Page 5 of High Baller

“And you’re only just telling me?”

“Well, we only started dating two days ago—it’s new. Don’t want Jade scaring her off.”

I can’t help but laugh at him. Jade is one of my older sisters, and she always scares Derek’s girlfriends away. She does it more to mess with his head than anything else. “When do I get to meet her?”

“Tonight, at the bar. Her name’s Ariel, she’s a dentist, sh—”

Holding the ball under my arm, I point to him. “Wait, wait, wait, is this the one you mentioned a month ago and—”

Derek laughs. “Yes, the same one, but now I have medical bills sky high for treatments I didn’t need.”

He’s an idiot. Instead of just asking her the first time he saw her, he went to her every week, sometimes twice a week, with a stupid fake pain.

I shoot a few more baskets before I hit the shower. “Well, I hope that it was worth it,” I say under my breath.

“What?”

“The sex."

“Oh, we haven’t had sex yet—it’s only been two days. I like her, so I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t want her to think I’m only interested in sleeping with her.”

I never thought Derek would find a girl that he would want to spend more than a night with.

“I’m looking forward to meeting her. What time are we meeting up at the club?” I ask as we walk into the locker rooms.

“About ten. I’ve got the high booth locked down for us.” Derek walks alongside me to the shower room. “I’ll see you tonight. I gotta go—I’ve got a meeting with this new sponsor that wants to work with you before I see Ariel.”

I have a lot of companies that want to work with me, and if I didn’t have Derek, I’d say yes to all of them. I know he’s got my back and a business plan in mind.

“Okay, see you tonight.” I turn the shower on, wash, and get ready for my day.

***

“Hi, Ma.” I give my Ma a kiss on the cheek, then walk over to Jade and say hello. I look around for Madison, my other sister who’s younger than Jade, and my little brother, Tracy.

“There, in the garden,” my ma tells me. “How was training?”

“Good. Derek booked the tickets for London, so after today, I won’t see you again until I get back.” As I make my way to the garden, I grab a handful of chips.

I’ll sit and chat with my family a little longer, as I’m going away.

“Trey, about time you got here—I need someone on my team,” Tracy, my younger brother, yells at me as I step one foot out into the garden.

“If you need help to beat four girls, all at least a foot shorter than you, then you’re not ready for the game,” I tell him as I sit down next to Madison. Tracy raises his brow, then rolls his eyes, and I can’t help but laugh as he runs back to the small court in the garden.

I turn to face Madison. “Where’s lover boy?”

I hate her boyfriend. I keep telling her he’s using her, but she’s too blind to see it.

“He’s on his way, and can we at least be a little nicer to him today?” she asks me.

“Depends on how much of a dick he’ll be.” I turn to her as I put a handful of chips in my mouth.

“He’s never even said anything to you to have you hate him,” Madison says.

I choose not to answer her. I’ve had to bite my tongue a few times with him because Ma said Madison has to find out by herself. She’s in the honeymoon stage of the relationship, and if I tell her he’s been selling fake signed merchandise of me, or has come to games telling security his name’s on the list—it never is—he'll start a scene, a scene I can’t be bothered with. It’ll only end up with another fight between Madison and me. He’s a loser, and my ma and I agree that she needs to learn that the hard way. But my argument is, if it were me and that was my girlfriend, Madison would've told me to break up with her by now. She never answers to that, though.

I know that Ma's looking out for me and doesn’t want any of the girls using me for the money I’ve worked hard for.