Alex and I had just finished our first wind sprint when his face turned stone serious.
“I’ve never been too good at keeping secrets,” he said, as I tried to catch my breath. “And I’ve got one that’s burning up inside of me right now.”
“You know me. I don’t talk.”
“This is really hard,” he said, then gave Galaxy a quick scruff behind the ear. Hesitating, maybe.
I figured he needed to unload something about his mama—maybe it was her health, or maybe, God forbid, somebody from the NCAA heard about Walter’s money.
“See how my knee’s come together over the last couple of weeks? Well, I’ve been doing something more than rehabbing,” he said.
We began to walk, still about thirty yards from my house, with Mom smoothing out the dirt around her flower bed.
“Like what?” I asked.
Coming to a stop in the street, Alex answered, “I’ve been juicing.”
“PEDs?” I craned my neck to see that no one else was in earshot. “What for? You were working like an animal to get back.”
“Just wasn’t healing fast enough. I got too much at stake,” Alex said.
He yanked the ball from Galaxy’s mouth and tossed it for the dog to retrieve.
“I need to set this season on fire,” Alex continued. “Get myself in position for the draft. An injury like this could cost me millions.”
I almost couldn’t believe what was coming out of Alex’s mouth.
“What if you get caught, test positive? It could cost you everything.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “What I’m using is undetectable. Brand-new.”
Galaxy came running back to me with the ball, all excited and jumping at my midsection.
“Where’d you even get something like that?” I asked, grabbing Galaxy by his collar to calm him down.
“Can’t say.”
“You might get a tumor from taking that garbage,” I said, turning Galaxy loose. “I even heard it could stop you from having kids.”
“I’m not going to be on it forever,” said Alex. “Another cycle or two, tops. Just long enough to make an impression on those pro scouts. Let ’em see I didn’t lose a step.”
I still hated everything about it.
“So I’ve got your word on this, fam?” he asked.
I didn’t want to, but I nodded my head.
“I’ll take it to the grave,” I told him, bumping my fist on his.