Page 93 of Kove and Xiah
Up by six…
OKC called for a time out so we moved to the sideline. When I looked behind the team where my brother was sitting I sent a two finger salute which he returned before my eyes landed on Xiah. I winked and her pretty ass blushed before I focused on what Coach was saying.
“We’re right there. Don’t fuck this up.” Coach looked around the team then walked off.
“Damn, Coach, that’s all you got?” Jabari said with a grin.
“What the fuck else does he need to say.” Tyriq smiled and repeated the speech. “Don’t fuck this up.”
“How ’bout you go stretch so you don’t pull anything and can make it through the end of playoffs,” I said and Tyriq chuckled.
“Nigga, fuck you. How about you stop looking at the sideline so you don’t miss another gotdamn three.”
I glanced at Xiah who was talking to her dad. “Aight, you got that.”
As soon as we were back on the court, I was defending their guard as he brought the ball down court. They ran a screen, trying to get their shooter open, but I fought through the pick and managed to stay attached to my man. He ran out of options for a pass and pulled up a jumper which I blocked, sending the ball behind him which Jabari caught and passed to Meyer who dunked, causing the crowd to lose their shit.
They rebutted with two quick threes, one from an inbound and quick release and the other from a steal and shot fromdamn near half court. That tied us, but on the next play, with six seconds left on the clock, I was fouled shooting a three.
Three fucking free throws that could win this for us.
I stepped to the line without a doubt in my mind that I had this. Wasn’t no way I would lose this spot for us. First one money, second one bounced off the rim and dropped in. Everything went quiet around me while I bounced the ball twice, spun it in my hand, and released it.
All fucking net.
They had six seconds to try and get one more shot off. With a quick inbound, they moved the ball down the court fast as hell and pulled up a three that bounced off the rim. Tyriq rebounded and that was muthafucking game. The final buzzer went off and the bench rushed onto the court celebrating.
After doing my rounds with the team, I made my way to Xiah and her father. He addressed me first.
“That was a good ass game, son. A close one. You had me worried for a minute there but you pulled it off. You did your thing tonight.”
“’Preciate it.”
He offered a handshake that transitioned into a brief hug. Over the past couple months, he and I became close. Xiah’s mother was on my side from day one but her father wasn’t an easy sell. He needed to be sure I wasn’t on any bullshit with his baby girl after the last man he trusted her to.
Xiah bumped him out of the way and damn near jumped into my arms. Them shits were tired as hell from the work I put in on the court but I caught her and she looped hers around my neck.
“I thought your girl was coming with you tonight?”
“She was, but she had a date and didn’t think sitting courtside with her new man watching her jump-off play ball was a good idea.”
I nodded to agree, knowing she occasionally fucked around with Kameron. His hot headed ass would have for sure been acting up even though there wasn’t shit between them. He kept women in rotation.
Xiah tightened her arms around my neck. “Congratulations, sir. Your performance was decent out there tonight.”
I smiled amusedly and kissed her. “Decent?”
“I mean, you missed some pretty easy shots and you let defense get past you a few times. I’ll give you an eight out of ten.”
Her father laughed from beside us while he removed his phone and stepped away as soon as he had her mother on the line.
“You aren’t letting me have any damn grace.”
“Nope, in your words, I’m a baller so all I do is win.”
“The fuck is that supposed to mean, Xi? We did win.”
“Ehhh, barely.” I kissed her and she brushed her thumb over my lips to remove her gloss before I set her down.
