Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2)(19)
Author: Jennifer Foor

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 understatement. 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 couldn’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 ass**le. The biggest ass**le 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.”