Page 5 of Shot Taker

“What wall?” Harlan asks.

“The big fucking blank wall in the foyer.”

Harlan sighs.

“I’ll talk to him. If he hasn’t made a contract, there could be time to get rid of her. Assuming that’s what you want.” He shifts back, and I’m already seeing where he’s going. “It would be a big break for her. Her drawings at the auction were one thing, but art commissioned for the team? That gets seen by millions of people. It could make her career.”

Damn it.

I know how important getting your big break is. She’s talented and hardworking, and she deserves it. Everything she’s done is to be independent and stand on her own feet.

And if I end this, I’ll be the prick who took that from her.

“Our deal stands,” he reminds me. “Nothing has to change.”

The deal where he gets me my trade to LA, all but guaranteeing me the golden legacy I’ve spent my entire career chasing, and all I have to do is stay away from her.

“Yeah, and how’s that deal coming?” I demand, needing somewhere to focus that’s not the girl living rent free in my head.

“A few more weeks.”

I stare at the photos on his wall. Teams Harlan’s worked with over the years.

He wants a win here. He and I disagree on a lot of things, but he won’t compromise that goal.

Nova returning wasn’t Harlan's doing. He might fuck with people, but he’s not willing to risk the team’s future for this.

No, this is the owner imposing his frivolous will and not having a clue what he’s getting into.

Which in some ways makes this worse, because I have no one to take it out on.

My phone rings.

Coach.

I hit Accept.

“WADE!!! I don’t care how much your ass is worth—”

“Be there in five,” I answer, clicking off.

I shove the phone in my track pants and reach for my headphones. “She should work when the team isn’t here. She’ll be in the way.”

I start for the door, reaching it before I hear Harlan’s chair scrape the floor as he rises.

“You really cared about her, didn’t you?” he asks, his voice lower than before.

I slip my headphones over my ears and pretend I don’t hear him.

3

NOVA

Once I started staring at the wall, the music in my headphones grabbed me. It took an hour to ignore Clay’s eyes at my back, but now I barely feel them as the mural takes shape in my mind.

It’s about the blue. The clouds, the atmosphere, all of it blending with the mountains guarding the skyline.

After my conversation with James, I was intimidated by the need to create way more than I'd planned. But I’ve drawn it in my sketchpad, made some changes. I erased the parts I got wrong.

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