Hustle Me (Bank Shot Romance #1)(45)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Ryan was easy to manage in the mornings. He liked school and did his best to be a big boy. We walked downstairs and stood outside waiting for the bus. "Did you make Charlie cry yesterday?"

I squatted down to his level. "I didn’t mean to."

He looked down at the ground. "She was real sad. Don’t do it again or I won’t be your friend anymore. Charlie is the best sister ever and I don’t like it if she cries."

I had to give that kid props for taking up for his sister. "You love Charlie don’t you?"

"Yeah, do you love, Charlie?" He had a right to question me.

"I do."

"I thought so. Here comes the bus, I have to go. See you tonight, Jammer. I want hotdogs for dinner." I waved as the bus pulled away with Ryan on it. That kid was all spunk.

When I went back inside, Charlie was still lying in bed. She had the covers pulled over her head. I crawled up and attacked her, waking her up and causing her to scream. “Wake up, grouchy.”

She kept her head covered by the sheets. “Go away! You suck!”

“Come on, baby. We only have about an hour before you have to get your ass downstairs and start working. I was thinking you could make me breakfast and feed it to me.” I was joking, but it was enough to get her to sit up and look at me with a curious look on her face. "I think you are the one with the sucking skills."

She gave me a dirty look and started to climb out of bed. "I’m not making you breakfast."

"I ate with Ry. We had frozen pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream."

I could hear her going to the bathroom so I leaned against the bathroom door. When I heard her start to brush her teeth and I went into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub. "What are you going to do this morning? Did you want to come help me do inventory?"

I didn’t know how she was going to react, but I had to tell her what I had in mind to do. "I was thinking of paying my good old dad a visit.”

She turned around and her eyes got really big. "Seriously?"

I shrugged. "The way I see it, he’s the reason why all of this is happening. Maybe I can get him to reconsider. If he knows how much all of this means to me maybe he will back the f**k off."

She leaned against the sink and crossed her arms. "What if it makes things worse?"

"It can’t get any worse, baby." I stood up and wrapped my arms around her waist. "I just want this all to get cleared up so we can be happy. I mean, I don’t care where we have to live, but I wouldn’t mind staying here and running this business with you. We could make it great."

She smiled and put her head against my chest. "I guess if you think it’s a good idea, go ahead and try."

"I’m going to make this better, Charlie. I don’t want you worrying about it. When I’m done with my father, you’re not going to have to worry about ever losing this place again."

We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. "You know, it’s funny how I didn’t want this place at first, but now I can’t imagine not having it."

"How do you think I feel? A month ago I was pretty much living out of my car, looking for new places to stop in and make a quick buck. Settling down was never an option for me. It wasn’t even a blip in my vocabulary. Now, being without you for even five minutes makes me all f**ked up in the head." I grabbed her leg and pulled it up on my lap. "Are you a witch or something? Did you put a bitch spell on me and make me go soft?"

She giggled and shook her head. "Trust me, I’m not a witch, but if I was, I don’t think I would have done a love spell on someone I couldn’t stand at first."

"Yeah right, you keep saying that, but you know you wanted me the first time you saw me. You gave me those little puppy dog eyes when I came in and saved the day. You wanted to take me behind the counter and ride my dick all night."

“Wow, is that really how you portrayed our first encounter, because I saw things a lot differently.” She ran her hands through my hair and continued to look into my eyes, so I knew she wasn’t mad at me for kidding with her.

“Yeah, you definitely wanted my dick.”

She slapped my arm and laughed with me, before climbing off of me and heading into the kitchen. Of course, I had already made coffee and she headed right for the pot. “What time were you going to head out?”

I shrugged. “I guess when you head down, I will go then. If you want to wait, I can help you do inventory when I get back. I’m not planning on sticking around to catch up.”

We spent about an hour together before I headed out to hunt down my father. I was certain that after we spoke he would see my side of things and drop the bullshit lien on the tavern. Charlie had nothing to do with his vendetta with her father. She didn’t even know she had another father out there somewhere who would leave her a bar and a brother to care for.

When I pulled up at my parents’ house, the gate was already open, so I walked right through. The front door opened and my father was walking toward his car, until he saw me. “John, I was wondering when you were going to show your face. You’ve been in town for over a month and picked this week to come see your mother.”

“I had my reasons.”

“Yeah, shacking up with Joe’s daughter isn’t a reason, son. It’s a mistake that I intend to have rectified.”

I couldn’t believe the nerve of this man. I hadn’t even seen him in years and he was going to dictate who I could spend my life with. Fuck that!

“What are you talking about rectifying?”

“Your little fling with the girl. It ends today, John.” He sat his brief case down on the ground and leaned against his car.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” I crossed my arms and dared him to say something about my girlfriend.

“For six years I have watched you do nothing with your life. You really think I’m going to just stand back and let you shack up with a charity case in a rundown bar? Enough is enough, son. It’s time to come home and get involved with the empire I’ve built for you.”

I walked closer to my father and pointed my finger in his face. “I’m not giving up the one thing that makes me happy. You’re crazy if you think you can make that happen. I came here to ask you to back off of us and let us be happy. Drop the damn lien and vendetta you have on Joe. Charlie had nothing to do with him. She didn’t even remember him. That girl has suffered enough. I won’t let you hurt her anymore or take away her and her brother’s home.” I was getting angrier by the second. I was always taught to respect elders, but I had no respect for this man standing in front of me. He was evil and would stop at nothing until he got what he wanted.