Page 79 of Playing to Win
Chapter 25
Kyle and the rest of the team walked into the hotel to drop off their stuff before heading to Madison Square Garden to shoot around before game four of the championship series against the Knicks. The last two weeks had been a blur. He didn’t know how he had managed to focus enough to play the next two games in the series and actually win one of them. After his heart had shattered in a million pieces when he told Callie he loved her and gotten nothing but a blank stare, stuttering words, and splotchy, red skin in return, he had been walking around in a heartbroken haze.
He had tried calling and texting her after she walked out of his house wearing nothing but his t-shirt, her clothes in a heap in his bedroom floor. She had ignored his phone calls and sent a vague text about needing time or some other shit that was essentially a breakup text. Since then, nothing. He had gone by her apartment, but she hadn’t been home. All he had gotten from her roommate was a sad, “I’m sorry, Kyle. You just really freaked her out. Maybe give her time?”
He didn’t know what had possessed him to tell Callie he loved her. He obviously didn’t think things through. Hell, if he had known she was going to react the way she had, he would have kept his feelings to himself. But he thought after the night they had spent together, she would have at least been a little open to the idea. He thought she loved him, too. Thought he could see it in her eyes. He obviously read that totally wrong.
He hoped tonight’s game would end in different results, but he doubted it. Since the fiasco love bomb at his apartment and Callie’s subsequent disappearance from his life, every time he went up for a shot, all he could seem to see was her face. When they played at home, he felt his eyes being drawn to where he knew she stood on the baseline. He had to find a way to get her out of his head before he wound up screwing his teammates over and risking their chance at an NBA championship.
“What is with you, man? You look like your favorite puppy just died or something. In fact, you’ve been looking like that for a while now,” Trevin said, a concerned look on his face.
“Nothing. Just feeling a little under the weather is all. I’ll be fine once the game rolls around,” Kyle lied. He wanted to say the girl he loved didn’t love him back and all he felt like doing was punching a wall until his knuckles were bloody. Because the alternative…well, the alternative was crawling into his bed that still smelled like her cucumber melon lotion, holding her pillow and crying until he couldn’t see straight.
“What the hell? You’ve got to be kidding me! This is supposed to be the nicest hotel in New York and I don’t even have anything in my minbar? What the hell, man?” Kyle and Trevin heard Garrett’s voice yelling from a room down the hall.
“What he complainin’ about now?” Jamal came out of his room, a frown on his face. “That boy always complainin’ ’bout somethin’. He’s like a junior high girl.”
“I agree. Let’s see what he’s complaining about this time,” Kyle said. The trio walked toward the room where the noise was emanating to see Garrett’s red face standing in front of the mini-bar.
“What seems to be the problem, man?” Trevin asked him.
“The problem, pretty boy,” Garrett said, a sneer on his face, “Is that this high end hotel stiffed me on all the alcohol in the mini-bar.”
“Maybe they knew of his alcoholic tendencies,” Jamal whispered to Kyle.
“What was that, idiot?”
“Who you callin’ an idiot, lush? Why are you even tryin’ to drink before a game, anyway? Don’t look like I’m the loser in this situation.”
“I’m not drinking before the game. I just think it’s ridiculous and poor service to leave an entire mini-bar empty! I’m calling the management!”
Kyle walked over to Garrett and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Garrett, hold up, man. No need to cause a scene right before a game and have our name plastered on tomorrow’s front page of the New York Times for disturbing the peace of New York’s finest hotel when we’re trying to win a series, am I right?” Garrett gave a begrudging nod.
“I have a solution that will work for everyone without ever getting management involved. Everyone knows I don’t drink. According to my key card,” Kyle said, looking down at his number, “I’m right next door. How about I just switch you rooms? No one will care, you’ll have your mini-bar, and the nice maid who probably just made an innocent mistake won’t get fired. Will that work for you?”
Garrett straightened the lapel of his Armani suit and gave a tense nod Kyle’s way. “Yeah, I guess that will work. We do have an image to uphold, especially right in the middle of playoffs.”
“You’re a smart man, Garrett. Just grab your stuff and switch me keys.”
Kyle and his friends waited until the door closed on Kyle’s former room before letting out a collective breath.
“Man, he’s an ass,” Jamal said. “He’s a free agent next year. I hope they don’t renew his contract.”
“No sense worrying about that now, Jamal. We’ve got game four to win.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Jamal said, pounding Kyle’s fist and blowing it up. “We got this. I can feel it.”
Kyle nodded in agreement. He took a breath, squared his shoulders, and tried to get a curly-haired, hazel-eyed woman that had charmed her way into his heart out of his head.
Callie couldn’t believeshe let her friends talk her into this. Why in the world she would hop on a plane to meet Kyle in New York after game four of the championship series was beyond her. After her ridiculous act that left Kyle heartbroken, she had been avoiding her best friends at all costs, claiming she was really swamped studying for finals. But when school got out for summer and she still tried to avoid them, they finally called her out on her misery and she broke down and told them Kyle had said he loved her and she hadn’t said anything back. Needless to say, they were livid.
“Well, do you?” Cassie asked.
“Do I what?”
“You know what, idiot!” Aria yelled, smacking her in the head.
“Ow! What was that for?”
