Page 8 of His Starr Player

“Right.”

We both took deep breaths to calm our racing hearts. It had been a while since I’d had sex, and tonight made waiting so much better.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

She laughed. “I could always eat.”

“Wings, tacos, or breakfast food?” I quizzed.

“I would love a good birria taco right now.”

“Say no more. I’ll order it. The delivery around here is usually really fast, so if you want to take a quick shower, you can.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Let me show you where everything is.”

I led her into the bathroom and grabbed her a towel to dry off, washcloth, and unopened bar of soap. I tossed in a fresh toothbrush and toothpaste as well. She thanked me again before I left the room.

While she showered, I ordered our tacos and paid for express delivery. Once the food was on the way, I went into the guest bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. Even if I wanted to keep the taste of her juices on my lips, it would throw off the meal, and I couldn’t risk that.

The sun had begun to peek through the curtains when we’d finally concluded our night together. After we showered and ate our food, we talked for hours. Even though I’d been up since eight o’clock in the morning yesterday, I wasn’t tired.

“I better head out,” she began. “My workout starts at seven. It’ll only give me time to shower and head right back out. I can’t believe we spent all night and the morning up like this.”

“You’re good company. I’ve had a lot of fun with you. If you ever have time, I would love to do it again.” I went out on a limb with the offer.

“I’d like that a lot.”

“Cool. Be safe. Let me know when you make it home.”

“Will do.”

She leaned forward to give me a kiss on the lips before she headed out the door. I waited until she was safely on the elevator before I went back inside and grinned.

Nothing could take me down from the high of the night I’d had withTheAva Starr.

As I tiedthe laces on my signature shoes, the Starr 1’s, I silently ran through different plays. As a franchise player for the Cade’s Cove Vipers, I had a duty to bring a thousand percent every time I stepped foot on the court. It didn’t matter if it was a practice, scrimmage, or televised games. I always brought forth my best effort. I fell in love with the game before I could hold my head up on my own. As the daughter of a legend, basketball was in my blood.

I twirled the gold chain with my finger. I held the small heart pendant between my fingers and lifted it up to my lips. I pressed a kiss to my good luck charm and said a silent prayer. No matter the occasion, my necklace never left my neck. It was the most important piece of jewelry in the world to me. Mygrandmother gave me this necklace when I was thirteen years old and had my first school basketball game. That night, I scored seventeen points. I always wore the necklace to games. Call me superstitious or whatever, but I needed the necklace to play. If I didn’t have my necklace, I wouldn’t play. It was serious to me.

“Good morning, Vipers.” Coach Amanda Carson greeted us with a bright smile.

Amanda Carson was an Olympic gold medalist and three-time MVP winner. She had two championship rings and had an amazing career with the Vipers. When she retired, everyone knew she would take on the coaching position. It was amazing to work under her leadership. She had a natural talent for mentoring and training us.

“Good morning, Coach,” we recited in unison. All twelve of us were locked in and ready to have a successful practice. Some of us had spent the weekend leading up to practice drunk and turned up in the clubs. Luckily, we were all able to bounce back.

“Today we’re playing six on six. Divide yourselves amongst yourselves, and treat this shit like a life-or-death situation. I will pick my starting five based on game play today and tomorrow.” Coach Carson went through the agenda. She explained the different plays and screens we would practice during this team scrimmage.

The season would start in a few months. The GM completed trades a few weeks prior, and if everything went as scheduled, the current roster would be who we played the season with. I wanted to get to know all the rookies’ strengths and weaknesses. Everyone considered me a veteran on the team because I had four years under my belt and had gotten the Vipers to three championships. Unfortunately, we’d come short three times. My goal was to perfect my craft and build our team’s chemistry to a victory. Everyone loved the underdog, right?

It took about thirty minutes to complete our warm-ups before the scrimmage began. It was Gloria Chavez, Cinnamon Jones, Caliah Calloway, Kimberly Yates, Marnajah Hastings, and I on one team. Our opponents were Tyra Johnson, Ashley Jefferson, Julia Cambridge, Yvette Barrett, Arianna Nichols, and Livy Redd.

At tip-off, Ashley and Cinnamon went up. Cinnamon got the ball for our team to have first possession. We ran several plays and had a great time overall. Coach stopped practice a few times to fix forms, adjust positions, and to have teaching moments.

“Screen!” I shouted to Marnajah. Marnajah and Gloria ran a screen for Cinnamon and me to switch positions. With the opening, I lobbed the ball to Caliah. When the buzzer sounded throughout the arena, I smirked. My team had won by six points.

“That’s what the fuck I’m talking about, ladies. Good shit, to everybody!” I dapped my teammates up, then we dapped up the other girls.

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