bet on it - odell beckham jr.

chapter three

"listen." her voice softens. "there's a reason why he hired you, he must of saw potential. frequently mr. ellis called all the staff in for a meeting, and he was livid with having the need to hire new moms."

i swallow hard, my heartbeat thundering in my ears. "how many have been fired so far?"

her eyes roll up to the ceiling, counting on her fingers. "nine, no. ten."

"you're kidding."

iris nods, her lips pursed. "yeah, that's about right."

☯︎

"your staff pass, ira."

mr. ellis hands me a badge which sports a picture of my smiling face. keep in mind, this picture was snapped before i knew the full extent of my job, so i was literally glowing.

"this needs to be around your neck at all times, when we are here or at any away games. the pass will open up any doors for you, unlike away stadiums, you will be given a pass upon arrival."

i nod my head, still shocked over the full job description iris gave me. and after digging a little deeper into my contract it turns out i'm more of what is expected. but, if i'm being honest here, i would of taken the job anyway, regardless of the conditions. it got me out of porn city and the pay is huge. now i know why.

"so, you've seen your office and you've got your badge, the last thing to do is to introduce you to the guys."

now, this was what i was afraid of.

i followed him out of his office, into an elevator and to the basement of the stadium—an all concrete bunker—before he leads me down a dimly lit hallway.

"locker room." he points to a set of double doors, with of course, badge only access. "swipe your card to see if it works." he nods at me.

i swipe my smiling face along the keypad, and hear the click of a lock. the door moves open a crack, with the help of mr. ellis pushing it the rest of the way so we could both walk through. the lights are bright, the floor is carpeted and it's nicely decorated.

"that door over there?" he gestures to the one along the hallway. "that's the sauna. the door at the very end is the hot tub area, and on the other side of the hallway is the gym and indoor field."

"wow." it's beautiful. no, it really is. although i should expect this, these guys are professional athletes. of course this area had to be the top of the line. silly me.

he pauses at the locker room door, peeking his head inside. "everyone decent in here?"

there's a pause, where i imagine all of them are throwing their clothes on before a collective, 'yeah' was heard. i follow behind him, my legs beginning to shake in my heels but i put on my best bitch face.

i may not be qualified for this job, but i can be mean when i need to be. and there is nothing these guys could throw at me that i can't handle. a lie, but i'm gonna try my hardest.

"gentleman." mr. ellis announces, as he steps into the center of the locker room. i take a couple of steps inside until i am standing next to him and survey the scene in front of me.

i inhale sharply as i let my eyes travel around the room. to be sure with myself, not every single guy appealed to me in this locker room, but i can tell you that some of these players are carved by greek goddesses. plus, not one of them were fully dressed.

at least eight of them have white towels wrapped around their waists from just having stepped out of the shower, another fifteen or so are sitting or standing in the room only just wearing shorts, and not one person had a top on.

"i want to introduce you to ira-reice copeland. she has been hired to be your new manager of media. as you know from previous experiences, she will be working directly with you, gentleman. i expect you all to be on your best behaviour, and give her a nice new york welcome."

several of them murmur my name, while i roughly feel thirty sets of eyes stare back at me. mr. ellis steps to the side, and sticks his hand out to motion at me.

i smile in his direction as he turns to leave, and divert my attention to the naked muscles which stand in front of me, careful to not look at them too long in the eye. no way can i get flustered on my first day, i need to maintain the image of a ballbuster.

don't show weakness. iris's words circle around in my head, as i force my face to be expressionless.

but, dear lord. some of these men are hot, like ridiculously good-looking with their ripped bodies on display. now i understand where cara was coming from, it's clearly impossible to look around this room and not think of dirty thoughts.

"i look forward to working with all of you, but please call me ira."

"ira." i hear muttered again after me, as one of them steps forward. my heart begins to pound as i recognise him, forcing the surprise to not show on my face.

odell beckham jr, one of the men that was only dressed in a towel, steps forwards and holds out his hand. beads of water drip down from his dyed blonde coils, the water slowly travelling down the rest of his body.

he looked incredibly strong. every muscle in his tattooed chest is firmly outlined, one bicep strained from holding his towel at his abdomen, leading down to a v-line ending where the towel meets his skin. of course i would of recognised him, the majority of men in this room are pretty famous.

despite my internal fight, his hotness makes my breath catch. hot isn't even the right word, just doesn't seem up to standard.

he is gorgeous. breathtakingly beautiful. in a way that should be a crime. his skin complexion suited him perfectly, his eyes are a brilliant brown, and his hair looks like the perfect place to grab onto whilst he's giving me–

i take his hand and shake it firmly, slipping it away from him before he had the chance to kiss it with his pink lips. he raises up his arm the tiniest bit, causing his towel to drop to the floor.

a wicked smirk develops on his lips and he makes no moves in retrieving his towel. clearing my throat and swallowing a few times, i clasp my hands behind my back. "odell, nice to meet you." instead of my voice projecting out loud like i wanted it too, my sentence came out in more of a whisper.

"i'm sorry, what was that?" he manoeuvres closer to me, and i feel his manlyhood brush up against my thigh. my eyes widen at the impact, swallowing hard.

i take a step back as i'm sure my face is beet red. "nice to meet you all." i announce curtly, before spinning on one heel and heading for the exit. i've already embarrassed myself enough.

laughter erupts behind me, as i bolt for the safety that lies on the other side of the locker door.