Hustle Me (Bank Shot Romance #1)(15)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I left Jammer sitting at the bar while I started doing other things. I had to go to the grocery store to buy fresh produce for the sandwiches and I was running out of cheese slices. I started making a list of what I needed when I heard Shaun say the order was up. I grabbed the plate with the burger and chips and turned to see that Jammer was gone.

In the back of the tavern, I heard the sound of a rack of pool balls being broke. I grabbed a bottle of ketchup and walked it back there.

Jammer was bent over at a table in the back corner. He may have been a total ass**le, but he was fine to look at. When he extended his arm, I could see the tattoos on his forearm and knew there were probably a lot more all over his body.

He was one of those sexy guys that any girl would want to get with until he opened up his mouth. I saw him catch me looking at him and walked over to sit down his burger on the table. He took one more shot and sunk the ball in the pocket. "You shoot?"

I wanted to ignore him and walk away, but he was spending money in my bar. "Not really."

"How come?" He took a bite of his burger and waited for me to reply.

"Seriously, are you really trying to have a normal conversation with me after you just acted like a complete ass?" I couldn’t believe this guy.

"I was just stating the obvious. With me, what you see is what you get, sweet thing. So, how come you don’t shoot? I mean, you got some badass tables back here. Most places don’t take care of their tables."

"Well apparently my father was big into pool. Some guy randomly showed up and re-felted the tables last week. He claims that every two months they are to be re-felted. I don’t see the difference. They looked fine to me."

He shook his head and tossed the balls around on the table. "Trust me, there is a big difference."

"What are you some kind of pool guru, or do you just know everything?"

He laughed at me and started approaching me with a cue ball in his hand. Before I could resist, he grabbed my arm and stuck the cue in my hand. "Put this ball anywhere on the table and tell me which pocket you want me to shoot that eight ball."

Didn’t he know that I couldn’t stand him? "Why would I even care if you could make the shot? This is a just a waste of my time." I started to walk away, but turned because I had the cue ball in my hand.

"As much as I like seeing you with one of my balls in your hand, I think I’m going to need that back."

I cocked my eyebrow and decided that if I didn’t do it, he would continue to harass me.

"Shoot it from here." I hid that white cue ball behind another ball and it was blocking him from being able to see his eight ball.

He smiled and chalked up the tip of his stick. "So when I make this shot, what are you going to give me?"

I put my hands on my hips. "Nothing! It’s impossible anyway."

He pointed to the eight ball. "It’s actually pretty easy, but since you say it’s impossible, I think we should make a wager."

I crossed my arms. "I am not sleeping with you. I don’t even know you!"

"After this shot you’re going to get to know me." He was so sure of himself that I wanted to punch him, but I was so certain he was lying about being able to make the shot that a wager didn’t even matter.

"Since I know you are going to miss, what are you thinking about wagering?"

"I’m shooting a match here later tonight. If I make this shot, then you have to come watch."

I think I was more shocked that he didn’t tell me I had to blow him, or something completely ridiculous. "Why would I want to do that?

"Just agree so I can sink this already."

"Fine, let’s watch you miss!" I leaned against a stool and watched him line up his shot. I looked again and it was completely blocked. Jammer smiled at me and shook his head as he cocked up his stick in the air, instead of it being level. As he poked on the cue ball it spun around the ball blocking it and went over to knock in the eight ball. I stood there in shock. It seemed impossible and he’d made it look so simple.

"We start shooting around ten. If I were you, I’d close the bar then, so you can watch me take every single shot." He had a half smile on his face that I wanted to punch off.

"I am not doing that!"

"I made the shot fair and square."

"You hustled me!" I poked him in the chest when he got closer to me. He was close enough that I could reach out and touch him if I wanted to. "That isn’t fair."

"Nothing is fair in hustling." The door sounded and I knew I had to get back to tending the bar. "You better be here at ten, or I will come looking for you."

I walked away and said nothing else. I wasn’t going to watch him play. He was the biggest baboon I’d ever dealt with. I hated him.

Once our lunch rush was done and over with, I noticed that I no longer heard the pool balls being hit around. I waited twenty more minutes to go back and check on the billiards room, on account of not wanting to be set up by that ass**le. When I got back there the pool light had been turned off and he was gone. On top of his plate was a fifty dollar bill and on his napkin was a note that read ‘ten p.m.’.

I crumbled up the napkin and tossed it on the plate, before carrying the mess to the trash. I couldn’t believe he’d left me a fifty dollar bill. It had to have been a mistake. Maybe he just wanted to get his change when he came back in tonight, or maybe that was his way of making sure I showed up to give him that change.

I shook my head and realized I’d been played. "Damn!"

I spent the rest of the day sulking over having been played by that jerk. When Ryan’s daycare bus dropped him off, it was the first time I let myself smile. I don’t know why I was letting that creep get under my skin. He was probably some criminal.

Ryan grabbed his bag and started pulling papers out. "Look Charlie, I made you a picture."

I looked down at the paper and noticed that it was three people holding hands. The biggest person was in the middle. I pointed. "Is that Zach?"

"No, silly, it’s me and you and that’s our daddy in the middle." He pointed to where our feet were on the paper. "See, we are on top of the clouds. My teacher said we had to draw a picture of a special place. Since we can only see daddy in heaven, that is where I wanted to draw."

What the hell do I say to that? "I think that is so sweet, Ry."

"If we could visit daddy in heaven, would you want to go with me?" He was so innocent and probably the cutest kid I’d ever seen.

"Kiddo, I’d go wherever you wanted me to as long as I could see you smile."