Page 58 of For the Win

My bottom lip tries to push out.I suck it back in, but my chest fills with hurt.“I thought you were my friend.”

“I am your friend.That’s why I’m not going to tell you whether to fuck this guy or not.”

I gasp.“That’s not what this is about!”

“Isn’t it?You two were practically setting the air in here on fire.”

I shove a fingernail between my teeth and bite down.“Um...we were?”

“Fuck, yeah.You two have chemistry.I’ll weigh in on that.”

“But...”I don’t know what to say.I was counting on Taj to either tell me Harrison’s a good guy or an asshole.Heat flushes through me and my heart speeds up.I narrow my eyes at him.“Well, thanks for that.”I jump off the stool and grab my purse.“Ready to go?”

He sighs.“Yeah.Sure.Let me find Ziggy and tell him we’re out.”

14

HARRISON

“My balls are sagging.”

I freeze and stare at my locker instead of looking at Scotty.“I don’t want to hear about your balls while I’m naked.”I finish drying off and grab my boxers from my locker.“In fact, I don’t want to hear about your balls, ever.”

“But, like, really,” Scotty says.“Is it normal?”

“Of course it’s normal,” Nicky replies.“Your testicles need to stay cool.”

“Probably because you’re getting old,” Jimmy adds.“Everything sags when you get old.”

Scotty snorts.He’s twenty-one.“You should know.”

“There’s surgery for that,” Nicky adds.“You can get a scrotal lift.”

“Shut the fuck up!”Jabber gapes at him.

“No shit.”Nicky shrugs and rubs his hair with a towel.“It’s a thing.”

“Huh.”Scotty purses his lips.

“Jesus.The idea of having the skin around my ’nads sliced open is terrifying,” Jabber says.“Who would do that?”

“Lots of people,” Nicky replies.“But you can’t have sex for six weeks after.”

“How the hell do you know so much about it?”Jabber demands.

I’m dressed now.“This conversation is done.If you’re really worried, Scotty, go to a doctor.”

I play with a lot of young guys in Pasadena; for some reason I didn’t expect to be having stupid conversations like this here in Santa Monica.

“I guess you don’t want to hear about my manscaping accident,” Jabber jokes.

I wince.“Nope.Come on, let’s grab lunch.”

We just finished practice Monday morning, after Arya’s yoga class.I feel really good.I had a bit of a hammie strain after the last game, but it feels fine now.I’m going to give Arya the credit for it not being worse...all those stretches probably helped.

We take advantage of the team lunch with some healthy options they’ve set out on the buffet in the players’ lounge.I pause at the tortellini with pesto sauce.

“What?”Jabber says.“What’s wrong with the pasta?”

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