Hook Shot (Hoops, #3)

by Kennedy Ryan

New York City is a beautiful bitch dipped in glitter, giving you the finger while walking the runway in her Louboutins.

When his tongue brushes the roof of my mouth,

ewwwwwy

“Mind if I try something that might help him relax a little?” “Is it sex?” He widens his eyes and squeezes my hand reassuringly. “I’ll make everyone leave the room if you need privacy.”

Lol

“I don’t kiss my friends,” she says, only half joking, her eyes sober. “Good,” I say with a smile. “Then when you kiss me, I’ll know you want to be more than just my friend.”

“Sometimes we hold so tightly to the hurt from the past that we miss the happiness ahead, and if there is one thing we deserve, Lotus, it’s happiness wherever we can find it.”

“You don’t believe in an afterlife?” she asks “I believe in now. It’s the only thing I can see and prove. It’s rational.” “One man’s rational is another man’s cowardice.” “You think I’m a coward because I’m not religious?” “No, but I think faith, real faith, requires bravery. With every prayer, we risk heartbreak.”

Fucking love Lotus in this scene 🙌🏻

“I make the distinction because I think religion, when abused, has been one of the most destructive forces in this world. Religion killed Jesus. Religion led to the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials. People conveniently organize their beliefs around their agendas. Taking money, starting wars, segregating, lynching—all of it had some scripture, some tenet twisted around to fit hate. True faith is about relationship.”

“It’s us admitting to the universe we don’t have all the answers. Too often religion says yes, I do have all the answers, and if you don’t like them, you can’t sit at my table. So we have all these tables. Too many tables, and not enough love.”

I want to sort my shit out. Not just for him. For me. But there’s no denying I want him.

I guess what I’m saying is he knows you intimately.” “No, he knows me sexually. I draw a line between those two things, and no one has ever crossed it.”

Fucking love Lotus!

“You wouldn’t take me seriously,” he says, sulky, petulant. “I want you, Lo.” “Where do men like you get off thinking you can have anything you want? I want the photo down, or this becomes a legal issue. Also, I want any digital copies and the print hanging out there. I’ll leave delivery instructions.”

Preach, girl 🙌🏻

“You’ve asked me before about the voodoo,” I rasp, hoping I’ve kept the panic from my voice. He goes still behind me. “Yeah, now I have your attention, you dickless bastard,” I spit. “Let me go, or I promise you pain. You think you can hurt me because you’re bigger and stronger?” I bark a humorless laugh. “That’s not power. I can make your life miserable for years to come in ways you cannot even imagine. One curse would do it.” I turn my head and glare at him over my shoulder. “I swear it. Test me, Chase.”

“I don’t believe in spells or potions or voodoo.” I put my hand over her heart, between her bare breasts. It covers most of her torso. “But I believe in this. I believe something special is happening between us, Lotus, and yeah, I’ve been hurt before. Lied to. Cheated on, but I’m not running away from this, from you, because of it. I won’t let what happened in the past keep me from giving us a chance.” I kiss her nose and she shifts so our lips meet and cling briefly, sweetly. “Let me protect you,” I whisper into our kiss, my hand still covering her heart.

I savor my body’s first taste of him—a communion of flesh and bone and heart and soul. I’m perfectly still, but something I’ve never felt shakes me to the foundation. It’s invisible and undeniable. He reaches up and brushes my hair back from my face, a gesture so familiar now, so tender that tears prick my eyes. We haven’t exchanged the words. They’re the last frontier, but in my heart, I know. And his eyes echo the same.

Beautiful wording 🙌🏻♥️ tender and intimate

“I thought I hurt you,” he says, pushing his nose into my neck, cupping my head, plunging his fingers into the untamed nest of hair. “No, you didn’t hurt me,” I promise, kissing his throat, his shoulder, his face—any part of him I can reach. “You healed me.”

Tears flood my throat, floating the inevitable question to my tongue. “Why did you let him hurt me, Mama?”

Fuck, my heart 😢 I really like, but also really hate that we didn’t get real answers from her mother, but I mean, that was the point! There isn’t anything her mother could’ve said to justify what happened anyway. It’s a painful moment and a painful scene, but it’s exactly what it needed to be.

“The only good thing you ever did for me was give me away,” I say, stroking my gris-gris ring. “I didn’t come here to see my mother before she died, because my mother is already gone. MiMi was the best mother I could have asked for. Anything good about me finds its way back to her, and anything that’s not, she taught me how to accept or change.”

“Some people are afraid of the storm,” MiMi had said, walking up beside me. “I’m not,” I’d said defensively, still resentful of her. Of this boondocks place. Of being separated from Iris. Of being exiled from all that was familiar to a place and with a woman I didn’t know. “Of course, you aren’t afraid of the storm,” MiMi had said with a smile. “You are the storm.”

Love her relationship with Mimi

“And what about this one?” I’d asked, touching the pattern on top. “That, my beautiful girl,” she’d said, smiling, “is your crown. Your pride. Your self-esteem. The glory of knowing who you are, and that it’s enough. No one has to tell a queen to wear her crown.”

His kisses start gentle, soft as clouds on my cheeks, drizzled like raindrops over the bridge of my nose. But then our mouths, our bodies collide like two bolts of lightning in the sky. You are the storm.

In the shadow of the tree I always thought was magic, we make our own. A necromancy that’s uniquely ours. In the shadow of the place I thought was safe, I realize it’s not a tree, a city, or a particular place where I find safety. It’s in Kenan’s arms, in the harbor of his love. That’s the safest place I’ve ever known.

“Kenan,” I say, forcing myself to look up and meet his eyes. “I think we need some time apart. A break.”

“Simone not only needs you, Kenan, she needs you to be apart from me.” I pull out of his hands, turn my back on him. “Especially if she’ll be living with you. It doesn’t have to be forever. It can be—” “Not only is it not forever,” he shouts behind me, “it’s not at all. This is ridiculous, Lotus.”

He gives me a little bit of the ick here. I understand the knee-jerk reaction to digging in your heels, and refusing to bend on this, but Lotus is the only one here really and truly putting Simone first.

“I think us taking a break,” I emphasize, “while she gets the help she needs could make her feel like she’s first with you, and that’s what she needs from you and Bridget. To feel like she’s your priority. Like you’d do anything for her, even stop seeing someone.” “I don’t agree, and I’m not giving you up.” He takes my arm. “Why would you leave me now when I need you so much?”

That last sentence there really gives me the ick 🫤 but I guess he’s feeling his own trauma too and wanting to hold onto the person he gets the most comfort from 🤷🏼‍♀️

“I can’t be away from you forever,” I say softly. “You already know that, Kenan, but I am saying for now, for her, let’s just step away from this. At least for the season. As if basketball isn’t enough of a distraction while you’re negotiating this, you don’t need me, too.” “That’s where you’re wrong,” he says. “I need you so bad.”

“Um, so this reporter approached me after practice.” “Okay.” “He mentioned something about the girl I was seeing this summer dating that photographer again.” I leave the unspoken question suspended over the thousands of miles separating us. “Oh.” She’s quiet for a moment. “I have no idea where he got that.”

I mean, I get where he’s coming from, his ex cheated on him, but this whole scene just gave me red flags 🚩 😅

“In our case, she thinks it was best for Simone. All of it. Not everyone is that committed to putting their kids’ needs before their own.” “But you were.” “No, you were. I wouldn’t have done it if you hadn’t forced the issue.”

Damn right you wouldn’t have 🙄