Page 6 of The Marriage Playbook

“Vandalized? I put a few Stingers decals on the windows. It was an improvement!”

“The guy who owned the place didn’t think so. He made the team pay to have them removed.”

That was true. But even so… “It was a harmless prank.”

“Liam, you have never taken your responsibility to the team seriously enough,” Mark said. “I don’t like what’s happening. You know I don’t. But I also think…well, eventually you were bound to run into some sort of consequence for the way you act.”

Liam stared at the phone for a moment. Then he reached out with one finger and disconnected the call.

Mark should have been completely on Liam’s side. The fact that his friend could say such things to him—could suggest that Liam in any way deserved what he was getting—was appalling. Was nobody in his corner? Was there no one who would agree that Liam was getting a raw deal here?

They’ll all see how wrong they were once I get an offer from another football team, he swore to himself—for an offer was sure to come in by the end of the day. Fight or no fight, he was one of the premier players in the country, and someone was going to want his talents. It was only a matter of time.

In fact, maybe he would be able to accelerate things a little bit if he reached out to Greg Finster again. It would be Greg’s job to get in contact with the other teams Liam was interested in, to try to negotiate a new contract. Maybe I can turn this into a good thing. This could be the opportunity I’ve dreamed of to move to a new part of the country. To try living somewhere else. He picked the phone up again and dialed Greg.

The phone rang for a long time, so long that Liam began to wonder whether he’d dialed the right number. Greg had always picked up his calls by the second ring in the past. He had always been determined that his star client not have to wait for an answer.

This time, six rings went by before Greg picked up. Liam was just about to hang up the phone and try again later when he heard Greg’s heavy voice. “Sims.”

“Finally,” Liam said. “I would’ve thought you’d answer a little faster, given everything that’s going on today.”

“And I would have thought you’d be a little less demanding, given everything you’ve had me dealing with,” Greg retorted. “Do you know what kind of day I’ve had? Almost every client on my list has called me, wanting to know how I allowed this to happen. My good name is in tatters, thanks to you.”

“I told you, it’s this Sandusky kid. You should tell everyone⁠—”

“Stop. Don’t tell me what I should tell everyone. I don’t want to listen to you slander the player you hit in the face!”

“I didn’t hit him,” Liam protested. He had gone to great lengths to restrain himself from hitting Sandusky.

“Well, he says you did,” Greg said. “He’s given an interview about it. Says you’ve got an awful temper, and that he’s grateful to management for having you removed from the team so that he doesn’t have to be afraid of you anymore.”

“Of course he said that,” Liam groaned. “What a baby.”

“Sims, I don’t think I can represent you anymore.”

Panic set in. “No—Greg, hang on. You can’t drop me. Not now. I need you. You have to help me manage this. I can’t do it without you.”

“This is causing a lot of trouble for me and my business,” Greg said. “And I don’t know if I can count on you to cooperate with what I need you to do to manage this. You’re so intent on just saying that none of it was your responsibility.”

“No, I’ll do whatever you tell me to do,” Liam said. His heart pounded madly. “Greg, everyone is running from me over this. I need someone by my side here. I can’t lose you too right now. I’ll do whatever you think is necessary, just…don’t give up on me. All right?”

Greg sighed. “I’ll try to stick it out,” he said. “But I have to tell you, I don’t know how we come back from this. I’ve reached out to a few teams to see if they’d be interested in taking you on, and, well…it’s like you said. Everyone is running from you at the moment. Nobody wants anything to do with you, the way your reputation is right now. The best thing you can do, I think, is wait this out and do whatever I say.”

“I can do that,” Liam insisted. “Anything you tell me, I promise. I’ll do damage control. I’ll rehabilitate my image.”

“I don’t know how you’re going to do it,” Greg said. “But…you’ve been a good client to me all these years, and I don’t want to give up on you. I’ll give you a few weeks to see if you can right the ship. Hopefully it’ll work, and we’ll get you a place on a new team.”

“We will,” Liam said, though he wished someone would reassure him about that instead of the other way around. Today’s events had shaken him right to his core.

He hung up the phone and pressed his hands flat on the table. He was going to need to think of something—some way to improve public perception about him. Because right now, it was in the gutter.

He would manage it. He would salvage his reputation and restore himself to his former glory. He was determined to make that happen.

But in order to get the job done, he was going to need the help of his PR team.

CHAPTER 4

CARA