“No, Coach.”
“Because it seems like you think you should be playing center.”
I look up at him. “If I thought I should be playing center, I’d tell you.”
“Then what was that out there?”
“That was me trying to win the game.”
Coach studies me for a long moment. “You want the center position?”
“What I want is to win. If that means Kirby plays center, fine. But if Kirby can’t keep up, then yeah.” I look up at him. “Put me there.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“Then how does it work? Because right now we were scrambling out there trying to compensate for him.”
Coach’s jaw tightens. “One more stunt like that and you’re benched. Clear?”
“Crystal.”
He walks away.
Jax sits down next to me. “You really think you should be center?”
I shrug. “I think I could do it better than Kirby.”
“Probably. But Coach isn’t going to give it to you if you keep showboating.”
“I’m not showboating. I’m scoring.”
“Same thing to him.”
Jax’s phone buzzes. He pulls it out.
Marcus is calling Jax.
He looks at the screen and says, “He didn’t meet with her this afternoon. He’s calling me back for a reschedule.”
I nod and watch him step away to take the call. He comes back a few minutes later looking annoyed.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing. Just rescheduled for tomorrow.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Yeah, but time is everything, and I know she’s already on edge not being able to talk to Zinnia.” Jax pulls out his phone and texts her.
“Can’t they just talk? What the fuck’s the big deal?”
Jax just stares at his phone. I lean over his shoulder to look at what he’s doing.
Marcus said tomorrow.
Her response comes immediately.
Okay. Thanks for letting me know.
