Chapter 28
CLAY
“These fucking shoes.” Atlas snaps another pair of laces. “Defective pieces of shit.”
He hurls a shoe across the room, Rookie ducking in time to miss getting hit in the head.
Our big guy rarely loses his cool, but he’s not the only one spinning out in his own way.
Jay’s got headphones over his ears, running through what’s about to happen in his mind.
Even Miles is silent, facing the lockers as he pulls on his game jersey.
There’s no Kyle. He’s been avoiding here since his injury.
The mood in the locker room is heavy.
This is the moment we could lose everything.
I could lose everything.
Atlas snaps another pair of laces and winds up.
I lift a hand. “You hit my head, I will take yours off.”
Rookie snorts, and Atlas grunts at him.
I take a breath and think of therapy and things Nova and I talked about. What she said to me ahead of this game meant more than I could express.
I opened the journal she gave me and wrote in it for hours.
The things I want.
The ones I’m afraid of.
My gaze falls on Rookie’s backpack, a torn bag from high school he insists on carrying around even now.
“I get that this series isn’t what we wanted,” I say, and the guys look up. “But it’s a playoff series. Tell me every moment in your life, as a kid, you weren’t wishing for this.” I pace the room, rubbing my hands together. The tattoos on my skin twine into one another.
Jay tugs off his headphones, listening.
I pause in front of Miles. “You didn’t think it’d come easy, did you?”
“This supposed to be motivating?” Rookie demands, slumping back against his locker.
I go to him next, stopping between his spread feet. “Where would you rather be? I mean it. Tell me where you’d rather be.”
He closes his eyes. “I’d rather have won the championship.”
“I get that you’re tired. That you’ve already worked harder this year than you ever worked. It’s not over.”
Next up is Atlas.
“I’m not telling you that because I think I’m better. I’m telling you because…” I huff out a breath and rub both hands over my face. “Because I’ve been to the other side of the mountain… and there was nothing there.”
I have their attention now.
“Two years ago, I would’ve told you all I wanted was the ring.
I wanted to be MJ. To be Kobe. To live forever.
Well, glory is cheap. Hearing your name on the wind rings hollow after a while, especially when you realize you don’t even know the people saying it.
” I cross to Jay. “What matters is what you do. Every day. Who you do it with.”
I hold out a hand.
Jay stares at it, then takes it.
“Let’s make it fucking happen,” he grunts.
I pull him up. He puts his hand in and motions the other guys over. One by one, they appear.
“Kodiaks on three. One, two, three, KODIAKS!”
The low holler goes up.
“Not fucking good enough,” Miles bellows.
“KODIAKS!!!”
This time, it’s loud enough to vibrate through the room.
My chest expands, adrenaline pumping through my veins.
We’re already doing something great. I appreciate every time I get to set foot on the court with these guys. But if every guy in here pulls his weight, scrapes the bottom of his ability and effort… we have a chance at something unprecedented.
The guys are dialed in, and I am too. I will push aside every doubt in my head for this team.
Even if a piece of my heart is missing.
Security appears in the doorway and nods to me. “Someone’s here to see you.”
What the…? I cross to him and peer out into the hallway.
Pink hair. Bright eyes. Full lips.
Nova fills my vision like a mirage, wearing my jersey and a denim skirt, her hair down in waves around her shoulders.
“I took a commercial flight back,” she says breathlessly.
“I had to be here for this game. I had to see you in person, to let you know how much I love you and believe in you. Miles might make the jokes, and Rookie brings the moves, and Jay has the eyes, but you’re the heart of it.
This team isn’t the same without you. I had to say that because watching until four in the morning in France wasn’t ideal. ”
“You watched the last game live?”
“I watched every game live.”
I didn’t know how much I’d needed her until this moment. The woman who completes me. She chose us over everything.
“You make me work, Nova. I didn’t make sense. I still don’t, but it’s better with you here.” I reach a hand around her neck to pull her up to me, but she makes a noise of protest.
Nova pulls something out of her bag. “I told you I’d bring you something from Paris.”
It’s a banner painted with bears, all of my teammates’ names under it.
“No Kyle?” I notice.
“He’s the little one in the distance.”
I kiss her hard, savoring the taste of her, the feel of her in my arms as her soft body presses against mine. She kisses me back, pressing up to wrap her arms around my back, the banner tickling my shoulders.
The guys jog out of the locker room toward the court, Miles whistling our way.
“Get off our boy, Nova! We need him for the next four quarters. After that, he’s all yours.”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your big speech in there,” she murmurs to me. I link our hands and start after the guys toward the floor, not ready to let her go. “It sounded really good.”
“Oh yeah?”
She grins, both of us stopping as we reach the end of the hallway that spills out into the vast arena packed with shouting fans.
“The guys are lucky to have you. If you get tired of basketball, you could have a career in motivational speaking.”
“You too. For now, I’ll stick with basketball.”