It feels like she’s slapped me.
“I know you’re upset, Mar, but this isn’t my fault.”
I wanted to bond with my sister, and now I’ve made things more difficult by being here.
When I think it can’t get any worse, the door to the garage sounds.
“Hello?”
Harlan.
Mari stomps past me to her husband in the foyer.His suit hangs impeccably, but he looks tired—until he sees her and his eyes crinkle.
“It’s good to see you.”
“How long did you know about Clay and Nova?”
He looks between us, his expression tightening.
“Maybe I should go,” I murmur.
Harlan speaks first.“Maybe you should.”
19
CLAY
The week passes in a blur of airplanes and workouts and other teams’ stadiums.Two road games later, we’re back on the plane heading to Denver.
We lost both games.
On the plane, the pitch-black sky invites the worst kind of thoughts.
Miles watches a video on his phone, sneaking looks at me.
“What?”I grunt, grabbing the phone from his hand.
It’s a clip of me picking a fight with Coach after the third quarter, when he got in my face about my performance.Not because my stat line was in a nosedive, though it was, but because I wasn’t helping my team run the schemes to keep us in it.
Microphones on the video pick up his comments.
“I don’t care if you can’t get a bucket.Get downhill, pass it out, and get these guys running.”
And mine.
“I’m paid too much to pass all night.”
“You’re paid too muchnotto.”
Instead of falling into line, I got toe to toe with Coach and ripped him a new one.
I was frustrated over Nova and lost my head, letting it all out on someone I shouldn’t have.
He benched me in the fourth.
Didn’t stop me from getting in his face after the microphones were gone.
“Easy for you to tell us what we should be doing, to act like you’ve got all the answers,” I ground out.“Said yourself you’re no better than a pawn between James and Harlan.Either one of them could snap their fingers and fire you.Yeah, you’re real brave.”
