Ballers: His Game (Ballers Series Book 1) (20 page)

Chapter 23

I feel like a bull caged in a room with the walls painted red as I storm my way into the locker room. I’m so pissed off I can’t even see straight. I tear into the locker room and toss my helmet at the wall. I have seen and heard a lot in this league but this takes the cake.

I am usually the mellow guy in the locker room so all of the guys take pause at my outburst and watch with open mouths. I turn and lock eyes with Ellerie and he instantly reads me. I give him a curt nod and he nods back.

“Ten minutes,” he says and I nod again.

I need out of this building and I doubt it will take me ten minutes to get my shit and leave. I storm towards the shower stripping from my uniform as I go. I am showered and dressed faster than I have ever been before.

Fuming I leave the locker room heading right for the parking lot. People are calling my name and asking questions but I ignore them all. The only person I acknowledge is Ellerie who is sitting in his Jaguar behind my truck, waiting for me.

“Your place,” I call over my shoulder as I move pass his car and jump into my own truck.

Ellerie and I have become close over the last few months, on and off the field. If I can trust anyone with what I have to say I know it is him. I just don’t want to take this to my house. Tam said she would be working from home this week and I don’t want to stress her over this.

When we pull into Ellerie’s driveway I am still wound tight and raging to release this pent up tension. I just need to say this shit out loud to make sure I haven’t imagined it all. I know I did not just sit through that meeting in my coach’s office. I didn’t hear any of the words that were said to me. I must have gotten hit during practice or something.

“Okay, what the hell is going on,” Ellerie asks as he retrieves two waters from the refrigerator and hands me one.

“They want me to postpone the wedding,” I growl.

“Wait what?” Ellerie says with a sour look on his face. He looks so much like Tam in the moment.

“Apparently that is what the head office wanted to talk to me about on that little boat trip I didn’t make it to. They were going to suggest,” I say using air quotes. “That I do things a little more quietly and maybe even start to be seen in public with someone else a few times. Now they just want me to postpone the wedding. ‘It will be best for the rest of the season,’ as they had coach put it.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding. First they fuck with Tam’s clients now this,” Ellerie growls causing me to almost choke on my water.

“What? What the hell did you just say,” I hiss.

“Shit,” Ellerie draws a hand down his face. “Listen, she didn’t want to distract you from the game. She has been working to get things in order, but it has been taking its toll. The whole shit is pissing me off. The way they have been treating her at games, her losing clients that have been loyal for years.

“Tam is strong, but this is just some bullshit. I only found out by accident. They stepped to a friend of ours that wasn’t willing to bend and he came to me about the situation. She is my baby sister and I have been wanting to hurt someone over this, but she made me promise to let her handle it.”

“Wait, how long has this been going on? I can’t believe this, she is pregnant. She doesn’t need this type of stress,” I fume.

“I knew it,” Ellerie says with a slight smile.

“Yeah, well I wish I knew what was going on with Tam. I have been asking her for weeks what is going on with her. This is total bullshit.”

“I hear you Brad, but understand this, she is not doing it to hurt you or because she doesn’t trust you. To Tam she sees two men she loves on the verge of greatness and she doesn’t want to get in the way of that. I told her that she is more important to both of us than a ring but she is determined to figure this out,” he says in explanation.

“That’s not going to cut it for me. I was away from my family for five years, Eli. Tam has to start opening up to me. Last time she shut me out it cost me five years with her and four with my daughter,” I demand.

“I didn’t say I agree with her. Listen, I have never told anyone this but there was a time when playing the game was the most important thing to me. I thought I had time for the rest.

“Boy was I wrong. I don’t have to tell you what it is like to see another man with his arms around your woman. I saw your face when Mike showed up at that party. Well I have watched more than one man hold the woman I gave up because I have been chasing my career,” Ellerie snorts. “Not even a career but a ring that is never promised to any of us. Watching you and Tam just showed me what I have given up.

“It may or may not be too late for me but I am here to make sure you and Tam don’t lose sight of that. So whatever you want to do from here I am with you. At this point a win would be bittersweet anyhow. I don’t want my ring to come at the cost of my sister’s happiness.”

“I’m glad to hear that because your sister is about to learn just how important she is to me,” I grumble.

~B~

“Tamara, I had my reasons for wanting to meet the boy. I needed to know he had integrity. I believe we should let him know what is going on here,” my boss Cyrus says.

“I appreciate your concern Cyrus, but Brad has a team and championship to think about,” I sigh.

I have been on the phone for over an hour with my boss now. My client roster is at least half of what it used to be. Lucky Cyrus had foresight to put a clause in a lot of the contracts. So while a couple of clients have left the firm altogether others were just reassigned, as the clause wouldn’t allow them to leave just yet. This includes both some of my bigger clients and some of my smaller accounts.

I have worked too hard to be going through this. I have wanted nothing more than to be a lawyer like my father since I was a little girl. Then when Ellerie got into sports, sports became my other passion. It just made sense to combine the two, but now I just think my heart isn’t in it. With each passing day I wonder if this is what I want or have I become what I thought everyone would expect of me, what would help me fit in with the guys.

I still love being a lawyer but I don’t think I would miss the over inflated egos of some of my clients. I have even toyed with the idea of being an agent although I don’t think that would fix my current problem.

Cyrus sighs heavily into the phone. “Well, I have said this a million times. I am here to help. I have set up a few meetings to get to the bottom of this. They’re not the only ones that can throw some weight around.”

“Cyrus,” I say curiously into the phone.

“Yes Tam,” he says in a soft fatherly voice.

“Why? Why do you want to help me so much? I get that you and daddy are close old friends but I get the sense it is bigger than that,” I inquire.

There is a pause on the other end for a moment. “You know when we enter interracial relationships we do it for love. Not often do we think of what our children will look like or what their lives will be like. My first wife,” his voice becomes thick with emotion.”

“God I loved her and she was the most beautiful woman in the world to me. When I looked at her I didn’t see color or race. What I saw was a beautiful chocolate goddess that I was madly in love with. She was intelligent, fierce, loving and the warmest person you could know.

“I lost her to cancer, but not before we had three beautiful children, Tommy, Carey and Stephanie my youngest girl. Things became strained when we lost their mother. Stephanie, she can be sensitive. She is also the most ethnic looking of my three.

“I didn’t always handle her right. When she went off to college she fell head over heels for a young man on the basketball team. He was a nice enough young man, but after going pro the pressure got to him. I saw it happening and I tried to warn Stephanie. She just thought I didn’t want them together. As if I, her white father had a problem with her dating a white man.

“Long story short, he broke my baby’s heart. The team got in his ear and he took the easy route. I now have a grandson that lives in Australia and a daughter that puts little effort in allowing me to see him. It also put a strain on my relationships with my other two children. Not that I don’t try.

“The things they did to the two of them as a young couple. Stephanie wouldn’t let me help her. With my support the young man may have made different choices. Bradley is a different man and you deserve to be happy Tam. Your parents raised a fine young woman.

“I have seen many things in my years and your father has seen me through a whole lot. So I am going to see you through this,” he finishes.

“Wow, Cyrus. I didn’t even know you had children,” I murmur in shock.

He chuckles. “You’d have to have been around the firm a pretty long time to know. Talking of my wife and children has long since become taboo. It is my hope that someday you will get to meet Stephanie and that fine young grandson of mine.”

“I hope so too.”

“Now back to you, take as long as you need to sort yourself out. I will handle things on this end. You just let me know if you need anything. You have options,” Cyrus says.

“You know somedays I just want to go home,” I chuckle.

“That can be an option, Tamara. I’ve told you in the past I need fresh blood in New York. I would love to have a new partner there,” he offers.

“Home is where the heart is, and right now my heart is in Texas,” I sigh into the phone.

He chuckles again. “Be well, Dear.”

I hang up the phone still not knowing what my next step is but grateful to have Cyrus in my corner. I haven’t cried once throughout this mess, but suddenly the dams give way. This isn’t about the money. It is about being able to do what I am good at, but most of all it is about holding on to the man that has become my rock.

~B~

Once Ellerie and I had a long talk we made some life changing decisions and started to put in calls to set things in motion. I intend to fight for Tam and her happiness. When I pull this off it is going to mean big changes for the family overall. I have no doubt I will pull this off though.

When I get home the house is quiet, a little too quiet. If I remember correctly Stacey was supposed to spend some time with Ellie since she is back in town. When I get to the base of the stairs I hear loud sobbing cutting through the silence.

I start out in full run. When I make it into the room Tam is curled up in a small ball, sobbing her eyes out. My heart breaks and I know I have made the right decisions. For now I crawl into bed and let her sob into my chest until she is ready to talk.

Chapter 24

“When were you going to tell me about losing your clients?” I say into Tam’s hair as I feel her relax.

Tam huffs before turning her face up to look at me. “How did you find out?”

“Eli may have let it slip out,” I shrug.

“Ugh. I should have known,” she shakes her head, placing her head back on my chest she pushes her hand up under my t-shirt and starts to rub my chest. I rub her back with one hand, pushing the other into her hair to massage her scalp. “Telling you wouldn’t have made any difference. It would have just distracted you. You and Ellerie have this season’s win at the tips of your fingers. I have been thinking of making some changes with the baby coming anyway.”

“Don’t do that Tam. Don’t make it seem like this is not a big deal to you. You love your job, hell you are great at it. And for the millionth time, you and our children are the most important thing in the world to me. When I wake up in the morning you and Ellie are the first thing on my mind. Are you safe and are you happy, that is my job to know and make sure of. You have no idea how it guts me to come home and find my woman in tears.

“When I imagine what I can live without, you are not among that list. This thing that
we,
”
I lift her chin and point between the two of us. “Are going through, it affects our entire family so we are going to work this out like a family. And in this family Tam, Daddy takes care of things.”

I watch as heat fills her eyes at my words. I let them sink in fully as she swallows hard. I think I am finally getting through once and for all, but I know action speak louder than words. So I will prove what I mean to Tam sooner than she knows.

I continue. “You and I are getting married in just a few weeks. We are going to start our new life together and no one, and I mean no one is going to get in the middle of that. You feel me Tam?”

“Yeah Big Country, I feel you,” she says with a sultry smile.

Her hand that has been rubbing my chest makes its way confidently down to my belt and she starts to unfasten it. I reach for her hand and still it. “Sex doesn’t fix everything,” I throw her own words back at her, lifting a brow at her with a teasing smirk.

“No, but good head does,” she teases back and wiggles her eyebrows at me.

I release her hand without question. The things this woman can do with her mouth are amazing. Tam laughs and shakes her head at me, but she does manage to get me unfastened and out of my jeans and boxers quickly.

I don’t realize I am holding my breath in anticipation until her first slow, long lick up my shaft. I heave a heavy breath and bite out a curse as she covers me with her warm mouth, sending a shudder through my body. This woman was made just for me.

~B~

I need this right now. I can be stubborn at times but in all honesty I love the way Brad takes charge. I can feel my whole body relax because deep inside I know he is going to make sure that everything is alright. Cyrus and Ellerie were right. I should have told Brad everything from the start.

I am not usually into men that call themselves or women that call their man Daddy, but it was so hot coming off Brad’s lips that I was instantly turned on. I need to taste him, no, I need to please him. Watching Brad come apart under the ministration of my mouth is priceless.

I watch him through my lashes as I bob up and down on his length. I know his tip is extra sensitive so I swirl my tongue around it not once but twice before sucking him in whole again. I repeat the motion, ripping a loud curse from his lips as he unfists the sheets and fists a hand full of my hair.

“Ahhh, Baby,” he groans out loud.

Brad is way too thick and long for my mouth to cover him all at once, so I wrap my hands around his girth to help as I swallow him as far as I can go. He hisses out a breath as his hips buck up off the bed. I am amazed at how I can get this big man to become helpless to my oral seduction every time.

I am reminded of the first time I ever gave him head. The rush was mind blowing. The memory urges me on to make him come that hard all over again. My mouth starts to water from the thought and I let it drip down his massive dick.

When he starts to jerk and fold into himself I know I have him right where I want him. I let him pop free from my mouth and give his balls some much needed loving with my tongue. Brad’s nostrils flare and he groans my name in a guttural growl.

“Shit, I’m coming baby,” Brad rasps thrusting up into my mouth and holding me there as he pumps stream after stream down my throat. I swirl my tongue around him to make sure I collect all of my prize. I love the taste of my man.

Yeah, sex won’t fix everything but it sure as hell gives me a much needed release from the stress, from what I can see the same goes for Brad. I think I know what I plan to do, starting with letting go of the worry, and focusing on the fact that I am about to get married to a man I truly love.