balls worse at this point. I’m not sure.
I give up on sleep and roll on my side to grab my phone from the nightstand. A little green dot indicates she’s online.
Not that I care.
Okay, fine. I care a little. But only because I can still make this situation work to my advantage by using her the way she asked me to. She’s at my service as she said. Multiple times.
Mike: Can’t sleep either? It’s after midnight.
Tori: That is correct. Is something wrong?
You need to rest before game day.
Something is definitely wrong. I reach under the blankets and adjust my stiff dick in my shorts. I haven’t been faced with this much temptation since college. I can’t put my finger on why she’s getting under my skin more than any of the women Templeman has thrown my way. It’s annoying me to no end. I don’t have time for a distraction like her. I need these stupid hard-ons to stop, and the only way that might happen is if I get her out of my system. There has to be some flaw I can latch onto…
Mike: Is your first name really Vittoria?
Tori: It is.
Just like your first name is really Michael even though you go by Mike.
Is my name what’s keeping you awake?
Only a little. That was just a warm up question.
Mike: What if I tell you I also like SpongeBob?
Are you going to use that against me?
Tori: Against you? No. For you? Yes. But only if you want me to.
So many things I’d like her to do for me, which is a huge problem.
Mike: That doesn’t seem like something that would make me more relatable to football fans.
Tori: Touché. It probably wouldn’t.
I stare with way too much anticipation as those three little dots blink on my screen. She’s going to send me something big. Or else she’s typing, deleting, then trying again. I would know. Every word I text feels like a loaded gun, and I’m playing Russian roulette.
Tori: I didn’t want to overwhelm you last night, and I definitely don’t want to keep you awake now, but I’d like you to think about five simple things that define who you are as a person. We’ll use those things to build curated content on your social media profiles to create a better image of you for the fans. For example, my five pillars of being are: SpongeBob, the beach, music, food allergy awareness, and family. You can make it as personal or as generic as you want, but it still has to be true to you.
I reread her five things at least five times. So many questions pound on my poor brain, but it’s the last one that really sticks with me.
Mike: You have five brothers, so I guess family is a big one for you. Your dad was in the Navy, and you don’t have a mom? That’s what I got from your social media. Doesn’t it feel weird I know that about you when you’ve never told me yourself?
Tori: Not really because that’s my life, and I’m used to it. Is that something that makes you curious to find out more about me?
Yep. And that’s another problem. If it was just lust, I might have given up and jerked off until my dick was raw by now.
Mike: I don’t want my family in the media. I chose to be a professional football player. They didn’t. Fame isn’t always a good thing.
Tori: I agree with you, and I respect your decision to protect your family. We don’t have to use anything you’re uncomfortable with. The idea is just to give fans a glimpse of who you really are in a way that will make them want to know more about you.
Mike: That’s not gonna work for me. If they don’t want to know me for my skills on the field, then that’s not my problem.
Tori: I didn’t mean to upset you. You really need to get some sleep.
Shit. This isn’t moving the chains forward at all. I’d actually like to play the rest of the season instead of riding the bench, and she’s being nicer than ever.
Mike: Can we use your things for me?
Tori: We could, but it won’t be authentic.
That will make it more difficult for fans to really relate to you for the rest of the season.
So, she’s saying we only have to lie for the rest of the season? Score. We’re already five weeks in. I can fake it ‘til I make it for a while