THE GOLDEN BOY’S FALLEN GIRL

Azrielle's POV

The camera shutter clicked right in my face, the bright flash made me blink hard, but I kept my smile in place as I stood right next to Declan Kingsley while the reporters shouted their questions all at once from behind the barricades.

We were standing in the main lobby of the university sports complex, this was supposed to be a simple interview for the campus magazine, but ever since management assigned me to shadow him for a whole month before the professional league draft, every single media outlet in the state had been following us around like hawks.

"Declan, over here," a photographer yelled, waving his arm wildly, Declan didn't even flinch, he just shifted his weight and put his hand lightly on the small of my back, sending a warm rush straight through my sweater while he flashed that perfect, effortless smile that made half the country fall in love with him.

"Just a few more minutes, Azrielle, then we can get out of here," Declan murmured out of the side of his mouth, his voice so low that only I could hear it over the noise of the crowd, I just nodded my head while looking straight ahead at the lenses.

The public thought I was just some lucky college journalist getting the scoop of a lifetime, or worse, they thought I was trying to climb my way into the inner circle of hockey’s golden prince by using my position as editor-in-chief, but they didn't know anything about what happened when the cameras turned off and the doors closed.

Once we finally broke away from the press and walked down the quiet, long hallway that led straight to the private athlete lounge, Declan let out a long breath and pulled his hand away, though he stayed close enough that our shoulders brushed with every step we took.

He opened the heavy door for me, and we walked into the room, which just had a couple of leather couches, a large television on the wall, a plain wooden table in the corner where his agent usually left his schedules.

"I hate how they crowd you like that," Declan said, running a hand through his thick hair as he turned around to face me, his eyes looked so intense and worried that I couldn't help but step closer to him.

"It's fine, Declan, I knew what I was getting into when I accepted the assignment to shadow you for the month," I replied, sitting down on the edge of the couch while he remained standing right in front of me, his tall frame blocking out the light from the window.

"It's not fine because they are starting to print rumors about us, and I don't want them calling you names or chasing you down the street when you're just trying to do your job," he said, as he dropped down next to me on the cushions, taking my hand in his and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles in that gentle way that always made my heart race.

"They only print rumors because we are always together, we haven't told anyone the truth yet," I whispered, looking down at our joined hands because it was hard to say it out loud, we had been secretly dating for weeks now, hiding in empty classrooms and having late-night phone calls because his manager said any distraction right before the draft could ruin his ranking.

"I know, and I promise you that the second the draft is over next week, I am telling the whole world that you are my girlfriend," Declan said, his voice completely serious as he lifted my chin with his fingers so I had to look right into his eyes, and he smiled softly before adding, "I don't want to hide you anymore, Azrielle, you just have to trust me for a little bit longer."

"I do trust you," I said, and I really meant it because he had never given me a reason to doubt him, when he leaned in to press a soft kiss against my forehead, I felt completely safe, believing that we just had to survive seven more days of silence before everything could be out in the open.

My phone vibrated violently against my thigh, breaking the quiet moment, I pulled it out of my pocket while Declan watched me, his brows furrowing together when he saw how pale my face went the exact second the screen lit up with twenty different notifications from the university gossip page.

"What is it?" Declan asked, reaching out to touch my arm, but I couldn't even answer him because my fingers were shaking as I tapped on the link that everyone was sharing, my heart dropped straight into my stomach when the page loaded.

There were three photos posted on the main grid, and they weren't the professional ones taken by the campus photographers, they were blurry, intimate pictures taken through the glass window of my apartment kitchen from three nights ago, showing Declan with his arms wrapped tightly around my waist while his lips were pressed against my neck, the caption underneath read that the campus editor was using her body to get exclusive access to the golden boy.

"Oh my god," I choked out, handing the phone over to him, Declan snatched it out of my grip, his face turning completely white as he stared at the screen while the comment section filled up with hundreds of angry messages from hockey fans accusing me of ruining his career before it even started.

"How did anyone get these?" Declan muttered, his jaw clenching so hard that a vein popped out on his forehead, he stood up quickly, pacing across the room towards the table while his own phone started ringing loudly with a call from his head coach.

"Declan, my editor position, the board is going to fire me if they think I'm trading favors for stories," I said, my voice rising in panic as I stood up too, but before he could even answer his ringing phone, the lounge door burst open his main sports agent walked in with a furious expression on his face.

"Look at this mess," the agent shouted, holding up his own tablet pointing at the screen while looking directly at me with pure disgust, he turned to Declan, saying, "The national sponsors are already calling, they are threatening to pull their multi-million dollar deals if this scandal drops your draft value, you need to cut ties with this girl right now and tell the public she leaked those photos for fame."

"She didn't leak anything, shut up and let me think," Declan barked back, stepping right between me and his agent to protect me, but the look of pure panic in his eyes told me that everything we had built was crashing down around us in a matter of minutes.

The agent walked out to answer another call, slamming the door behind him, while Declan turned back around to face me, grabbing both of my hands tightly while his breathing came out fast and uneven.

"Azrielle, listen to me carefully, I need you to trust me right now and give me just twenty-four hours to handle this with the public relations team," Declan said, his grip tightening on my fingers as he looked down at me with absolute desperation, and he added, "Give me twenty-four hours, I promise I will fix everything."

"Okay, I will wait," I whispered, nodding my head because I loved him and I had no other choice, so I went back to my apartment and spent the entire night watching the internet tear my reputation to shreds while I waited for his call.

The sun was just starting to come up the next morning when I finally turned on the television in my living room to clear the silence, the screen instantly flashed with a bright red breaking news banner across the bottom while a reporter stood outside the corporate headquarters downtown.

The news anchor looked directly into the camera and announced, "We are coming to you live because hockey superstar Declan Kingsley is about to hold an emergency press conference to address the devastating scandal involving his university reporter.”