The Right Move (Windy City Series Book 2)

Copyright © 2023 by Liz Tomforde All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Visit my website at www.liztomforde.com THE RIGHT MOVE Editing: Erica Russikoff Cover Design: Ever After Cover Design CONTENTS Content Warning Playlist 1. Ryan 2. Indy 3. Ryan 4. Indy 5. Indy 6. Ryan 7. Ryan 8. Indy 9. Ryan 10. Indy 11. Ryan 12. Ryan 13. Ryan 14. Indy 15. Ryan 16. Indy 17. Indy 18. Ryan 19. Indy 20. Ryan 21. Indy 22. Ryan 23. Indy 24. Ryan 25. Indy 26. Ryan 27. Ryan 28. Indy 29. Ryan 30. Ryan 31. Indy 32. Ryan 33. Indy 34. Indy 35. Ryan 36. Indy 37. Ryan 38. Indy 39. Ryan 40. Indy 41. Indy 42. Indy 43. Ryan 44. Ryan Epilogue More by Liz Tomforde About the Author Acknowledgments To Marc, Allyson, Paige, and Camille- One of the themes in this book is finding friendships that fill your cup instead of draining it. Thank you for being the people who fill mine. CONTENT WARNING Your mental health is important. For content warnings, click here. PLAYLIST 1. trust - thuy & RINI 2. Be Alone - Blxst 3. Every Good Girl - Blxst 4. First Time Thing - Calabasas 5. nirvana - Dylan Reese feat. Phabo 6. Concentrate - Lucky Daye 7. Morning - Marc E. Bassy 8. slower - Tate McRae 9. Let Me Love You - Mario 10. Overrated - Blxst 11. Naked - Ella Mai 12. Better - Khalid 13. Still - Lecrae feat. DaniLeigh 14. ALL MINE - Brent Faiyaz 15. Keep Comin’ Back - Blxst 16. All Me - Kehlani feat. Keyshia Cole 17. Try Me - Jason Derulo feat. Jennifer Lopez 18. Easy - Camila Cabello 19. Change Your Life - Kehlani feat. Jhené Aiko 20. Butterflies - ASTN Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music 1 RYAN I’m not a dreamer. Not in the traditional sense, at least. My dreams are within reach, attainable moments in time, not romanticized notions of the impossible. Grown men fall to their knees and pray to their gods over these forty-eight minutes of basketball. Me? I don’t glamorize fate or leave things to chance. I believe in hard work and dedication. My life has a plan. Opportunities are in my path because I’ve willed myself in their direction. The rest of my teammates, however, have certainly romanticized the idea of a championship if they think they can walk into the first week of practice as out of shape as they are. “Dom, you need to roll off that screen twice as fast. You’re slow as fuck right now. What the hell were you doing all summer?” “Living my life, Shay. You should try it sometime.” Dom Jackson, our big man, slumps over, his palms on his knees, trying to catch his breath along with every other guy I call my teammate. I use my practice jersey to swipe sweat from my brow as one of the rookies passes me the ball at the top of the key. “Let’s run it again.” “Ryan, practice was over an hour ago. Some of us have wives and kids we need to go see.” Ethan Jeong, our veteran shooting guard, stands with his hands on his hips in the corner of the court. “Yeah, and some of us have dates with…” Dom looks over to one of the young guys on the sideline. “What was her name?” he silently mouths. “Raquel! Some of us have dates with beautiful women named Raquel.” My eyes wander around my teammates, everyone exhausted but me. “Fine,” I resign. “We’ll call it.” “Thank God!” Dom turns around, throwing his hands up and slipping his sweat-soaked jersey over his head. The rest of the team quickly follows to the locker room. “It’s still pre-season, Ryan.” Ethan puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. “They’ll get it together.” “I’m tired of losing. We can’t even win a wildcard game to make the playoffs. I spent my entire summer running two-a-days to get in shape for this season. Everyone else needs to get on my level.” “They’ll never be on your level. That’s why you’ll be one of the greats, but as a new captain, you need them to respect you, and I’m not referring to the way you play.” He backs away, following the rest of the team. “Besides, I don’t want you tiring yourself out too much. I need you to carry me on your back and get me a ring so I can retire.” Ethan’s lips slide up in a smile before he ducks into the locker room. He’s a good guy. Family man. Father of three children and long-time NBA vet. He was the team captain for the last seven years until he asked to step down this season, wanting to have a better work-life balance. And as of last week, I earned the title and am now the newest captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team. I knew it’d happen one day. I just didn’t know it’d be when I was twenty-seven and before my fifth season in the league. I still have a lot to learn at this level, and now I have the weight of being the team leader, on and off the court. The General Manager of the Devils was against the promotion, but that’s not how it works around here. Our captain is determined by a team vote, and after unanimous support by my teammates, I was given the title. I want to be good for my guys, but I want respect for more than the way I play. I get plenty of it for my talent throughout