Page 16 of Shooting his Shot

Kennis glared at me. "Man, fuck you. Don't even bring her up right now. We're not even talking at the moment. I'm getting tired of her, for real."

I heard that before but decided not to comment on it. Just as I was about to change the subject, our coaches stood in front of us.

"We have a couple more months before the playoffs," Albert, one of the coaches, started.

Some of my teammates let it be known that we already knew that.

"We just want y'all to continue doing what you're doing. Y'all are doing amazing out there."

"We know this. We're fire on the court," one of my teammates called out.

Kennis laughed. "Yeahhh, I second that. We're doing the damn thing on the court."

"Let's not jinx it," Albert interjected.

"Man, never that. We're on fire and won't slow down. We got this in the bag," I declared, letting it be known we were taking home another ring. "We won't fail."

My teammates agreed with me.

"Well, since y'all got it. We don't need to say more. Just know that before you leave, we have practice, so you won't be going out or hanging out tonight."

We all groaned. Hell, I didn't want to go out anyway.

"I need to go out and take my mind off a few things, Kennis expressed.

I didn't comment on that either. What would be the point if he went back to the girl, and they talked like nothing had happened? It was best I minded my business. I had to do Kennis like I did my sister.

I was curledup on the couch with a good book in my hand, listening to the rain beat against my windows. It was good to have a day off since I didn't have any clients. I enjoyed my job because it was so easy, and whenever I needed to talk to kids, I would show up. Other than that, I could pretty much come and go as I pleased.

As soon as I got up to take a break from reading, my cell phone rang. I retrieved it from the coffee table and eyed the name, seeing that it was Akari calling me. A smile spread across my lips before I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Wassup? You busy?"

I arched a brow, wondering why he was asking. "Uhhh, no. Why?"

"Get dressed," he demanded.

My eyes widened. "What? Why?"

"Just do it."

I smacked my lips together, not at all liking the way Akari was trying to boss me around. I was not on the court with him as one of his teammates. He had the wrong one. "Excuse you?"

"Yeah, I'm almost down the road, so start getting dressed. Just throw on something. You can change later."

Now, I was confused and wondering what the hell was going on. This man wasn't right at all with some of the things he did or said. He liked to surprise me at random times, and this was random as hell.

"May I ask where we are going?" I refused to get dressed until I knew what the hell was going on.

Akari sighed deeply. "Has anyone ever told you that you're nosy as hell? Damn, man."

I laughed, heading up the stairs to my bedroom. "Well, I can't help that."

I wasn't going to front like I wasn't excited to see where Akari was taking me. He was always full of surprises. Just last weekend, he surprised me with basketball tickets to a game he wasn't playing in. Since he didn't have a game, we flew to see another team play. It was enjoyable, and he made sure I didn't have to pay for anything, even when I volunteered to do so. I thought I had offended him, too, but he told me later that night that whenever I was with him, I didn't have to worry about a thing. He had everything, and I was going to make sure I never asked to pay for anything again.

"I'm about to pull into your driveway. If you're not ready when I get out of the car, I will be helping you get dressed. I don't care what the hell you have to say about it," Akari warned.

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