Page 73 of High Baller

"I did nothing wrong," I say.

"I didn't mean sleeping around, I meant you wronged Sky."

I turn away from him. There has to be a way to fix this—I know there’s away, there has to be. I call her number again, but she doesn’t answer, so I try Calvin.

"Calvin, why did she do that?" I ask the moment he answers the phone.

"Because she doesn’t need this fucked up show following her around." Calvin’s quiet for a moment. "Trey, you need to give her some time. She might still love you for now, but you’ve got to understand she can’t unsee what she saw that morning. She hates that you broke the one thing she asked you not to do. Not only that, Trey, but you went all out to ruin Sky by fucking not one, but two women behind her back!” he yells. “Tell me, did you snort the coke off of there arses or their tits? Both?”

"Calvin, I promise you, I never touched the drugs. Coach has been testing me, and if Sky wants to see the results, I'll send them right now."

"And the girls?"

"I have no idea. I don't know how they got in my bed, Calvin,” I plead. “I swear, I love Sky… I wouldn’t… Please get her to talk to me, please.” I whisper the last please as I attempt try again. But, no matter what I say to him, I'm losing Sky, and there is nothing I can do about it.

"Goodbye, Trey.,” Calvin says, and ends the call.

I stare at the TV, and the images still flashing up. I only see good things about Sky as I read some of the tweets that come up on the screen. ‘Sky knew what he did, then broke up with him.’ ‘Trey deserves to be in pain, you could see the pain Sky was in.’ ‘Sky looked broken.’

Derek takes my phone off me when I try to send another message to Sky. "Trey, leave her alone." I stare at him for a moment, then he walks away from me.

Maybe I should leave her alone for a few days; give her some time to think about this. God, I miss her voice. Perhaps the press will leave her alone, and give her some space; she might be able to talk to me with a fresh mind. I can only hope.

***

Coach didn't bench me. I told him this wouldn’t affect my game, and it didn't. This is the only thing I have that I'm still in control of. I know how to play, I know how to win, so for me, this is the only thing I have that keeps my head straight.

I haven't called Sky. Calvin said to give her time, and I am, but that doesn't mean I can't get Derek to call Calvin for me. He's kept the conversation light, telling Derek that Sky hasn't left the house or her bed. She's been crying about us, about her parents… Then he ends the call, doesn't give Derek the chance to say anything back to him or ask if there is anything he can do.

I walk into my Ma's house for family breakfast—something that I don't want. I've been staying out of their way, mostly Madison because I know what she has to say; shit that I don't want to hear.

“Hi, Ma," I say, then give her a kiss on the cheek. "Where is everyone?"

"In the garden. Well done on the win,” she says as I walk out to the garden. I stop at the door and look back to her.

“Thanks. Shall I tell everyone to come in?" I ask, and she gives me a nod. I open the door and call out, "Breakfast is ready." As they walk into the house I give Sean and Tracy a fist pump and give Jade and Madison a kiss on the cheek.

As we all sit at the table, I look over at Madison. Ever since that night, I keep thinking that she had something to do with it, but there’s no way she'd bring drugs into it. I know she hates Sky, but even this would be a low blow for her.

"Have you spoken to Sky?" Tracy asks me, making me look over at him. He's brave to ask that question in front of everyone.

"She won't talk to me," I answer as I put food on my plate. “How's school?" I need to change the subject. The only reason I came to this family meal was because I thought no one would talk about Sky, but it looks like I was wrong.

"Well, you look like shit. Try harder," Jade tells me, but it’s something I already know.

I go to training, then back home. I go to my games, then back home. I can't bring myself to do anything else. All I can do is look through my phone at pictures that Sky sent me before all this shit happened.

"You think I haven't? I call every hour of the day, send message after message, but I get nothing back,” I tell her. “ After what she saw in my bedroom, there’s no way she wants to even talk to me, never mind see me." I thought this was going to be a Sky fucking free zone, so I'm surprised that they aren't too scared to mention her name in front.

"Well, I think you're better off—"

"Fuck you, Madison," I spit before she can finish. I've never spoken to my family like this, but they don't understand how much I'm hurting right now; how much deep the pain is I'm in. "If you weren't my sister, I swear I'd think you had something to do with this. The only reason I don't think that, is because of the drugs. Even I know you're not that stupid to fuck up my career." My eyes lock with hers. I want to see how her face changes. Her eyes twitch, and I shake my head. Yeah, she knows what happened.

"Drugs, what drugs?" Ma looks around at everyone. Everyone knows about what happened but her. I knew she'd be mad if she knew, so Jade, Tracy, and I agreed not to tell her.

"There were drugs in my room, the same night as the girls. Coach has been testing me every day, and they've all come back clear, this whole thing was a set-up to break Sky and me up, and it worked. She wants nothing to do with me. I promised I wouldn't do this—"

"But why?” Madison asks, sticking her damn nose in. “Why was she hiding you? Why were drugs her big no-no? And having her picture taken… I knew she was—"