Hustle Me (16 page)

I knew all of this already and being forced to look was painful. I needed time to forget.
 

"If I admit that he's hot, will you stop talking about it?"
 

"You.Are.No.Fun."
 

Jammer came over toward us. "She's had one too many. You should probably take her upstairs."
 

I'd tried to walk Elle up a flight of stairs at school and almost broke both of our necks. "I can't carry her."
 

He shrugged. "Why don't you pay the Karaoke guy and I will get her up to bed."
 

It was a terrible idea. "Good idea."
 

Elle stood up and walked sideways. "I can walk myself upstairs." She tripped on her heel and fell on the floor, laughing.
 

I rolled my eyes and watched him helping her up. She turned around and flashed me a thumbs up.
 

Okay, I needed a drink. I walked to the other side of the bar and poured a glass of vodka. The first glass burned but the next two didn't taste as bad. I slouched down on the floor and let the liquor run through my body. I wanted to forget about the past twenty-four hours. I needed to forget that Jammer had given me the hottest night of my life, because it was just a fuck.
 

An unforgettably amazing fuck.
 

Chapter 18
 

Jammer
 

The bar had the biggest crowd that I’d seen since I got back to town. Charlie’s friend Elle really did have a great idea and she knew how to draw people in. Unfortunately, she was like all the girls I had to go to school with when I was younger. On the outside she seemed fun and always looked for a good time, but inside, she was stuck on herself no matter who she had to walk over or backstab to get it. How she and Charlie were friends was beyond me. They were polar opposites.
 

Charlie was acting weirder than usual and I had a feeling that it had to do with me. The girl really had gotten under my skin and I couldn’t stop thinking about us having sex. In such a short time, I think I had her skin memorized. She had this sweet smell to her and it was smooth and perfect. I loved the way she fought to hold her own, even when everything was crumbling from underneath of her. I think that’s what was attracting me. It was her inner strength. That was something that I’d never looked for in a woman, not that I ever really looked. For the most part, my life
revolved around scoring. I lived for winning the game, finding a hot chick to bed, and moving on. I’d never stopped to let myself care about anything but myself.
 

Saving Charlie, and finding out that I was somehow connected in all of this mess, was forcing me to look at my life. Sure, Charlie didn’t know I was the John she was looking for, but it still didn’t change the fact that I was a quarter owner of a place that changed my life. Here I was, back at that special place, and my life was changing again.
 

I’d known her less than a week, but knew that I liked her. It was too bad she had a boyfriend, which was probably the reason she was acting so ridiculous. I wasn’t here to mess up her relationship. If she wanted us to be friends, then I had to stand by that.
 

It wasn’t until she walked upstairs to put the money in the safe, that everything changed for me. The baby monitor must have dropped on the floor when she bent over to grab the money bag. I picked it up and could see the little lights moving around. I shouldn’t have, but I walked into the kitchen to listen. I just wanted to make sure someone hadn’t followed her.
 

I swear I wasn’t going to listen, but hearing the conversation for myself shocked me so much, I just had to listen.
 

"Do you love, Jammer?" Ryan’s voice was loud and clear.
 

"No! Why would you think that?" Not that I expected her to answer yes, but she was really being defensive with her tone.
 

"Well, he keeps us safe like you keep me safe." I was trying my best at least.
 

"I keep you safe because you are my brother and I love you. Jammer is just helping us out. He doesn’t have boyfriend/girlfriend feelings for me. He isn't my boyfriend. Jammer isn’t the kind of guy to be tied down to one girl and especially a family." She made it sound like I was a loser. I hated hearing her say it like that. It was like she thought I was incapable of settling.
 

"But I like him. He's nice to me,” It was because his father was such an important person to me. I felt like now that I knew that kid was out there, without his father, that Joker would want me to get to know Ryan. He was a cool kid.
 

“Yeah, I like him too, maybe even too much, but I have you and a business to run. It’s too much for anyone to want to be a part of.”  It was a lot, but if it was all worth it, maybe someone
would want to be a part of that life. I wasn’t saying I wanted to swoop in after only a few days, but Charlie was so different and the circumstances bringing us together were too much of a coincidence. I felt like I actually wanted to pursue it, except she wanted the opposite.
 

“Are you mad at me for being your brother?”
 

“Of course not! Ryan, all that I had ever wanted is to have a real family. You gave me that. I could never be mad at you. I know sometimes I am hard to deal with, but it’s just because I am struggling to be good at everything I do. Don’t ever think it’s your fault.”
 

“I think you do a good job, Charlie. I’m glad you’re my sister.”
 

"I’m glad you’re my brother. Now, get some sleep, kiddo."
 

When it got quiet again, I rushed into the front of the bar and left the monitor back on the floor where she’d dropped it. My heart was beating fast. I was so worried that she would find out I was listening to her private conversation with her brother. I already had enough lies I was keeping, so adding to the pot was not very cool.
 

Charlie didn’t come back down for a while and her friend really took advantage of the situation. She climbed up on the bar and started dancing as someone was singing Karaoke to “Cherry Pie.” She kept watching me and pointing to me.
 

I focused on the bar and not the girl. Sure, she was hot in all the right places. I knew she was probably a hell of a fuck, but even though my life revolved around the hustle and the sex, there was a part of me that got tired of it. It became more of part of the job, than something I enjoyed, until last night happened. Sleeping with Charlie was only because I wanted to sleep with her. I didn’t do it for the hot meal, the shower, and the bed to sleep in. I did it because she drove me crazy in ways that made me want to know more about her.
 

When the song was over, Elle climbed down on my side of the bar. She tucked her hands into the waist of my pants and pulled me closer to her. I was tall enough to keep my face away from hers. She looked up and licked her lips. “I bet you’re a real good time.”
 

I put my hands on her waist and backed her up against the bar. “That’s what I hear.”
 

She smiled and grabbed one of my ass cheeks into her hands. I clenched my jaw, feeling more annoyed than turned on. I could smell the alcohol on her breath and I really disliked easy girls. Sure, I fucked them, but I didn’t like them at all, not as friends and not as lovers. Plus, most of them ended up not being that good in bed. Being with them was like acting out a bad porno. They were orchestrated and rehearsed. Nothing was natural about them.
 

“So, do you want to share that little bed of yours with me tonight?”
 

“Sure.” You can have my bed and I will take the couch.
 

She looked all happy about me saying that, little did she know I wasn’t going to do shit with her. Obviously Charlie hadn’t talked to her friend like most girls did. This chick had no idea that I’d fucked her friend last night. Wasn’t there some kind of girl code about that?
 

“I better get to clearing out this crowd then.” She pulled away from me while she giggled. I shook my head and got back to tending the bar.
 

As the crowd died down, I wondered if Charlie was ever going to come back downstairs, not that I needed her help closing the bar. It was a piece of cake. She’d already taken care of the kitchen.  With no one to entertain, Elle made her way back to the bar. I was trying to get the rest of the glasses dried and put away, so I pretended to be interested in her conversation while I worked.
 

“So, it’s almost closing time. Do you know what that means?”
 

I hung up another wine glass. “Nope, maybe you should refresh my memory.”
 

“Let’s do a shot! We totally need to do a shot together.”
 

I poured a shot of vodka into two glasses and slid one across the bar. “What are we drinking to?”
 

She held up her glass towards mine. “To a night we will never forget!”
 

I clanked our glasses together and downed my shot. The liquor burned going down. I watched her squint her eyes and finish. “Okay, one more.”
 

She’d already been drinking beer all night. If I gave her anymore liquor, she’d probably pass out. I poured another shot and filled up my glass too. “Last one.”
 

She held her glass up again. “To Charlie and her bar.”
 

I agreed and downed my shot again before passing her a new beer. My plan was to get her to go to sleep before she could take off her clothes.
 

She took a big swig of her beer and sat it down on the counter. “So, have you met Zach yet?”
 

“Is he the boyfriend?” I don’t think she’d said his name before.
 

She started laughing. “Is that what she called him?”
 

What did that mean? I opened my mouth to ask and saw Charlie coming in our direction.
 

She approached Elle from the opposite side and, although giving me a quick glance, turned all of her attention back to her friend. She was laughing and keeping her conversations at a tone where I couldn’t hear them. They were completely talking about me. I could tell from the look on Charlie’s face that I wasn’t her choice of conversation.
 

I leaned over the bar. "She's had one too many. You should probably take her upstairs."
 

Charlie looked at me like I had a third eye. "I can't carry her."
 

Of course, she had to put this on me. "Why don't you pay the Karaoke guy and I will get her up to bed." I saw Elle start smiling when I said bed. The bitch didn’t have a clue.
 

"Good idea." Not the reaction I was hoping for. I guess she really did want to forget.
 

Elle stood up and walked sideways. "I can walk myself upstairs." When she tripped I began to laugh, until she put her weight on me, and walked up the steps.
 

When we got into the apartment, I told her she had to be quiet and not wake up the kid. It didn’t stop her from laughing at everything I said.  We hung out in the kitchen until she got too loud and I was afraid Ryan would come walking out of his room.
 

She pulled me back to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I crossed my arms as she walked over to my bed and climbed on top of it. She motioned with her finger for me to join her, but I stood where I was.
 

Elle giggled and pulled off her top.  Her tits weren’t bad, but nice tits weren’t hard to come by. They didn’t compare to her friends, which were still too fresh in my mind to forget about.
 

“Get over here and help me take off my pants.” Her words were slurred and she was getting all sloppy.
 

“How about you take your own pants off and I will go grab us some more beers?” I wasn’t very experienced with walking away from pussy, but I was also not the type of guy to sleep with two friends just because I could. I’d made plenty dick moves in my life and this was still not okay.
 

“Hurry up. I can’t wait to see what’s hiding underneath those jeans.”
 

I walked backwards until I got to my door and then I shut it behind me. When I got to Charlie’s bedroom door, I couldn’t remember if it had been open or closed. It was closed now and I was afraid that there might be a pissed off Charlie on the other side. Since I’d taken a few shots through the night with customers and then the last two with Elle, the last thing I wanted to do was go to sleep. My stick was in Charlie’s room, but I knew I didn’t need it to shoot around, so I headed downstairs to a very dark bar.
 

It was so quiet down there. I walked right into the billiards lounge and turned on the lights. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, but I walked back to my corner table and started racking the balls up.
 

I found a halfway decent house stick and broke the balls. It felt so good to be shooting on this table again. Of all the places I had ever shot pool, this had to be my favorite table. Shooting pool wasn’t just a hobby for me. It was my whole life. I loved doing it and the fact that I made money didn’t hurt that love. Pool had taken me places and kept me focused. I stayed away from drugs and parties just to focus on my skill. All of the countless hours of practicing had become well worth it. While my friends needed to take trips to rehab, or were even in jail, I was still out playing the game.
 

I shot a few more racks before I decided to get something to drink. I didn’t want a beer, but a nice glass of bourbon. Joker had told me once that it was his liquor of choice before he got clean. I only drank bourbon when something was weighing on my chest. It helped me relax enough to slow down and make a good decision. Maybe that sounded juvenile, but it did the trick for me.