Page 167 of The Locker Room

found that hereallyhated the fact that he agreed with the guy. They"d

played like shit, and he"d be damned if he was going to throw this team

on his back and haul them down the court when he was up and running if

they couldn"t at least try to take on some of their own dead weight.

“You got something to add to that, Karcek?” Wilson asked, the

edge of his sarcasm dulled by the weariness in his voice. They"d been

run hard around the court, and Xander knew how that felt.

“Share the ball,” he said quietly. “Let someone else take your shot.

Seriously, Wilson—Burkins, Oswald, Pollack—they were all open

during that last turnover. They would have helped you out. But everyone

expected you to go for the shot and you didn"t disappoint them.”

Burkins snorted. “But it"s not like our percentage is any better!

Jesus, Xander—none of us have your shots. It"s like you and God have

that shooting percentage, you know?”

Xander shrugged. “But part of that is that I don"t take shots I can"t

make—I give them to someone else. And that helps their numbers too.

And, you know. Win/win, right?”

There was a sigh, and a buzz, and Xander looked at all of them.

They were his teammates, and he loved them. Not like Chris, but then,

what was?

“Look, guys—you hear that crowd?” Everyone nodded their heads

yes. “Man, most of those people aren"t rich. They gave up a better car or

better clothes or a home improvement or something to be here. Theylove

us and they gave up something to see us. It"s only fair we give up

something to please them, right? So give up the shot to your teammate. I

mean… we"re thirty points in the hole. Anything"s gotta be better than

that.”

144 Amy Lane

He would have loved to have stalked out of the locker room with

dignity, but he was still on crutches, so he sort of gimped out of there