Ballers: His Game (Ballers Series Book 1)

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  Legally Bound 4: Allegations of Love (Jasper)

  Legally Bound 5: Legally Unbound

  Hush 2: Slow Burn

  Ballers

  His Game

  Blue Saffire

  Be mindful that the shoes you judge could just become yours.

  Ballers

  His Game

  Blue Saffire

  Chapter 1

  I am not a hard man to understand. I love my family and I love the game I have given my life to. Once that was it for me, the field and my family; granted I was very young at that time. I think maybe if you hear my story you will think about what you hold dear in your life. I never said I was perfect. I made a hell of a lot of mistakes. Mistakes I can never take back or right. None the less my mistakes have made me the man that I am today.

  From the time that I was a small boy, football was the only thing that mattered to me. Other than life on the ranch, it was what my family came together around. I was a star athlete in my home town and everyone got behind me with their support when I became serious about going pro. I didn’t think there was anything that would change the way I felt about the game. Now, I know that there are just somethings that will change your mind about everything.

  For me that was Tamara. That woman turned my world inside out and sculpted the man I am and want to be. To know our love is to know our all access, non-filtered, dirty truth. We just ask that you hear it all and not judge what you haven’t lived, but learn from what we give you a picture of.

  It’s funny how you can find home in the last place you think you ever will. I am a Texas boy born and raised, so when I got drafted to California I was nervous as hell. To say I was green is an understatement. I had never been that far away from my family for more than a summer camp experience. I was freaked that I wouldn’t be able to handle it or make it. I am the youngest of three siblings and the baby of a ton of cousins.

  I wasn’t afraid of the money so much. My family does well enough in the ranching and oil business, so I was used to having money and managing that part of my life. I guess you could say I got caught up in the test of character and fame that comes with the game.

  Everything my mama and daddy taught me was put to the test in week eight of my first pro season. I made fast friends with a few of the fellas on my team, but Troy was my right hand. I guess it was because we were always bunked together. He was in his third year with the team and he just loved to play and enjoy the life it afforded him. According to Troy, you just keep it plain and simple.

  For a while I followed Troy’s advice. I kept it plain and simple and enjoyed my time before the dream faded away and I had to go back home to Texas. I never thought I would move to second string as a rookie and I sure as hell didn’t think I had a chance at starting. I was happy to be in a jersey on a pro team. But in a blink of an eye, one turn of events can change your life forever.

  “I need to find some ass tonight,” Troy mused beside me at the upscale club.

  The club we were in was packed but none of that mattered tonight. I got to play the fourth quarter and I threw the game winning touchdown. It doesn’t look so good for our starting QB, but that is sort of good news for me. I’m going to get to start next week at least, according to the doctors maybe even for the rest of the season.

  “Good luck with that,” I reply. I take a swig of my beer, scan the club, and bob my head to the music.

  “Who needs luck, baby? Look around you. Someone is coming home with me tonight,” Troy smiles.

  “You mean coming to our hotel room,” I chuckle. “Maybe you can find one with her own place this time.”

  “What you need to do is find you a girl to get your country ass to relax,” Troy teases. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll even let you pick them this time. Go ahead pretty boy, I have yet to see you put your Mac down and I’m interested to see if you are as smooth with the ladies as you are on the field.”

  “Okay,” I laugh taking another pull of my beer. “You’re on.”

  This is the point where I should be listening to my big brother’s voice in my ear and my sister’s right beside him seconding his sentiments. I had two girlfriends in high school and both were long term relationships and we remained friends to this day. In college I messed around with a few girls, but I have remained friends with all of them as well. A one night stand in a city I am leaving in the morning is not me at all.

  Instead, I start scanning the room. If college taught me anything it taught me how to read women. I mean I wasn’t completely naïve. I knew a quick lay when I saw one and that is what Troy is looking for. Me on the other hand, the voices of my siblings are ringing louder and louder. I have every intention of just playing the wing man tonight as usual.

  My eyes pass over the sloppy girls with disinterest. Troy may want a sure thing, but he is not into sloppy. I am coming up pretty empty even with the large selection. The girls that don’t read sloppy, read trouble and I am not going to set my boy up for trouble. Just when I am ready to throw in the towel and tell Troy I’m not into it tonight he is on his own, my eyes lock on the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

  Her head is thrown back and she is laughing at whatever her friend just whispered to her. From this distance she looks like a closer look is more than worth it. Her friend isn’t bad looking either, but I had to hear if her laugh is as beautiful as it looks.

  Troy follows my line of sight to see what I am staring at and locks on my target. He laughs and shakes his head. Taking a pull of his beer he looks at me pointedly.

  “No,” Troy says and sighs, “don’t get me wrong I have been watching the one in the blue dress since we got here but I am looking for a sure thing, that sister right there is not a sure thing. I don’t have it in me to work that hard tonight no matter how fine she is.”

  “So you take the blonde,” I say without thinking.

  “Your winter white ass thinks you got enough game to pull that chick right there? In the blue dress,” Troy chuckles.

  “We’ll just have to see,” I say and give a smile.

  “Oh, I have got to see this. You’re picking up my dry cleaning for a month after this one,” Troy laughs hard and shakes his head. “You do know those dimples aren’t that cute.”

  I shrug and turn to the bartender to order a bottle of Vintage champagne and have it sent over to the girls in question. Mark looks at me and draws his lips in an appreciative smile. I just sit back and watch as the champagne is delivered.

  ~B~

  “Tamara, enough already,” Stacey argues. “You have had this plan since we were little and it became a crazy plan after high school. Crazy or not you have pulled it off so it is time you start living. You are not leaving here tonight without a piece of hot man candy.”

  I throw my head back and laugh. Leave it to Stacey to be blunt and to the point. She is
right. I had planned to be a lawyer since I was a little girl watching my dad. Daddy is amazing; he passed the bar in multiple States and moved on to become a judge. I just knew one day I would be a lawyer and I would make my dad proud.

  The small sacrifice of giving up dating was not as crazy as Stacey calls it. It was the right thing to do to get what I wanted. Distractions are not an option when it comes to your goals. My love life can wait. I’m in no rush to get married or have children. So my decision was never a big deal to me.

  However, if you ask my mother, Stacey or my brother, my plan was crazy and I needed to live a little. Stacey is one of my best friends and she for the last seven years has made it a point to tell me that I am wasting my life away. I guess having a 4.0 GPA and finishing what I started doesn’t count as living.

  Stacey on the other hand, at twenty four has been engaged twice and married and divorced once already. She is happy being a trust fund baby and spending her divorce settlement. Her inner thighs are as friendly as the girl herself and everyone loves Stacey, so that is pretty darn friendly.

  But now that I have accomplished my plan I do feel like I am missing something, so here I am tonight. I let Stacey talk me into coming to this club so that I can as she put it, ‘finally let go and stop being a control freak.’ Alright, so that is what I told her I would do. I just have no intention of sleeping with some random guy she picks for me.

  I am just going to sit here and watch her get drunk and find her next boy toy and then I am out of here. Knowing Stacey it won’t take long. She got her breasts done last year after years of complaining that I had all the assets in our relationship.

  That always makes me laugh. At five nine Stacey is lean and very fit. She could be an actress or model with her tanned skin and long blonde hair. She tried once when she was married but Clay, her ex-husband, was too jealous and possessive for it to work.

  Stacey’s golden green eyes are unique and light up when she is excited about something. She has a cute little nose that comes to a point that could only work on her face. For a white girl she has a cute little butt, but she is not satisfied with that either. So for the last six weeks she has been torturing me four days a week. I hit the gym with her to squat her tushy into perfection.

  I do it because I love her. Lord knows I don’t need any more help with all the junk in my trunk. I have a healthy set of twins as well and I have managed to keep the rest of my body in great shape thanks to hitting the gym with my older brother to help him rehab in the last two years.

  Stacey and I are like ebony and ivory. I am brown skin with chocolate brown eyes and sandy brown hair. I could give Gabrielle Union a run for her money only I am two inches shorter at five-five. So yes, I am one of the very pretty girls as Stacey’s mom puts it. I remember when we were younger her mom would try to push me off on her nephew.

  I was happy when he got engaged, not that he is not attractive. I just wasn’t interested. Besides, Damon used to sniff my hair when we were younger and it was just weird. I had gotten into the habit of twisting my long waves into buns and wearing hats when he was around. Just thinking about it makes me pat at my loose waves that are floating around my shoulders and down my back tonight.

  “Stace, I am only here because it is you… and what happened to Reese by the way?”

  “Okay, tell me the last time you saw Reese since she started doing her thing. She’s all in love now, building an empire,” Stacey says and rolls her eyes.

  “I like Nico for her. Admit it, Reese is doing great and you’re just having a moment of hate,” I tease and laugh at her pout.

  “Okay, so I’m hating just a little,” Stacey gives a pout and pinches her fingers together with a tiny gap to demonstrate. “I had a crush on her brother you know. I would have had him too if Kimberly didn’t show up all perfect and not me.” Stacey can’t even keep a straight face with her words.

  “You keep believing that and I’ll be helping Christopher with that restraining order,” I laugh and throw my arms around my girl for a hug. “I’m glad you’re here and thanks Stacey.”

  “Oh doll, please. We were potty trained together, started kindergarten together, got our first pointe shoes together and the list goes on. I’ll always be here.”

  I start to get emotional over our little moment when the waitress appears at our booth with a bucket with a bottle of champagne on ice. Stacey’s uncle owns the place and she reserved a VIP booth for us. This place is one of New York’s posh spots filled with A listers, from socialites, to models, movie stars, athletes, you name it. I thought the bottle was from her uncle.

  “Stacey the two gentlemen over there sent this over,” the pretty brunette says with a big smile. I know Stacey’s uncle pushes the girls to move the expensive stuff for incentives so she would be getting a pretty something extra tonight.

  “Thanks Danny,” Stacey sings giving a sly smile. “There’s money in the house tonight.” She isn’t joking; there is a semester of school tuition sitting on the table before us.

  “I think those balloons are starting to pay off,” I tease and playfully poke the side of one of her breasts.

  “I try, but my assets are still not pulling their weight when you’re around, so thank your girls for me,” Stacey throws back with a wicked smile.

  I laugh at her as she holds out a champagne glass to me. I take the glass and lift it up for a toast. “To the girls,” I giggle.

  “To my girl who kicked ass in law school and blew the bar exam out of the water. Love you Tam,” Stacey says sincerely and full of the love I know she has for me.

  We take a sip then turn to the guys at the bar and we both tip our glasses in their direction. They hold up their drinks and nod at us. I finish my glass and Stacey refills us both. I guess the guys took our gesture as an invitation because they start to head our way.

  They are both tall and well built. They scream pro athletes. Mister Chocolate, as I name him in my mind is handsome and confident. His body language screams player from a mile away. Stacey grabs my thigh and squeals in my ear. “He is hot girl that is going to be some amazing sex,” she gushes.

  “Only you Stacey,” I shake my head and giggle. I have not held onto my celibacy card for this long to hand it over to some athlete with an inflated ego.

  “Hello ladies, can we join you?” Mister Chocolate’s silky smooth voice fills the space over the music.

  “Under one condition, you have to follow our rules. My friend and I agreed that tonight we want to remain anonymous. That means we don’t want to know your names and we are not going to tell you ours. Deal?” This was Stacey’s bright idea when she arrived at my place tonight. Being that I don’t plan to hook up with anyone I agreed to go along.

  While Mister Chocolate and Stacey negotiate terms of engagement I take the time to see what Stacey will possibly be getting into tonight. I know her checklist and I figure I’ll go through it to see if I should just send these two on their merry way now.

  Mister Chocolate’s friend is the total opposite. Blonde hair that is kind of long but not too long. Really blue eyes that are unlike any I have ever seen. His smile is nice, pretty white and straight, a big plus on Stacey’s list. Just as the dimples in each of his cheeks and the one in his chin that is almost covered by a day and a halves worth of stubble, would be.

  His thick neck tells me I am definitely looking at a football player without a doubt. His shoulders are wide and his arms are large under his blue dress shirt that is rolled up past his elbows, showing off thick tanned forearms. He has an expensive watch on his wrist drawing the eyes to his tanned skin.

  I’m sure Stacey will appreciate the way his dress shirt clings to his muscled body that tapers into a narrow waist. His jeans hug his thick thighs nicely. Stacey will give him points for the three loose top buttons of his shirt as well. He is clearly six three maybe six four.

  My eyes take a pass back up and lock with his hungry gaze that is locked on me. I tilt my head studying him then snort. This white boy
done lost his mind. I tune back into the conversation and tear my eyes away from the blue eyes that are trying to eat me up.

  “Okay, so no names, no personal info. I think we can handle that,” Mr. Chocolate says letting his eyes rake over Stacey. Figures.

  So much for Stacey’s great idea to get me some sex. My first prospect is undressing her with his eyes. I frown at Mr. Chocolate when he slides into the booth next to Stacey. I snatch my glass from the table. I have no idea why I am pissed. I had already made up my mind that he is not going to be the one to clean out my cobwebs and lube the pipes.

  “Hi, it is nice to meet you,” a deep booming voice says beside me.

  I turn to see blue eyes staring back at me. Mr. Chocolate’s friend has slid in beside me. I look down at his outstretched hand and decide since I am drinking the champagne he and his friend sent I can at least be nice. I slip my hand into his large hand and my palm is swallowed. I don’t know what possesses me, but I squeeze harder to not let his large hand dominate mine.

  “Nice to meet you,” I say dryly.

  “Are you just out having a good time or celebrating?”

  “I received my passing results from my bar exam today so I guess you can say celebrating,” I reply and look down at our still joined hands pointedly.

  “Beautiful and smart,” he says with a drawl and a megawatt smile. This man is really hitting on me. I lift a brow looking him over in amusement.

  “How about you,” I quiz back. “Looking for an easy lay after a loss or celebrating a win?”

  He throws his head back and gives a deep hearty laugh. “Celebrating a win,” he smiles.

  “Nice, good for you,” I say turning my attention back to the dance floor.

  Stacey and Mr. Chocolate stand and start for the dance floor. I laugh to myself because Stacey has officially locked down her target for the night. I guess I could just go home now. I look at my phone and groan. It is still early and I promised myself I would not run out of here too early. I want to say that I at least tried to have fun.