact With A Player

Chapter 5 - Let the negotiations begin

Ryder’s POV

The one good thing about having a twenty-acre property is that you could always go for a run on your own property and not have to see a single soul. Each morning, my path was always the same because I knew it was exactly five miles return. It was my warm-up routine before I hit the gym, where the real work began. I needed to be in top shape for training camp. My phone started blowing up with messages from Marcus when I was out doing my stretches, and they continued all through my run. I didn’t bother answering them because he knew my schedule and could wait until I was done.

As I approached the house, I saw an old station wagon outside. I wasn’t expecting anyone today but seeing as though Marcus’ car was right next to it. This must be his doing. No one I knew would be caught dead driving that rust bucket. It must have been older than I was, and it didn’t age nearly as well as I did. I would be surprised if the engine even turned over. I bet that it would need to be towed out of here when the time came for whoever it was left, and if the rust bucket leaked any oil on my pristine driveway, the owner would be cleaning it up themselves.

I entered the house and went straight to the small fridge behind the bar, chugging an entire bottle of water before going in search of my agent to find out what had his panties in a twist. I walked towards my office thinking that he was probably in there as he used it more than did, and when I heard his voice together with the sound of a soft, feminine voice coming from behind the closed door, I knew I was on the right track.

Since it was my home, I didn’t bother knocking and went straight in, ignoring the head of strawberry blonde hair sitting on the chair in front of me as I gave my agent a questioning look, “What was with all the texts, Marc? You’ve been blowing up my phone for half an hour, and who the hell owns that piece of crap station wagon parked in my driveway? It belongs on a scrap heap.”

I saw the owner of the hair tense and knew I must have hit a nerve, but seriously, it couldn’t be the first time that she had heard that. I watched as her head spun around and observed as her eyes took in every inch of my toned chest, dropping further until her eyes dropped down to my waist, leaving me with just a view of the messy bun on the top of her head. This I was used to. I knew that I had an awesome body. I worked hard every day to maintain it. Women couldn’t help but look. As her head moved back, giving me my first look at her face as she started to look at my face, I felt like someone had knocked me on my ass. Even without any makeup, her skin was flawless apart from the black circles underneath her gorgeous green eyes. Her high cheekbones and pouty, pink lips gave her that elegant look that most women got plastic surgery to try and obtain but still failed. I watched the look of lust in her eyes switch quickly to pure disgust in a blink of an eye, making me immediately wonder what had changed.

She started shaking her head and then turned her attention back to Marcus, “Nope, this isn’t going to work. There has to be another solution to this matter.”

“Sorry, Miss Marshall, I can’t see any other way around this,” Marcus responded firmly.

Marshall? Wasn’t that the same last name of the douche the other night at poker?

I shot my agent a confused look, “Someone care to tell me what’s going on here?”

The woman snorted, “Are you serious? You made me this deal without your client agreeing to it.”

“Deal what deal?” I queried, starting to get annoyed. I didn’t like being out of the loop.

“Sit down, and I’ll explain, Ry.” Marcus answered, gesturing at the chair and waiting for me to do as he asked, “I went to discuss the sale of the property as requested with the other owner of the property, but her granddaughter here answered the door and requested to enter into negotiations on her grandmother’s behalf. She asked that we not sell the property and allow her to pay off the debt in instalments, but I figured out a better idea. You need to show the general manager that you are serious, and what better way to do that than with a serious girlfriend at your side that is a pillar of her community.”

“Her.” I scoffed, “you want me to date her?”

This chick didn’t even seem to like me. Why the hell would she agree to date me, and more importantly, why the hell would I agree to date someone that I didn’t even know a thing about? Marcus had officially lost the plot.

“Pretend to date.” The woman corrected me, her voice dripping with disdain, “He wants us to pretend to date and then when you sign your contract, my grandmother gets to keep her house.”

Now it was my turn to glare at Marcus, “What the hell were you thinking, Marcus?”

“I was thinking about saving your ass, Ryder.” He countered through clenched teeth, “At the moment, your name is mud with the team, and I know you don’t want to leave Los Angeles, so I made a judgement call.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, “And you didn’t think I could get my own girlfriend? Please, I could get my own girlfriend in a heartbeat if I wanted to.”

The girl threw her arms up, “That settles it then. I guess you do not need for me.”

She started to get up, but Marcus stared at her, “Sit down, please, Miss Marshall.”

The girl sighed and collapsed back in the chair.

Once Marcus was satisfied the woman wasn’t going anywhere, he focused on me again, “Ryder, I wouldn’t do this unless I was sure there wasn’t another way of turning your image around. Can you please trust me?”

I looked her body up and down, “If I am going to be seen with her, something needs to be done about her look. You’ve met the girlfriends and wives of the other players. She will not pace as a girlfriend of a player looking like that.”

“She is right here and can hear you talking about her, and I also have a name. It’s Keegan, not that you bothered to ask.” I could hear the annoyance on every word, “And just so you are aware, I didn’t know that this was an interview. As far as I was aware, you had already agreed with this. So let’s get one thing straight: I will play dress up, smile pretty, act all lovey dovey when other people are around, but this is not a relationship. In private, this is simply a business arrangement and under no circumstances will I be having s*x with you.”

I chuckled, looking her up and done. I wouldn’t be opposed to having s*x with her, she had a killer body, but I resented the accusation. “I don’t need to hire the woman I sleep with, sweetheart, so don’t worry, you are perfectly safe.”

“Good.” Keegan confirmed, “Just make sure if and when it happens you are discrete, we may be entering into a fake relationship, but I’m not going to be one of those women that is seen to be staying with a man who is screwing around.”

I was about to tell her that she could go screw her, but Marcus clapped his hand’s together, “Well, now that we have that all sorted out. I will get the paperwork drawn up, and we can all sign in when you move in.”

“Move in.” Both Keegan and I repeated in unison.

“Yes, of course.” Marcus confirmed, “Once news breaks, the media is going to be all over you both. Keegan, I can call you Keegan now, can’t I?  Do you really want photographers camped out on your grandmother’s lawn waiting to get a picture of you?”

She shuddered, “Fine, but I’m going to need to tell her the truth because there is no tale I can spin that will make her believe that we are dating.”

I placed my hand over my heart, “Ouch, that hurts. Or will she just think I’m completely out of your league?”

“No.” She growled in response, which was kind of hot, “I work seven days a week, days and nights for more than half that time. She knows I have no time for dating. If you’re that concerned, I can get her to sign one of those NDAs like I did before I spill the beans.”

Seven days a week? Days and nights? What the actual hell? No wonder she had dark circles under her eyes. She must be exhausted. I know I worked hard, but I am paid a small fortune to do so. No person should ever have to work that much to get by. That was just insane.

“You’re going to have to quit.” I advised, earning a gasp from Keegan, “Wives’ and girlfriends show up at least the home games, and there are charity events and other functions that I am required to attend. If we are going to make people truly believe that we are a couple, then you need to attend those things.”

“If I give up my jobs, I’m going to lose the house anyway as I won't be able to keep up with the mortgage payments for the loans that Dale has taken out.” She explained, seeming to be a little embarrassed about the matter.

Given that the loser I had played said that the property was his mother’s and Keegan said grandmother, I had to assume that she was his daughter. She was working herself into an early grave to pay off his debt. I knew this guy had a taste for the game when I played him, and now his lack of ability to walk away when he was behind made sense. He was a degenerate gambler, and his daughter was cleaning up his messes.

“What if the mortgages weren’t a problem?” Marcus asked her, “I’ve seen the numbers and compared to what Ryder will make

with his new contract, its pennies on the dollar. You agree to drop the jobs, and the mortgage being taken care of will be part of the agreement.”

I knew Marcus. He wouldn’t offer this deal if he didn’t think it was worth it, so I didn’t say anything against it.

Keegan stayed quiet for a minute or so, most likely considering her options. “I will quit my night and weekend job. I need to keep the job at the bank, this arrangement will end in a maximum of twelve months, and I will still need to provide for myself. It’s nine to five during the week. Surely most games and events are at night or on weekends. That’s my final offer.”

Marcus looked at me, and I just nodded in agreement. She was right, any function I attended was mainly on the weekend or late in the evening, same with my games, so I guess it could work.

He jotted something down on a piece of paper. He was a stickler for taking notes. “You have a deal, Keegan. I will call you when the papers are drawn up, and we can discuss a game plan for announcing your relationship.”

She stood up but held her hands out to stop us from doing the same. “I can see myself out, gentlemen.”

I’ll admit I was checking out her rear end as she walked towards the door, and it was just as good as the rest of her. When she paused with her hand on the door handle, I swallowed nervously, thinking she could sense what I was doing, but she turned back to look at Marcus. “I’m not good with all this legal crap, but is there any way we can secure the house? To stop Dale from being able to do this again. I don’t want my Grams going through this ever again.”

“I’ll take care of it.” He promised her, and she left without another word.

I got up and went to the window, waiting no more than a few minutes until that green abomination of a car coughed and spluttered its way down my driveway. To get to her car that fast she must have practically run out of the house.

When her car was nothing more than a speck in the distance, I turned my attention back to my agent and best friend, “What the hell were you thinking, Marc?”

He just laughed, “when we pull this off, and we will pull it off, I expect a hefty bonus, my friend.”