Hustle Me (Bank Shot Romance #1)(6)
Author: Jennifer Foor

The walls were still dark colors and the door to the men’s room still needed to be fixed, not that it was ever locked, but it was the purpose of having one that mattered. I also noticed that one of the sinks in the bathroom was out of order, as well as one of the urinals. It wasn’t like Joker to get so behind. Once he was over scolding me for being away for so long, I would get on him about slacking.

Once I was finished with the facilities, I decided to walk upstairs and see Joker myself.

I’d walked up the stairs so many times that it almost still felt like home. Since they were located at the back of the bar, it was quieter and my footsteps seemed so loud as I worked my way to the top step.

I knocked three times and leaned back against the wall, unsure if Joker would hug me or punch me. I’d walked away from our friendship, just like I’d walked away from everyone that ever meant something to me. It’s what I did whenever I started to get close. I couldn’t handle the commitment of being responsible for someone else’s feelings, even my friends.

When nobody came to the door, I started walking down the steps, but a soft voice made me freeze in place and turn around. A little kid, probably no older than five or six, stood there with the door cracked open. "I’m not supposed to open the door to strangers."

He spoke well for a little kid.

"Well, I’m not a stranger, buddy. I’m a friend of your dads. Is he here?"

"No."

I had to remember that I was dealing with a kid. "Do you know when he’ll be back?"

He shook his head and closed the metal door without saying anything else. I wondered, at first, if Joker was in there and he was playing a joke on me. I half expected him to open the door once I was all the way down the stairs, but it didn’t happen.

Instead, I made my way back to the bar and froze in place when I saw what was standing behind it.

This sexy little kitten was standing back there. She had her reddish brown hair tied up in a bun with a pen sticking through it. One of her fingernails was getting the hell chewed out of it as she was looking down at some book and seemingly struggling with whatever it was she was reading. I found her frustration to be very sexy, so I sat back in the far corner and just watched her. There were a few people sitting up at the bar and I kept hoping, at some point, she would catch eyes with me, but the girl never seemed to look up. Every time she turned around, every dude in the bar was checking out her fine ass. It was quite comical, especially considering that I was doing the same thing. I knew right away why Joker had hired this chick. It was obviously not for her bartender skills, which she was failing at horribly, by the way.

She was a head turner and just for that fact alone could bring in some fresh customers. The more she struggled, the more that they seemed to harp on her lack of experience. When she actually dropped a glass and it shattered on the floor beneath her feet, it was embarrassing for her. I had to look away to avoid the first time that she saw me I would be laughing at what had happened. There were these two guys at the opposite end of the bar that were really giving her a hard time. I could tell from the look on her face that she was frustrated and the funny part was that she wasn’t trying to hide it. I wondered why a businessman like Joker would have been interested in hiring someone like her. She didn’t even smile.

Maybe he was hooking up with the young hottie. I mean, he knew a lot of people and maybe he got lucky and hooked up with her. There was obviously a kid upstairs, so maybe they had started a family. Five years was a long time.

Still, she didn’t seem old enough to have a kid and even if she did, she wasn’t wearing a ring.

I suddenly realized that my fascination with the hot chick behind the bar was keeping me from my real reason of being back at the tavern.

I swallowed my pride and started making my way to the bar. When the girl spotted me heading in her direction, she rolled her eyes. It forced a half smile to appear on my face. She was already annoyed with me and I hadn’t even spoken to her. Now, I was a ladies man and never had a complaint in that department. There wasn’t a single woman that didn’t have a smile on her face when I left. I didn’t know who this girl belonged to, but it was going to be my goal before I left, to get her to smile at least once. She was too hot to not have anything to smile about. Her tits alone would be something to smile about. The closer I got, the more I noticed how they popped out of the top of her shirt. She was wearing black pants that tugged around her round ass and her hips were the kind a man dreams about grabbing when he’s ramming her from behind. If this was Joker’s lady, I could see why he would overlook her personality. She was a spitfire for sure.

I sat down on a stool that was probably located dead center of the bar. She put two hands on the bar in front of me. "I’ll get to you in a minute." Then she pushed away and walked over to someone else.

I let out a laugh full of air and looked around the bar, like I hadn’t met the rudest waitress ever.

While waiting for her to get her shit together enough to where I could ask about Joker, I looked around the bar. Not much had changed. Sure, the pictures of Ireland were still hung around the place and all of the furniture was the same as when I left, but a picture of the boy sat next to the register. I’d be a fool to not think that he was in fact, Joker’s son. This would mean that this little vixen was the boy’s mother.

I’d have to pat Joker on the back when I saw him for tapping that shit. Hell, if she wasn’t his, I’d do whatever I could to get a piece of that. A loud knocking broke my train of thought and caused me to look in the direction of the bar. The girl had tossed dirty glasses into the sink and was vigorously washing them, obviously blowing off steam as she scrubbed. Another guy looked at me and just shook his head. He stood up and as he passed me to leave he leaned over my shoulder. "This place is going to shit! Good luck getting your drink, man." I watched him walk out of the bar and noticed that he didn’t leave her a tip where he had sat.

I turned my attention back to the girl and noticed she was leaning against the sink, trying to regain some kind of composure. Finally, she turned around and started heading in my direction. When she reached the bar across from where I sat, she cocked her eyebrow. I just sat there for a second. It was like I had forgotten what I came there to ask about. "Yeah, just give me Guinness."

She turned around without saying anything more and started making my beer. When she turned around, she slid it over to me. "Three dollars."

I pulled out a five and slid it over to her. "You look like you’re having a bad day."

She grabbed the money. "More like a bad lifetime."