Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2)(39)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“We’re doing boy stuff, Asha. You can’t come!” Logan did not want his sister going with us.

“I want to go, Mom. That’s not fair.”

Vessa rolled her eyes and shook her head. I could tell that she thought I couldn’t handle them both at the same time.

“Why don’t the four of you go? I’ll finish dinner. Go have a good time,” Sue settled it.

While the girls changed and got shoes on, Logan helped me get the fishing equipment out of the shed. The sun was blazing and it was a perfect day to be doing this. We walked down to the man made pond and all got situated on the pier. Logan wanted to bait the worm on all the rods, since he was fascinated that the worm still moved no matter how many times it was stabbed or poked. Vessa was busy having some girl time with Asha to care what we were doing.

I got Logan situated next to me with his rod. Just like the last time, he swung his legs off the little pier. After making sure the girls had what they needed, I sat back down and cast out my line. At first I didn’t notice it, but with little movements, Logan had scooted himself to be right up against me. He leaned his head on my arm and looked up. “Thanks for being my best friend.”

I put my arm around the kid and held it there while we fished. When I turned to look at Vessa, she was crying. I smiled and tried not to get emotional myself. I’d never want to replace the family just to move on, but being there on that pier felt so right. I had no problem being a part of these kid’s lives, even if it was a small part.

When the sun started to set, we’d caught three fish. The girls caught two, but they let them go, because they were girls and didn’t want to touch them. Vessa helped me gather everything up and we walked back toward the shed to put everything away. When my hands were empty, I felt little hands grabbing one. Logan looked up at me and smile as we started to walk back to the house. Vessa looked over at me and smiled again, while Asha was walking ahead, doing cartwheels in the grass.

Vessa took Logan’s other hand we started swinging him as we walked. He was laughing and having a great time; we all were, until someone cleared their voice and took our special moment from us.

“What’s this?” From the amount of tattoo’s I took a guess and knew I was looking at Gavin. Vessa turned white as the guy started walking toward us. Logan kept hold of my hand until Gavin crouched down and called him. He kissed him on the top of the head, while looking right at me. “Hey, little dude. Where you been?”

“We went fishing. We caught three fish. Mom threw hers and Asha’s back. Ramsey is teaching me how to gut them.”

Gavin ignore his son and stood up. He never took his eyes off of me. “So you’re Ramsey? The same Ramsey that isn’t f**king my wife, right?”

“Gavin stop!” Vessa put her hands over Logan’s ears. “Asha, take your brother up to the house to wash up for dinner. Stay there until we get back.”

“Is Daddy eating with us?” She asked.

“Please just go to the house, sweetie.” I could tell that Vessa was furious. She waited until the kids were far enough away to get up in his shit. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He looked back at me again, like he wasn’t afraid that I could beat his little ass. “I could ask you the same thing. I thought you said you weren’t with this guy. Then I come to visit my kids and he’s holding hands with MY son.” He emphasized the word son.

“I don’t have to answer to you anymore. My relationship with Ramsey is none of your damn business. How did you even get my address?”

“It doesn’t matter how I got it. I see what’s been going on this whole time. Did you meet him online and come here to be together? Is that what you did, Vessa? Did you run right to him?”

I clenched my fists and tried to keep my cool. If he kept running his mouth, this wasn’t going to end well.

“I met Ramsey when I moved here. We were friends…”

“Were? So you are f**king my wife?” He asked me directly.

I looked over at Vessa, afraid of doing the wrong thing. Maybe I should have walked away, but his next statement put me over the edge.

“I wanna know if you’ve been f**king my wife. Are you hard of hearing? Is that how she got you to sleep with her? Are you deaf and dumb?”

I knocked that mother f**ker on the ground with one punch. He jumped back up and ran toward me, knocking me down and sending us rolling down the hill. His punches weren’t affecting me as much as Vessa trying to pry us apart. Gavin was swinging wildly, trying to make contact with me. When he fist hit Vessa in the shoulder, I lost it. She moved out of the way holding where he hit her and I never looked back. I took out all of my anger on him as he screamed and yelled whatever he could in between punches.

Vessa threw herself in front of me, wrapping her body around mine, so that I wouldn’t be able to swing without hurting her. “Please stop! Please Ramsey…just calm down. Just calm down.”

I wrapped one arm around her, keeping my eyes on Gavin’s battered face. “He’s not going to talk to you like that, Vessa.”

He spit out blood. “Fuck you! I can say whatever I want to here. She’s not yours. She never will be. That girl right there has loved me her whole life. You really think you can compare to that?”

Vessa was crying. Her head was against my chest. It was hard, but I managed to stand up and then pick her up off the ground. “You keep thinking that. In the meantime, I’ll be the one she comes home to every night. This is the last time you’ll ever lay a hand on her.”

“Glad you’ll be there to pick up the pieces when I take the kids from her. There ain’t no judge around that’s going to let an alcoholic worn out sheriff near my kids.”

I couldn’t react fast enough to his words. Vessa weaseled out of my arms and went flying over to Gavin, who was just standing up. She pushed him back down on the ground. “I hate you! I hate you so much! Ramsey is a better man than you could ever be.”

“Yeah, we’ll see if you’re still saying that when social services comes for the kids. After they see my face, that verdict will be in my favor.”

She went running into the house. As I went to follow her, I felt him grab my arm and yank me back. I fell on my ass and saw him coming at me. My feet lifted and blocked his cheap blow. I rolled and stood up quickly, ready for his next attack. This guy could come at me all night long. He wasn’t ever going to be strong enough to take me. “This isn’t going to solve anything.”