Hustle Me (Bank Shot Romance #1)(46)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“I tell you what. I consider myself to be a reasonable man. If you want me to back off of this girl and that tavern, it will be on my terms. What would you be willing to do for me to drop the lien and let her have the business paid in full?” He wouldn’t even look me in the eye as he talked to me.

“I’d do just about anything. I want her to be happy, in fact, it’s all I want. Charlie means everything to me. She makes me want to be a better person. If you would give her half the chance, you might like her too.” Not that I wanted him to know her. I didn’t want to ever have a gathering where I invited my father. He meant nothing to me.

“Good, since you put it that way, I will sign off on the business if you sign over your ownership and walk away from her completely. When you do both of those things, and I am sure that you have stayed away, I will sign off. Until that happens, the bank will still take over at the end of the month. I’m all for being fair, son, but I have no other options to offer. You leave the girl and she can have her business and do whatever she wants with it. Now, unless you can come up with fifty grand, I would start considering my offer, unless you plan on living on the streets with the little slut.”

I hurdled myself at my father, swinging my arm around before he could throw his arms up to block me. I heard my mother screaming and backed away immediately. She rushed to his side and had started crying. “Stop this, both of you. I can’t take it anymore!”

My father shrugged her arm off of him and held his bleeding nose. “This is all your fault, Lydia. You did this. Tell your son how you thought sleeping with my best friend was a good idea.”

She backed away from him and covered her mouth. Then, she stood up straight and looked right at him. “You lied to me about that little girl. You knew I would take care of that child. What kind of man abandons a child out of spite?”

My father threw his arms up in the air. “I gave you everything. Look at this house you live in. Look at those manicured nails and your designer shoes. Do you really think Joe was going to give you the life you have? Get your ass in the house, where you belong.”

“Don’t talk to her that way!” I got up in his face again.

“The choice is yours, John. How do you think that girl will feel when she finds out you could have saved her business? She’ll never forgive you. Walk away and everyone gets what they want, son.” He climbed into his car without giving me another second of his time. I held up my arms, but he kept driving.

What the f**k had just happened? Did he really expect me to walk away from Charlie? How could I ever do that to her?

I walked into the house and found my mother crying on the couch. “Mom, get yourself a bag packed. You’re leaving with me.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand, John. He won’t let me leave him. He’s too proud to admit that he was wrong. You go on and go home to Charlie. I will be fine.”

I sank down on the floor next to her. “Mom, please, you can’t let him control you like that. Just come with me. We can figure this out together.”

She shook her head again and grabbed my hand. “My sweet sweet boy, I am going to be okay. You have a chance to make things right, John. I want you to go make the right choices. I need you to be happy. It’s all I have ever wanted for you.”

“You heard what he said. He’s making me choose. What the hell am I going to do?”

“Just do what your heart tells you. I should have done that a long time ago. I just didn’t have the nerve.” She squeezed my hand and I got up and kissed her head.

“I am calling you later to check on you. Keep your phone close, Mom.”

When I walked out of there, my shoulders were heavy with fear. Charlie’s future was in my hands and I knew that no matter what choice I made, someone was going to get hurt. Now it was just a matter of doing what was right.

Chapter 27

Charlie

I was trying not to lose my mind, but I’d never been so scared before. I wasn’t just responsible for myself anymore; I had Ryan to think about. It made me feel so much better to have Jammer by my side, even if I still was sad about him lying to me. I’d made the decision to follow my heart and when I did it made me happy. Jammer loved me and I knew that I wanted him through the good times and bad.

It was days like today that I appreciated having Shaun as an employee. He was a good reliable worker who always showed up and did his best. He kept the kitchen clean and organized. I was grateful to have him, even though Jammer thought he was a klutz. Shaun had more tattoos than Jammer and his were more homemade done, where Jammer’s were beautiful.

I know he’d told me to wait for him to do the weekly inventory, but I had already started when he walked in the door. I threw him a big smile, but immediately I could tell that something was wrong. He didn’t smile back at all.

I watched my boyfriend approach me. His dark hair was disheveled and I couldn’t help but want to run my hands through it. He leaned down and kissed me when he got close enough. "Hey, baby. How’s it going here?"

I was too concerned about what happened with his dad. "Spill. Good or bad, I still want to hear."

He grabbed a shot glass and filled it with Jack. After downing two, while I stared at him, he turned to look at me again. "I really don’t want to talk about it. My father is a f**king ass**le who obviously only cares about himself."

"That bad?"

"Let’s just say that if he could control every part of my life, he would. It’s fine, I will find another way to come up with the money." I could tell he was extremely irritated and he didn’t want to talk about it. I was disappointed, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I reached my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. “I love you, Jammer. Thanks for trying."

"You’re welcome. I’m just sorry it didn’t work."

"So what are we going to do now?" There had to be something.

"Rob a bank?" I moved out of his arms and looked at him with a shocked face. He grabbed me and pulled me into him. "Charlie, I was kidding. I know I look tough, but damn woman, I’m not a criminal."

I started laughing out of pure relief. "Maybe we should just look for apartments."

Jammer looked as upset as I felt about having to leave. Ryan had only ever lived here and it was the first place in a very long time to make me feel happy. I think Jammer understood more than anyone how much I was growing accustom to being here. At times I didn’t think it was appropriate, but we made it work.