Hustle Me (Bank Shot Romance #1)(56)
Author: Jennifer Foor

She put her arm on my shoulder and looked right into my eyes. "I do hope that you keep in touch with me, John. You are the most important person in my life. It was terrible not knowing if you were okay."

The door closing caught our attention. My mother frantically motioned for me to hide and I ran into the other room. Since I was parked out on the street, it wasn’t obvious she had company.

"You are never going to guess who paid me a visit." My father’s voice filled the room. I ducked back into the kitchen to avoid being seen.

"Did you see John again?" I appreciated my mother keeping me a secret.

"That little bastard is hell bent on saving that damn tavern. Did you put him up to it?"

"No and please don’t call him that. He is our son. When are you ever going to be able to treat him the way a father should treat a son?"

I couldn’t see either of them, but my father’s voice was getting louder. "No son of mine takes up with Joe McNally’s daughter."

"This has nothing to do with them and you know it." My mother had changed. She was standing up for herself and I wasn’t sure if I needed to be proud of her or afraid.

"It has everything to do with it. If his mother wouldn’t have whored herself around with my so called friend none of this would be happening." I clenched my fists and tried to keep my cool while my father started to go off on my mother.

"Maybe if you would have paid more attention to your wife she wouldn’t have found comfort in someone else." I heard the slap and didn’t hesitate as I lunged my body into my father. We both went flying down on top of the coffee table, causing it to collapse underneath of us. I grabbed the collar to his shirt and yanked him up to be face to face with me. "I did what you asked. Leave her alone," I screamed.

He smiled like he was still in control. "I should have known you’d grown up to be just like your whore of a mother. Just look at the two of you, still in love with the McNally’s even though they had nothing to offer you. You’re both a disgrace to our family name. Get the hell out of my house, John."

I shoved my father onto the floor as I stood up over top of him. My mother was leaning back against the corner and I pointed toward the steps. "Go pack a bag, Mom. I’m not taking no for an answer. We’re done with his shit."

He stood up and brushed off his designer clothes. "You leave with him, you will never come back," he threatened.

I turned toward her again and saw the fear in her eyes. "Mom, go pack now!"

She ran toward the steps before turning back to my father. "You took away my happiness and ruined my life. I signed over the tavern. So help me God, if you don’t keep your word and release the lien and I find out you went back on your word, I will kill you myself." I spit on his shiny black shoe and looked right in his face. "You’re dead to me."

He held up his arms as I started walking out of the room. "How far do you think you can get with no money? Do you really think your mother can live in a car like her loser son? That bitch has lived like a queen for over twenty years. She can’t live without me."

My mother came running down the steps with two large bags. She dropped them at the front door and walked up to my father. With all of her might, she slapped him hard across the face. "Rot in Hell!"

I grabbed her bags and held the door open as she walked out. My father stood in front of the collapsed coffee table. I raised my eyebrow and waved a bag in the air. "Later, f**ker!"

Driving away with my mother in the car was the best feeling that I’d had since leaving Charlie. Sure, I still didn’t have a way to be with her yet, but my father had lost the one thing he tried to keep. I wanted him to suffer. It was what he deserved.

Chapter 33

Charlie

Three weeks after Jammer walked out of my door my heart was still torn apart. The harder I tried to be mad and forget about him, the more I wanted him to walk through that door. I knew I was being ridiculous. Maybe it was because it was my first real love. People say that the first love is the hardest to get over, I believe it now.

I waited three days after Jammer left to start calling him. Sometimes I think I just dialed the number to hear his voice on the voicemail. I knew it was a far cry to expect him to actually answer, but I still couldn’t help myself. If he was just using me before, then he really hated me now. I was sure by now he had hooked up with his next conquest, probably keeping that relationship short, so he didn’t have to deal with the drama that he had with me. Still, I couldn’t help but feel like we had something special. I was fully aware that he was gone and not coming back. His letter had made that clear. The fact the he called me Lena seemed to be a far-fetched plea, since I hadn’t heard from him one time since finding the letter.

After getting my brother on the bus to preschool, I was off to my appointment at the attorney’s office. They claimed they had some new paperwork for me to fill out, but gave me no details. I was positive that it was regarding me not being able to come up with the fifty grand to save the tavern. With Jammer gone, my finances were even worse, considering I had to hire someone new. Sure, I paid Jammer, but he never really took the money. Every single time I counted the register, he had put back what he had earned, or at least half of it. Maybe he did it because he felt sorry for me, but either way, I appreciated the gesture. I was happy that my brother had finally stopped asking when Jammer was coming home. I think every single time I heard it my heart broke again.

The attorney’s office wasn’t too far of a drive and I hated the atmosphere in the place. For some reason it gave me the creeps. The front desk person saw me to the conference room and asked if I wanted something to drink. To be honest, the last thing I could imagine doing was drinking when I felt like I was about to vomit. My regular attorney walked in with someone I had never even seen before.

"Good morning, Charlene, thanks for coming in today. This shouldn’t take too long." He sat down next to the other man and started pulling out stacks of paper and separating them. The other man kept staring at me in this weird way that made me feel uncomfortable. "Okay, this is basically a formality. We just need you both to sign these documents stating that the past due balance was paid in full so we can release the lien on the property. Since John has come in and signed over his ownership, selling the property won’t be delayed any longer.

My head snapped in his direction. "John Thomas came in and signed over his ownership? When did he do it?"

He checked a form he had in his hand. "Looks like he did it about three weeks ago."