The Sixteenth Need by Calia Read

Author:Calia Read [Read, Calia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-24T16:00:00+00:00

I was late to basketball practice.

Not because my session with Sable went over. No, we finished at the same time we always did. But instead of going straight to the locker room, I paced out in the hall, feeling a rage boiling inside me that I didn’t think possible. Every few seconds, I would unclench my fists and go through all the reasons of why I shouldn’t beat the shit out of Drew. But then I’d think of all the reasons why I should beat the shit out of him.

“Sam, are you coming in?”

I stopped my pacing long enough to glance at one of my teammates. He was standing in the doorway of the locker room, holding the door open with his hand.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “I’m coming.”

The locker room had its normal environment: lockers slamming, lewd conversations, loud laughter and you couldn’t forget that undeniable smell - sweat mixed with a shitload of Axe body spray.

I walked to my locker, deliberately avoided looking in the direction of Drew’s locker. Dropping my gym bag, I turned the dial of my lock. I yanked out a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt and started to change.

I was hanging my shirt on a hook in my locker when Drew slapped me on the shoulder. “Hey. Where have you been? You’re going to be late.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Drew shrugged and leaned against the lockers. “Sure.”

It was taking all my self-control not to reach out, grab him by the neck and shove him against the lockers. To keep my hands busy, I grabbed my sneakers from my locker. “Me and you have a problem,” I finally said.

Drew snorted and gave me a pointed look. “Our center is fucking useless if that’s the problem.”

“Speak for yourself, Bledsoe!” A player one row down shouted.

“No, I’m not talking about the team. I’m talking about you and me. You made a big mistake.” I stood to my full height. “Huge mistake.”

Drew frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Returning the favor, I slapped his shoulder as hard as I could, making him wince. “I just got done talking to Sable.”

He couldn’t help himself. He snorted. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. She told me a funny story.”

Drew cocked his head to the side and smirked. I had a strong suspicion, but it was then I knew he did it. That sly smirk was the same one he gave whenever he had done something fucked up and knew he was going to get away with it. “What’d she say?”

“She said that two of her tires were flat. It’s one thing to have a flat tire. But two?” I whistled. “Talk about unlucky.” I watched him closely. “Do you know anything about that?”

A short burst of laughter escaped him as he shrugged. “Dude. It was just a joke. She’s been taking up all your time and so...”

He left his words open-ended, as if he had explained everything. But the thing was, Sable didn’t stop to think that it was deliberately done by one of my so-called friends.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.