Page 76 of Scoring the Player
Salem
Haters will say that home-court advantage is the reason it’s twelve minutes into the third quarter and we’re only down three points. If you listened to the pundits, the Royals and their “super team”—guhk!—were supposed to add us to their four-game road sweep.
Fuck outta here.
Sleep on Brooklyn if you’re stupid.
Cillian’s banked twenty-four points so far, including a circus shot at the end of the second quarter.
The crowd’s been losing their shit all night.
Charging up court, Cillian cuts to the wing and then launches the ball straight at the backboard. Slicing past Ussef’s weak defense, I catch the rebound midair and hammer a sideways windmill dunk.
Let’s go!
Yelling, “Ball,” Sid fakes a crossover on their next possession as Ezekiel and Zyair double-team him. Zigzagging back and forth, Blue manages to free himself of Onyx’s defense. Johan and Ussef create a door for Sid to get the ball off. Barely five seconds left on the shot clock, Sid launches it to Blue.
Or he tries, but then I fly in with a gravity-defying steal.
Aaahh-haaa!
I hear, “Fuck this,” before I’m rushed.
Landing on my back with a soft thud, my face is mushed with Blue’s arm.
Adorable.
He scrambles up my body, trying to steal the ball, but I wing it to Onyx.
“Asshole,” he grits in my face.
“You know this is what started this”—I gesture between us—“five years ago.”
“Eat shit,” he fires back.
I curl my arms behind my neck. “What are you doing tonight? Let me cook?—”
His hand wraps around my throat.
“If I squeeze just right…,” he mutters through clenched teeth. “Earthen eyes…bulge just so…”
I try to snicker.Earthen eyes?
“Cade,” his coach yells. “Hump Jones on your own time. Get your ass on the bench. Marcus, you’re up.”
“H-he c-could…h-hump…me…n-now,” I choke out.
Blue growls in my face and then releases me.
“The fuck you smiling for?” he fires at Sid as he storms toward the bench.
The ref must have gotten laid last night. That was an obvious flagrant two foul, but lucky for me he’s still in the game.
CHAPTER 18
ARNAZ
“Rot”
