Better than I gave her credit for.
She didn’t just want a headline or a hot take. She wanted the truth. Even if it was ugly. Even if she had to drag it out of someone like me.
And maybe that was what caught me off guard.
She looked at me like I was a puzzle she could solve.
She was wrong.
But damn if I didn’t like the way she tried.
I paused the footage, frozen on her expression—eyebrows furrowed, mouth slightly parted, chin lifted like she was daring me to lie to her.
I leaned back in the chair, arms crossed, and stared at the screen for a long time.
I didn’t like reporters.
Never had.
They dug too deep. Got too close. Twisted things.
But this one?
She wanted answers, not angles.
And something about that made my chest ache in a way I didn’t have a name for.
I caught myself smiling—just a little—and immediately scowled.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, running a hand down my face. “The brat’s got bite.”
The room stayed silent, the screen still frozen on her face.
And I had a sinking feeling that this whole thing—this season, this PR circus, this forced proximity was going to be a hell of a lot more dangerous than I thought.
Three years ago, I made the mistake of being honest.
We’d just lost the semifinals—brutal game, extra time, last-minute goal that knocked us out. I was drained. Physically. Mentally. Didn’t even remember the post-match interview until I saw the headlines the next morning.
I hadn’t said anything wild. Nothing scandalous. Just… truth.
“I’m tired. Not just the match. Everything. The pressure, the expectations. It’s a lot sometimes.”
I talked about burnout. About playing through pain. About the weight that came with being the face of a franchise that demanded perfection, even when your body was breaking.
It was vulnerable.
I thought it was human.
The reporter—some slick-suited parasite with too many Twitter followers and not enough ethics, something Blake—twisted every word.
“Walker admits to mental instability following loss.”
“Storm Captain Cracks Under Pressure.”
“Entitled Veteran’s Meltdown Goes Viral.”
They clipped my sentences mid-thought. Took my “I need to reevaluate what matters” and turned it into “I don’t care about the team anymore.”
