Page 248 of Scoring the Player
“Hi, sir, pleasure to meet you.”
“Call me Eli. Are those peonies for me?” He asks, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“Yes, for you both,” I say, extending the bouquet to him.
“They’re lovely,” he says. “Ooh, look at that.” He gestures to my knuckle tats. “You know I almost got one of those back in ‘89?”
“He did,” Maya says. “Got as far as the stencil transfer before he high-tailed it outta there.”
We all laugh.
“To his credit, when we got our boys’ names on us for our 25th anniversary, he was chin up, straight back, rock solid.”
“Let me see yours,” Eli says, pulling glasses out of his pocket and thumbing them on.
I hold out my hands, and he reads the letters along my knuckles. “Neat,” he says with a hum. “We do hugs yet?”
“I got one,” Maya says.
“Guys,” Salem says.
“What?” his dad replies. “We’ve only been waiting five years for this day. You want a hug?” he asks me.
“Sure.” I step forward into his embrace.
“Let the man into the house,” Denzel says, appearing over his dad’s shoulder, leaning against the wall.
Salem grins. “Yeah, let’s let Blue in.”
“You prefer we call you Blue or Arnaz?” Maya asks as we’re peeling off our shoes.
“Blue’s fine,” I reply.
“You got it.”
“Come on in,” Eli says. “Maya was just pummeling Denzel in NBA 2K.”
We all laugh.
“What’s the score?” Salem asks.
Denzel hangs his head as Maya wraps an arm around his waist. “Don’t even ask.”
“I got next,” Salem says. “Winner has to beat Blue. He’s a beast.”
I wink at him.
“Finally, a real challenger in the family,” Maya quips, making us laugh again.
“Ooh. Any chance you’re good at Wrath Protocol?” She asks me over her shoulder as we make our way inside. “I keep losing in the Red Zone, and these three can’t help me.”
“Yeah, you know the backpack you get after you beat Skull Fall? You have to use the glasses inside to see the hidden room after you scale the beam.”
“Oh!” She stops walking. “That’s brilliant! I put them on after the Orange Zone and nothing happened.”
“Yeah, they only work in the Red Zone.”
Salem taps my arm and pulls me to the side. “We’ll be right there,” he says to his family. “You good?” He palms my waist. “If at any time you wanna leave, just tell me.”
