Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2) (10 page)

Maybe this was a bad idea. I had no business trying to be friends with someone that had her own problems. That is when I realized it was because of her situation that I could relate to her. She too, was broken in her own way. It was also the reason why I couldn't be her friend.
 

I pulled out a twenty and sat it on the bar. While she was still in the back, I decided that it was better for me to just go. Obviously, she was confused about my actions and to be honest, I was too.

My hand pushed on the door for it to open. "You are seriously going to leave without saying goodbye?" She was standing with her hands on her hips.

"I enjoyed your cooking, Vessa, but I think it's best if I just go. I can't do this."

"Do what? We are two adults, Ramsey. I'm not asking for your damn hand in marriage. Look, I have no friends here. Like none! In fact, I don't have many friends back home either. I gave up my social life for the sake of my family. My life is so messed up, but when I'm working, I feel like I can breathe. My aunt is great and I am awfully grateful for her to take us in, but I need to be me once in a while."

"Why are you telling me this?"
 

"Because, maybe my aunt was right. Maybe we both need a friend." This was exactly what I didn't need. I had thought that this was the one place that I could come to for peace.
 

I looked down at the floor and thought about telling her that it was a bad idea. Just as I went to open my mouth and say it, something stopped me. I couldn't be mean to her for selfish reasons, no matter how much I wanted to just walk away. "I'm a terrible friend."

"Teach me how to play pool. I won't ask you anything unless I win a game. I don't even care if you talk to me. I just like the company."

I sighed. What could playing pool hurt? She wasn't pressing me about personal things and I kind of liked the company too. "This is a bad idea." I followed her over toward the pool table.
 

She grabbed a stick off the wall for herself and turned around to look at me. "My whole life has been bad ideas. I'm not
afraid." I watched her bend over and take a shot at a ball that was just sitting on the table. 

As the night progressed, so did my alcohol consumption. By my third drink, I was looking at Vessa in all the wrong ways. Try as she might, but she still hadn't won a single game. Since I didn't have to answer any personal questions and I was pretty content with staring at her ass, I had her make me another drink.
 

A few people came in after we'd been playing for a while. When she went to go wait on them, I sat down and watched her working. I knew it was the alcohol making me think about her that way. Her full breasts filled out the fitting shir
t she was wearing and her jeans left nothing for the imagination. She had to know how sexy she was, especially if she had always been a bartender. There was no way in hell that she didn't get hit on daily. 

I closed my eyes and let myself imagine her being naked in front of me. I thought about having her sweet lips on parts of me that hadn't been touched in a long time. As I concentrated on what it would feel like to have her riding me, I heard someone clearing their throat. "You falling asleep on me?"

My eyes opened wide to see her standing in front of me with her hands on her hips. "No, ma'am. I was just resting my eyes."

"That couple just left, so it's just us again. How many questions are you up now?"

I lost count after seven. "About ten."

"I will answer two."

"That isn't what we agreed upon," I teased.

She hopped up on the pool table and sat on it, with her feet dangling. "What do you want to know about me, Sheriff?"

Right at that moment, I wanted to know things that I could never ask. "What is your husband like?"

She leaned back on the pool table and started to laugh. I didn't understand what was so funny, but at this point, I didn't understand much of anything.
 

"Why would you ask that? I think that is the weirdest question ever. He's a dick. He cheated on me over and over again and now some girl that is barely legal is carrying his child."

I could tell that she hated me for asking that. It was too late to take it back. "He's a fool."

She suddenly straightened up her body and looked at me. "I thought so too."

"He should have been focused on his kids instead of someone else’s. You never know when something bad could happen and you may never see them again." I paused, thinking about Katie and how much I wanted to say to her. Then I realized that I opened up a can of worms that I wasn't willing to explain. I stood up quickly and put my stick away. "I gotta go."

She hopped down and followed behind me. "Ramsey, wait! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get my ass to bed."

"You've had a lot to drink. Do you want to wait and I will follow you home?"

"I'm fine!" I wasn't, though. For the past couple hours I had been thinking of how many ways I wanted to fuck her, all the while knowing that every second spent with her was only making my life worse.

I didn't look back as
I headed for my truck, or when I pulled out of the parking lot.

Chapter 10

Vessa

I couldn’t believe that he had come into the bar and acted like he hadn’t just seen me. I mean, not only had I been at his place, but also we’d kissed. Now he was just going to come into the bar and act like nothing ever happened.

This guy was unreal!

It only took a little while for me to realize that it was possible that he had been too drunk to remember. As the night progressed, I was getting the feeling that Ramsey had no idea that he’d even left his house at all.

To say that it was for the best would have been an understateme
nt. The last thing that either of us needed was for him to find out that I’d not only been in his house without permission, but also that I’d let him think I was his dead wife.

The kiss may have been just a memory for him, but it was something else for me. What started out as me just pretending, had turned into a moment of passion. It was something that I could
n’t wrap my head around. Here was this guy that I barely knew anything about and yet I was obsessing over him like I was in high school.

I felt like I needed to help him; to fix him in some way. It wasn’t like I expected him to want me in some kind of intimate way, but I did want him to trust me. He needed a real friend. Of course, if he knew about my lying, I was sure I’d be the last person on that list.

It was getting late, but a couple came in and ordered the special to eat. I served them a couple of drinks and then their food once it was heated. As they enjoyed each other’s company, I started to clean up and prepare for the morning shift. My phone started ringing about halfway through what I was doing.

Hello?

It’s your aunt. Listen, Logan is all upset. I tried to calm him down, but his father really got him upset over the phone.

What do you mean? What happened?

Well, you know that fishing trip that he promised him this weekend?

Yeah. Don’t tell me he backed out? Logan has been wanting to do that for two years now. How could he do that?

Claims he has something more important. If you ask me, I’d like to cut off his balls and feed them to a pack of pigs.

That would be hard to do since I am going to rip them off with my bare hands.

I just wanted you to know. Oh and if you haven’t figured out, he can’t take the kids at all this weekend either.

Okay, I am calling him right now!

I told you when you were in high school that he was loser.

I know. Everyone did!

See you at home, sweetie. Don’t worry about Logan. He may still be upset, but it looks like he’s finally fallen asleep.

Good. See you in a bit. I won’t be late. It’s slow tonight.

I didn’t wait to calm down before I started calling Gavin’s number. I was so damn pissed at the man. How could he think that standing up his kids was something that would be okay with me?

What do you want, Vessa?

Don’t you even talk to me in that tone. How could you do this to Logan? Do you have any idea how important this was to him?

Things came up. It ain’t like we can’t do it another weekend.

You promised him this weekend. You only get them twice a month and already you are cancelling. What kind of father are you?

Don’t be a bitch, Vessa. I’ve got other shit to
do this weekend. I figured that you would be fine with it since you’re so hell-bent on being mother of the year and shit.

Screw you, Gavin. I do my best to make sure our children are cared for. There isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for them. Nothing is more important. Obviously we have much different opinions on parenting.

Jesus, all you ever do is nag. I don’t know how I put up with that shit for as long as I did.

You rotten bastard! You lied and cheated and then are going to blame me for our failed marriage?

I cheated because of how you were. You just wait and see. I bet no man will ever want to be with you. There ain’t no one that likes a woman with as many bitch qualities as you.

Oh, so I guess your little teenage slut is so much better?

I don’t give a shit about her. There’s plenty more where she came from.

You are an asshole. The biggest asshole I have ever met. If it were up to me, you wouldn’t see your kids ever again. I hate you so much!

The feeling is mutual.

Go to Hell!

I just got out of it on the day you moved out!

Fuck you!

I hung up before he could say anything else that could rip out my heart. He had to have been drunk or on something to brutally treat me and the kids like we never meant anything to him. It still hurt so much. I didn’t even want to think how my poor boy was feeling. Neither one of the kids deserved to be ignored by their father. They loved him so much and just wanted to spend time with him.

I grabbed a bottle of Jack and poured a glass.

Jack and me didn’t get along, but he was going to be my best friend until the pain went away.

I’d taken two shots when the couple came up and paid for their bill. Since I was having a personal pity party, I decided to close up and get home before the alcohol started to hit. I cleaned up the dishes and made sure everything was turned off, before heading outside to my car.

Just as I was sticking my keys into the door, a set of headlights pulled into the lot, blinding me. I held my hand over my eyes, waiting to tell the person that we were closed. As I stood there, I heard the truck door close and saw a figure coming my way. In an instant I was in a panic. It hadn’t been that long ago that I’d been attacked by that drunken man. It could very well have been him coming toward me. The headlights of the truck were preventing me from seeing anything but a tall, dark figure.

My keys fell out of my hand and dropped to the ground as I backed up against my car. “We’re closed!”

He kept approaching.

I backed up as far as I could get. After my phone call with Gavin, I wondered if he’d somehow found out where I was and sent someone to rough me up. “I have mace!”
I turned around and reached in my purse to pull out the small container. It was probably expired, but it would scare him.

The
man started to laugh at me. “If you mace me, you can forget about us being friends.”

I felt his hand grabbing the container of mace out of my grasp. I knew who it was as soon as he’d spoke. I just couldn’t believe that he was back. “Ramsey? You said you were going home.”

“I headed that way, until I got a call of kids racing out of town. By the time I got to the location, they were long gone. I didn’t know you’d be closing early.”

“I didn’t know you cared. Did you run out of booze at home?” I have no idea why I was being so rude. Perhaps it was the fact that he’d just scared the living shit out of me, right after I’d had it out with Gavin.

“It’s all good. I can see that you’re tired. I’ll stop by another time.”

He was finally acting like I didn’t repulse him and I was giving him the cold shoulder, after I’d decided that I was going to be the supportive friend he needed. “Ramsey wait!” He was starting to walk back to his truck. “I just had it out with my husband, well, my soon to be ex-husband. I didn’t mean to snap. If you want to come in and shoot a couple games, it might give me some time to cool down.”

He stood there for a second, just staring at me. It was too dark for me to be able to decipher what he was thinking. After his brief moment of silence, he started walking toward the door to the bar. “I think maybe you’re the one that needs a drink now.”

Once we got inside, I only turned on a
couple of the lights. I didn’t feel like waiting on any patrons that would assume the bar was still open. My aunt did most of her business on Friday and Saturday and during the day shift, so the late night stragglers weren’t that important. Mostly, they just caused drunken trouble.