Alex cursed to herself as she walked up upon the red carpet to the gala. There was nothing in the conversation between Keeley and Rebecca that gave Alex the indication that she would be photographed. Suddenly very aware of every inch of her body that her emerald floor length gown was clinging to, she reached into her clutch to frantically text Keeley.
Be right there! Xx
There were whoops and flashes ahead of her, excitement from the small mass that had gathered to photograph each of the attendees of the gala. Surely no one gave a damn to photograph the team's new physio who happened to be invited to the event?
She was wrong. As Keeley came out to fetch her, there was another loud response from the photographers. She crossed the wrong way across the carpet, moving past Sam, Colin, and Isaac, all of which were interacting amicably with the photographers, enjoying a moment in the spotlight.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Keeley offered, holding up her hand as she crossed in front of them all, smiling giddily at Alex. "I can't believe you in this dress. You are absolutely fucking stunning," she exclaimed breathlessly, taking both of Alex's forearms in her hands and holding her at a distance to admire the dress.
Alex was told when she was young that dark green was her color. When dressing to impress, it was frequently her go-to. Regardless, the pink in her cheeks flushed with heat at the compliment, "thank you."
"Still can't believe you're a physio," she lost herself in taking in Alex's form, and Alex let out an awkward cough behind her grin.
"You're mental," Alex giggled and looked on at the reporters, who's attention turned their way after the carpet had cleared. "And I'd rather eat my left shoe than go through that mass of photographers."
"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" Keeley encouraged, taking her by the hand. "I promise I won't let you look anything less than flawless."
Alex didn't have an opportunity to resist, because before a word could escape her glossed lips, Keeley was dragging her forward in front of the masse of flashing bulbs. There was a general shout from several different people, vying for attention long enough to capture a shot of the two of them. Keeley stood with her arm looped through Alex's.
"Now, put that foot forward," she encouraged, pointing to Alex's left side, "perfect!" She turned to grin at the cameras ahead. "Her name's Alexandra Banks! Alex for short. Richmond's new head physio. Isn't she stunnin'?!" Keeley hyped up the figures behind the flashing lights, causing Alex to let out a belly laugh in response. The two women smiled, laughing at one another, as the photographers captured the exchange.
As if the idea of dressing up and presenting himself to the world for auction had not already crawled under Roy's skin, being "parent trapped" by Lasso was certainly enough to have him about ready to blow his lid. Alex, who had been seated between Keeley and Ted, was the first to get up and excuse herself to the bar when Lasso had suggested a drink. Uninterested in being seated across from Tartt's smug face and bare chest another minute, Roy was off to the closest bar as well.
"I hate these things." It was not hard for him to break the ice with a complaint.
"You?" Alex turned, not skipping a beat. "Never," her eyes flashed with sarcasm as she wiggled a playful eyebrow at him. "I'm flattered Rebecca extended the invitation, but I'd be lying if I said that I knew how to even pretend to be comfortable at this kind of thing." She muttered a 'thank you' to the bartender. Roy ordered his own beer.
"You look it," he dared toe the line of a compliment with her. Because she did. He'd be both a liar and a fool to claim that she did not fill out her dress in the most flattering of ways.
"Thank you," she sipped her drink quickly. He noticed her cheeks flushed. He scratched the back of his neck. "You clean up nicely, as well."
"Ah," Roy waved dismissively and reached out for his beer.
"You may want to grab another one of those before heading back to that table," she gestured with her drink towards his. Roy smiled and nodded.
"I just might," he nodded. She turned to start back towards the table. "Cheers."
Roy watched as she moved carefully between guests, trying to stop himself from tracking the sway of her hips or noticing just how much skin her backless dress showed off.
Alex worked quietly at her drink in front of her, sitting in the graveyard of the four finished glasses on the table. The table was quiet, uncomfortably so, to which she kept looking over at Keeley from the corner of her eye to beg for some form of light conversation. Keeley was too busy stirring her own drink, staring off into the middle distance.
"Ah, shit." Jamie exclaimed, causing Alex to start. He immediately moved to wipe the remnants of hot soup from his bare chest.
"Yet another reason why shirts exist," Roy quipped, downing the bottle of beer in front of him, a graveyard of his own started.
"Shut up, it's not funny." Jamie retorted. Alex watched as he fished ice from his glass. "Burned my nipple." Not even Keeley felt any urgency to sympathize with him.
"I wish I was that ice cube," a voice came from behind them. Standing near Jamie was an older woman, her eyes focused in on him so intently, Alex felt she was watching a jungle cat stalk its prey. "I will be bidding for a night with you."
Roy raised a brow. Alex coughed into her glass. Keeley watched in amusement.
"Oh, thanks, love." Jamie placed the ice back in the glass. "It's, um, it's just a date though. It's not a whole night. So…"
"We'll see," The woman walked away with a knowing smirk, a chuckle resounding as she left.
"Mate, I've done these before. If she bids over 3,000, you will have to fuck her," Roy spoke up. Keeley and Alex chuckled as Jamie paled.
"Is that true?" Jamie spoke softly to Keeley. Alex met eyes with Roy and stifled a laugh.
"You don't have to go all the way," Keeley spoke reassuringly. "Just like, some of the way. Fingering." She gestured crudely toward him and Jamie blanched. Jamie looked at Roy, who smiled and nodded. Unable to keep his composure, he looked at his lap. Keeley leaned over into Alex and they laughed.
"Fuck you. Fuck this table." In true Tartt form, he got up from the table, throwing down his napkin and taking off.
Keeley tried to reassure him that it wasn't serious, but he was long gone by the time she finished her words. Alex rolled her eyes. Keeley exchanged looks with both of them before getting to her feet to follow him. Roy, satisfied with his ability to ruffle his teammates feathers, sat back and smiled.
"I couldn't imagine having to constantly having to stroke an ego like that," Alex spoke up, downing the last of her drink. "Seems exhausting."
"He's a child." Roy responded.
Alex looked off into the distance, searching for the two of them, wondering if there was anything she could do to remind Keeley that it wasn't her responsibility to keep Jamie Tartt's feelings in a bubble. But they were nowhere to be found. With a sigh, she turned back to Roy, who had his gaze fixed on her.
She stood, "want another?" she gestured toward his drink. Just then, Ted approached the table, three beers in his hand.
"I'll be back, then," she smiled at them both and excused herself from the table.
Outside of the gala, the slight chill of the wind encouraged Alex to take a full deep inhale. She wrapped her arms around herself as she pulled out her mobile, lining up an Uber to take her back to the comfort of home. Behind her, the side door to the venue flew open with a furocity she had not anticipated. Jumping slightly, she whipped her head around in response. Standing there was Roy, strong brow furrowed, glaring at the busy road in front of them as if it owed him money.
He noticed her staring at him expectantly, "what?"
"You okay?" She had not seen him since he stormed off the stage after the auction.
"Wonderful," he spat sarcastically. "Spent the evening with my nemesis, became a pawn in some game between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle fuckin' Dickhead and now I've got a date with a woman as old as my nan."
"Well, Keeley said you've only got to slip her a finger or two, right? Nothing too romantic," Alex joked, the crude joke slipped from her lips with an ease that would have surprised a more sober Alex. Roy glared at her and she flashed him a winning smile. She looked down at her phone, her Uber was fifteen minutes away. "What are you doing right now?"
Roy looked around at the emptying sidewalk and then back at her, "I've got a dentist appointment in an hour but otherwise…"Alex scoffed and rolled her eyes, impulsively, she canceled the ride on her phone.
"Let's go get a drink."
"What, now?"
"Yes, now! You've had a shit night. My feet are sore. Let's go get a drink and complain about it." She smiled in a way that made Roy respond in kind. He nodded and the two of them began a short walk down the street to the closest bar.
"So, the famous Roy Kent, your drink of choice…" Alex turned to him after ordering her own rum and coke.
"Whiskey. Neat." Roy ordered to the bartender, who nodded and turned to fix the drink.
"Predictable."
"Predictable?" Roy laughed.
"Yes. You are straightforward. No frills. No nonsense."
"That's not wrong," He wasn't sure how much he liked being transparent to her.
"Exactly," she smiled, slipping her card over to the bartender in exchange for her drink.
"I've got it," Roy began to reach for his own wallet, flustered at the idea of Alex spending money on him.
"No," Alex reached over and put her hand over the hand wrapped around his wallet. "I insist." She pushed the card further toward the bartender and nodded. He walked off to complete the transaction. Alex turned to him, taking her drink up in her hand and stirring it with her straw. "Besides, a struggling football player like yourself shouldn't be throwing away his hard earned money so freely." Roy chuckled, ignoring the light feeling he had felt when her hand rested on his.
"Next one is mine." He insisted, she rolled her eyes.
"Ever the gentleman." Alex responded, "how am I supposed to get you to sleep with me if I'm not the one paying up all night?" Roy choked on the whiskey that he was sipping. The burn caused a small coughing fit, to which Alex responded by throwing her head back and laughing. Roy rolled his eyes as he struggled to breathe. As her laughter subsided, Roy watched as she chewed the inside of her lip, watching him intently.
"I'm afraid I'm spoken for. Should've joined the bidding war earlier if you were that interested," he challenged, after getting his footing in the conversation again.
Alex nodded, conceding, "I'm not sure my bank account could have out bid that woman. She was on a war path." Roy chuckled and nodded, "the plight of the successful athlete, I'm sure. You've got them lining up around the block." She nudged him playfully with her foot.
"I've got quite the track record for picking them," Roy assured her, thinking back to his long line of short-term, unsuccessful, and highly publicized relationships. "I'm a PR nightmare when it comes to relationships, I admit." He explained, wondering how the conversation got to where it was.
"I can imagine it's hard to navigate. Lots of desirable women with less than desirable intentions," Alex empathized.
"That's one way to describe it. Great sex and then rob me blind before the sun comes up is another way," he lifted his drink to attention and then downed the rest, enjoying the burn in his throat and the warmth in his belly. The pleasant static in his head of intoxication had decreased some of the tension he had felt when he left the gala. For that, he was thankful.
When Alex pulled up to the clubhouse the next morning, she was glaringly aware of the amount of alcohol she had enjoyed the night before. The gap between her head hitting her pillow and the echo of her alarm going off earlier that morning had not been wide enough. She hoped that it was not present on her face. Though it may have been in her outfit, since she had claimed today a dress down day to match her energy level. Looping her bag over her shoulder and tucking her keys and mobile inside, she started for the door.
"Do you feel like shit boiled over?" Keeley's voice caused Alex to wheel around with a start. She was in a typical tracksuit, hair neatly done, sunglasses larger than half of her face. Alex smiled and nodded in response.
"Where did you end up last night?"
"Dumping Jamie and getting wrecked with Rebecca on a rickshaw," she responded in a very matter of fact tone. The visual alone made Alex's eyes widen.
"How are you doing?" The question was genuine. Alex had initially begun to offer sympathy for the end of the relationship, but considering how much she liked Keeley and struggled to stomach Jamie, she could not have said that with any authenticity.
"Fine." And Keeley did seem it, "I think I'm done with footballers for a while."
"I could imagine that getting quite tiresome."
"How did your night end up?" She moved past any consideration of her breakup and raised an eyebrow at her. "I saw you disappearing down the street with Roy."
The suggestion behind her tone made Alex chuckle, "yes. We grabbed a drink and processed the evening. I had to give him a few tips on how to keep his upcoming date occupied."
The two started towards the doors, "Date?" Keeley questioned.
"Yeah," Alex opened and held the door for her, "the lovely woman who outbid you last night?"
Keeley nodded with an, "oh." Alex furrowed a brow at her. "I thought you meant yourself."
"Yes," Alex responded, quieting her voice as they neared the locker room. "My date with Roy Kent."
Keeley followed Alex into her office. She hung her bag on the hook she had handily placed on the wall. Unzipping her jacket, she turned to her chair to hang it over the back. Sitting in the middle of her desk was a to-go cup of what she assumed to be coffee. Cocking a brow, she reached down to take up the cup in her hands. She looked for any indication as to who it may have belonged to and then looked to Keeley in confusion. Behind Keeley in the doorway, Roy walked past, an identical cup held in his own hand. He made eye contact with Alex, nodded in acknowledgement, and continued on, taking a sip from the cup.
Keeley, who had watched the entire exchange with a sly smirk, looked at Alex definitively and whispered, "yeah. Your date with Roy Kent."