Masked SheWolf (MSW book 1)

Chapter 18 - Daniel

"Who's over-confident now?" I tease.

She doesn't acknowledge me and just rolls the ball in her hands a couple of times, eyes fixed on the hoop.

This I have to see.

She bends her knees and hops, throwing the ball simultaneously. It soars right into the ring, without even touching the net. Then she smiles innocently at my shocked expression.

"Aw, are you sad that you don't have an excuse to press up on me anymore?" she taunts me. The thing is... I am. That was my whole plan. "It's okay, I can pretend to be terrible, and you can show me some pointers."

I can still turn this around. If she's competitive enough, I can still get some closeness under the pretense of wanting to win.

I mock-glare at her. "Fine. Let's see how you handle yourself one-on-one."

She brings her hands up challengingly. "Bring it on."

On principle, I have to go easy on her. Not because she's a girl, but because I'm trying to make her happy. She's proving herself to be very good... you know, for a human. I don't intend to let her win, but I accidentally do, because I'm going so easy on her that she is noticing my weaknesses.

After about fifteen minutes, I have to call a time out. She's starting to get really tired. I don't want to exhaust her. We sit down by the hoop and I hand her one of the two bottles of energy drinks I've brought with me. She gulps down half of it.

"It's really not fair that you have superhuman strength and stamina," she complains.

"Right, because that's why I'm not sweaty," I reply.

She makes a face as she takes a gulp. "Shut up, you know I'm good."

I drop the pretense. "You are, actually," I allow. "Were you pretending to get the name wrong last time?"

She smirks but doesn't answer.

"How did you get so good?"

While she's closing the bottle again, she shrugs and answers me. "My dad used to be a high school basketball coach way before he met my mom."

I frown. "Why didn't you ask him to train you himself?"

She looks up at me, and her expression is completely changed. "My other dad."

My face falls. "Oh."

"Yeah," she seconds. "Anyway, I joined the basketball team in my last school. It was the closest connection I had with him. Until... you know."

"Then you gave it up?" I guess.

She nods. "Maybe not entirely, or else I wouldn't have agreed to this. But... at the time, it was more than just a way to relate to him. I didn't have any close friends I could confide in. My sister is my best friend, but... she's with Cade a lot, and sometimes those couple-y moments coincide with the times I need her. I can't take those moments away from her. So I found another outlet in basketball."

Of all the things we could have had in common, this is the last thing I would have expected. But it's also the best coincidence that could have occurred.

"How are you with the whole you know, brother thing?" I ask, genuinely concerned.

She smiles tentatively. "I'm okay," she assures me. "I guess I just needed time. I'm still struggling with the cheating dad part, but I'm not freaking out about John anymore. Of course, I haven't seen him since that one time, so I don't know how I would handle-"

I cut her off. "Why don't you?"

"Why don't I what?"

"Why don't you meet him?" I suggest cautiously. "I mean, reallymeet him. Introduce yourself."