Page 239 of The Locker Room

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nothing to fear, and nothing to lose.

That"s just how he played, for all four games.

The papers had been predicting a tense showdown, and maybe a

seven-game series, but Xander hauled the team down the court

relentlessly. They actually got “bleeped” on television, because their

mantra, “Get the fucking ball down the fucking court and into the

fucking net!” was loud enough, concerted enough, to make it on the

mike. The whole team was fined—and no one cared.

The Sacramento Kings had made it into the playoffs twice in the

past ten years, but only because Karcek and Edwards had taken the floor.

They hadn"t made it through the first series in nearly fifty—and that had

been when they were at Kansas City and not even in Sacramento, so it

didn"t count. The press said they were on fire. Leo practically wept at

every game because, he said, it was so beautiful. Xander simply

launched himself into the air like he didn"t have anything to lose when

he came down.

How could he have anything to lose? Chris would live, and he was

playing basketball—everything was in the now.

When the fourth game was done, (it was played in Boston) and the

team was leaving the locker room to go celebrate, Burkins and Aames

double-teamed him.

The Locker Room 207

“Get your ass off the fucking phone and get in the limo, Karcek!”

Burkins snapped. “We don"t want to have to tie you up and haul you out

for a victory drink!”

Xander smiled, the next few words coming out of his mouth easily.

“Thanks guys, but really, I was just trying to book a flight to Colorado so

I could go check on Chris, okay?”

Aames and Burkins looked at each other sideways. Then they both

got out of the limo, followed by Wilson and Pollack, and before Xander

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