Page 34 of High Baller

Well, my plan on keeping her in LA has just gone out the window, then. It looks like we might have to be having more phone sex than I want.

"And the fact she makes me wear a condom every time."

“Trey!” Sky gasps in shock, and I burst out laughing.

“She’s heard worse from me.” I look over at Jade, then back to Sky. “Come on, shorty, do you think—”

“What did you call her?” Jade interrupts me. I stay quiet I wasn’t meant to say that out loud. I only want to call her that when it’s just us. Jade gives me a smile. “You know, I might come tomorrow and bring Sean with me.” She stands up, as does Sky. Without looking at Sky, Jade starts walking to the door.

I jog behind her, “Hey, you’re not even going to say bye to Sky?” I hold the door open, but stop Jade from leaving.

"I'll see her tomorrow.”

Before I can say anything, Jade step around me, and is out the door.

I watch Sky in the kitchen cleaning up, and I make my way over to her, “So, you ready to go?” she asks me as she washes up the mugs.

"Jade's just being protective.” I pull her over to me as I lean on the kitchen counter. "Give her a day. Tomorrow, she’ll like you." I hope she does. Otherwise, I'm fucked. I really thought Jade would’ve liked her, but she was weirder than I thought she would be.

"Yeah," Sky sighs, sounding defeated by it.

I just hope coach likes her. If I can get coach to say that she’s good for me, then I know my family won't be too hard on her.

“Come on, shorty, do you think I wanted her to come over?”

"Trey, they had to meet me sooner or later, so it's fine. New day tomorrow." She lifts onto her tiptoes, wanting to give me a kiss, but even though she does, I have to lean down to meet her lips.

My family might not like her just yet, but I sure as hell do.

***

I squeeze Sky’s hand, letting her know that I'm here. "Coach looks mean, but he's not." I smile as the door opens. "Giulia, you look beautiful as always." I give her a kiss on each cheek. "This is my girl, Sky."

“So nice to meet you.” Sky puts out her hand, but Giulia pulls her in and gives her a kiss on the cheeks.

"Come in. Rick’s been waiting.” Giulia moves to the side for us to walk in. I watch Sky as she looks around. She's not said that she's nervous, but I can see it.

"Coach," I greet, shaking his hand. "This is Sky. Sky, this is coach."

"Very nice to meet you, sir."

"Well, how did you find a beautiful woman like her?” Coach leans down to kiss her cheek. He turns to Giulia and says something in Italian to her; I have no idea what.

“I'd like some coffee, thank you.” I turn to face Sky as she speaks Italian to Giulia.

"Vorrei del caffè, grazie."

"Tu parli Italiano?” Giulia asks.

"Yes, I used to work on flights to Italy all the time. I love it there, so I learned the language." "Sì, lavoravo sui voli per l'italia tutto il tempo, Mi piace lì così ho imparato la lingua”

I have no idea what they're saying, but she’s just won over Giulia, and that’s all I care about. “Is there any other language you speak, you would like to share?” I ask her.

"Italian, French, Spanish, and a tiny amount of German." Sky winks. "I'm a woman of many talents. You've not seen me dance yet."

“I’ve seen you dance—”

“No, you’ve seen me dance in a club in heels. Do you know how hard it is to dance in heels?”