Page 7 of High Baller

“She?” Jade pushes me away from me a little and I laugh.

“Yeah, I have a feeling.” I wrap my arms around her to give her another hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you both,” I whisper in her ear.

“Thanks, Trey,” she replies, her voice shaking with choked-up happiness.

I turn to Sean. “Congratulations, man. The best part of this is, you can’t complain at work about how Jade is moody or anything.” I start laughing.

Sean laughs as he pushes me a little. “I’m never going to complain about her, and I haven’t once in four years—I’m not going to start now.” Sean leans closer to Jade and gives her a kiss.

“Let’s see how long into the pregnancy it takes,” I say, walking away from them before Jade can slap me.

“Trey!” I stop in my track as my Ma yells my name. I already know the baby mama conversation is about to start again.

Turning around to face her, I give her a smile. “Ma, I love you. I won’t be getting any girl knocked up, so don’t worry about that. I promise I’ll find a nice girl—”

“African Ameri—”

“Yes, Ma. I’ll make sure you like her before I even think about getting down on one knee. So, if we’re finished with the talk, I think I’ll shoot some hoops with Tracy.”

Ma’s eyes give me that look, the one that says she trusts me enough, but won’t hesitate to whoop my ass if I knocked up a girl. Then she nods once to let me know I can go. I know that no matter which girl I bring home, they’ll never be good enough for me in her eyes.

***

Dinner at Ma’s never finishes when it’s supposed to, and I’ve had Derek calling me every twenty minutes, asking how much longer I’m going to be, asking how far I am. God, he can be annoying sometimes.

I make my way to the club, sign a few autographs, and take a few selfies on the way in. Sean guides us through the door as I look at my phone. I shake my head as I make it through the door. The sports news is saying I wasn’t worth the money spent on me, and last season was just luck. Luck. I’ll show them.

“What time you call this?” Derek meets me at the front.

“Dinner ran over,” I explain, scanning the bar to see who’s around. Most of the time, the same people go to this club, getting their names on the list well in advance. I’m one of the few that don’t need to.

There was something about this place that clicked with me, and since the word got out that I’m a business partner here, it’s gotten a lot busier.

Making my way up the stairs to our VIP area, I see that Derek has already picked out a few girls to have up here. They aren’t really picked for me, some of the other guys that come with us want some company too. Grabbing a drink from Derek, I stand by the rails to look down at the dance floor.

“The pool party is ready for tomorrow afternoon, do you want anything else?” Derek asks as he looks over at me.

“No, but tonight, we’re celebrating.” I turn to face Sean while talking to Derek. “Someone’s going to be a dad, and I plan on sending him home drunk,” I say, and the guys yell out their congratulations.

Sean flips me the bird as I lean on the rail. “If I go home fucked, Jade will not only have my head, but yours, too.” He points at me, and I laugh.

I open my mouth to reply, but stop as a girl starts twerking her ass in front of me. She’s trying her best to rub up against me.

I place my hand on her ass to stop her getting closer. I’m a man, and an ass like this rubbing up against me will definitely get me hard, but getting a boner would give her the wrong impression that I’m interested. I don’t plan on anything happening with any of these girls, so I need to keep them at a distance.

I smile when I hear Kevin Lyttle’s, Turn Me On. I have no idea what it is about this song, but it gets my hips moving, and I love watching girls dance to it too. There’s something about how their bodies move, and how turned on they get when it’s playing.

I look down at the dance floor seeing everyone enjoying themselves, drinks in their hands, and the dance floor full.

I look over at Derek standing next to me. “Where’s Ariel?”

He points to the group of girls dancing with a few others “There.” I look to where he’s pointing, then back to him. There are five of them. How am I meant to know which one she is? “The one in the black dress,” he yells in my ear as the music gets louder.

I watch the girl dancing. “She looks hot.” She looks better than the normal girls Derek goes for. At least this one has her ass covered.

I freeze, noticing a woman moving sexily to the music, her eyes closed and a huge smile on her face. A guy is dancing near her, maybe with her, but I don’t care. I need a closer look.

Derek goes to say something, but stops the moment I move to trade places with him. I move the girl who is grinding against me, then a little further to the side to get away from the girls trying to grab my attention.