24. Ben #2
Sawyer and Darian are singing, Jamal and Enzo are in obvious shock over our win, and Jimmy’s just sitting on the bench, a towel wrapped around his shoulders as he stares up at the ceiling.
“Good job, man.” I take a seat beside him. “You played like a fucking boss tonight.”
“Yeah.” His laughter sounds forced, and I turn to find out what the problem is but get interrupted by Coach.
“I have an announcement to make.” Raising his hands, it takes him a few tries, but he eventually gets us all to quiet down.
“Congratulations. I really wanted that win tonight.” His smile is sad as his gaze travels across each of us.
“That was my last game, and it feels really good to go out on a win.”
“What?” Darian pushes off the locker he was leaning against.
“Yeah, I’m, uh… retiring.” Coach clears his throat. “Health reasons. It’s all come on quite suddenly. I thought I’d have more time, but…” He shrugs. “Yeah, so… uh… Assistant Coach Mahoney is going to step up.” He turns to point at the young coach, who gives us a twitchy smile.
My eyebrows wrinkle.
Mahoney? I don’t even know if I’ve heard the guy speak before.
“The school might look for a new head coach. I’m not sure. For now, Coach Mahoney will take charge with Coach Stalbeck assisting him.”
I scan the room for our second assistant coach, but he’s not even here.
What the fuck? Why is this happening?
“Coach, what’s up? Are you sick?” Adonis asks.
Pausing for a beat, Coach eventually nods. “Yeah, been on and off for about a year now. Thought I’d beaten it. Felt pretty good over the summer, but I found out yesterday that it’s back, and it’s pretty aggressive.”
“Cancer,” I murmur softly, but everyone still seems to hear.
Coach bobs his head again. “They’ve given me a few months, and I want to spend that time with my family. Hate to let you boys down, but like I said… the assistant coaches will step up, and you know… maybe they’ll find someone new. I’m not sure. But I am sure that you’ll be just fine.”
The sobering silence that follows indicates that we’ll be anything but fine.
Coach clears his throat. “So yeah, I just wanted to thank you boys for playing so great tonight. It’s really awesome to go out on a win like this.
I know you’ve had a tough couple of seasons, but I’m sure you can turn this thing around.
” He gives us a double thumbs-up but looks as though he’s about to start bawling.
Quickly turning, he bolts from the room, and I slump back against the wall, kind of reeling over this sudden news.
“Fuck,” Darian finally mutters into the silence.
He gets no response. It’s like we’ve all lost the ability to talk.
Jamal’s the first to move. He slams the locker shut, grabs his bag, and starts heading for the bus. And we all follow suit. The ride back is painfully quiet, and by the time we arrive, I can tell we’re sitting on a powder keg. I don’t know who’s going to blow first. Probably Mac.
“I need to get drunk,” Darian mutters.
The unsettled look on his face has me thinking I might need to follow the guy wherever he’s going.
Shit, it’s like our win didn’t even happen.
How do you celebrate when you’ve just found out your coach is mere months away from dying?
“Let’s hit up Offside,” Sawyer suggests as the rest of the team disperses. We all agree, heading for the sports bar on foot.
It takes us about fifteen minutes to walk there, and we don’t say much along the way.
Shit. This sucks.
“Do you think they’ll find us a new head coach?” Sawyer finally asks the question we’ve all been thinking when we take a seat at a table.
I run my thumb up my beer bottle and shrug.
Mac scoffs. “Who the fuck knows. If they do, it’ll be some jackass who used to be a high school coach or someone who’s never coached a team before. It’s not like they can get any decent guys here. We suck.”
“Not tonight,” I softly argue. “Tonight, we won.”
“Tonight was a fucking miracle,” Mac mutters, shaking his head and looking antsy. Eyeing up the room, he spots a group of girls around the pool table and smirks. “Later, guys.”
I roll my eyes, and we all turn to watch him approach the one who looks most like a princess.
Mac seems to have a type, and I can’t figure it out.
He’s definitely not after a woman of any substance, that’s for sure.
I actually heard him say once that he likes them rich and clueless. Apparently, they’re more fun.
Shaking my head, I spin away from him and focus on my beer.
“I’m hitting up the dance floor.” Sawyer sighs, sliding off his stool like he doesn’t really want to dance, but he’ll do pretty much anything not to dwell on what we just found out.
Darian slugs back his beer, then follows him, leaving just me and Jimmy at the table.
He gives me an awkward smile, then stands. “Actually, I’m gonna bail. I’ve got some studying to do.”
“On a game night?”
He gives me a helpless shrug and slips away.
And now it’s just me, watching my teammates flirt with girls while I try to remind myself what my goals are for the year.
Ace my classes.
Have fun playing basketball.
And… no women.
I sigh, pulling out my phone and checking the screen. I have no new messages, yet I find myself wanting to send one.
To Jolie.
I want to tell her about our win.
I want to tell her about Coach.
Shit, I just want to talk to her.
Which is dangerous. I shouldn’t want that, just like I shouldn’t be texting her to tell her that I’m free on Wednesday night and ask if she’d like me to book a room.
I shouldn’t be doing any of that shit.
But there are the words on my screen, and there I go pressing Send and waiting for her reply.
It doesn’t take long for those gray dots to appear.
Jolie: I’ll be there. Thank you so much!
She adds in a few smiling emojis, and I can’t help a soft laugh.
The second that sound pops out of my mouth, I slap my phone down and berate myself.
It’s just a tutoring session, man. That’s it. Make her come again and then be done with it. She can take care of herself after that. Or some other guy can. Because it’s not like she’s into you specifically. She wants you to help her with the sex thing so she can be confident with someone else.
My stomach curdles and I scowl down at my beer, snatching the bottle and downing the whole thing before jumping off the bar stool and heading back to the house.
I need to get my head on straight.
And no matter what, this session with Jolie needs to be the last one.