Page 580 of Bad Prince
“You good?”
His eyes flicked over my face, understood exactly how close that came, and nodded once.
“You good?”
I let Jalen’s forearm fall away from my chest.
“Yeah.”
Lie.
But useful.
Coach subbed Kane for a stretch after that anyway.
At the bench he bent over, breathing murder.
I sat beside him during the timeout and kept my voice low.
“Don’t give them your season over their mouth.”
He wiped sweat off his jaw.
“I hate everybody.”
“Good. Save it for legal contact.”
That got the smallest crack at the corner of his mouth.
Back out, the game stayed filthy.
Their point guard started picking at the same wound every chance he got.
“S&T got you soft, Vale?”
“You always this emotional?”
“Heard your captain had first dibs before you made it official.”
That one almost got me, too.
Not because it was true.
Because it was designed well.
To hit the old fear.
To make me drag old ghosts onto the floor with me.
I looked at him on the next dead ball and said, “You need my life real bad for a guy down six.”
He smiled.
“Need points too.”
“Go get some.”
He drove on the next possession.
