Page 81 of High Baller

Fuck, I’m so happy to see her, to hear her sweet voice…

I cup the back of her neck and crush my lips into hers. I feel her hands grab my T-shirt pulling, me closer as I kiss her with more passion than I have ever kissed anyone in my life.

As I pull my lips away from her, I rest my forehead against hers. "I've missed you so much.” I lift my hand and stoke across her cheek.

“I missed you too," she whispers against my mouth.

I tug the chair out for her. "Have some lunch, shorty.” The joy at being able to call her that name again is intense.

"As happy as I am that you're here, why are you here?" Derek asks, and I glare at him. Honestly, he could wait a while longer before asking her that.

“Hello, nice to see you too, Derek, how have you been?" Sky asks as she takes a seat.

"I've been good. Happier now that you're here. I don't have to keep calling you or Calvin, and I can do things that Trey does pay me for." Derek looks at me with a stupid smile on his face.

Sky nods and takes a glass of water off the table. "Your mum came to visit me—"

"She traveled to England?" I ask in shock. "She's never left America in her life. I didn't even know she had a passport."

"Yes, she flew to see me. We had a conversation, and I told her to have that same conversation with you. Did she?" Sky looks at me, then over to Derek.

"She did, I told her to leave," I reply as my hand rests on her leg. I gently squeeze, wanting her to know that I'll always be there for her, even with my fucked up family trying to come between us. They crossed a line, they crossed it so far that I don't even know where to begin fixing my relationship with them.

"You know I think you two need to talk without—"

"You told me something when you came to my house, Derek. Do you remember what you said to me?" she asks him, and I think I know what she's thinking, but I'm waiting for her to tell him. "You told me, if I date Trey, I date you, so you might as well stay until we fix our relationship."

Derek starts laughing, and I pull Sky's chair closer to me. She's finally here. There’s no way that I'm going to let her go again. "You're here, I thought this was fixed?” he asks.

"I told you that I'd have his back, and the one time he needed it, I didn't have his—"

"Shorty, for a short time, Derek didn't have my back either after he saw the room, so don't think that either of us cares that you didn't have mine," I assure her. The fact that my best friend of over twenty years thought I did it, I don't blame my girlfriend of less than three months of thinking that. “Sky, I went over and over that night, wondering what happened. I was playing it over to see what I missed."

She turns to face me, and rests her hand placed on top of mine. "Trey, I'm really not sure what I should say to you, but—"

“Don’t.” I shake my head. “If you’re going to say sorry for anything, then don't." Derek and Ariel stand up. I give them a nod, letting them know it's fine to leave. "You have nothing to say sorry for. You didn't talk trash about me once, and you didn't tell the world what you saw in my room. I'm the one that should be sorry, I'm the one that made you cry, the one that hurt you."

"You tried to explain—"

"Shorty, we can go over and over this. You did nothing wrong. You saw those women, and the drugs scattered around. I don't blame you for running, I don't blame you for not talking to me." I move closer to her. "These last few days have been the worst of my life without you in them. I'm really sorry for my family, and I'll make sure they apologize for this."

"Trey, I missed you.” Sky leans closer to me and gives me a kiss. "I'm so happy that you didn't take the drugs, I'm happy you didn't sleep...with those girls." I feel the tears on her cheeks. I'm never going to forgive myself for making her cry.

"Please don't cry, shorty,” I whisper and wipe her the tears away. "I want us to forget all of this—I want us to be happy again."

"I want that, too,” she says. "I know your mum came to see me, but do you think she meant everything that she said? That she was sorry, truly sorry and that she had no idea that Madison had planted the drugs there?”

“Yeah, she told me herself,” I reply. “Ma feels terrible about it and is taking full responsibility, but she has a few things to sort out with Madison now. She really isn't happy with her, and said she overstepped the mark. I'm sorry, shorty."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I just wish that I believed you in the first place, so I'm the one the should be sorry."

I don't answer her. We can go over and over this conversation, but the only thing that I care about is that she came back. "Let's go to bed."

"I hope it's to show me how much you missed me.” Sky bites her bottom lip as she smiles.

“Oh, yes," I growl. I take her hand and we walk toward the stairs.

Chapter 22