20demayo Chapter 283: Taking it Dry
Chapter 283: Taking it Dry
The doors of the elevator opened. Without a sound, Nia, Alicia, and Jaz stepped out into the hallway of the upper deck.None of them had spoken since leaving the hall downstairs. Their mouths stayed closed, but their eyes? Those were locked onto the door at the end of the corridor, Victoria’s office.
As they finally got to the door, Alicia’s hand stopped right before grabbing the handle. She took a quick breath, and looked up at Jaz with worried eyes.
The real fear eating them wasn’t about deals or money or any of that business stuff. It was way simpler, and way worse.
Nash was making something new. Something that didn’t include them in it from their POV.
And that thought? It made their stomachs twist. Because deep down, they were scared, really scared, that he was going to walk away and leave them behind like nothing.
Alicia opened the door slowly.
The office was so quiet you could hear the noise of the air conditioning. Victoria leaned against her desk, arms crossed over her chest, her dark sunglasses hiding her eyes. Nash stood by the big window, hands shoved deep in his pockets, staring down at the empty hangar floor below. His leather jacket was zipped all the way up, like he was bracing for something.
Nia stepped forward first.
"We... we saw everything online," Nia said. "The internet is freaking out. People are saying you’re buying Baby-Boom’s girls. We just... we need to know what’s going on."
Nash didn’t move at first. Then, slowly, he turned around, pulling his hands out of his pockets as his eyes flicked over the three of them. He didn’t look mad. He didn’t even look guilty. Just... tired.
"Yeah," Nash said, bluntly. "It’s real. What they’re saying online is right. I’ve been working on a plan to buy them out and bring them into Blacklist."
Alicia’s fingers dug into her jacket sleeve, her stomach twisting. Her mouth trembled as she looked up at him.
"So... you’re replacing us? Bringing in a whole new team to take our spot?"
Nash blinked. Once, then twice. His eyebrows went up under the shadow of his hood, and his head tilted like he didn’t understand the question.
"Huh?" he muttered, staring at them like they’d grown extra heads. "Where the hell did you get that idea? Why would I ever replace you?"
The moment those words came out of his mouth, the look on Jaz’s face changed completely. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and she slapped her own hips loudly, laughing as she turned to Nia and Alicia with the most smug, boastful grin anyone had ever seen.
"See?!" Jaz shouted, puffing out her fabulous chest and pointing right at them. "What did I tell you guys? Huh? What did you say back in the hall? You all need to listen to big Jazzy! Nash would never ditch us! I told you it was just about adding depth!"
Nia and Alicia shuffled their feet awkwardly, their faces turning red. Right now, they looked pretty stupid, especially after spending the last twenty minutes freaking out and imagining the worst possible thing.
Nash watched them, his expression growing even more confused. He glanced at Jaz, then back at the other two.
"Seriously," Nash said, crossing his arms, "what exactly were you thinking? Why would you believe I was throwing you away?"
The second his eyes locked onto Jaz, waiting for an answer, all her loud confidence vanished. Her chest sank, her shoulders slumped. Suddenly, she was nothing but a shy, nervous giantess twisting a thread of her hair, unable to look higher than his boots.
"Well... um..." Jaz mumbled, her voice dropping to a tiny whisper. "We just... we saw the stuff online, Nash. The forums said you were spending millions on the Baby-Boom’s girls... And since you didn’t tell us... we thought maybe you were tired of us. We figured you were bringing them in to take our spots."
Nash let out a sharp breath and shook his head immediately, waving a hand like he was brushing away the whole idea.
"Never," he said. "I never planned to replace you. That wasn’t even close to the idea."
He took a step closer.
"Listen, we were planning to expand the team, not getting rid of you. Right now, during drills, you three are the only ones putting in real work. The rest don’t do anything anymore. If we’re gonna survive the playoffs, we need real depth, more players who can actually play. I wanted to buy the Baby-Boom to grow the rotation, not kick you out. I want you three AND the Baby-Boom girls to run this circuit together as one unit."
Jaz’s eyes went super wide. All her embarrassment disappeared in a second, replaced by a huge wave of happiness. She looked at Nia, her cheeks turning even pinker as a big, goofy smile spread across her face.
To her, the idea of playing with the girls they’d just spent time with, all led by Nash, sounded like the best thing ever, like a dream come true.
Nia and Alicia glanced at each other, their faces lighting up too. Alicia let out a little breath and grinned, moving closer until her shoulder bumped against Nash’s leather jacket sleeve. Suddenly, everything made sense. Nash wasn’t kicking them out, he was building something huge for them.
"Man, if we actually get them on board," Jaz laughed, leaning forward, "this team is gonna be insane! It’s gonna be amazing!"
"Yeah, it works," Nia added, tapping her foot against the floor. "We love it, Nash. Perfect plan."
Nash let out a small, dry laugh, but his face got serious again real quick. He took a few steps back toward Victoria’s desk, and just like that, his playful tone was gone.
"Don’t celebrate yet," Nash said. "Things are messed up right now. That leak ruined everything."
The girls’ smiles disappeared instantly. Jaz froze, confused by how fast the mood had dropped.
"What do you mean?" Alicia asked, her voice low. "If the plan’s good, why does it matter if people know?"
"Because the whole plan depended on keeping it a secret," Nash explained. "We needed Apex to not notice so we could grab their contracts. But now that it’s all public... Monique’s team just put out a statement saying the deal isn’t happening. They’re locking everything down to save face. The chance for a buyout is gone."
The three girls just stood there, looking totally thrown off. One second, they were imagining this unbeatable dream team. The next, the whole thing might already be falling apart.
A deep, uncomfortable silence filled the room. Nash, Victoria, and the girls just stood there, staring at the floor, not saying a word. That leak had turned their perfect future into a solid wall, and now everything was closing in on them.
The next night, the lights inside the Neon City arena did not feel warm like they usually did. Instead, they felt cruel and cold, like they were slowly roasting the skin of the team getting ravaged under them.
The crowd was not screaming or cheering anymore. Instead, they were whispering. Every single person in the bleachers was staring at the big electronic scoreboard hanging from the rusty ceiling beams.
[ DUST DOGS: 0 - NEON PULSE: 42 ]
It was only the second quarter, but the Dust Dogs had not scored even once. Not a single point.
Down on the court, Roam was breathing hard, his hands gripping his knees like he was trying not to fall over. Every time the Dust Dogs tried to attack, they lost the ball immediately.
The other team, Neon Pulse, did not even seem to be trying. They were relaxed, laughing among themselves as they tossed the ball back and forth like it was nothing. For them, this game was easy. Too easy.
It wasn’t even that they were a top contender on the level of the Colossus, but the opposition tonight did not just... Exist.
Yet, for not being a top contender, they had a deadliest weapon on a completely different dimension.
A guy named Rain, and what kind of player was he. He was not big and muscular like Roam. He was small, skinny, and his jersey looked too loose on him, like it belonged to someone else.
When Saya looked at him, her stomach twisted into a painful knot. It was like seeing a mirror from months ago. But not her mirror.
This guy looked exactly like Nash used to, a a citizen of the shrimp Community.
But this guy, Rain, was like Nash on steroids. He didn’t even look at the ball when he passed it. He just flicked his wrist, and suddenly, the ball was moving faster than anyone could react. It slipped through the tightest gaps in the defense like it was magic. Before Roam or Tylo could even blink, another Neon Pulse player was catching it under the basket for an easy shot.
Clang.
[ DUST DOGS: 0 - NEON PULSE: 44 ]
Tylo smacked his hands against his thighs, his face turning red as he glared at the basket.
"How is he doing that?! I can’t even touch his passes! It’s like the ball disappears and reappears somewhere else!"
Saya sat on the bench, having lost her motivation from the moment they learned that the Neon Pulse had refused the usual deal. For them, it obviously mean that they would get wrecked.
She conveniently got a stomachache keeping her from playing, but she was still drowning in frustration. They were being destroyed by a guy who looked like a weaker version of the guy she hated the most. And they couldn’t even score a single point to save face.
When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard looked like a punishment.
[ DUST DOGS: 0 - NEON PULSE: 98 ]
What a disaster. The Neon Pulse didn’t even celebrate. They just wiped their faces and joked about how good of a warm-up it was, like nothing had happened.
The crowd left fast, and soon the Dust Dogs were alone on the court, slumped over in complete defeat. They looked like a group of broken-down losers waiting for someone to sweep them away.
Inside the locker room, it was way worde. Nobody was yelling. Nobody had the energy to fight anymore.
Then, the heavy metal door opened, and three men walked into the small, cramped room.
They looked just like regular guys, and normally, not everyone could reach the locker room of a Breakball team that easily. But those people were exception, because, to the Dust Dogs, they weren’t nobodies.
They owned some bars in the Underground, and paid for the team’s cheap jerseys and the basic supplies they needed.
Sponsors, you could say that they were the Dust Dogs sponsors, except that instead of a black suit and a case, their clothes were worn-out, jackets faded and shirts wrinkled, and the case was replaced by an empty beer cane.
The nasty smell of the locker room didn’t even seem to bother them.
Vargas stood up right away from the bench he was sitting on. His hands shook a little, but he walked toward them, forcing a weak smile onto his face.
"Hey, Frank," Vargas said, trying to sound casual. "How’s it going? Man, told you not to come, it was a bad matching—"
Roam didn’t let him finish. He was sitting on the floor, but now his head snapped up, eyes burning with anger. With the silence in the room, he had no one to vent his frustration on, but with three clowns popping out of nowhere...
"Who the hell let you losers in here?" he snarled. "Get out! We don’t wanna hear your crap today!"
"Shut your damn mouth, Roam!" Vargas shouted, his voice cracking as he stepped right between Roam and the visitors. His hands trembled, like he was suddenly terrified of what might happen next. "Just shut up right now!"
Frank, the leader of the three, didn’t look bothered at all. He just let out a chuckle and leaned his shoulder against the dirty doorframe. Slowly, he pulled a cheap lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette, right there in the locker room.
"Relax, Vargas," Frank said, blowing a thin stream of smoke toward the ceiling. "It’s fine. We don’t expect a dog to have manners after getting wrecked on the court like that."
Roam’s hands clenched into fists but then he looked past Frank and saw the two big guys standing behind him. They weren’t anything special, just normal street thugs, but the shapes under their jackets made it clear they were carrying pipes. Roam swallowed hard, gritted his teeth, and looked back down at the floor.
Frank turned his cold, tired eyes away from Roam and stared straight at Vargas.
"We’re here to talk about the Dust Dogs’ future, Vargas."