Page 41 of High Baller

"Hey, shorty, are we going to leave soon?" I ask her as I wrap my arms around her from behind. "You okay?"

"Yes to both.” Sky turns to face me. "So, where are we going?"

I look at her and see from the redness across her lids, she's been crying. "Hey, talk to me.” I wipe the tear that escapes and rolls down her face. Who was she fighting with, and what can't she talk to me about?

"It's nothing, I promise. Nothing that’ll ruin my birthday weekend, so no need to worry." I believe her because her smile tells me everything. She's excited and happy to be going away for a while. I know I should ask who it was, but this is her weekend, and she needs to enjoy it.

"Let's go then," I tell her. Derek got me to tweet that I'm spending the weekend in Vegas so that where we’re going no one will be trying to spot me. I couldn't stop laughing when he told me. He said that all this sneaking around is a lot harder than he thought, and has no idea how entertainers do it for so long. He spoke to a friend of his who’s the manager of a rapper. He asked for tips for me, as the rapper kept his relationship a secret from the world for two months until they were ready to go public. They said it was the best move for them because nobody was able to tell fake stories about them. So this is one of the ways—tweet I'm somewhere else and enjoy my weekend with my girl.

“And where are we going?”

I start laughing. "Not saying a word.” I like that she keeps trying. The number of times she asked me last night was over the top. "But you can open gifts, if you ever come downstairs, that is.”

“You got me a gift?” she asks in surprise.

“Of course I did, so can we please go downstairs?” I ask her, but I give her a kiss first.

I can't help but smile, thinking back to last night. She kept her word and was down on her knees the moment we got in the house. The moment I shut the door, my back was pushed against the door, and she took me right there and then. I've always wanted that relationship where you want to touch each other all the time; your clothes are flying off your body, wanting to fuck each other like crazy. That was us last night, that was us for the whole night. I think we slept about three hours. The best thing about her is we still have so much in common even when we aren't having sex, which tells me that this isn’t just physical; this is the real deal for me.

“Let’s go then. Is Calvin here?”

"No, he's meeting us there, now stop asking questions as I might tell you something, and I'll get in trouble for it.”

Sky laughs. “Are you scared of Calvin?’ she asks through her chuckles.

“No, I just don’t want to ruin anything for you.” That’s the truth. Calvin told me that every year, something always goes wrong, and he wanted this year to be perfect, so I helped him out a little by getting a few extra things added for him.

As we get into the kitchen, Sky gives Derek and Ariel a kiss on the cheek, and they hand her their gift.

“These are beautiful, thank you so much. You really didn’t have to get me anything.”

I look over at Derek as he makes a noise, but Sky ignores him.

"Of course we did," Ariel gives her a hug.

I hold out my gift. “Shorty, I got you this. If you don’t like it-”

"Shut up and give me the box,” she sighs. “You worry way too much.”

Derek laugh at me as he agrees with her.

Giving her the box, I watch her opening it up, and looks inside. “Oh, my God, Trey,” she gasps. She takes out the camera, a deep curve on her lips makes the world around me cease to exist. Just her smile fills me with so much joy that my heart skips a beat. "This is amazing, I love it." She gives me a hug and jumps up to give me a kiss on the lips. “Can you take a picture please?” she asks, handing the camera to Derek.

"Since when did I become your professional photographer?" Derek stands up with a smile on his face. I can see them having a fun, playful friendship.

"Since you took the camera off me, and it better be a good picture too," she tells him as she walks over to me.

“You know how hard it is to take a picture when you're small, and he's a freaking giant,” Derek complains.

"Then stand back a little.” Sky waves him back. “I mean it's not that hard, a few steps that's all,” Sky tells him, and Ariel starts laughing. "Derek, come on.” He lifts the camera and waits for Sky and me to pose for it. The second he takes the picture, Sky asks Ariel for a picture, and then looks at Derek. "The photographer doesn't get in the pictures." She can't even say that to him without laughing.

"Your girl, Trey, I swear she’s brilliant." Derek walks over to her as he hands me the camera. "Happy Birthday, Sky,” he says, giving her a kiss on the cheek. I take a picture, and then another as they pose.

"So, where are we going?" she asks again.

We all laugh. “We’re leaving now, so it’s not that long until you find out,” Derek says.

"Come on, let's go," I tell them as Sky takes the camera from me, and looks at the pictures. "Selfie?"