𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐬𝐭

Quiet Money

To the world Aaron was a walking monument of the American Dream. He was a three time super bowl champ, a future hall of famer and the undisputed face of the league. Billboards across the country featured him smiling, standing next to his college sweetheart wife and their two beautiful children pushing everything from luxury SUV's to organic milk. He was a safe choice. the clean choice. the 'family man' but his pristine image was a house of cards and Koryn Loveheart was the breeze about to blow it all down.

After his wife Kenya vandalized her property and her car Koryn decided to get even. She went on a hobo tour, running her mouth to every radio station and podcast that was willing to give her the time of the day. There was only one good thing that came out of it all. She hadn't mentioned Aaron's name personally. She just mentioned falling for a married un-named professional athlete after a two year affair. Then she dropped the pregnancy bombshell and mentioned that he didn't want to be a father and some more shit.

Due to that video leaking of them in the past, people were already speculating that he was the father. Now, Aaron found himself in a bad situation. He had already given Koryn a large amount of money to handle the pregnancy privately, plus left her enough dough for comfort in case she was feeling bad. She had chosen to keep the baby and took the money to shop with it instead. Recently she had begun asking him for more money. That's when shit got real.

It was two hours until kick off and he was in a locked back office near the locker rooms sitting on a leather sofa while his management team ripped him to shreds. He was half dressed in his gear, pants and cleats on, with his jersey hanging loosely over his shoulder pads. He sat there looking defeated against the two suits standing in front of him. His manager Grace was pacing back and forth. The team's PR crisis manager stood a few feet away, staring out the tinted window, looking down at the field below. Aaron could hear the vibrating sound of the crowd warming up through the office walls followed by a muffled sound of loud voices from his teammates.

" Aaron, do you know what the moral clause in your contract states? I do, because I wrote it to protect you from this exact type of stupidity. Two hundred and fifty million dollars. Guaranteed. Your job was to be the face of 'family first'. The cereal boxes, the Luxury SUV campaign, the milk deal, Nike? You can kiss all of those good bye if she leaks your name. " Grace said.

" She won't. She ain't stupid. Koryn knows that if fuck up my name there won't be much for her to take. She's just trying to get my attention. I'm not tripping off that bitch" Aaron replied. Sam spun around and made his way over to them.

" You're not taking this seriously enough," he said.

" I have a game in two hours. Fans are already here and I've got thousands of people expecting for me to throw at least four touchdowns. I need to be on my A-game. I can't do that with y'all lecturing me" Aaron said.

" One hour and forty five minutes to be exact. Right now the only thing you need to be thinking about is throwing your phone into the toilet"

" He's right," Grace stated. "If she's starting to extort you there's no need to talk anymore. Give me the phone and I'll take it from here" she said, holding his hand out. Just then Aaron's phone buzzed.

" Who is that? Is that her" She asked as Aaron read the screen. It was a text message from Koryn, demanding to see him later that night. He swallowed hard before pressing the button to lock his screen.

" Nah, that wasn't her. It was my mother-in-law, wishing me good luck tonight." Aaron lied. Grace stared at him, seeing right through the act. She glanced over at Sam as the two of them gave one another a knowing look.

" You can finish getting ready. Make sure you play the best game of your life tonight. In the morning, we go to war" Sam said.

Aaron stood from his seat and moved towards the door, glad to finally be out of that tense ass room with the two of them.