Page 51 of Mutual Discord

I swallowed and gave him a swift nod. Eventually, I managed a shaky smile…but only because I wouldn’t be facing this pending nightmare alone.

Chapter Fourteen

“I think the best thing for you to do is to reply to one of the comments tagging you in the video”—Alex held up a finger, his expression emphatic—“saying something simple, like ‘Wasn’t the game amazing? I was lucky to be there to watch it.’ Or something like that.”

Alex and I sat in a small office next to the locker room, where the Scorpions players were hooting and hollering after their win over the Pumas. He’d pulled two chairs up to the desk, and he sat next to me now, our knees touching, as we each read through the various comments on the Scorpions video featuring Alex’s lip-syncing. Several users had remarked on my appearance at the game, but thankfully, most comments revolved around Alex and his good looks. That fact alone eased some of the tension from my shoulders.

“So you think one comment will do the trick?” I asked, nibbling the inside of my cheek.

“I do.” Alex looked up from his phone to meet my gaze. “You would be acknowledging you were here, but making the subject the game itself.”

“You’re right,” I murmured, nibbling on my bottom lip as I stared at my screen. “And if I acknowledge it here, I’m not going to respond to any of the comments people have left on my videos.”

“Exactly.” Alex flourished a palm. “You’re allowed to go out and exist in the world without explaining yourself to your followers.”

With a groan, I propped my elbows on the desk and covered my face with my hands. “This is all so stupid. I know I shouldn’t care about people knowing I was at the game. It’s not like me going to the game is a map to my house. It’s just…I’ve only been comfortable being on social media because there is still a measure of anonymity, you know?”

I looked up and found Alex staring at me with a pucker between his brows. “I know,” he whispered, carefully tucking a curl behind my ear. The gesture was so gentle it made my lungs stutter on a breath. “You strike me as someone who very much needs to maintain a level of control.”

“You make it sound like a bad thing,” I said with a sniff.

His chuckle was deep and husky. “Not a bad thing at all.”

Rolling my eyes, and ignoring his amused snort, my fingers flew across my screen as I wrote my reply. “How does this look?” I asked, holding out my phone to him.

“ ‘Omg, wasn’t it an amazing game? I’m in awe of the Scorpions…all hail women’s sports!’ ” Alex read aloud, nodding his head in approval. “I think it’s to the point and complimentary of the players. So it’s perfect.”

“ ‘Practically perfect in every way,’ ” I sing-songed Mary Poppins as I hit the post button. The likes started to pour in, and I breathed a sigh of relief when someone commented mentioning the game. “Thank you, Alex.”

He shrugged, swiping his app closed and locking his phone. “Helping you figure out how to respond was the least I could do, considering it was a goofy video about me that got you in this trouble. I didn’t even consider that you might be visible in the background.”

“I didn’t, either.” I picked at the corner of my phone case with my thumb. “It never even occurred to me that someone might recognize me in the background.”

“The downside of being a social media influencer,” Alex said. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back in his chair. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I dropped my gaze to the desktop. Alex continued to prove he could read my mood better than some of my closest friends. “I promise I’m okay. I was rattled. I hadn’t expected to be recognized, which I know seems stupid. With the size of my account, I should have figured it would happen sooner or later.”

He nodded but stayed silent. After a long moment, Alex pushed off his knees and stood. “Want to congratulate Natasha and Megan? You can meet some of the other players, too.”

“That would be awesome,” I said, my chest feeling infinitely lighter than it had just an hour earlier.

Alex and I spent the next thirty minutes chatting with the players before they went into the postgame news conference. A few of the women had already seen Alex’s now-viral video and teased him good-naturedly while I laughed along. Natasha introduced me to several players as her favorite TikToker, which made my whole face go hot. When I asked her if she’d be interested in doing a video with me on a female figure of her choosing, Natasha grabbed my arm and jumped up and down, squealing.

“Really? You’d do a video with me?” she said, grinning.

“Really,” I confirmed, before growing serious. Stepping closer to her, I whispered, “As long as you keep User Number guy’s identity on the down-low.”

Natasha’s dark eyes went wide before they darted across the room to where Alex was smiling as Steph and several players mimicked his singing skills. “I would never dox him. But knowing he’s User Number guy makes so much sense because Alex is a really good dude.”

“I agree,” I murmured, allowing my gaze to watch him a second longer than I had planned. When I glanced back at Natasha, she snorted softly. Ignoring her, I said, “Do you want to swap emails so we can plan our video?”

“Emails?” She made a rude noise. “Here’s my number.”

After exchanging contact information and promising to follow up, I said goodbye to Natasha and wandered over to Alex. He was standing in the doorway leading into the press conference room, and as I got closer, I realized he was taking notes on his phone.

“Hey,” I said quietly as I stopped at his side. “I think I should head out soon. I’m hoping traffic will have died down by this point.”

Alex spun on his heel, his hand immediately cupping my elbow. “Oh yeah, it’s late. Let me get a Lyft for you.”