He started to argue. “But it’s not just me—”
“Do the public know that?” I countered.
His shoulders straightened. “What aboutAlv?” he asked, defensive. “You going to have this conversation with him,too?”
Alvneeded no talking to. He was beloved and seen as a god in the industry. People would long be wearing his number after he retired.
“No, he naturally generates positivity. You, however…”
His jaw stiffened. “Right. Got it.”
“I’m here to help,” I reassured.
“You’re here tointerfere,” he sighed, leaning back and throwing his can in the bin in the corner of the room. “What’s part of your clean image?”
“Stability.” That was my one-word PR plan for NixonArmas. “No drugs. Changing your Instagram from pictures of bikes to something more… heart-warming. Get a pet or something.”
He snorted. It was a low sound that ran through the room. “Your big plan is for me to putZigon Instagram?”
“Zig?” I questioned, already writing the name down on my notes app.
“My snake.”
I paused my note-taking.Of-fucking-course.“Could you not have a cuter pet?”
He blinked at me. “Cute? She is cute.”
Right, then.
“There’s more,” I said, needing to move on from that. I had to find his redeeming qualities for the sake of his image, but I didn’t need to start thinking about him beingsweet. “Buying a house, a relationship, working with charities, having more to your life than drugs and driving.”
He inhaled and exhaled deeply. “We ride, not drive.”
“Family shots?” I begged.
“My family is private.”
“Friends?”
He shrugged.
“You’re not making this easy. You know that you’ve been told more negative press towards the sport because of you and you’re out.”
“That’s just talk.”
I cocked a brow. That wasn’t what I had been told. “Reputation is important.”
“And I have the reputation of a champion,” he sighed. “That’s what I’m known for. I don’t need anything else.”
“You also have the reputation of being a completeasshat.”
“Asshat?” he asked, brows down, voice higher.
“Some changes need to be made. I’ve been called in to make them.”
“Ridiculous,” he muttered to himself. “Trying to make meAlv.”
This man was refusing to see how crap his situation was right now. “I need to know if there’s any shit about you that is likely to come out. I need to be prepared for damage control.”
