We are so close to losing to Florida State right now it's not even funny. Robbie, Trey, and I have been carrying this game tonight with majority of the points on the board. I am guarding a douche of a point guard and he is getting pretty frustrated. Sucks to fucking suck. I keep tabs on the point guard as he gets the ball. Robbie is yelling for everyone to pull back because the guard is going to dribble right for the hoop. With five seconds left and two points up, they have a good shot at beating us.

Either they shoot a three or layup to tie it.

The point guard chucks the ball at Trey's man but Trey is quick on his feet. He intercepts the ball as Florida State moves to try and get it back. Trey shoots the ball from the three point line as the buzzer goes off. The ball goes into the net with whoosh and all the boys on the court go insane. Trey holds up three fingers running to the bench. He high fives the boys as Robbie wraps an arm around my shoulder.

"We are still fucking undefeated!" Robbie whistles nodding his head as we line up. I can't help but smile at how proud I am of all of us for coming this far. To be fucking undefeated and going to March Madness is huge. We always seem to get to March Madness but lose in the Sweet Sixteen or Final Four. Or fuck up first round. Hopefully with all the fucking shit happening with our team, we can stay in the race for the National Championship title.

"Alright, line up, Boys," Coach says pointing to the Florida State team. We all fall in step with each other and form a line to shake hands with the team. As I pass by the douchebag point guard he doesn't give me a handshake. I resist the urge to say something because that's exactly what he is, a douchebag. We huddle back up towards the chairs on the sidelines after thanking the referees. We pick up our various towels and water bottles. The team is talking loudly about our win before we head towards the locker room to change and shower.

I catch site of the cheerleaders also heading in the direction of the locker rooms for them. Robbie is already jogging over to Rae. She beams up at him as he bends down to kiss her.

"They make me sick," Braden says with narrowed eyes. I roll my eyes at him shoving his shoulder. He is definitely still pressed about everything that went down last Saturday. I am not even sure if Lacey and him hooked up that night or what happened. After watching Carter flick Braden in the head and then become very vocal towards Lacey, I knew I should probably take her to bed. She ranted on and on about Lacey which I think honestly helped her not punch the girl. I didn't mind watching her rant because she honestly looked very cute while doing so.

Currently, Carter is on her, I believe, her fourth day of her bender. Why she felt the need to drink four days in a row? I have no idea. Am I kind of jealous? Fuck yeah. Robbie and Rae fall into step with Braden and I.

"Hi y'all," Rae says shooting us a smile. Braden and I send her both a 'hi' back as we watch the fans pile out of the arena.

"What are the girls up to tonight?" Braden asks probably looking to see what Lacey is doing. Although, I hate to say it, I am very curious about what Carter is up to. Right before the game Carter texted me a 'good luck' text but she is probably long gone by now.

"Well, Carter and Tori are probably moving on from houses and to the bar while Julie and Lacey are joining them. I think," Rae says probably recalling a text. Robbie laughs lightly at the sentence and Rae sends him a funny look.

"I don't mean to offend but are Carter and Tori alcoholics?" Robbie asks still laughing lowly. I laugh a little too because we all know the two of them love their alcohol.

"No, well, maybe. Carter and Tori are trying to prove a point to Q that they are 'invincible.' Which is so untrue," Rae states back glancing at me. I raise my hands up in defense because let's be honest, Carter is going to do what Carter wants to do.

"She barely listens to me, don't look at me for help," I say shaking my head at Rae. I might try to call her or text her when I get back to the hotel. Since she has been drinking all day, she must be a good time right now.

"Actually, she only listens to you. Anyways, I'll see you after Rob," Rae says turning to Robbie. She goes up on her tippy toes and Robbie meets her halfway. Braden and I cough lightly only to fuck with him to which we earn a middle finger. I laugh before turning into our own locker room with Braden behind us. I just know I am getting kicked out of my room tonight so Rae and Robbie can have alone time.

"I'll be sleeping in your room, just saying," I tell Braden looking behind me. He gives me a knowing look before clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"Watch them do it on your hotel bed," he says cackling to himself. I shove him off of me making a face. It's not like I will be sleeping their again other than maybe tonight, it's just the principle. I had to my duffel bag and reach in the side pocket for my phone. I ignore all the Bleacher Report stats from our game and click onto the text from Carter. It's definitely a drunk selfie of her and Tori upside on what I think is a couch.

Carter:
basketball season sucks because our day drinking buddies are away. fuck all y'all, relay the message.

I laugh slightly shaking my head at the text message before shooting her a reply;

Asher:

I lock my phone and toss it into my duffel bag before grabbing a towel to shower. I really just did not feel like talking to anyone else at the moment. It's usually like that after a game because it's almost like I'm coming down from a high after games. So, usually I don't really talk to anyone.

Usually.

Once I finish showering and changing into basketball shorts and a UNC tee shirt. I toss my things into my duffel bag. Trey is tying his shoe beside me and on my other side is Robbie.

"Have you talked to Miller today?" Trey asks glancing at me. I pause looking over at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah. Why?" I ask him sitting up straighter. I don't know why but suddenly I have a pit in my stomach. What if something happened to her? Fuck, why am I thinking like that. I need to chill she probably just did some stupid shit, as usual.

"The four day bender won," Robbie says handing me his phone. Her Snapchat private story is up with a photo of her being carried out of the bar by a bouncer. She is wearing a boa with Happy New Year glasses on even though we are well into the new year. I laugh loudly before grabbing my own phone just so I could screenshot that shit.

"She is a fucking wild one," Trey says laughing loudly at the picture. "The more I look at it the more I wanna know where the fuck she was."

I am too busy screenshotting and swiping up on her story to engage in their conversation. She also responded to my text message and I am kind of interested into see what she has to say.

Carter:
not olay, going to bed. nighty night asherrrr :)

Asher:
         goodnight carter, for the love of god take some advil

I sigh shaking my head at the text message before sliding my phone into my pocket, "Well she's going to bed."

"Good, that girl will not be okay tomorrow," Robbie laughs as I put my duffel bag on my shoulder. I cannot wait to see her all disheveled tomorrow. I had been planning on going to her dorm before heading back to basketball house when we get back to say hi but now I will definitely be there. Trey, Robbie, and I head out of the locker rooms and towards the doors out of the arena to the bus back to the hotel. There is a few people waiting in the hallway but I stop dead in my tracks.

"Holy shit," I say looking at Cody and his buzz cut. I was not at all expecting my brother out of all people to show up tonight. Ashley stands next to him holding Cora their daughters hand.

"Hi Little Brother," he says with a smug ass grin on his face. I can't help but stand there shocked as Cora waddles her way in my direction. Her hair matches her moms close to a black color and is stick straight. She wears a small UNC basketball shirt with bright pink leggings.

"Ashy!" she yells as I pluck her off of the ground. I rest her on my hip pushing my gym bag up my shoulders. She pokes my cheek making me chuckle at her. Cora looks so much like her mom it's not even funny.

"How old are you now? Twenty?" I ask her as I make my way over to my brother and sister-in-law. She shakes her head making a face at me.

"I'm four!" she yells holding up a solid five fingers. I chuckle again nodding my head at her as she moves her fingers closer to my face.

"Those are five fingers, Cora," Ashley says moving her hand away from me lightly. I haven't seen any of them since Christmas and it is extremely nice for them to even come. They live in Tallahassee but I didn't bother nor did I think about reaching out. My brother is always busy and Ashley has Cora running around all the time.

"What are you guys doing here?" I ask the two of them as they glance at each other. Cody shrugs his shoulders at me with a smirk.

"Thought I'd see if you can outplay me in basketball. With your turnover tonight, I think I can," he says crossing his arms over his chest. I roll my eyes at him as Cora rests her head on my shoulder. Cody was a huge basketball star at UCLA, he was the first one to get hounded on by my dad. When he was a junior in college, he blew out his knee and has been benched ever since. My dad flipped his god damn shit on him. Even though it was his fucking fault.

"That's cheap, it was only one and I was top scorer tonight," I defend myself as Cora watches her dad and I. Ashley looks just as bored as Cora at the moment and I am still dying to know why the fuck they are here.

"Anyways, I know you and a couple of your friends are probably hungry, so let's go get dinner. Right, Ash?" Cody says turning to his wife. They get married right after they graduated, much to, once again, my fathers dismay. I raise my eyebrows at him but Cora's head lifts up at the mention of dinner.

"I want fries," she says looking at Ashley. I nod my head at her laughing lightly. I kind of want fries too now that she mentions it. All of my other teammates seem to either be hanging around the hallway of the locker room or headed to the bus. We are staying overnight tonight because the cheerleaders have some type of "show-off" Rae called it tomorrow morning with FSU.

"Then fries you get," I tell her nodding my head. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to see coach. He is looking down at Cora skeptically making me stand up straighter.

"Do you have a kid I don't know about, Fletcher?" he asks glancing at my brother and sister-in-law. I nearly choke at his comment but he cracks a smile.

"Um, no Coach, this is my niece, Cora," I say as Cora looks over at my coach. He gives her a small wave and then a smile at Cody and Ashley.

"It's nice to meet you Cody, I saw you when you played ball in college. I'm Coach Kenley," he says extending a hand to Cody. Cody shakes his hand with no sense of flinch on his face from mentioning his days in college. I think I even flinched remembering it.

"Nice to meet you. I hope you make Asher run a hell of a lot," Cody says with a huge fucking grin. I narrow my eyes at him and if I didn't have Cora in my hands I would have punched him. Ashley shakes coaches hand too as he laughs at my brother.

"Oh, of course I do. I can't let him get too cocky," Coach says looking my way. I really do want to kill my brother right because just cause he said that I know I'm in for a good run at practice on Monday.

"Good to hear, Coach," Cody states nodding his head happily. Cora whines lightly and reaches for Ashley. I hand her over to Ashley glancing back at coach.

"Is it okay if I take the hooligan to dinner?" my brother asks nodding his head at me. I resist the urge once again to deck the fuck out of my brother because not only is my coach her but my four year old niece.

"Of course, you three enjoy. Fletcher, I will see you at practice on Monday," Coach says patting my back once again. He glances behind me shooting at nod at probably the boys who are behind me. Rae and Robbie join next to me with Rae who has a huge smile on her face.

"Cody, Ashley, this is Rae, Robbie's girlfriend and Jeremy. Then, you know the rest of them," I say pointing at all the people behind me. Ashley and Cody nod their heads at them. Cody and Ashley know Robbie and Trey but they don't know Rae and Jeremy. My brother usually comes to at least one of my games alone and then another with my parents. He keeps Cora at home for those games and sometimes even Ashley.

"That is rude, what if they forgot me!" Trey gasps holding a hand over his heart. Cody snorts loudly as Cora looks up at Trey.

"Oh how could we forget about you, Trey," Cody says shaking his head at Trey. "Anyways, you all are more than welcome to come to dinner."

"Oh no, we don't want to intrude," Rae says quickly knowing the boys would probably jumó at the chance. Although she doesn't know as she much as they do. Cody smiles at Rae nodding his head at her.

"We have bigger plans, Fletcher Sr." Robbie wiggles his eyebrows and wraps an arm around Rae's shoulder. She makes a disgusted face shoving him away.

"Just for that comment, no we don't," she says glaring at him earning a laugh from Ashley.

"I like you," she says laughing loudly. Rae is still glaring at Robbie while the rest of the boys say thanks to my brother but know I need to talk to him alone. I haven't talked to him about the whole NBA shit because I know he is just going to get mad. Like hella mad. We all say our goodbyes before Ashley, Cody, Cora, and I walk out to their car. I am holding Cora's hand as we walk across the parking lot. She is looking down at her pink sandals counting her steps. She has really grown up a lot from the last time I saw her.

"So, are you finally tied down?" Ashley asks glancing down at Cora for a moment. Cody laughs loudly so much so that it fucking echoes. I give him a 'fuck off' look but he continues laughing.

"Asher? Getting tied down, that's funny, Ley," Cody says using her nickname. I am debating. I am really debating on bringing up Carter but we aren't together. Nor are we "tied down."

"He does." I look up surprised at Ashley. I blink at her as we approach Cody's black Nissan. How the hell would she even know that? Other than following each other on most social media, Carter and I have never posted each other. Or anything fucking like that.

"What? No I don't," I say picking Cora up. She seems to be intrigued in the conversation now because she is studying me just like her mom is right now. "I don't like this."

"Try having them do it all the time," Cody sighs taking Cora from my arms. He walks over to the driver side as Ashley opens up her car door but pauses.

"Alright, spit it out, Asher," she says motioning with her hands for me to get a move on. I sigh loudly opening the car door before climbing into the car.

"Spit it out, Ashy!" Cora yells clapping her hands together. I look at her but give her a teasing glare because she has no idea what she is doing. She giggles at me as Cody clips her before shutting her door.

"Don't gang up on me," I say frowning at her. Usually, she would take it back but all she does is laugh. I sigh loudly as Cody gets into the car. "Help me, Cody."

"Sorry bud you've dug yourself your own hole," he says looking back at me. Ashley is practically turned in her seat looking at me eagerly.

"Name? Credentials, I'm ready," she says nodding her head at me. Cody laughs but doesn't nothing to fucking help me. Well fuck me I guess. He starts the car and switches the gear to reverse.

"We technically have a dog together but she-" I don't even finish my sentences before I hear a joint 'what.' The car moves back at park and now Cody is fully turned in his seat.

"You have a fucking dog together?" Cody blurts out jaw dropped. Ashley smacks the shit out of his shoulder and Cora covers her ears.

"Daddy said a bad word!" she says pointing at her dad. He sighs looking at her with sincere eyes.

"Daddy is sorry but Daddy's brother is a not nice word," he says shooting me a glare. I sigh running my hands through my hair. This is not going to fucking go well.

"Okay, okay, you drive. I will decide whether this is going in a good direction or not," Ashley says patting Cody's shoulder. Cody mumbles some type of sarcastic shit but listens to Ashley. He moves the car back to reverse and finally gets out of the parking spot.

"Her names Carter-" I tell them majority of everything. Leaving out the fucking parts, which I am sure they can guess but by the look on Ashley's face, she is giddy. Like child on Christmas giddy and Cody is silent. She also somehow found her on fucking Instagram and is obsessed over her. I don't know why but this all makes me feel, happy? Maybe. I don't fucking know.

"I'm planning your wedding right now," she states slamming her phone on the center console. Cody I think is still trying to find words because I honestly don't think he has ever heard of me with whatever this is before.

"And you haven't ya know with anyone else?" he asks looking at me through the rear view mirror. Ashley looks at me for my answer.

"Nope, not even Kristen," I say shaking my head at him. Cody nods his head in approval stopping at the red light.

"Thank god, she was a bitch," Ashley states turning back around in her seat. Cora gasps again covering her ears. "Shoot, sorry, Honey."

"Can I see this girl?" I watch as Ashley grabs her Instagram again and shows Cody a picture of Carter. I can see it from the backseat of the car. It's her most recent picture. She is sitting on a bed with a low-cut black shirt and black jeans. She looks so fucking good and I wonder where the fuck that was taken. "Wow."

That earns him a punch not only from Ashley but from me. He yells in pain glaring at the both of us. I lean back against the seat and check my phone. Carter is definitely dead asleep but it feels nice to finally talk about her. With someone other than people who know her. While yes, she is one loose fucking cannon. I like her. I full on fucking like her. And it scares the fucking shit out of me to like her. She is so not what I usually want but she is everything I fucking want and more.

At the party a week ago, I don't know why I just denied it. Or keep denying it. I'm being a fucking idiot and I know other guys want Carter. Example, Ronnie on my team, which is never fucking happening. So, why wouldn't Carter feel the same fucking way. She is doing the same shit I'm doing.

"So, now what?" Cody asks me pulling into a restaurant parking lot. He's right. So, now fucking what?