Hustle Me (Bank Shot Romance #1)(5)
Author: Jennifer Foor

"I’m just going to call Zach and catch a movie or something."

She pulled me up off of the bed. "I won’t take no for an answer. We’re going into town. There is a band playing at the tavern and I know the drummer. He’s yummy and I don’t want Tommy to know I’m interested. If you come with, then I can just tell him you are the one who’s into him."

"Since when did I agree to help you cheat on your boyfriend? What’s so wrong with Tommy? I mean, every girl at school wants him."

She leaned over and fixed her makeup in the mirror. "Nothing is wrong with Tommy silly, but he’s just someone my parents expect me to be with. I want to have some fun, before I have to appease them. Tommy isn’t about taking chances and if I want to skinny dip in a freezing cold lake with a hot tattooed drummer, well I’m going to do it."

I had to giggle at how she made it sound like it was okay to cheat on her boyfriend. The truth was, he was probably doing the same thing behind her back. The lifestyles of the rich just boggled my mind sometimes. "Fine, I will go with you, but only because you won’t leave me alone until I do."

An hour later we were making our way across town. I think Elle applied her lip-gloss three times on the fifteen minute bus ride there. Her lips were going to be so slippery she wouldn’t be able to even kiss someone without slipping off them. She did a double check of my short skirt and tugged my shirt down to show more cle**age than I already had. I don’t know why I worried. I knew that my body was nice. Not only did Zach talk about it constantly, but I got whistled at frequently, even by other girls. My reddish brown hair was thick and I could wear it anyway I wanted since it was pretty long. The trait that kept the guys at bay had to have been my br**sts though. I think I’d been a D cup since sixth grade and with my body being curvy in all the right places, it just added to the mirage. Did I think I was the hottest thing ever, not at all, but I did feel attractive, even if I was a broken little girl on the inside.

One thing that I hated was wearing heels. The damn boots that Elle insisted that I wear were way too high and I was sure that by the end of the night, I was going to fall on my face, maybe more than once.

The tavern was packed as usual and I recognized more faces than I wanted to admit. Elle pulled me through the crowd until we got to Tommy and his preppy friends. I watched all of them starting at my br**sts and then ending at my legs. I know I wasn’t the only girl to have a two hour conversation with a guy who never looked up from my br**sts, but I wasn’t exactly proud of it either.

Since I’d worked so hard to get into school and maintain my GPA, it was important for me to have standards. Sure, Zach and I had a special friendship and I had considered that maybe one day it could be more, but he and I were both too involved with other things to give the attention to a real relationship. Our situation worked for us and it wasn’t anyone else’s business to judge anyway. In the past year, I’d been accused of being a lesbian, because I refused to date a few douchebags.

I couldn’t help but notice the drummer eying up Elle. She was trying to not look, but I caught her peeking. She leaned into my body. "Oh my God, Charlie, tell me he is not one fine piece of hotness. Look at his tattoos. Look at those eyes. I bet he has a huge cock."

I giggled. "Why would you bet that? I don’t even want to know how big his package is. You better not send me a damn picture either. The last time you did that I was in an exam and I almost screamed when it popped up on my screen."

"If I didn’t give you details then how would you even get by? You know you live vicariously through me. Speaking of being vicarious, I might need you to cover for me later tonight. You think you can do that?"

I looked up at the drummer, who happened to be looking our way again. Obviously, Elle had already made arrangements to see this guy. "I will cover for you, if you come with me to the lawyer’s office this week. I don’t want to go alone."

She kissed me on the cheek. "Deal! I love you for this. You are f**king fabulous, Charlie. Now come on, we’re going to dance."

For the rest of the night we drank and danced around the tavern, while the crowd got even larger. Even though I was out supposedly having a great night, my mind was still on that piece of paper and what it had to do with me. I wasn’t going to be able to relax until I knew the truth.

Chapter 4

Jammer

Five years was a long time to go without talking to someone that had helped me so much. Sure, I felt bad about it, but I needed time to grow up and forcing myself to be on my own gave me that freedom. I’m not going to even lie and say that it was easy. None of it was. Sure, I started out with a couple grand saved up, but money spends fast and a grand won’t get you far.

The only thing I had going for me was the fact that I believed I was the greatest pool player to ever live and just having that attitude gave me the balls to go out and start hustling people for money. It sounds hard, but if you become good at lying, there isn’t anything you can’t lie your way into. It took me a few times to get the hang of it, but I became a pro at being someone else whenever I pulled out that pool stick.

Sometimes I would use a false name, but as I really started bringing in the cash, I wanted to be known for my accomplishments and went by Jammer. I learned real fast that using my own name would only allow me a couple nights in one given town before everyone knew what I was up to. Several times, I was kicked out of an establishment. Gambling isn’t permitted and if you piss off the right people, your ass is getting booted out before you can even collect your winnings. I learned that the hard way too.

Luckily, in my travels, I’d run into several guys who were heavy pool players and they showed me a few tricks and ways to move from town to town without having to use any of my money. The best way was what they called Sugars.

Sugars were chicks of all ages that hung out in billiard halls and bars looking to hook up with a guy. They almost always had their own place and with just a little bit of fake swooning would provide food, sex, a place to sleep and sometimes even laundry services. Yeah, it’s a dickhead move, but I didn’t really care. If it saved me money, then I was going to hook up with a Sugar in every city. I didn’t have to answer to anybody.

Still, every once in a while I would think back to my friend Joker, who had taught me so much, and asked me for very little. Regrettably, the time that I had been away had made it hard for me to be able to walk through those doors. I’d been a fool, also hell-bent on my ambitions to be the best, that I had taken him for granted. By now he must hate me.

When I walked in, there were a couple of patrons sitting at the bar. Since I had to take a leak, I walked back to the bathrooms first. It was funny, as long as I’d been gone, nothing had changed.