Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2)(32)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Chapter 15

Ramsey

It had taken me a while to begin to get my shit together. After my visit the girl’s gravesites, I had to face my family that I had shut out of my life. I knew that they were also devastated after the girls died, but I chose to run away rather than face them day in and day out.

Jules’ parents weren’t that happy to see me again. I had words with her father and made her mother cry. After we all got what we needed to say out, we were able to make amends to the best of our abilities. Since we never got along great, I knew they would never forgive me. It didn’t matter. This trip was about being able to forgive myself.

My progress continued to be slow moving until I realized that getting help was the only way I was going to be able to live a real life again. While back in my hometown, I decided to look into grief groups. I went into my first one with sweaty palms and nothing to say and when I came out, I had a group of people who knew exactly what I had been going through.

After a few more meetings, I was able to share my pain openly with others. The urge to drink seemed less necessary as each day I took another step toward moving forward. Being back in my parents home, made it feel like Jules and Katie were all around me. My mother was so happy to see me that she cried every time I was around. I didn’t think about how much my leaving had hurt them. They hadn’t just lost my girls, they’d lost me too.

After spending a whole week there, and getting as close to my girls as I possibly could, I still couldn’t get my mind off of Vessa. My late night memories were filled with the night we’d spent at my cabin. I longed to be able to touch her again, even when I knew that each day that passed was probably getting me further and further from that ever happening again.

I’d taken a week of personal time from my job after the whole article about my family came out. It wasn’t like the town was burning down with crime sprees. When I came back, people weren’t treating me any different. To follow through with moving forward, I found a counselor that I could see once a week, to help me cope with my situation.

Every step I took was to work toward being the man that I once was. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to be with Vessa again, but if I did, I wanted to have my head on my shoulders. With two kids to raise, she didn’t deserve to be strayed along by someone who was unsure of themselves. As a father, I wouldn’t want that myself.

It was tough. I’d make it through the day fine. It was when I went home alone at night where things got tough. I never slept in my bed because it reminded me of Jules and now I couldn’t sleep on the couch because it reminded of Vessa. I was running out of places to sleep.

I remembered when I was visiting with my mother, her reaction when I told her about Vessa. I thought she would be disappointed in me; maybe say it was way too soon. Instead all she said was, “Distance makes the heart grown fonder, you know?”

She was right. The longer I was away from Vessa, the more I wanted her. That one night with her had haunted me since she’d walked out of my door.

Call it sneaky, but once I was back in town and seeing a therapist, I had to attempt to get back in Vessa’s good graces. I owed my progress to her. She may not have believed it, but it was true. So, I had my deputy stop by the bar to check on her. Shelton loved that I’d finally opened up, so now that we were officially friends, he was all about doing me favors. I was surprised when he came back and said that Vessa wasn’t there at night anymore, but they had a running pool league going on. Since pool was something that I’d always loved to do, I decided to find myself a partner and win back the girl. It all seemed easy when I conjured the idea up in my head. Of course, Vessa, being Vessa, the stubborn woman that liked to give me a hard time, wasn’t going to be easy to win back. She was going to fight me and I would love every minute of it.

Shelton set me up with his cousin Renee. She was an attractive young woman that was studying law at the university a few towns over. Since she commuted, she said she didn’t mind showing up at pool every week. At first I was reluctant about having her by my side when I was trying to get back in Vessa’s good graces. It was also a personal test for me, to see if I even still had a chance. The funniest part was that while Vessa was getting all jealous, I’d be laughing inside knowing that Renee was a lesbian and had absolutely no interest in me at all. That’s why Shelton set us up.

He knew his plan was going to work.

I will never forget the look on her face when she saw me walking in that door. I winked at her and she curled her lip in disgust. So far it wasn’t going how I imagined it. I didn’t expect her to drop what she was doing and come running into my arms, but it seemed cool when I played it out in my head. Renee knew what I was up to and she knew that she was basically posing as a decoy. It wasn’t like we were going to make out in front of Vessa, I just wanted to get a rouse out of her.

It only took a few games for her to head to the bathroom to pout. She could deny it all she wanted, but that’s what she was doing. I found her in there leaning against the sink. Just as I suspected, she denied it and had her normal attitude that drove me wild. If I could have lifted her up to that sink and f**ked her right there, I would have. Every single time I looked at her body, I pictured how hot she was naked.

When we both returned to our match, there were a few people giving us looks. Not that I cared. Even Sue’s looks didn’t bother me. Nothing mattered in that bar except Vessa and she didn’t even know it.

Her refusal to speak to me lasted the whole night. Renee was great just being there. While she giggled and talked about things at her school, that I had no interest in, Vessa was fuming with jealousy. If she would have given me a damn minute everything would have been cleared up. The guy she was playing with kept watching her ass every time she bent over for a shot. She was oblivious to his intentions when she probably asked him to be her partner. Why else would someone want to be on her team? The girl sucked at pool, but for what she lacked in billiards skills, she made up in beauty and compassion.

My team ended up winning three out of five games. Since we joined a few weeks behind everyone else, it didn’t even matter how we placed. Until I had the partner that I wanted, the league meant nothing to me.

Other teams still had to finish shooting, so I walked Renee out to her car. I didn’t want to drive her there in case Vessa did end up running into my arms. Since that plan fell flat, I stayed in my truck and just waited for her to come outside. It didn’t take her long, and when I saw her, I took a couple deep breaths and attempted round two of my plan to get her to listen to me. She climbed into her car and I started mine. By the time she turned her body around to back out of the spot, I was parked behind her, blocking her in. I didn’t wait for her to come to me. Instead, I jumped out of the truck and went to her. She rolled down the electronic window, but refused to look at me. “What do you want, Ramsey?”