Because it keeps being true.
I didn’t reply immediately.
Because I was starting to understand something I didn’t like.
NYC wasn’t the event anymore.
It was the pressure cooker.
And something had just been added inside it.
Something external.
Something that looked like a task…
But felt like a trigger.
Fifty Four
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
MASON
Coach called it “media day.”
Nobody else called it that with confidence.
We all just called itthe thing.
Because it didn’t feel like practice anymore.
It felt like being watched.
The gym had been rearranged—chairs set up on one side, cameras on the other, bright lights that made everything feel slightly unreal.
Andre leaned toward me while we waited. “I hate this.”
“You hate everything,” I said.
“Yeah, but this specifically feels like a crime.”
Luca sat on the other side of me, flipping a ball in his hands.
“You ready?” he asked.
“No.”
“Good answer.”
Coach walked past us. “Reed. You’re first.”
Of course I was.
The interviewer was already sitting when I stepped in.
Young guy. Professional smile. Notebook. Camera off to the side.
And then—
