Page 52 of On Merit Alone
What did happen was Ira’s strong arms bracketed me as he held onto the sides of my chair, successfully catching both of our falls. He held me there mid-air. All of our weight balancing on the thin back legs of the small chair, damn near chest to chest with me as he breathed heavily from the exertion.
Around us, the crowd was going crazy, probably because he’d made the shot. Behind him, his team was already starting toward the other side of the court, ready to play defense. Ira had about five seconds left to get back into the game, tops. But he stayed there, hovering over me, and as I trained a look up at his eyes, I saw that he was clearly looking at me.
I blinked, confused. Shouldn’t he be focusing right now? What the hell was he doing?
In a low, almost growl, he panted. “Eyes on me out there, Six.”
I coughed. Was he serious?
“You have a job to do,” he said, apparentlydeadserious as he picked up my chair clean off the ground this time and set it down with a clunk… a noticeable distance away from Jared’s. “So pay attention.”
I sputtered, blinking in disbelief as I watched him sprint back off into the game. What a fucking idiot. What an annoying man!
And what—what was this burning that was taking over my entire body? Claiming me as its own as my brain wrapped itself around the fact that Ira had been irritated because of me.
I didn’t torture myself with contemplating what that meant. I just stayed in my seat, shooting Jared one last apologetic glance.
I didn’t speak to him again.King Irahad apparently made himself clear.
And Ira racked up the most points he’d had all game in the final quarter, leading the Defenders into another win.
What a caveman, I thought as I made a hasty departure following their win. I suddenly didn’t want to answer any questions—because I knew now there would be a ton. And I would have no answers because the truth was, I didn’t know what to do with this man. Not with him, or this feeling that I knew was slowly seeping into my veins because of him.
It was scary. Consuming. Frightening.
And yet, I still left the arena smiling that night.
Chapter Sixteen
Ira
Another win.Another thank you in the form of a salute to the girl I caught sneaking out of the floor entrance, attempting to duck away before the vultures on the sidelines caught her for any questions.
I almost missed her in her hasty escape as I answered my own postgame questions. But the last one is what brought my eyes around to scan the sidelines.
“Okay, last question before we let you go. We’re all dying to know. What did you say to Merit Jones when you ran into her on the sidelines?” the reporter asked.
My mouth ticked up.
“Oh, you know. Just asked if she was alright,” I started. Then, because I couldn’t help it, I added, “I also told her I liked her shoes.”
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the meeting room was long braids and the face that had been monopolizing space in my mind for weeks.
The room was full of players. All from Denver, but curiously handfuls from both teams. The men and the women didn’t really mix events all that much, and it was surprising they’d found time between our games to have a pow-wow like this. But the slew of off-court obligations that sprung up for athletes were so vast that it was hard to keep track of the meetings and appearances. Even harder to know ahead of time what would be something interesting and what would be another run-of-the-mill responsibility.
I hadn’t paid much attention to what we would be doing today, all I remembered was the team manager’s assistant reading out a handful of names they wanted to see in this room for a quick meeting after practice. Now that I saw the women’s team, not to mention Merit sitting on the other side of the large conference-like table, I was officially interested.
Taking a seat next to Stephens, who had of course been called in too along with McKivvey, Rogers, Scottie, and our quiet guy Evans, I felt him lay the back of his hand on my shoulder trying to get my attention.
“Hey, it’s her.” He nodded to Merit as she sat across the table on the other side of the room, leaning over and talking to Ryan… who wassmiling?
I tried not to narrow my eyes, but seriously, what the hell was up with that? I couldn’t help when my voice came out a little clipped. “Yeah, so?”
“So you’ve been all over her lately. Why don’t you sit by her?” he whispered, shaking my shoulders this time.
I nudged him off, throwing a whatever look at him as I shook my head. “Why would I?”
Troy McKivvey wheeled his chair closer to us just then, and of course he’d heard the conversation. “Because your ass is hot for her? How else do you explain what you did in the game?”
