Page 78 of High Baller

"Please, my son has lost the girl he loves. I'm just hoping that she'll give his family a second chance,” Mrs. King tells me just before she leaves the house.

As I make my way back to the kitchen, I hear Calvin and Finn walking back into the room. Calvin pulls me in for a hug, and I sob into his chest.

"Trey's next two games are in LA,” he whispers while rubbing my back. “He’ll be there for a week before his next away game."

I shake my head against his chest. I don't know if I can go through it all again. Trey's mom might be fine with me, but Madison isn't.

"Think about it.” Calvin kisses the top of my head and still holds me tight. At the moment, this is all I need, for him to be around me, and talk to me about what I should do.

“Sky, I think that it’ll all work out, because now you have the blessing of Mrs. King, so if Madison steps out of line, she'll rein her back in. We do know that all this was just to get you out of Trey's life.” He pulls away and holds me in front of him. “It was Mrs. King's way of getting rid of you, and Madison was acting on her mom’s say so. She’s just ‘fessed up over the girls, and Maddy just had to put her two-pence worth in by planting the drugs, which by the way, backfired, so I think you should go and see him. What do you think, Finn?” Calvin asks

"Yeah, I think you should go sort it out".

I chew on my lip while the possibility of seeing Trey again runs through my mind. "Let me think about it.”

Chapter 21

Trey

"Coach, all I'm asking for is one day.” The moment we got back from our away game, I've been asking for a day so that I can fly out to see Sky.

"The answer is the same as yesterday—no.” Coach shuts the door behind him as we walk into the office. “Trey, if I do this for you, then I'll have to do it for the other players when they have a fight with their girl. They'll be asking and saying ‘you let Trey.’"

"Coach, I'll be back before the next game," I plead. “I just need to see her once. I know that if I can talk to her face to face, I can get her to believe me that I never touched any drugs or women.

"Trey, the answer is no,” coach repeats. “Listen, I'm sorry that this has happened, and Sky isn't talking to you. I think she just needs some time." I sit on the chair in front of coach's desk. "But I can't let you go. When’s she back in the US?"

"Calvin said that she took some personal time, and isn’t flying out for another two weeks. Please, coach, one day."

“No!” he yells in that tone he saves for when he’s telling me to get out of his office. I stand from the chair. "Trey…" I turn around to face him as I hold the door open. “Do you want me to see if she'll talk to me?"

I sigh. “Coach, if I thought that'd help, I'd say do it, but I know it won't change anything.” I leave his office and close the door behind me. I know coach has said no, but I'm going anyway. I need to see Sky—I need to explain to her that my life is fucking awful without her in it. Coach will bench me I know, but I don't care. All I need is just five minutes with Sky to show her all the results from my drugs test. I know I can change her mind about us.

I look down at my phone as it rings, and see it’s my mom. "Hi, Ma." I haven't been to see her since I was over for the shit-show of a breakfast. She called me to say that she was going away for a day or two with some friends, and I didn’t hear from her until now.

"Trey, I need to talk to you, and I was wondering if I could come over?" she asks.

“Yeah, sure, I'm on my way home. Derek should be there already,” I tell her as I get in my car. I need to think of another plan with Sky. I'm not sure if Derek will book my ticket without a fight.

I tried calling Sky this morning, but it went to voicemail. Her phone was switched off, so I called Calvin and he said that she just needs a phone-free day. I didn't ask anything else, I just hung up. Even though I know that I must be pissing him off right now, he's the only person that can tell me how she is.

He told me that Sky has told him to send my gift back to me. I didn't really know if I was doing the right thing there or not, but I needed to do something; calling and sending messages wasn't working for me.

I go through a drive-thru to get some coffee before heading home. Derek messaged to tell me that he needed me to sign a few papers today. One of the things was to open up a basketball camp in London for kids to play and learn about the sport. Once I can find a good team in England to work it for me, then we're going to start, and Derek's got a team here in LA that's doing that for me now.

I pull up and see Ma's car in my driveway. I get out of my car and head inside the house. "Ma?" I yell to see where she is.

“Kitchen!” she calls out. I’m not surprised; she's going to tell me that I need a good homemade meal as I haven't really been eating much lately. I mean, if coach or my trainer saw the stuff I was eating, I'd get my ass chewed out. "I thought I'd make you some food for lunch.”

I smile as I walk over to her. "Ma, you really don't have to."

"I know, but I want to." She starts getting things out of the fridge and places them to the side.

I give Derek a nod as he walks into the kitchen.

"We have a few things to go over, but I'll let you two talk.” Derek goes to walk out, but Ma stops him.

"I think you might want to hear what I have to say,” she says. “I'm just waiting for Madison to get here." She looks at us expectantly.