Dominance Evolution System: Sweat, Sex, and Streetball-Chapter 186: King Roam and His Court of Clowns

Everyone stared, confused, mouths half-open, but she didn’t give them time to process the information and just hit play.

The first clip started right away, showing Nash at the top of the key, three Baby-Boom girls rushing him.

Kai lunged first, Miko slid over, Rei dropped back to block the lane, but Nash just flicked the ball behind his back without even looking.

It flew straight between Kai’s legs and landed perfectly in Jaz’s hands, who jumped so high it looked impossible, slammed it one-handed, and the rim bent.

The camera shook from the force, and the crowd went crazy.

The garage went dead quiet.

Rin leaned forward first, eyes squinting like the screen had personally insulted her.

"... Nash?" she murmured. "That Nash? The little shrimp? No way."

Tylo stepped closer without thinking, sneakers dragging on the concrete. He blinked fast, like if he stared hard enough the picture would change. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Wait... what the hell..."

The clip looped. Nash’s face filled the screen for a second, sharp jaw, calm eyes, a body built like a Greek statue.

His mouth opened and nothing came out except a weak "wait... what the hell..." that trailed off into nothing because the sweat flying off Nash’s skin looked too real, the way Jaz caught the ball and rose looked too perfect, and the crowd screaming his name sounded too loud to be fake.

Kej moved until he stood right behind Saya, his stinky breath warm on the back of her neck.

"That’s... no. No way that’s him," he muttered. "His face... he doesn’t really look the same... maybe a relative? I mean, look at his body! The way he moves?! That’s not the shrimp!"

The twins crowded in on the other side, heads together like always.

"Yeah, that’s not him," Kiel whispered.

"Can’t be him," Kael said at the same time.

Their voices mixed, eyes wide, like the phone might bite them.

Only Roam didn’t move.

He just stood there, another beer can hanging loose in his hand, foam dripping down his wrist onto his bare foot.

He didn’t even feel it. His mouth opened and closed a couple times, like a fish.

"Bullshit..." he finally muttered, voice small.

"All bullshit... that ain’t him."

Saya didn’t give them time to breathe.

She swiped to the next clip before anyone could grab the phone.

This one hurt more.

Nash stole the ball from Kai with one quick swipe, then he ran the whole court alone, nobody touching him, and finished with a windmill dunk that cracked the backboard camera.

This one maybe, must have been slightly edited in the end. But here, his name was clearly written: Nash Blaze, no way it was a relative. Plus, the crowd chanted "Blaze! Blaze!", it had to be him.

Rin’s hand shot out this time, almost grabbing the phone as she leaned in too close, her gum hanging from her lip.

"Wait, rewind that, that’s not him, no fucking way, that shrimp couldn’t cross a street without tripping, this has to be sped up or some edited crap."

Tylo nodded fast, like he needed to agree to stay sane.

"Yeah, deepfake for sure. Look at his arms... he didn’t have arms like that. CGI or roids, gotta be."

Kej leaned even closer, eyes huge.

"That’s... not the same guy, can’t be, we know him, he is weak, this must be some hype stunt or he edited it himself." but his fists unclenched a little as he said it, eyes stuck on the screen like he was searching for proof it was fake.

The twins kept whispering, faster now.

"Whole thing’s staged."

Roam’s beer can finally slipped from his fingers and hit the floor with a wet clunk, foam spreading over his feet.

He didn’t move, just stared at the phone while the clip looped back to Nash’s disorder shoot.

"Bullshit..." he said again, quieter this time, voice cracking like the hope in his life, but Saya didn’t let up, holding the phone as she stared them all down, her own heart pounding because she knew it was real and that made everything hurt worse.

The silence lasted maybe three seconds after the last clip ended, but it felt like a lifetime, and then it snapped like a cheap rubber band.

Tylo’s face twisted red as he lunged forward and tried to snatch the phone from Saya’s hand.

"Give me that shit, let me see the timestamp, this has to be old footage or something!"

Saya yanked it back, her ponytail whipping his cheek.

"Touch me again and I swear to God I’ll break your fingers, Tylo!"

Kej slammed a fist into the pillar so hard flakes of concrete rained down, somehow telling a little about their poor quality.

"This is fucking ridiculous! That little rat couldn’t dribble or shoot six weeks ago and now he’s dropping dimes? Somebody paid for this glow-up, I’m telling you! That’s bullshit!"

Rin laughed, more bark than giggle, as she finally peeled the gum off her chin and flicked it away.

"Glow-up? Please, you believe any of this is real? It’s clearly an edit, and Princess isn’t smart enough to see it."

Roam finally found his voice, and when it came it was pure venom, his gold chain swinging as he stepped in close enough that Saya could smell the stale beer on his breath.

"Turn that trash off before I smash it. He’s a fraud. Always was. We carried his ass and now what? You’re blaming me? You want to act like he carried us? Fuck him and fuck whoever’s editing this highlight reel to make him look good."

Saya ’s anger increased, she held the phone higher, volume up, the crowd’s chant of "Blaze! Blaze!" pouring out like salt in an open wound.

"Edit? Then explain the forums about him, genius. Explain why we’re rotting in this piss-hole while he’s trending everywhere. You wanna keep lying to yourselves, fine, but don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining."

Tylo kicked the loose ball so hard it ricocheted off three pillars before disappearing into the shadows.

"If it’s real... then... then he got lucky! People are so dumb they overreact. One good game and suddenly he’s the Messiah with a jumpshot? Give me a break!"

Kej snarled, veins popping in his neck.

"Lucky? You’ve seen those moves! You call that luck? I call that us being the dumbest motherfuckers alive for letting him walk!"

Rin’s laugh turned meaner, her eyes glittering as she rounded on Kej.

"Oh shut up, big man. You were all in on it. You laughed hardest when Roam mocked him. Don’t act like you’re the only one with regrets now."

It was an angry talk, not necessarily wrong, but it was a real bad time to be on Roam’s nerves.

His face went from red to purple, and to everyone’s surprise, he lunged at Rin.

Kej caught his arm mid-swing, just before he reached the startled girl, holding him back with one massive hand while staring him down.

"Touch her and I swear I’ll put you through that wall, captain or not."

Rin’s eyes went wide, pure panic flashing for half a second before she threw both hands up, palms out, voice shooting high and cracked.

"Whoa—whoa—Roam, easy! It was a joke, man, a fucking joke!"

The garage turned into a powder keg with everyone holding matches.

Saya’s voice finally silenced the chaos.

"Keep yelling, keep blaming each other, keep pretending it’s bad editing or luck or steroids. Meanwhile he’s out there living the dream we threw in the trash, and we’re stuck here smelling like piss and failure."

She finally lowered the phone, but the damage was done.

Tylo spun away from the group, hands raking through his hair like he could pull the truth out of his skull.

"Okay, okay, fine... maybe it’s not all fake, maybe he got a couple good games, big deal... Wait... wait, hold up. Did he... did he play us? Like, was he always this good and just... hiding it? Pretending to be trash so we’d kick him out and he could jump to a real team looking like a genius?"

Rin swallowed once, scratching her arm and trembling a little, but still trying to sound tough.

"Yeah... That little rat! He lured us! Acted all weak and quiet, made us think he was dead weight, then boom, new team, new body, new everything. Sneaky bastard set us up..."

Kej crossed his arms tighter, nodding slow like he’d just solved a puzzle.

"Exactly... you’re right... He wanted out. Played the long con. Made us look like the bad guy so he could walk away clean and look like the victim who rose up. Smart, I’ll give him that."

Roam’s face twisted.

"That shrimp motherfucker... he played me. I should’ve seen it. Little snake smiling in my face while he planned this shit."

Saya listened to the excuses pile up, her teeth dangerously fighting each other, and something inside her finally snapped.

"Shut...The fuck... Up!"

Everyone froze.

She looked at Roam first, eyes burning.

"You’re the one who kicked him. You’re the one who planned to get rid of him, because we wouldn’t win shit with a ghost player. Don’t you dare stand here acting like he tricked you when you handed him the exit on a silver platter."

Roam opened his mouth, ready to throw a tantrum, but Saya was already on Tylo.

"And you... running routes wrong, missing open shots, then blaming the passes? He made you look good and you still treated him like garbage."

Tylo looked away fast.

She spun to Kej, the guy grimacing, knowing he would get served.

"You and your fucking mouth. You laughed when Roam called him shrimp, made you feel better to not be the weak link for once? Don’t act shocked now."

Kej’s arms dropped, mouth shut.

Rin tried a weak laugh.

"Come on, Saya, we—"

"No." Saya’s voice cracked like a whip. "No more excuses. No more ’he tricked us.’ We did this. We threw away the best thing we ever had because we were too busy dream... nah, deluding, to see what was right in front of us."

She held the phone up one last time, Nash’s face filling the screen.

"Look at him. That’s what winning looks like. And we’re standing in a garage that smells like piss, arguing about who’s the bigger idiot. And when we face teams with four, five guys on the floor? We do what we always do. We send the girls in. Me, Rin, because you dicks are too useless. We let them rail us, turn us into cum and spit tanks for the whole damn roster. We take it, we smile, we make them think with their dicks instead of their brains. Because that’s the only weapon we’ve got left since we can’t rely on you bastards at all!"

There was a deep silence. Saya’s words were filled with such anger that even Vargas gulped, staying innocently on his chair.

Roam’s chain stopped swinging. Tylo stared at his sneakers. Kej’s fists unclenched. Rin’s gum fell out of her mouth and stuck to the floor.

Saya lowered the phone, her shoulders rising every time she breathed.

"So here’s what’s gonna happen. We stop being stupid. We’re getting him back. I don’t care how. Apologize, beg, pay, whatever it takes. But we’re not rotting here while he owns the league. Not on my watch."

She looked at each of them, one by one.

"Start thinking. Because if we don’t fix this, we’re done. All of us."