Page 77 of High Baller

Finn tells us about this modeling deal that he's just landed, which is fantastic. He got it with a brand in the UK, and his face will be everywhere.

"Finn I think it's amazing, when do you start the shoot?"

"In two weeks, I'm excited—"

"I know, you haven't stopped talking about it," Calvin cuts him off, and I'm not sure if that's jealousy I hear or something else.

"He's fighting with me because he's found out that one of the guys I'm modeling with is gay,” Finn says, rolling his eyes. “I call it jealousy, but Calvin doesn’t." Finn smiles. I think it's hilarious how they are with each other.

"I'm not,” Calvin argues.

"Kinda sounds like you are,” I say, then laugh as he pouts to me. "The fact that you broke up and got back together tells me that Finn won't be breaking up with you. Plus, even he knows that you're too good looking to be dating him." I give Calvin a wink as he chuckles.

We all look at the door as someone knocks. "I'll get it." Calvin says as he gets up.

"If it's flowers again, call Trey and tell him that I'll be shredding them and sending them back," I yell, making Finn laugh.

I look at Calvin as he walks back into the room, his eyes wide. "It's not flowers. Um, it’s a person." Calvin sounds shocked by whoever has come to my house.

I get up and walk over so I can see who is behind him. My eyes lock with hers. "Mrs. King?" I ask. I’m not sure why it's a question, but I want to know why she’s here. Calvin moves out of the way so that she can walk into my living room. She looks around the emptiness. "I would say have a seat, but as you can see, I don't really have anywhere for you to sit." She continues to look around and stops by the box with the return address for Trey. Most people would ask before they read a note, but no, not her. She picks up the note and starts reading it. "Why are you here, Mrs. King? You got what you wanted, Trey and I broke up."

Mrs. King puts the note down and turns to face me. "I'm sorry about what your parents have done to you.” She looks around again, and my eyes move to Calvin and Finn.

"We'll be outside.” Calvin walks over to me, leans down to give me a kiss, and whispers, "Maybe you need to listen to her." They both say bye to Mrs. King.

I walk back over to my lunch so that I can put it on the kitchen counter. "Would you like a drink?"

"Some coffee, please," she says, walking over to the counter. "Sky, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you've had to go through this. I want to say thank you for not saying anything bad about my son after all this happened." I don't look at her as I continue to make our drinks. I'm not sure what she thinks will happen with her being here.

I cut a slice of the cake that I baked this morning, and I place it in front of her. "Just because we broke up, it doesn't mean I stopped loving him." I turn towards Mrs. King, placing a cup of coffee down on the side next to her.

"You still love him?" Taking a sip of her coffee, her eyes look at mine as she drinks. I don't know how to answer that question to her. I do love him, but telling her isn't going to make it better. "Your silence tells me you really do."

"I don't want to be rude, Mrs. King, but if you're here to say you knew I’d walk away, or Trey can do much better than me, then I'm really not interested, and would like you to leave my house."

"I told Madison to put the women in his bed. I thought if you saw that he wouldn't change, you would leave him, but the drugs I had nothing to do with.” My mouth drops and my eyes widen as she continues. “Madison told me that she put them there because she knew that was your big no, and if the girls didn't work, the drugs would, and—"

"You hated me dating your…" I try to keep my anger and tears locked inside, but I'm feeling so much hurt at the moment. "You hated me so much that you were willing to damage Trey's career?" I ask, wiping my tears away from my face.

"The only simple answer is yes, and I really thought you were just going to come into his life, use him, and then leave like they all do."

I press my lips together, nodding my head as I walk away from her before I say something I know I'll regret. I can't believe she did this, I can't believe they did this.

"My son is a mess. He's hurt, and slowly breaking. He loves you, and I was stupid and didn't see it, I was blinded—"

"By my color.” I turn to face her. All this because she didn't want her son to date a white girl. How fucking stupid is that? She’d rather ruin his career, his reputation, just because I wasn’t what she wanted for him?

"Yes, I was blinded by your color, and I'm sorry. The way my son is with you, the way he talks about you, he loves you and is in so much pain that you're not talking to him. I just want to say how sorry I am that I saw the love in my son's eyes too late."

"Does Trey know about this?" Trey never did anything wrong! I blamed him for something he didn't even do. I know he kept telling Calvin that he didn’t, and that his coach has been doing tests on him, not because the coach doesn't believe him, because Trey wanted them taken so that he could show me he's been clean.

"No. If I have to be honest, I'm worried about how he's going to react, and I thought if I tell you first, you…" she starts tapping her fingers on the counter. "Would come back with me and tell him that you want to get back together."

"And what makes you think I'd agree to that?” I snap. “You broke us up, you got what you wanted. If I get back with Trey, you'll do it again—"

"No. I know you truly love my son. The fact that you're crying now tells me you love him. You make my son happy, Sky, and that's all I want. I want to see that smile on his face again. When he was telling me about you, his face would light up the room. I'll welcome you into our house with open arms, just please don't punish my son for the mistake I made."

I stand there, glaring at her. I have no idea what she wants me to say to her. "I think you need to leave and tell your son the truth. If what Derek is telling me is true, that Trey’s been going crazy about that morning, maybe he needs to know the truth." I walk over to the front door and gesture for her leave. I don't want to hear anything she has to say anymore. She's not only put me in this much pain, but her own son, and she needs to own up to what she did.