Page 256 of The Locker Room

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NBA doesn"t know it, it"s because they haven"t wanted to. My whole

life, all I"ve wanted was basketball and Chris Edwards. Tonight, I had

basketball. The rest of my life, it"s going to be Chris Edwards.”

He tried a smile after that, as the reporter floundered for words.

“But… but… but the NBA playoffs… are you going to play the

playoffs…?”

And now Xander said what he"d always wanted to say, even from

the beginning, from that first kiss behind a hedge, clinging to the only

thing he knew was good.

“If basketball loves me as much as I"ve loved this sport, then it"s

not going to care who I am when I play it. If the world hates me more

than it loves basketball, then I"d say that"s the world"s loss, but I"m not

going to live like that anymore, and I"m not going to make Chris do it,

either. Now if you"ll excuse me—”

He walked steadily to Chris"s chair and grabbed the handles on the

back, taking over the steering while the reporter stammered into the

microphone.

222 Amy Lane

“Are you insane?” Chris asked weakly, and Xander had to lean

forward to hear him.

“He"s fucking nuts!” Mandy muttered. She looked up and saw that

the word of Xander"s postgame interview was making its way around the

arena floor, and suddenly hollered, “Dancers! Get your asses over here,

we need you!”

Suddenly, they had a phalanx of dancers on either side, guiding

their way down to the tunnel, just as the press really got wind of the story

and went to charge. Xander grabbed tight to the handles on the

wheelchair and sprinted, their friends and family right behind them, as

they made it through the doors to the men"s locker room.

The room was full of half-naked Sacramento Kings, who all looked

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