“What else am I supposed to believe?” His voice sounded desperate and frustrated.
“I don’t know, but I do know that I got a text today from someone that read, ‘it’s no fun when the rabbit’s got the gun.’ My only thought was that someone’s coming after me, but I can’t tell you why.”
“Gahdamn!” he shouted.
“Listen, we can meet to discuss this and come up with a plan of attack. I’m on your side, Ashton. I swear I am.”
“Why should I trust you? I didn’t have these problems until I agreed to talk to you.”
“Honey, you had problems long before me. You were just good at keeping it under wraps. Now do you want to meet with me and come up with a plan of attack or not?”
I could hear him exhale loudly before he agreed. “Fine. Shoot me your address. I can roll through in a couple of hours.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah. Bye.”
My heart thudded loudly in my chest before I hopped off the bed and returned to the living room. I formulated an excuse to get rid of my girls before he arrived. I wanted them gone at least an hour before he arrived to avoid him bumping into them or me trying to explain something to them that I couldn’t.
The shot clockwas counting down, and the arena was humming with anticipation and high energy. “Defense! Defense! Defense!” the crowd chanted.
I dribbled the ball as I was going to the hole, and Cougar’s shooting guard, Jerrol Miller, tried to check me. I faked to the right and went left around our point guard, Wade Glory, to set the pick. Cougar’s point guard, Ayden Stenhouse, peeled off to pick me up.
With three seconds left on the clock before halftime, I had to get the ball out of my hand. I saw Stenhouse trying to maneuver in front of me. I jumped up to make a quick shot in hopes that I would prevent a collision and get the bucket off. As I released the ball, Stenhouse and I collided.
The whistle pierced the air, and we turned to look at the ref. “Charge! Offensive foul. Seventeen!” The ref shouted and pointed at me.
“Come on, ref! Who payroll you on?” I shouted.
The referee teed me up and shouted, “Technical foul, seventeen, unsportsmanlike conduct!”
Grumbling, I headed to the locker room for our halftime break with the rest of the team. Before he instructed us on our next play, Coach Jesse immediately ripped into me. “Santoro, what was that all about? I can’t have you losing your head right now. We can’t afford unnecessary techs. We’re already down by seven at the half.”
Alex, who sat opposite me, looked up and muttered, “Still blaming other people for your mistakes.”
All I saw was black. I reacted before I could think. My ass was off the bench, and my feet were in the air. I went straight into his mouth and then clocked him in the side of the head as we flew over the bench. Playing on a moving filmstrip in my mind were images of Zoe riding Alex, kissing him, and all the intimate situations they could have possibly derived. Rage turned me into a beast, unable to feel the blows he was throwing back. It was mere seconds before someone pulled me off him, and Coach and Marc Anderson jumped between the two of us.
“Get the fuck off me!” I shouted, pulling away from Owen Divine and Christian Bourne who grabbed me.
“In my office. Now!” Coach shouted and pointed at me. Glory and Falls pulled away from Curry, who they were holding, and waved me toward the office.
“Come on, man,” Glory stated as Coach shouted at Alex.
“Dress out. You’re out of here now, Curry!” Coach shouted at Alex.
“Coach, for real?” Alex asked.
“Shit like that will tear this whole team apart,” Coach declared to Alex as I grabbed my bags to head to the office.
“What about getting unnecessary technical fouls? That’s good for the team?” Alex asked.
“Oh, we know all about unnecessary technical fouls, don’t we?” Coach demanded. “Get out! Get out my locker room now!” he thundered.
I headed to Coach’s office with him hot on my heels.
“This is where we at? You just gon’ throw it all away? Last season. Four-time MVP. You supposed to be giving it all you got. You just gon’ throw it all away,” Coach repeated, walking and shaking his head at me.
“Coach, you know what this is.”
