DaVinci’s attention was laser-focused on me now, and I wanted to disappear and never return.
“What number jersey?”
I could lie. I should lie.
“Fifteen,” I mumbled.
Why did I answer that?
“My championship number,” he said, rubbing his beard again like he’d just figured out a puzzle. It must have been his thing. “That tells me everything I need to know.”
And it wasn’t just a number, and we both knew it. He’d worn eleven his whole life, right up until the night somebody stole his jersey before the championship game. He grabbed fifteen off the rack just to make tip-off. Only real fans remembered that part. They remembered what came after too, the way he turned a whole accident into a career-defining night. He did his big one that game, played through the final buzzer, and handed the Colorado Pinnacles their first championship in years.
I know I looked crazy because I was putting it together in real time. The season before was when he hurt his knee. That injury was clearly how he met Malik. The world was either small, or this was starting to feel like fate tapping me on the shoulder.
His voice lowered, and I felt it everywhere.
“You got a week.”
My brain short-circuited. “A week for what exactly?”
“To clean up whatever situation you’ve got going on. When I come back from my away game, I’m coming for you. Don’t try me, Angel.”
Angel? Was he talking about Josh?
My cheeks flushed hot despite my best efforts. Because the warning did something to me that I absolutely could not process right now.
“Attention, everyone!” Samaj’s voice cut through the tension, saving me from having to respond.
Thank God.
As people moved toward the ribbon cutting, I tried to steady my breathing.
DaVinci Bryns had just put me on notice. In front of my friends. In front of everyone. I wanted him to follow through.
???
The ceremony was beautiful. Malik and Sametra cut the ribbon together, surrounded by family, their love so obvious it put a knot in me. I clapped and smiled and tried to be present, but I could feel eyes on me.
His eyes.
When everyone started flowing into the building to tour the space, I slipped away from the crowd.
I found a quiet hallway near the back offices, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes.
Get it together, Halo.
“You thought I was gone.”
My eyes snapped open.
DaVinci stood at the end of the hallway, hands in his pockets, looking at me like a snack he wanted to nibble on. He walked closer; those long legs made him appear in front of me faster than my mind could catch up. Too close, but not close enough. Not like before. I rolled my eyes. This was too much.
“Avoiding me?” he asked.
“We just met. How can I be avoiding you?”
“We didn’t just meet, Halo.” His tone dipped into something I felt more than I heard. “I remember a fire. And getting assaulted in front of said fire. You’ve been on my mind ever since. But you know that, don’t you?”
