Page 109 of Keep Me Never
I drop down on the bench in front of my locker and let my shoulders fall back against it.
Mason and Brady aren’t far behind, wide smiles on their faces.
“Holy shit, man, you might break the fucking record tonight.” Mase sits down. “The league record!”
My smile is half-assed and forced, and Brady’s hand yanks back.
“Yo, what the hell?” He sits beside us. “Tell me you’re not trippin’ on thatonepass.”
I lift a shoulder, blowing out a breath. “Sometimes you only get one pass at the next level.”
“Bro.” Mason chuckles, shaking his head. “You’re killing itout there and that was my bad. Relax. We’ll go back out there and show them even more. The ball is yours every single time if you’re open, man. I got you.” He nods.
“I know, thanks, brother.” I hold my fist out, and he presses his against it.
I close my eyes to just breathe a minute, sitting at attention when Coach comes in and starts running things back, making last-minute adjustments, and nailing down the goal for the second half based on the first one.
“Harper!” he calls at the end.
My shoulders tense, and I brace for it. “Yes, Coach?”
His glare smooths, a slow grin forming as he starts to laugh. “Good fucking job out there, son. Keep handing them their ass.”
The weight of failure falls away with his words. He doesn’t think I fucked up.
It was justone play.
I smile. “Yes, Coach.”
Someone grabs my shoulders and a few start catcalling, the mood lightening instantly, and fuck, I can breathe again.
Someone whistles low from across the locker room. “Yo, Harper!” Fernando shouts, jerky stick hanging half out of his mouth. “You didn’t tell us your girl’s a real-life Paris Hilton.”
I chuckle, half distracted as I swipe a towel over the back of my neck. “What?”
Fernando hops over the bench, making a show of sliding his ass down this one, grinning like a fool. “AU Inquirerposted last night:Looks like we’ve got a future billionaire on campus, Sharks.”
I’d have missed it if he didn’t read it, because my eyes are instantly drawn to the image they shared of her. She’s wearing a soft-blue sweater and jeans, walking across the quad, the giantAvix Universityon the building right behind her. The shot’s a bit of a side profile, her hair blowing, face turned just enough to catch her devastating smile.
It’s wide—so wide there are little creases beside her eyes.
I know the exact moment this picture was taken. That smile?
It was all for me. She was looking right at me.
The corner of my mouth twitches up, slow and smug, and my teammates start to laugh.
“Damn, son.” Fernando laughs. “You better lock that down.”
I just grin and tap my helmet. What none of them knows is I already have, and it’s got nothing to do with what she might inherit twenty or thirty years from now.
She won’t need a dime when the day is done because I’m going to earn our life for us one yard at a time.
Mase knocks his knee into mine, a smirk on his lips when I look up, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking. He probably does.
Coach comes back in like a storm, clapping loud. “Let’s go. Pads on. Focus up. Let’s finish this shit strong.”
A collective “Yes, Coach” echoes across the space, and the locker room shifts. The jokes drop and the mood sharpens.
