Hook Shot (Hoops #3)(97)



You telling me. I’ve only been doing it a few weeks, and I’m sick of it.

“How was it playing Cliff tonight?” he asks, skipping the bullshit and getting right to the heart of the matter. It’s one of my favorite things about Decker.

“Another day at the office.” I grin and tilt my head. “But it felt good shutting his shit down. We squashed ‘em.”

“That we did,” Decker agrees, chuckling darkly. “I’m glad it’s behind you.”

He hesitates, flicking a searching glance at me. “But I know you’re still dealing with the repercussions. What with Bridget’s show starting soon and Simone living on the East Coast now. You know I’ve navigated this. My ex was a real piece of work when we divorced. She up and moved on me, too.”

“Out here, right?”

“Yeah, out to LA when I was living and working in Connecticut.” He sucks his teeth and shakes his head. “Man, I was furious with her. I mostly didn’t want our daughter to see us fighting and to be dragged all over the place.”

“You hit the nail on the head with that one,” I mutter, passing a hand through the frigid water, hoping it might cool my rising temper as I think about all the tricks Bridget has pulled that ultimately hurt our daughter more than they hurt me.

“I know you guys were doing counseling and you lived there this summer,” he says. “That’s good. Keep putting your kid first, man. Even when Bridget takes the low road, which we’ve all seen is her default, take the high. Show your daughter over and over and in every way you can that she’s your priority. They’re in such a weird space at this age.”

“Tell me about it. Fourteen is hell.”

“Everything you’re doing now, even though it seems hard and maybe even like it’s not working, it’ll pay off later when your relationship with Simone remains intact.”

“That’s exactly what I needed to be reminded of. Thanks, Deck.”

He stands and daps me up, chuckling and pointing to the water. “You and the ice tubs. It’s a wonder your dick doesn’t freeze off.”

“Oh, it works great,” I assure him.

I still hear him laughing even after the door closes behind him. I drop my head back to the lip of the tub. My dick definitely still works. With this long-distance relationship, it would come in handy if it didn’t. I’m sure there’s a masturbation joke in there somewhere, but I’m too tired and horny to work it out. At least I should get to see Lotus for a few hours when she’s done at the hospital. Speaking of which . . . where’s my damn phone?

“In the locker room,” I remind myself. She could be trying to call me now with an update on the baby. “I’ll grab it when I’m done.”

I’ve got another five minutes of recovery in here before I can go.

The door opens behind me again.

“Forget something, Deck?” I ask, eyes still closed, absorbing the healing effects of the glacial water even while it bites my skin.

When there’s no answer, I look over my shoulder to the training room door.

Lotus.

“Hi,” she says, her voice deep, welcome, husky. Exactly as I remember it, except last time it was hoarse from screaming after a marathon of fucking on my last day in New York.

I haven’t been back in Cali long, but it feels like months since I’ve seen her. Desire, need . . . fuck it. I’ll say it to myself though we haven’t said it explicitly yet to one another . . . love intensifies the longing and stretches out the time.

I have found the one whom my soul loves.

My beloved is mine, and I am his. I’m yours, Kenan.

I’ve replayed those moments and the sentiments we borrowed from King Solomon a hundred times in my head. Turning them over, analyzing them to see if there is any way she was not saying she loved me.

“Hi, yourself,” I finally reply, unable and unwilling to withhold my shit-eating grin any longer. “How’d you get back here?”

“Oh,” she says, leaning against the training room door. “August owed me a favor.”

“Yeah?” I ask, taking her in. The platinum hair is golden–brown again. I can’t keep up with her hairstyles and colors. A simple royal blue sundress ties at one shoulder, leaving the other exposed, and follows the curves of her body faithfully from breast to ankle.

“Yeah,” she continues, tilting her head to the side. “I practically delivered his son.”

A happy laugh barges past my lips. “Holy shit! So it is a boy?”

“Yup, secret’s out,” she says, joy lifting some of the fatigue from her eyes. “Michael Spencer West.”

“Nice. I got a stick I’ve been saving for Rook.”

“A stick?” One sleek brow lifts and she turns the lock, the sound echoing in the otherwise silent room. Even in the frigid water, my cock goes hard. “You mean a cigar?”

“Usually.” I don’t relinquish her heated stare. “But a stick could mean a lot of things now that I think about it.”

“Hmmmmm.” She frowns, takes the few steps that bring her to me beside the ice tub. “What else could a stick be?”

“Well, it could be . . .”

Words melt in my mouth when Lotus unties the knot at her shoulder and the dress falls to the ground. She’s completely nude, and with me sitting in the tub, I’m eye level with one tight, pierced nipple.

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