“Of course,” Ivy said, her smile returning. “See ya in the stands!”
Sammie swore she saw hope in that smile, and it made the rocks settling in her stomach feel all the heavier.
Ten minutes later, Sammie was settling into her seat next to Kai.
“You’re drinking a light beer,” Kai observed, eyes flicking from his phone to the drink in her hand.
“Yep.” She took a long pull from her plastic cup.
“Wanna talk about it?” His eyes were still glued to his phone.
“Nope. Is my brother ready for tonight?”
Kai glanced up, finally meeting her gaze. “He’s pretty nervous.” Sammie nearly sighed with relief when he didn’t pry further about her questionable beverage choice. Kai looked out toward the court, where both teams were warming up on their respective sides of the net.
“He’ll be fine,” Sammie said, finding the number three on her brother’s jersey before she found his face in the crowd of players. He did look nervous, his charming smile pulled taught, his eyesscanning with precision as he set the ball for Bowen, who hit it with a fraction of the power he would once the game began. Atticus bounced on the balls of his feet afterward, shaking the pent up energy from his limbs.
“Kieran looks off.” Kai’s words had Sammie scanning the rest of the court, searching for familiar strawberry blonde curls.
Kieran stood at the side line close to the Cats’ bench, his expression vacant as he watched his team. Only his profile was visible to Sammie, but she could still make out the tension creeping along the line of his shoulders, the stiff way he held himself. Coach Rodriguez was next to him, chatting with his assistant and a woman Sammie vaguely remembered being introduced to as the team’s statistician. The coach sent the other two members of his staff away, turning toward Kieran, who seemed to be waiting. They exchanged some quick words, faces close.
Sammie couldn’t make out what was being said, but she could tell by the thin line of Coach Rodriguez’s lips and the sharp nod of his head that what Kieran was saying wasn’t good.
“Something’s wrong,” she said. Kai glanced back and forth between her and the conversation happening below them. He anxiously twirled a lock of his hair, the pink ends tumbling past his shoulders.
“Did something happen between the two of you?” His wide eyes were serious, a worry shining in them that Sammie had never seen directed toward her before.Forher. Even as her own anxiety swelled, the fact that she’d crept her way into Kai’s closed-off heart in any measure warmed her.
“Not anything bad.” Sammie’s cheeks heated even as relief softened Kai’s features. He smirked.
“But something did happen.”
Sammie shoved him gently with her shoulder. “He was fine when I saw him last night.” Her thoughts raced, searching for aclue, for anything she might have missed that would explain the tension gripping Kieran clear as day.
“Maybe it’s just game day nerves.” Kai pushed his shoulder back against Sammie’s, the gesture comforting. They watched as Coach patted Kieran on the back, sending him out onto the court with the rest of his teammates.
Sammie couldn’t shake the feeling that something more was off.
“Maybe.”
Three sets in, and Kieran was flagging.
Tension was high on the court. Both teams wanted the win, but the Sharks were playing like it was their final chance. Kieran guessed it sort of was. His team would have one more game after this, one more shot at the tourney, but the Sharks needed this win to secure their spot on the bracket. They were playing like they were hungry for it, ravenous, and each rally had them circling their prey.
Cats don’t do well in water.
Three sets in, and Kieran’s team had yet to take one. If they didn’t win this set, the game would be over. It was early in the third, though, and they’d just scored, a shocking spike from Atticus on the second touch.
Renji Sato was up as a pinch server for the Cats, and the start of play was signaled before Kieran had a chance to catch up. The ball was flying back toward their side of the net before he was ready, straight toward him. Kieran knew Carpenter wouldn’t get there in time, so he dove for the ball,justgetting a fist under it before it could slam against the floorboards. His chin smacked the ground, his teeth crashing together, but the ball flew into the air.
He’d known it would be a tough win to earn. His old team played a hard defense. One of their middle blockers, KaneDametto, was ranked best in the league. Kieran knew his old teammate was being eyed for a spot on national team, and he’d been living up to his reputation all night. A conflicting sense of pride welled in Kieran as Dametto shut down another of Bowen’s spikes.
Playing for the Sharks had been incredible. And while Kieran was still one hundred percent sure he had made the right choice when he’d taken the offer from the Cats, the fondness for his old team had never faded.
That didn’t mean he was going to let them win.
Kieran scrambled to his feet, wiping at his chin quickly to make sure his skin hadn’t split. The last thing he needed was to be pulled to the sidelines and out of the game over a little blood.
Maybe they needed to bench him anyway. Kieran had only been able to score a handful of points so far, and the rest of the players were starting to notice.
