Hustle Me (11 page)

When he stopped talking, I was still sulking. “Fine!”
 

“Good, now show me where I have to sleep, because I’m too fucking tired to argue with you anymore.”
 

Against my better judgment, I walked Jammer up to the second floor. There was a twin bed back in the room that my father had used for his workshop. Jammer handed me his pool case. “This is my prize possession. Take it and keep it with you. If you have it, then you’ll know you can trust me.”
 

A pool stick was his prize possession?
 

“My little brother wakes up early. I hope you don’t plan on sleeping in.” I almost wanted to laugh at the way I talked to him. I knew I was being a bitch and I just couldn’t stop myself.
 

I got halfway down the hall, when I heard him calling me. “Charlie, can you say one kind thing? I am starting to think that I am helping Satan’s daughter. It’s kind of creepy.”
 

I let out an air filled laugh. “Thank you for saving me again. I don’t hate you as much as I did before.” I turned around and headed back to my bedroom.
 

Jammer may not have been a complete stranger, but I still didn’t feel safe. Hell, I should have been accustomed to this by now. Half of my life, I’d lived with strangers. When you are moved from foster homes, everyone is basically a stranger. Even though Jammer had saved me, I still had to be cautious. It was how I was wired and I had a child to keep safe.
 

Once I got my pajamas on, I went in and carried Ry into my room to sleep with me. With the bedroom door locked, I cuddled up next to my brother and tried to finally relax. We were safe. The tavern was locked up and our place was locked up.
 

I could hear Jammer snoring in the other room and a sense of security washed over me. I’d just been through something so traumatic, and I would never admit this to him, but I felt safe with him staying with us. He’d even offered to help me out at nights at the bar.
 

He probably needed a place to crash and figured that helping me was like paying rent. At this point, I didn’t even care. I started to cry again, but finally fell asleep from exhaustion.
 

When I woke up to the smoke detector going off and found the bed next to me empty, I shot out of my bed. My heart began racing as I made it to the kitchen. Ryan was sitting on the counter, while a shirtless Jammer was fanning the smoke away from the detector with a towel. They both turned when they saw me standing there. I waited for the thing to stop beeping before I tried to talk.
 

“What is going on?”
 

“I asked Jammer to make me pancakes,” Ryan explained.
 

Jammer shrugged. “I tried.”
 

Let me just say that it was very hard for my sleepy mind to work when I got a look at that man’s upper body. Not only was he
built good, but his tattoos were sexy as hell. When he cleared his throat, I knew he caught me checking him out. I looked up quickly. “It would be great if you didn’t burn down our home while you’re staying here.” I shook my head and walked back into my bedroom.
 

When I got to my bathroom mirror, I’d liked to have died from my appearance.
 

I could hear the guys in the kitchen talking about my face, as I stood there seeing it for myself. One eye was totally black. My nose was swollen and my other eye had a purple ring underneath of it. My hair looked like a rat nested in it and my tank top let the whole world know that it was a little bit chilly.
 

“Oh my God,” I cried.
 

How much worse could my life get?
 

I got myself dressed, including a bra, and made my way out to the kitchen. Jammer slid me a cup of coffee. “I took a guess and gave you cream and sugar.”
 

I grabbed the cup and took a sip. It tasted perfect and I hated that he’d guessed right. I didn’t want to be friends with this jerk, but the more I tried to hate him, the more I didn’t.
 

This was going to be a problem.
 

A big one.
 

Chapter 12
 

Jammer
 

What the hell had I gotten myself into?
 

Coming back to town was going to be the worst mistake of my life, I could just see it. For the second night in a row, Charlie had been threatened and, for whatever reason, I had been around to save her. If that wasn't giving me reason enough to stay and help her, the guilt of almost walking away was.
 

Charlie was the most stubborn person I think I had ever met. It was very clear how much she loathed getting help from me. It actually intrigued me more to do it. I liked the way I could piss her off by just talking. I didn't know anything about the girl, but I could tell that she didn't take shit from anyone. I admired that in a woman, but I also got the feeling that, in order for her to be that way, she'd had a terrible life so far.
 

Last night, telling her I was going to stay and work for her, had been a compulsive decision based on me thinking I could somehow be this hero that I clearly wasn't. I wanted to back out immediately. The last thing I wanted was another reason to stay in
town. When Charlie not only agreed, but took me upstairs and showed me the guest room, I just couldn't leave.
 

Even though I was back in that little twin bed I used to sleep in, I had the best night’s sleep in years.
 

Since I'd lived in the apartment before, I knew where to find all the things to make coffee. I had just poured in the water and hit brew when the little boy came out. "Hey, what are you doing in my house?"
 

"My name is Jammer and I am going to be helping out your sister for a little while. So, what's your name?"
 

"Ryan Joseph McNally, but my sister calls me Ry." The kid had his father’s eyes. I felt so guilty not telling Charlie that not only did I know her father, but I also lived in this apartment with him.
 

I held out my hand and shook his. "It's nice to meet you, Ry. So how long does your sister usually sleep?"
 

He shrugged. "I usually wake her up, but sometimes it makes her a meanie head."
 

I couldn't help but laugh at his comment. "So she gets grumpy?" It wasn't hard to believe. She never smiled.
 

"A lot! Hey, can you make me pancakes?"
 

I wasn't exactly good at cooking. I'd never had to be. It couldn't be that hard. "I can try. Will you still eat them if they taste like shi... Err, I mean crap."
 

"You were going to say a bad word."
 

"Yeah, I guess I have to be more careful. I'm not really used to being around kids." I also wasn’t used to having a job, or living with people.
 

"It's okay, I hear a lot of bad words. Daddy said them sometimes. I could hear him saying them when he was working in his shop. Did you know that my daddy liked to play pool? He was the best player in the whole universe."
 

I laughed a little and began mixing the batter up for the pancakes. "Do you like to play pool, kid?"
 

His legs were hanging over the counter and he was steady swinging them back and forth. "Yeah, but Charlie doesn't like it. She says it’s too loud."
 

I could see where she would complain about everything. I had poured the batter in the pan, but our conversation distracted me and the next thing I knew, the whole room was smokey and the smoke alarm started blaring. I grabbed a towel and started
fanning it at the ceiling, trying to get it to go off. Ryan covered his ears and began laughing, while I fought to get the damn thing to shut up.
 

All of my attempts didn’t work, as Charlie came walking out of the bedroom looking like death. She had two black eyes and her nose was swollen. Aside from her face being beaten, her little body was still smoking.
 

It became obvious, at first glance, that she was not wearing a bra. In fact, her nipples were so hard, they were begging me to look. I swear it.
 

Just as I was looking at her, I caught her looking at me. I guess I should have thrown on a shirt, but this was all so new to me.
 

"What’s going on?" My eyes got real big. This wasn't going to be good.
 

"I asked Jammer to make me pancakes." Little Ryan was trying to take up for me.
 

"I tried," I admitted.
 

"It would be great if you didn't burn down our home while you're staying here."
 

When she ran back into her room and shut the door, I had expected her to tell me I had to leave. I grabbed a cup and poured coffee into it. "What does your sister put in her coffee?"
 

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Her face looks real bad. What happened to her?"
 

I held up the milk and the sugar bowl. "She had an accident last night, but she's okay now. Does she put these in?"
 

He shook his head. "Yes, she likes lots of that powder stuff."
 

I had to laugh. When someone talked about powder, it was normally referring to cocaine, but I knew the kid meant sugar. I made her coffee the same way I took mine and slid it across the counter to her. "I took a guess and gave you cream and sugar."
 

She cocked her eyebrow and took her first drink. I was really thinking she was going to get up and pour it out to make her own. She didn't though. She sat down at the counter, with new clothes on and her hair up in a ponytail. "Thanks for this. I hate waiting for it brew."
 

I leaned over the counter. "You hate a lot of things, don't you?"
 

She looked over at Ryan. "Go get dressed for school, buddy."
 

Once he was in his room, she turned around to face me. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but you and I aren't friends. You don't have to pretend to be nice to me. I know you feel like you have some obligation to help me, even though you don't, but you don't have to make conversation with me."
 

"If I'm going to be staying here and working for you, I think you should at least be nice to me. You can go on saying that we aren't friends, but that won't last very long." She could fight me all she wanted. I’d seen her looking at me. I knew the truth. She might hate my attitude, but there were other things she didn't hate.
 

"Whatever. If you’re going to be working nights, then we don't have to see much of each other. I mean, I will still work the kitchen from six to ten, but other than that, we can steer clear of one another."
 

"I was thinking we'd be inseparable and spend every second together." She looked annoyed at my comment, as usual.
 

Ryan came walking out of the bedroom. He had on a Spiderman shirt and jeans. Charlie gave me one more dirty look
before taking him into the hall bathroom and getting him cleaned up. When they came out, his hair was combed. Charlie grabbed his bag and walked him outside, but came right back inside. "You're not going to steal anything are you?"
 

I stuck my mug in the sink and leaned against the countertop. "I was thinking of stealing all of your underwear and climbing out the window, since you would see me leaving the other way."
 

She growled something under her breath and walked out again.
 

I knew I was driving her crazy, but I loved it. She got so mad over the smallest things. Once twenty good minutes went by and she hadn't come back, I sat down on the couch and started watching television. My phone kept going off in my room, but I knew it was Tippy asking if I tapped Charlie. I wasn't about to brag about moving into her place, where I'd probably never get pussy at all. I must have fallen back asleep, because the house phone rang and woke me up. Since I probably wasn't supposed to be living here, I didn't answer it. I had no idea she'd still have Joker's old answering machine hooked up. Her voice filled the room and then
a loud beep. "Charlene, this is Roger Simmons from the attorney's office. I am just calling to check in and let you know that we still haven't located John Thomas. I know you were hoping to have the tavern sold by now. We will keep looking and keep you posted if something changes." The machine beeped again before turning off.
 

What the hell were they looking for me for and why would she ever want to sell her family's bar. They built this from nothing. I needed to know how I was involved in all of this. I didn't need to know all the details to understand that she needed me to sell the place. Little did she know that John Thomas was closer than she could ever imagine. Too bad she wasn't going to find out.
 

I got myself cleaned up and answered Tippy's messages. He said Jaye was pissed and I really didn't care if I ever saw the chick again. Any woman that easy needed to understand that she probably wasn't going to get a call back.
 

Tippy agreed to let me leave my car at his place, but drop off my bag of clothes. I'd left a bunch of shit at Joker's place when I moved out and figured that it was probably somewhere in a box. I didn't want Charlie to catch me, so I waited for the lunch rush
before climbing in the attic. Sure enough, a box with the name Jammer sat in a corner. I went through the box and grabbed some items that weren't totally out of style. Before climbing back down the stairs, I decided to hide the box, in case Charlie ever came up here looking. I hid it in the far corner and noticed a box of old photo albums. Since I missed my old friend, I started looking through them.
 

I recognized Joker, but the photos were from when he was younger, maybe even his early twenties. I was almost through the album before I got to a photo that changed everything I'd ever known about Joker. He was standing in front of a pool table with his arm around my father. My mother stood on the other side with another female. I pulled the picture out of the album and put it back where it was. I couldn't believe this. I’d talked about my father and the kind of guy he was. How could Joker have known him the whole time and never tell me? When I got downstairs, I went into the guest room and pulled out the picture again. Sure enough, my parents stood there with Joker.