Page 14 of Isolation

“It’s team policy?—”

“I said two minutes.”

She made the room go quiet. Even the showers were turned off as if the water itself was listening. I fixed my face into what Dani would call a media smile, unthreatening and pleasant.

“It’s cool. We can talk outside,” I told the equipment manager.

Remi didn’t move. “Right here is fine. I have one question, and everyone here deserves to hear the answer.”

Fuck.

Will and Jenkins exchanged looks. The rest of the teammates suddenly found reasons to hang back while pretending to pack their bags and moving slow.

“How’s Pearson doing? I was going to swing by the hospital?—”

“Don’t. Don’t pretend you give a shit about my brother.”

I placated, raising my hands. “Look, I see you’re upset, but?—”

She uncrossed her arms and stepped toward me. “Are you sure no one saw you push too hard?”

The room was silent. You could hear a pin drop, and heat flashed up my neck.

“Nobody pushed anything. Pearson zagged when he should have zigged and caught a bad break on a regular play. Shit happens every day.”

“Funny. I watched that tape twenty times, and I say it looked like you knew what you were doing.”

“There’s tape?” someone questioned.

Something flickered in Remi’s eyes like she found what she was looking for in my reaction.

“Someone’s always recording something, especially when the star player has a freak accident right when the next guy is desperate for a contract renewal,” she answered, but her eyes never left mine.

I forced a chuckle but felt sweat beading at my hairline. “I understand you’re upset about your brother, but you coming at me is crazy. You’re making accusations with no receipts.”

“Receipts? Is that what we’re calling video evidence now?”

There was no way. I made sure.

“If you had anything, you would be talking to the front office, not to me.”

“Who says I haven’t?” Remi tilted her head.

We stared each other down. The air vibrated with tension. My teammates were still absorbing every word.

“Like I said, it was an unfortunate accident, but it was clean basketball. Ask them. They were there.” I gestured around the room for backup.

Remi shook her head. “Unfortunate is the possibility of my brother not waking up from the coma he’s in, and if he does, the possibility of his career being over while you’re talking about unfortunate!”

I kept my face neutral, but my jaw clenched. “We all understand there are risks when we step on that court. Same for when I had a torn ACL.”

“Some people are willing to let those risks slide,” she said, stepping close enough for me to smell the antiseptic on her hospital clothes. She held my gaze for another beat before turning toward the door.

Before leaving, she paused. “Y’all might want to check who you’re protecting and why.”

The door swung shut behind her, and everyone was frozen for several minutes before someone cleared their throat, breaking the spell. Conversation resumed, and I returned to my locker to grab my duffel.

“Yo, is that stuff true? What she said about a tape?” Jenkins questioned.

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