Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
The next time the ball went toward the dealers, Dan ducked, hooked her body under her mark, and flipped the girl clear off her feet. To add insult to injury, she offered the fallen girl a gloved hand back to her feet. The next second they were in each other's faces with jabbing fingers and strident tones. The referees made it halfway across the court to them, likely to card Dan for her dangerous body-check, before the other dealer punched Dan in her mouth. Dan threw her hands up and refused to retaliate. There was no point when she'd gotten what she wanted. Both dealers got yellow cards, and the referees restarted gameplay from a neutral position.
That almost-fight was the tipping point, and the rest of first half was brutal. Neil was sore all over by the time the bell rang for half-time but he didn't care how much his body hurt. Andrew had done what Wymack asked and given up only two goals. The Foxes, on the other hand, had already netted four. Neil followed his teammates off the court for half-time break, passed Wymack where he was giving breezy dismissals to the reporters, and paced the locker room until the feeling came back to his toes. Abby roped him into a quick check-up in the other room and Neil was too out of breath to wave her off.
The Longhorns went all-out in the second half, getting two players red-carded and five yellowed. Their underhanded playing style wore the Foxes thin, but the Foxes knew better than to fight back. A yellow card wouldn't get them benched, but two in a row would get them booted from the match and they had no one to spare. They kept their cool as best they could, toed a careful line on their own numerous transgressions, and harvested as many points as they could from penalty shots. In the end it was worth it, because the final score was seven-six, Foxes' favor.
When the Foxes filed off the court, Renee headed for Riko. She wasn't the sort to pick a fight, so Neil stopped to stare after her. Riko didn't take the hand Renee offered, but Jean did. The handshake lasted a little too long, but Neil didn't know which one of them was slower to let go.
Neil thought of Jean's odd reaction to Renee at the fall banquet, the lingering look and the uncomfortable introduction. It was the memory he'd been looking for last week when going through his messages at Reddin. Jean accepted Riko and Tetsuji's cruelty because he had no one outside of the Ravens. With nothing else to live for and no reason to fight, he bowed his head and focused on surviving. Renee was the first bright thing to catch his eye.
"He's interested in her," Neil said, not quite a question.
Kevin was watching them too. "It doesn't matter. It won't work."
Renee told Neil last fall that Ravens weren't allowed to date. Tetsuji didn't want his team distracted from the game. Renee knew that, but she was over there anyway. Neil might be over-thinking her intentions, but he was willing to exploit any angle they could find.
"Maybe not," Neil said, "but it could give us an edge. Do you still know his number? Give it to her and see what she can do between now and finals."
Dan and Kevin had agreed beforehand to handle the reporters post-game. Neil was happy to leave them to it and follow his jubilant teammates to the locker room, but he didn't make it far. He was probably eight steps from the bench before a reporter shouted after him.
"Neil, is it true you're marked for Court?"
The smart thing to do was keep going and pretend he hadn't heard over the sound of the furious crowd, but Neil ground to a halt. He stared straight ahead, weighing all the ways he could and shouldn't respond to that. Finally he turned back. Riko's presence meant Andrew was sticking close to Kevin, but Andrew's eyes were on Neil after a bold question like that. Neil tipped his head in silent question, and Andrew motioned for him to do as he pleased.
Neil undid the straps on his helmet and headed for the trio of reporters. Andrew took Neil's helmet as he passed, and Renee took it from Andrew as she headed to the locker room. Neil tucked his gloves under one arm and stopped beside Kevin.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Did you say something?"
"Rumor has it you've been invited to the perfect Court." The reporter thrust a microphone at him, her eyes on the bandage plastered to Neil's cheekbone with sweat and tape. "Care to comment on that?"
The first time someone asked about Riko's and Kevin's tattoos, Riko hadn't beat around the bush. He was the best striker in the game, he said, and he wanted everyone to know it. The story changed a little when Jean made his first public appearance with a "3" on his face. Riko was supposedly handpicking the future US National Team. He called it the "perfect Court", and even though it was unofficial and unbelievably arrogant, his talent and upbringing gave some credibility to the idea.
"Oh," Neil said. "You mean this."
He peeled the bandage off his face and let the reporters get a good look at his tattoo. One of the reporters snapped at her cameraman to get a close-up and Neil obediently tilted his face for a better view. He was smiling again and this time he didn't try to hide it. The reporters were too stupid, or too eager for a story, to read the threat in that expression. Kevin wasn't so blind and he hissed under his breath in tense French.
"Don't push him."
The urge to choke the life out of Kevin was as fierce as it was fleeting. Neil didn't waste his time looking at Kevin but addressed the reporters. "It's actually impressive, isn't it? I think it's the first time Riko's ever been wrong. He always seemed too thickheaded to admit when he'd made a mistake."