The rest of the team was shouting just as loud, back slaps and fist bumps traded quickly before they all fell back into line.
Kieran was up for the serve. For the point that could win them a spot in the tournament. They’d played a strong game so far, and now it was time for Kieran to bring it all home.
He tossed the ball up, delivering a jump serve that packed a punch. St. Louis’ libero managed to get under it for the return, but only just, and the receive was shaky at best, getting the ball to one of their blockers. A tall, blond white guy, his jerseysporting the name Whittaker, who sent the ball flying over the net. Eric was there, ready and waiting, sending the ball into a high arc.
Aaron had been nervous before the game. Kieran had done what he could to try and relieve some of his worries. They were a team, a unit, they had played together hundreds of times. Aaronknewtheir people, knew how to read them, how to make sure he got them the ball. He may not be their starting setter most of the time, not with Atticus around, but Aaron was stilltheirsetter.
Kieran saw the play flash before his eyes, everything else slowing around him as he took in the full scene on the court. David wasn’t ready for a spike, not with Whittaker and all six foot six inches of him glued to Lu like his life depended on it. He’d been shutting David down all evening, a sort of boiling competition brewing between the two of them. A game within a game. And Whittaker was one of the best damn blockers Kieran had ever played against.
David couldn’t be ready for the set, limiting Aaron’s options. His light brown eyes found Kieran across the court, and Kieran could see the moment he decided where the ball would go.
Kieran also saw two more blockers surging forward, a wall that would be ready for him.
The air hung suspended around him, a moment frozen in time. This could be it. This could be the moment where he gave his team exactly what they needed from him. What he’d been trying to give them all season.
“Bowen!”
Kieran screamed the name a moment before the ball touched Aaron’s fingers. Their setter reacted immediately, flicking his eyes to where Bowen was waiting, his stance ready. Somehow, against all odds, their opponents had failed to cover him, focusing on David and Kieran instead. The moment the ball reached its zenith after leaving Aaron’s hands, while the blockerswere still distracted by David and Kieran, Bowen launched himself forward. Second tempo, each of his footsteps a beat that rang through the hearts of every person on their side of the court. He was in the air, a powerful jump that had his body flexing as his arm arced toward the ball.
Bowen slammed the ball across the net, a perfect line that cut through the blockers. It sailed across the court, smacking down just inside the opposite corner.
A perfect cut shot.
Kieran couldn’t hear his own roar as he threw himself forward, yanking Bowen into a crushing hug. Laughter filled his ears as the rest of the team piled on, Eric launching himself through the air to land on Bowen’s back, Aaron right there with him. The players from the bench flooded the court, hollering along with the rest of the team.
They’d done it. The Cats had won their spot in the tournament.
“I’ve never felt a more perfect set!” Bowen was practically screeching, pulling Aaron close until their foreheads were pressed together.
“Captain called it.” Aaron had tears in his eyes, and Kieran could feel his own start to prick with emotion. “I just played it how he saw it.”
Eric was on Kieran now, clinging to him like a second skin, whooping as he pumped an arm in the air. They were laughing, all of them, laughing and crying and congratulating one another, a mass of joy and excitement.
Despite everything that Kieran knew was coming, everything he knew he would have to face in the next few days, he didn’t feel the fear. He didn’t feel the dread.
Here, with his team surrounding him, Kieran felt like he’d found his home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SAMMIE FOUND HERSELF in the same place she’d waited before. When all the questions she’d had for Kieran had been bubbling inside her, waiting to spill out over waffles. The fluorescent bulbs flickered in the dim, quiet hallway. The painted concrete blocks of the walls were cool against her back.
The players were already gone, surely out celebrating their win by now. Sammie had waited, making sure she wouldn’t run into any of them as Ivy finished up some paperwork in the offices just down the hall from the locker rooms. Atticus had sent her a thumbs up when she’d asked if the coast was clear, followed by awhy?that she hadn’t been ready to answer.
He’d probably figured it out already on his own, if Kieran hadn’t yet said anything.
Sammie closed her eyes, tipping her head back against the concrete, crossing her arms tight under her chest. The swirl of emotions she’d felt throughout the evening had evened out, a lapping tide that brought something different to the fore with each rolling wave.
The Wildcats had won, earning their spot in the tournament.
She had ended things with Kieran.
Luz was losing her job, and all Sammie could see for herself there was a dead end.
Good and bad, all mixed up, battering Sammie until she was wrung out by it all. Even now she waited, knowing there was more to come.
She’d fucked up with Ivy. Sammie knew she had. Her conscience had been poking at her for weeks. Looking back, Sammie saw clear fault in her treatment of her friend, in the way she had shut Ivy out almost completely.
But she’d been doing it to protect her, hadn’t she? If Ivy had known about everything with Kieran, wouldn’t that have only hurt her more?
