Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“Oh, come on,” Jacobi yelled, sitting left of me. “That’s bullshit and they know it.”
“Straight-up bullshit,” Deke grumbled. “Swear they’re out to get us this year.”
“Bishop!” Coach Harrison called. “Get in there. Vonny, sit for a sec! Cool off.”
Vonny jogged toward the bench as Deke took his place on the court. The foul that’d disrupted the stadium meant nothing when EJ slid a nice pass to Deke and Deke rose to the tips of his toes to sink a three.
“Let’s go!” Jacobi hollered, clapping his hands. He swatted his towel at the court, then shook my shoulder. “Come on, Valdez! Cheer up! Where ya head at?”
Not here.
I was relieved when the final buzzer went off. But, of course, it was my turn to deal with the media again, which meant I had to answer stupid questions about how off my game was on the panel.
I do not think the media realizes that it is not intentional for any athlete to have bad games. Honestly, I don’t believe they see us as human at all. We are merely entertainment to them.
“Can you tell us what was going through your mind when you played today, Javier?” one of the journalists asked.
“Life” was all I said.
“Of course. Could you elaborate?”
“I do not think there is much more to elaborate on.”
“Is it because the anniversary of your wife’s passing is approaching?” another journalist asked—without waiting his fucking turn, I should add.
I clenched my jaw.
Deke shifted in the chair next to me. “Easy, big dog,” he murmured to me with his mouth away from the mic. Then he leaned forward and said, “I feel Javier on this life thing. It gets crazy. Sometimes when we’re in the game, some of us have personal things going on outside of it, which makes it hard to concentrate on the court. For example, my fiancée has been sending me color samples for our wedding place mats. Hard not to think about whether we should choose burnt orange, sage green, or burgundy. Picking colors has to be more important than playing basketball, right? I mean, these are real problems we gotta figure out.”
Everyone laughed, and the next questions were directed at Deke and my other teammates, Vonny and Pavlo.
Once we wrapped up, I rode in an SUV with Deke, EJ, and Jacobi to our hotel.
“Thanks for stepping in like that.” I eyed Deke, who sat next to me on the second row of the SUV. Jacobi was up front and EJ on the third row.
“Don’t sweat it,” he said. “You know I got your back.”
I appreciated that more than he knew.
Once we’d arrived at the hotel, Jacobi and EJ took off in separate directions, leaving me and Deke standing in the lobby. A few fans from the bar spotted us and approached, begging for autographs. Deke, of course, was happy to oblige. He loved the attention and ate it up like candy.
I was the complete opposite of him. I did not care for all the attention, but I did not like to be rude to my fans, so I signed their items.
“What’s going on with you anyway?” Deke asked as we took a private elevator to our rooms.
I rubbed my forehead with a sigh. “I had that dream again . . . about Eloise.”
“Oh. Shit.”
“Yeah. Shit.”
“I’m sorry, man. I know that’s tough. Especially with it being so close to the date you lost her and all.”
“I just do not understand why I keep having it. It keeps haunting me every single year, and it’s becoming more and more vivid.”
Deke shrugged. “Maybe it’s trying to tell you something.”
“Tell me what?” I snapped. “That my wife bled out and there was nothing I could do to save her?”
Deke stared at me. If he were anyone else, he would have been intimidated. But this was Deke. He knew me well.
“You need someone to listen, or someone to give advice?” he asked in a calm voice.
“I . . . I don’t know.” I closed my eyes, trying hard to fight the wave of emotion ready to drown me. “I just do not understand why shitty things like that happen. I was so worried about Aleesa, but Eloise clearly was not well, and maybe if I had paid closer attention . . .” The sentence fell off. I released a defeated sigh, knowing it was pointless to even voice this. Eloise was gone. She could not come back, no matter how much I wished she could.
The elevator swelled with silence until the bell chimed and the doors split apart. We had made it to our floor.
Deke gestured out the doors, insisting that I go first. I did, and he followed right after.
I stood in front of my door, ready to just forget this day, shower, and go to sleep. I could FaceTime Aleesa in the morning, before the next game. I wanted to tonight, but it was too late to call. Seeing her would have made me feel better, though, that was for sure.