Page 5 of Never Say Never
It’s officially been four days since the NFL draft, and I’m already here in Orlando permanently, leaving Texas behind despite not graduating yet. Like Landon, the NFL has always been my dream, not a college degree.
One passion he and Idon’tshare is basketball. He’s a football-or-bust guy, whereas I’ve always loved playing hoops too.
I don’t have the skills for the NBA, obviously, but I welcome the challenge of playing with some of the best young local guys.
“I can keep up.”
“Well, you came on a good day.” Reggie waves to the other players, most of whom are still observing us speak. “We have enough people here to play full court, five on five.”
“Awesome.”
“Now, don’t do anything crazy and get injured on us,” Reggie says, only half joking. “The Waves need you.”
“I know, I know.” I chuckle.
Not that I’m under contract yet.The NFL has pretty tight restrictions on rookie salaries, but much to my agent’s annoyance, the Waves are trying to slow-pay portions of my signing bonus.
“Come on over,” Reggie instructs, and we head to where everyone’s started shooting to warm up.
“So as you know, I played in college, and I coach at one of the local high schools now. Some of the guys here are my current players, some are recent graduates. And then Mikhail”—he points to a forty-something man who’s probably six foot seven—“he played overseas until he got old.”
“Hey,” Mikhail interjects. “Watch who you’re calling old.” They both have wide grins on their faces, and I suspect this is a well-worn joke between them.
“I’m Chris,” says a new voice. He looks to be around nineteen, like my brother Connor. “It sucked that you didn’t win the Heisman, but we’re really glad we got you here at the Waves.”
He sounds nervous to talk to me, and I appreciate the sentiment, so I give him an easy smile.
“Thanks, man. It was cool to be a finalist even if I didn’t win.” The Heisman is the top individual award in college football and rarely goes to wide receivers, so there’s truth to my words. I was happy to make it that far.
And despite the media obsession over my so-called “party guy” reputation, I fought my ass off during my last year at Texas to load up my stat line and be a good teammate. My efforts were rewarded with a Heisman nomination, if not my number in the draft.
Dropping in the draft did help me in another way, by landing me here in Orlando where Landon and Grace live. My older siblings aren’t perfect, but they’re grounding forces for me.
“Okay, well let’s get the first game going,” Reggie says before dividing us up. There are seven guys on one side and six on the other, so there will be substitutes along the way.
“Rawley, you’ll start. What position do you like to play?”
“Small forward or shooting guard?—”
Behind me, I hear the door to the gym squeak open.
“Oh, whoa,” someone says. Chris, I think.
“Hi, sorry to interrupt, but is one of you, Reggie?” a female voice comes behind us.
I turn around and—holy shit—it’s Avery Parker.
A University of Connecticut basketball star who led them to the last two NCAA titles and won every imaginable D1 player-of-the-year award. Who just this month was the WNBA top draft pick, now a rookie herself for the Orlando Surge WNBA team.
Not to mention, the daughter of Boston NBA legend Paul Parker and the younger sister of current NBA All-Star, Dylan Parker.
I had posters of Paul “Swish” Parker growing up, messily taped on my wall during middle school. I must have watched his highlights a thousand times over the years on NBA “greatest moments” videos.
Only now, I’m wondering if I should be adding a poster of Avery to my walls.
Because beyond her insane basketball skills, she’s fucking gorgeous.
Long black shiny hair, porcelain skin, high cheekbones, matched with a tall, lean frame, maybe half a foot shorter than me. Her cut arms and abs are apparent in a Surge halter tee.
