CHAPTER 66: RIM JOBBED

The gym fell into a low murmur, all eyes ping-ponging between Jinzo and Nash. Nobody said a thing until Nia just flopped her hand up.

"Yeah, I’m with Nashy." She wrapped herself around Nash’s arm like she’d just won a prize at the fair, chin up, smirk dialed to eleven.

Drex and Mac looked like they’d swallowed something sour. They’d stormed in, ready to throw hands for Jinzo, but a match against Nash wasn’t on their bingo card. Fired up was one thing, but nobody was signing up for an humiliation.

Jinzo, of course, lost it.

"This is crap. You want to test me but he can pick our best teammates? You call this bullshit a fair match? Fuck no! Everyone knows I’m unstoppable when we’ve got the whole crew. This is a setup."

A couple people groaned. Even his own guys looked like they’d rather be anywhere else.

Then Victoria, never subtle with those heels, sliced through the tension.

"Fairness is the only thing you’re getting from me. The best way to prove someone is worthless is to give them their comfort zone... and watch them fail anyway."

She shot a look at Nash.

"Jinzo will have his main four. You will have the others. Are you fine with that?"

Nash just shrugged, eyes glinting. Like, whatever.

"Doesn’t matter to me. Just give me the ball."

Victoria’s lips twitched, almost a smile.

"Good answer."

Everybody packed onto the court, five on five, ready to rumble. One side had the so-called A-team: Jinzo, Nia, Jaz, Drex, Mac. Across from them, you had Nash, three guys who looked like they’d wandered in from the background of a video game, and a girl who, well, at least had something interesting going on.

The benchwarmers, basically. You couldn’t draw a thicker line between them.

Jinzo was already at midcourt, barking orders like he thought he was running Navy SEAL drills.

"Don’t fuck this up! Don’t slack off. Don’t let that clown get a damn thing. And if you screw up? That’s on you. Got it? I’ll fuck you up, before he fuck you up!"

Nia just rolled her eyes so hard you could almost hear them click.

"Tch. No one’s getting fucked with you, even if you tried. And your first mistake was accepting a lost fight when you’re the only one getting fucked when this goes south."

Jinzo was fuming with rage, and Jaz was over there fiddling with her fingers, looking like she’d rather eat nails than be stuck in the middle of this.

"Babe, you don’t have to yell. Seriously. Maybe just, I don’t know, chill? Everyone doesn’t have to be your enemies, right?"

Drex and Mac already looked like they’d lost before the whistle even blew.

"Quit making everything a big deal!" Jinzo snapped, forehead veins popping out like he was about to explode. "He’s just one guy! There’s five of you! Why are you all so damn useless???"

And then Nash, cool as you please, just tossed out, barely louder than a mumble:

"You done rearranging your mind? ’Cause I’m impatient to rearrange your guts."

There was a deafening silence, like somebody had hit mute. Jinzo’s jaw might as well have been chewing gravel. Nia, though, just grinned, totally living for the chaos.

"God, I hope you do..."

Victoria’s assistant strolled out to center court, ball tucked under her arm. She lifted it, and Victoria’s voice rang out.

"One quarter. Regular rules. Twos and threes. That’s it. Let’s see who’s wearing the crown, and who’s the bitch."

The ball went up. Game on.

Jaz’s height decided the first touch. She stretched up, snatched the ball, and instantly pivoted.

A long pass dropped into Drex’s hands, who rushed down the sideline. One of the subs chased hard, but Drex kept just ahead.

At the last second, he lobbed the ball high. Jinzo came cutting through the paint, rose, and hammered it down in an alley-oop finish that rattled the rim. 2–0, just like that.

"Good... Now, hurry! Defend!" he shouted.

The subs passed the ball to Nash, who caught it and found himself squared up against Nia. She leaned in with a sly grin.

"Give me a good pounding later and I’ll go easy on you, k?"

Nash smirked back, lobbed the ball up for a teammate, only for Jaz to reach over everyone and pluck it out of the air.

"Oh... I got it?!"

She turned, passed it to Jinzo who dropped it in. 4–0.

Jaz blinked, surprised at how easy it came. The others looked on, expecting Nash to turn the tide, but nothing came.

"Of course it did," Jinzo snapped. "He can’t win when we’re at 100%! I told you! I fucking told you!!! Just follow my lead!"

Play after play, the main squad ran circles around the substitutes. Drex and Mac worked like twin gears, one covering, one feeding, so the ball never stuck in their hands for long.

Jinzo kept hammering at the rim, scoring off screens and quick cuts. Jaz held down the paint, swatting shots and bullying the boards.

And Nia... Nia barely played. She only existed near Nash, more interested in shadowing him than pushing the ball.

At one point, Nash made a sharp move and the ball slipped just a fraction too high from his hand. Nia was surprised, seeing the ball floating right above her nose, completely forgotten by Nash.

She snatched it in the air like it was a gift, and whipped it to Mac, who nailed the shot. 6–0.

She tilted her head, looking at Nash.

"What’s up? Don’t tell me you left all your strength in the hotel?"

Nash raised his shoulders, but he didn’t answer.

What rattled everyone wasn’t just the score, it was the silence around Nash.

The player everyone thought would dominate couldn’t get anything to stick. His moves went nowhere, his presence didn’t tilt the game.

The A-team started looking more confident with every possession.

Jinzo hit another jumper off Mac’s screen. Jaz was a wall that no one could pass. Drex stripped one of the subs, sending it ahead for a Jinzo, alley-oop that made even Victoria’s assistant flinch. 12–0. 14–0. 16–0.

From the sideline, Victoria watched with arms crossed, calm as stone, while the gap only grew.

The substitutes looked lost. No rhythm, no trust, just flinching under the weight of the main team’s momentum.

Every possession ended the same way, Jinzo shouting, the crew delivering, the scoreboard climbing.

Nash’s squad hadn’t even scratched a point yet.

Jinzo felt the game turning in his favor. The early rhythm had flushed his frustration away, and now he was completely unleashed.

He dribbled slowly, facing Nash at the top of the key, rocking left and right, rolling his tongue across his lips like he was taunting a rookie.

"C’mon, ace. Where’s that monster hype? You gonna scare me, or just stand there looking dumb?"

Nia narrowed her eyes.

"Quit clowning, Jinzo. Don’t piss him off. I handle him."

He ignored her completely, spinning the ball under his palm before pulling a step-back, laughing as he called.

"This is my court, my rules!"

One of the subs, the girl with red hair tied back, freckles across her nose darted beside Nash, desperate.

"Do something already! We’re getting killed because you waste every pass!"

Nash glanced at her, head tilting as his eyes swept from her shoes up to her face. A smirk tugged at his mouth. That only made her flush with irritation, snapping.

"Don’t look at me like that—!" she snapped, face heating.

Nash smirked wider.

"Sorry, Alicia. Just, you’re cute. Gave me a couple funny ideas."

Her breath hitched, shoulders stiff. For a second she trembled, caught between outrage and the thrill of being noticed by the one guy who looked like her wet dream.

But Jinzo was already gone, cutting past them both. He rose and smashed it down, rim rattling again. 20–0.

He landed hard, turned on his heel, and strolled back toward his team’s side. His chin lifted, his stare flicked to the second floor.

Straight at Victoria.

A wordless challenge, ’your choice was garbage, admit it.’

Then he shifted his head forward, walking... and froze.

In the corner of his eye, right in the lane, Nash was walking too on the opposite toward the basket.

Jinzo frowned, his pace faltering. He turned his head, just enough to see Nash clearer.

That grin. Relaxed, sharp, cutting through the noise.

Why the hell was he smiling?