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  Other books by Blue Saffire

  Placed in Best Read Order

  Also available….

  Legally Bound

  Legally Bound 2: Against the Law

  Legally Bound 3: His Law

  Perfect for Me

  Ballers: His Game

  Hush 1: Family Secrets

  Brothers Black1: Wyatt the Heartbreaker

  Legally Bound 4: Alligations of Love

  Hush 2: Slow Burn

  Legally Bound 5.0: Sam

  Yours: Losing My Innocence 1

  Yours 2: Experience Gained

  Yours 3: Life Mastered

  Coming Soon…

  Brothers Black 2

  Brothers Black 3

  Brothers Black 4

  Ballers 2

  Nico

  Blue Saffire

  Perceptive Illusions Publishing, Inc.

  Bay Shore, New York

  Copyright © 2016 by Blue Saffire.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

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  Bay Shore, New York/11706

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  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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  Ballers 2: His Final Play/ Blue Saffire. -- 1st ed.

  Healing comes from within. As does the spark of a great book. Put the two together and great thing can happen.

  ―Blue Saffire

  PROLOGUE

  Understanding

  Nico

  I can feel the tears in my eyes. This is not what I was expecting. I never thought I would be sitting here. Not like this, not with one of the things I have desired most in the palms of my hands.

  “My son,” I whisper against his temple.

  He is so small, but so perfect. His eyes are open and he is looking at me. A quiet laugh bursts from my lips. This is real, he is real. This all may not be the way I wanted it to happen, but I finally have a son.

  The thought makes me look over to my son’s sleeping mother. Yeah, this is not what I wanted or should I say, how I wanted it, but I have a son. He is my flesh and blood. My eyes bounce over to the bassinet beside the hospital bed. My smile grows. I’m a papa. I make beautiful children.

  “Do you know that,” I say to my son and his lips curl as if he is smiling in understanding. “Your Papa makes beautiful babies. You’ll be a good big brother, just like I am to Annabella and Michael. I’ll teach you.”

  I’ll teach him everything he needs to know. Someday he may even be out there on the pitch like his Papa. His little legs are already strong. He has kicked me a few times.

  I wiggle my pinkie into his tightly fisted palm and he squeezes it firmly. “Or maybe, your Uncle Uri will teach you to be a badass like him and your zietta,” I chuckle.

  My eyes flicker to the bassinet again, then to the bed, at Nico Jr.’s mother. I sigh. I have to fix this somehow. This is not how I wanted my children to enter this world.

  “Any ideas N.J.,” that smile is back and his fists pump. “Oh, you like that name, N.J., you do, don’t you? Well, let me tell you how you came to be, my son. Then maybe you can give me some ideas on how we fix this little situation we are in.”

  I pause to think as I look at my son, the bassinet and then the sleeping form, lying in the hospital bed. This story is not an easy one to tell. There are many parts.

  Wounds are still fresh for all involved. Feelings are still hurt. I think we all made mistakes. I know I have.

  This all started with the biggest mistake of my life. The moment I froze and changed my life forever. I don’t regret my choice to save my niece’s life. What I regret, is not being more like Uri and Michael. Neither one of my brothers would have frozen.

  It all happened so fast. I thought I had time, until I didn’t. Until I turned and that first bullet tore through my flesh. That first jolt of pain and hot spark that met my skin, told me right away that my football career was most likely over.

  “No, I don’t regret any of it,” I murmur. “I would never have met the love of my life. N.J., when you get older, I want you to remember to love and love hard. Don’t let that love slip away. Make sure she knows you love her, make sure she knows that no matter what, the love you have for her is more important than anything,” I say getting choked up.

  “This all started when your Papa made a stupid mistake. I should have covered your Zietta Tina’s back and gotten your cousin Vita down safely,” I wipe at the tear that escapes. “I didn’t and it cost me my football career as I knew it. Well, we live in the States now. They call it soccer there, but you are a Donati, so you will know it as football.”

  I chuckle and kiss my son’s forehead. I can laugh now, but it took me a long time to laugh about anything again. It was her, the love of my life, that brought my laughter back then took it with her again. I’d given her laughter as well. At least, I thought I had. I sigh again. Loving Reese is harder than I thought loving anyone would be.

  And no, it is not because she is stubborn, which honestly she is. But I get it. I understand why. No, Reese is hard to love, because I love her so fucking much and I have felt so hopeless in that love. I pride myself on providing everything for the woman I love. I fix shit, if my woman hurts, if she is scared, if she needs anything, I fix it.

  There was just one thing I couldn’t fix when it came to Reese and it tore us apart, literally. It was out of my hands. I had to give it over to a higher being than me. In the end, I don’t know who has been hurt more. So much misunderstanding. So much wasted time and pain.

  I swallow hard. This moment is bittersweet for me. I just know my heart wants what it wants. Reese.

  The Beginning

  Part One

  CHAPTER ONE

  Devastated

  Reese

  Seven and a half Years Earlier…

  My palms are all sweaty. I don’t know what we are about to hear, but I already have a knot the size of a melon in my stomach. I can’t take one more disappointment. This has been so hard.

  I gaze at my husband for a look of encouragement or support, but he is on his phone once again. The indifference I see in his face stings more than the stress of this situation. Ty gave up on this a long time ago.
>
  I roll my eyes when he smiles at his phone and starts to text some more. I remember when we met in high school. I was a freshman and Ty was a senior. He was such a sweet boy. Ty may have been a star athlete on the team, but he was also shy and endearing. It was cute to watch him stumble all over himself to ask me out on a date. I knew then he was quite the catch, with his almost translucent green eyes and dark hair.

  My dad almost had a stroke the first time I brought Ty home, my sophomore year. Daddy thought that I was talking about a brother, every time I talked of this great running back I was dating, named Ty. Tiberius Roman was so far from who my mom and dad expected me to walk in the door with.

  Not that they were against me dating a white guy. It’s just that I had always had a thing for tall, dark chocolate, and handsome. Well, at least I thought that was my thing. When I think about it, I dated football players in junior high and high school because they knew who my father was.

  Jim Bridges, my dad, played in the NFL until a back injury ended his career, thankfully he could still walk afterward. Not long after recovering from his injury he became a defensive coordinator at one of the division one universities.

  Anybody that wanted to play for my dad thought the best way to do so was to go through me. What threw my father was that I never told my parents I was dating a college freshman. Also, I never called Ty by his real name. My father knew all about Tiberius as a player and shook his head that he hadn’t put it together.

  Daddy admitted to being stumped at not knowing the player I was talking about, never giving a single thought to the fact that I was dating a white boy. My father’s words, not mine. I used to think my father didn’t like Ty because he was white. On my wedding day, my father actually sat me down and asked me if I was sure I wanted to go through with it.

  “Yes, Daddy, I love him,” I had said with tears in my eyes.

  “Then I hope to God, I am wrong about him,” my father sighed and walked me down the aisle.

  Daddy later told me he didn’t think Ty was good enough for me. I didn’t see what my father had against Ty until two years into our marriage. He changed or maybe I started to see what everyone else saw. My father wasn’t the only one that tried to warn me off of Ty. Tam, Stacey, and Alee, my very best friends, all asked me if I was sure I wanted to go through with marrying him.

  I had thought they were just being jealous. Alee and Tam weren’t in relationships and Stacey’s was engaged for the third time to a control freak. I had it all figured out back then. Now, some days, I wonder who this man sitting beside me is. The loving, supportive boyfriend I used to know doesn’t exist in this man.

  Ty is selfish, a habitual flirt, and at times I know I have caught him being a liar. The gorgeous eyes, sexy smile, fine body and tanned skin, mean nothing to me anymore. Other women drool over him, but I still love the shy, silly boy I first met. I don’t even know if I like this man sitting beside me.

  “Why are you staring at me,” Ty says without looking up from his phone.

  “You’re my husband, Ty,” I huff. “Is it wrong for me to look at you?”

  See, this is what I mean. I used to think it was me in my feelings about this whole situation. It has taken its toll on our relationship, but Ty has changed. When he used to find me staring at him, he would look up and give me that bright smile of his and say something sweet.

  “Don’t start Reese,” Ty grits through his teeth. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you. You’ve just been bouncing in your seat and now you are staring at me. You’re making me nervous.”

  “Well, I am nervous,” I huff.

  Ty sighs placing his phone on his thigh, face down and turns to look at me. He reaches to cup my cheek with his large hand. “Babe, everything is going to be fine. You wanted to see the best and I found you the best. Stop worrying. This guy will fix you,” Ty says looking me in the eyes.

  My head snaps back. I feel like I have just been slapped. We don’t know if I am the problem here, but he just said the words with such conviction. Like I am the reason we haven’t gotten pregnant since after we first married. I was pregnant for six months after the wedding, before I lost our baby boy.

  I still feel like Ty blames me. I did nothing wrong. The doctors said these things just happen. That was it. No explanation for it, just this happens, you’re young, you have time. Now here I sit, twenty-three and I haven’t so much as conceived since my miscarriage. That was four years ago.

  During that time, being three years older than I am, Ty started his career as a professional football player. I guess that has placed a strain on our marriage as well. Ty insisted that I remain here in New York when he got drafted to Florida. At the time, he made so much sense. I was still in school and I didn’t know anyone in Florida. My family was here, in New York, to support me.

  I was on the dean’s list and my professors were so great. I didn’t want to lose that support. I have wanted to be a physical therapist since I watched my dad get hurt, having to come back from that devastating injury. It is my dream to open my own healing clinic. I want to mix holistic and traditional medicine. So when Ty said it would be best for me to stay behind I agreed.

  It wasn’t like he would be home much anyway. We would see each other just as much as we do now. Ty comes home as much as he can, or at least he used to.

  I can feel myself getting ready to curse Ty out. I open my mouth just as the doctor walks in the room. I shut my mouth and rub my hands on my thick thighs. Between school and stressing about getting pregnant, I have put on a few pounds.

  Ty says he loves the extra curves, but sometimes I feel like maybe that’s the reason he has been distant with me. I have loved this man with everything I am, but something has definitely changed. He has changed and so have I, but there is more, something I haven’t been able to put my finger on.

  I touch my fleshy belly as I think of all the groupies that are always throwing themselves at him. I sometimes wonder if they even know he is married. I haven’t missed the fact that his publicist manages to work around his personal life. I never come up. When asked about his personal life he dodges it.

  “It is lovely to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Roman,” the doctor says as he takes his seat.

  “Good to see you too, Doc,” Ty says with his blinding grin. I used to love that smile. Right now, it just seems so inappropriate, but I say nothing.

  “Mrs. Roman,” Dr. Diamond starts.

  “Reese, please, call me Reese,” I interrupt.

  “Babe, let the doctor speak. I have places to be,” Ty says looking back at that damn phone. I narrow my eyes at him, ready to take the stupid thing and throw it across the room.

  The doctor clears his throat and wrinkles his brows as he watches Ty text away with no regard for the conversation. When Ty realizes the doctor is not talking, he looks up from his phone. The doctor shakes his head as if to clear it and turns sympathetic eyes to me.

  Dr. Diamond has kind eyes like my dad. The thought makes me wish I asked my parents to come along for support. Daddy still doesn’t like Ty too much, but he still supports my decision as long as I am happy. I try my best to make everyone believe I am just that. I have even fooled myself.

  Dr. Diamond clears his throat again. “Yes, Reese, I was saying that I have looked at all of the labs and everything looks fine. Well, there is my concern for your weight. At your height you should be around one hundred and twenty-seven, one hundred and thirty-five pounds max. Right now, you are a hundred and seventy-five. Your sugar was a bit high as well. I’d like you to consider Metformin,” Dr. Diamond says with an encouraging smile.

  I cringe and jerk back in my seat. First, I know I have gained some weight, but I have never been smaller than a hundred and fifty, maybe a hundred and forty-five. My mother says heavy bones run in her family. I don’t think I’ll ever be one thirty-five in this life time. I don’t even think it would look good on me. I wince at the image of jotting bones and a gaunt face.

  Second, I am not big on me
dication and that is something we talked about at my last visit. The side effects of the drugs these doctors pump out, sometimes are worse than the ailment they are trying to treat. I have based my career on alternative medicine. There is no way I am going against all I know to pop pills.

  “I understand your stance on medication, Reese. But women have been known to become pregnant after being treated with Metformin. I’ll write you the prescription. I want you to at least consider it,” Dr. Diamond smiles at me.

  “So I’m the reason we haven’t conceived,” I whisper in a pained voice.

  Something flickers across the doctors face and his eyes bounce between Ty and me. I look at Ty and he is giving the doctor an evil stare. I mean really, it’s okay for it to be my problem, but not his. I pause in my anger as I watch something else cross Ty’s face. It is a mix of what looks like guilt, panic, and something else.

  Maybe I am being too hard on him. He has had to suffer the loss of our son too. I mean this has to be as hard for him as it is for me. I look down into my lap and fight back the tears. I’m damaged, it is me and no one has been able to fix me. I guess it was easier when I thought it could be either of us. When I didn’t have someone to blame.

  Now I know it is me and it hurts like hell. I fight the sob that becomes trapped in my throat. Did I lose our only chance? What does this mean?

  “I don’t understand,” I say in a shaky voice. “You said everything looks fine, but I haven’t gotten pregnant and now you want me to take meds, to do what? Regulate sugar that was a little high the day of the test? Meds that some women have taken and gotten pregnant on. Doctor that sounds like a shot in the dark. It is not answering any of my concerns.”

  “You are still young, Reese. You can try changing your diet. I tested for PCOS, but I don’t have conclusive results to actually diagnose you for it,” the doctor sighs. “I know you are a firm believer in natural medicine, but in this case I really think you should stop all natural treatments and consider taking the Metformin.”