Chapter 20
CLAY
I wake to the sun coming in the gap at the bottom of my curtains.
In a dark wave, it all comes rushing back.
Coach’s accident.
Pacing the hospital for hours.
Him hooked up to machines, silent and lifeless.
Cutting through the darkness, Nova driving me home.
She’s next to me, her skin warm and soft.
She’s my strength.
When I was drowning, it was her face that appeared over me.
She let me hold her for fucking hours, slept next to me while I tossed and turned.
I love her.
Thoroughly and fucking completely.
The realization isn’t a lightning bolt but a steady truth, one that’s been humming in my veins for longer than I knew.
My phone buzzes on the bedside table. I exhale when I see the caller ID. I shift out of bed and pull on gray sweatpants, taking the phone to the other room so I don’t wake Nova.
“Yeah,” I answer as I pull the door shut after me.
Harlan’s voice comes down the line. “Wade. I’ve talked with James, and we want you to address the team.”
“Why not Jayden?”
“We want Coach to have privacy at this time. Chloe’s issuing a statement to say that he’s out for personal reasons,” he goes on as though I didn’t ask. “But first, you need to talk to them.”
“And say what? They were there.”
“That our lead assistant coach will be taking over as head coach. Indefinitely.”
I stiffen. “Why not acting?” He doesn’t answer. “Whose fucking idea was this? Yours or James'?”
“It was mutual.”
“Bullshit.” I hear the truth in his voice. Parker gets off on moving pieces around, looking like a big boy. This is him doing that. “Coach will be back. It could be today.”
“I need you to put the team first right now.”
Nova comes out of the bedroom, my T-shirt clinging to her curves and ending at her knees.
She cocks her head.
"Harlan," I mouth.
Her lips press together.
Yeah, this situation isn’t resolved, but I need to resolve it.
She heads for the washroom, the door clicking behind her.
“Is that Nova?” Harlan asks. A lucky guess.
“Yeah, it is.” My grip tightens on the phone. “Make no mistake, I want her in my life, and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make that happen. If you’ve got a problem with her or me or us, you can tell me right the fuck now. Because this is a fight you’re going to lose.”
Harlan exhales. “Not today.”
I cross my living room and hit the blinds. The morning sun is exposed an inch at a time.
“We need to talk about LA,” he says.
The light at the end of the tunnel.
The reason for every decision I made this past year.
“Not today.” I echo his words before clicking off.
Nova emerges, her face bright as if she just washed it and her hair pulled up into a pink knot on her head. Blue eyes search mine as she crosses the carpet to me.
“Any news?” she asks.
I cross to her and wrap an arm around her waist to tug her against me. “Just that the assistant coach is taking over.”
“That makes sense.” She tips her face back to hold my eyes.
“Only if Coach isn’t coming back from this. Parker couldn’t wait an entire news cycle.” The tightness in my chest is back.
But Nova shakes her head. “Harlan thinks this team is more than any one person. Coach knows that too. Everyone’s trying to do the best they can.”
I frown, leaning my forehead against hers. “You always think about other people.”
“It’s not that hard,” she murmurs, her lips curving.
“Sometimes it is. When you’ve lived your life thinking it’s you against the world, it is.”
Her eyes soften as she looks up at me.
“I heard what you said to Harlan about us,” she says.
My breath catches. “And?”
“I liked it.”
The knot in my chest loosens a bit. “I meant it. I know I’m really fucking good at basketball, but when it comes to being a good boyfriend…I guess I’m starting from zero.”
“Possibly less than zero, after what you and Harlan did,” she points out, but her lips twitch.
“The fact you’re still here mean you’ve forgiven me?” I suggest.
She pulls back an inch, suspicious. “I didn’t say that.”
I lift her off her feet and toss her over my shoulder.
She screeches, grabbing my shoulders for balance. “I need to go to work!”
“Guess what, Nova? It’s Saturday, and it’s been a rough week. My girl just told me I need to do better. So I’m going to practice.”
“Wait!”
“Wasn’t a request.”
I lock my arm around the backs of her thighs and stalk toward my bedroom. She squirms but gives up the moment I drag up the shirt and bury my face between those thighs.
For hours, I forget all the bad shit.