Hustle Me

by Jennifer Foor

  After washing my hair like he always did, Jammer wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to find a way out of this mess, Charlie. I won’t let us be homeless.”

  I looked up into his eyes and saw how serious he was. “Thank you, Jammer. Thanks for keeping us safe and not giving up on me. After you left today, it was just so hard to be positive about anything. I don’t want to be scared out of my home by your father, and I certainly don’t have fifty grand, but I feel like if you’re by my side, we will be okay.”

  He kissed my lips and held his head against mine. “I may not be good at a lot of things, but I can make money doing what I love. Even if we do lose this place, I will get enough money for us to start over. We can get another place to stay and work on jobs once we’re settled. With what I do, we can pretty much live anywhere. I just need to know that you’re really going to give me the chance to prove it to you. I fucked up, I know that, but losing you just isn’t an option for me. I had my first love when I was just five years old. I told my mother that I was going to marry my Lena and we were going to be happy forever. I never loved another girl until I met you, Charlie and who would have known that all the while you were the same person.”

  I reached up and kissed his lips again, this time letting my tongue play along with his. As we pulled away, I opened my eyes and looked directly at him. “I love you, John Thomas.”

  Chapter 26

  Jammer

  I can't even explain how good it felt to wake up with Charlie tangled within my body. Sure, we were sweating and the sheets were soaked, but it didn't matter. For the brief time that I thought I'd lost her, I felt empty. It was crazy how I felt about the girl after never feeling anything for a female my whole adult life. Charlie was a spitfire. I loved her spunky attitude and the way she tried to hold her own, even when she was really falling apart.

  I kissed her gently on the head, causing her to stir. She looked up at me and smiled. "Hi."

  My lips met hers again. "Hi, yourself."

  I heard the door creak open and noticed little Ryan standing there. He got a smile on his face and jumped in bed between us. "You want to shoot some pool, Jammer?"

  I laughed, knowing first of all that I wasn't wearing any clothes, and secondly that it was too early in the morning to go downstairs and play pool. "Maybe a little later, bud."

  "Ry, go get dressed for preschool. I laid your clothes on your dresser last night." Charlie waited for him to jump up and run out of the room before she put a pillow over her head. "Just give me thirty more minutes."

  I grabbed the pillow and tossed it off the bed. "You don't need any more beauty sleep."

  "I'm tired though," she whined.

  "How about I get the kid ready and on the bus, while you sleep for a little while longer?" I was wide awake and didn't mind kissing up to score some brownie points. Our sex life might not have been having problems, but we still had issues to work through.

  "Can I have my pillow back?" I climbed out of bed and tossed her the pillow. She giggled as I walked in front of her to get to the bathroom. "Nice ass!"

  I smacked my own ass right before heading into the bathroom to take a leak and brush my teeth. By the time I came back out Charlie was already back to sleep. It amazed me how easy it was for her to sleep. She'd told me all about the horrible dreams she used to have, but since I'd been staying there with her, they'd all but disappeared.

  Ryan was easy to manage in the mornings. He liked school and did his best to be a big boy. We walked downstairs and stood outside waiting for the bus. "Did you make Charlie cry yesterday?"

  I squatted down to his level. "I didn't mean to."

  He looked down at the ground. "She was real sad. Don't do it again or I won't be your friend anymore. Charlie is the best sister ever and I don't like it if she cries."

  I had to give that kid props for taking up for his sister. "You love Charlie don't you?"

  "Yeah, do you love, Charlie?" He had a right to question me.

  "I do."

  "I thought so. Here comes the bus, I have to go. See you tonight, Jammer. I want hotdogs for dinner." I waved as the bus pulled away with Ryan on it. That kid was all spunk.

  When I went back inside, Charlie was still lying in bed. She had the covers pulled over her head. I crawled up and attacked her, waking her up and causing her to scream. “Wake up, grouchy.”

  She kept her head covered by the sheets. “Go away! You suck!”

  “Come on, baby. We only have about an hour before you have to get your ass downstairs and start working. I was thinking you could make me breakfast and feed it to me.” I was joking, but it was enough to get her to sit up and look at me with a curious look on her face. "I think you are the one with the sucking skills."

  She gave me a dirty look and started to climb out of bed. "I'm not making you breakfast."

  "I ate with Ry. We had frozen pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream."

  I could hear her going to the bathroom so I leaned against the bathroom door. When I heard her start to brush her teeth and I went into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub. "What are you going to do this morning? Did you want to come help me do inventory?"

  I didn't know how she was going to react, but I had to tell her what I had in mind to do. "I was thinking of paying my good old dad a visit.”

  She turned around and her eyes got really big. "Seriously?"

  I shrugged. "The way I see it, he's the reason why all of this is happening. Maybe I can get him to reconsider. If he knows how much all of this means to me maybe he will back the fuck off."

  She leaned against the sink and crossed her arms. "What if it makes things worse?"

  "It can't get any worse, baby." I stood up and wrapped my arms around her waist. "I just want this all to get cleared up so we can be happy. I mean, I don't care where we have to live, but I wouldn't mind staying here and running this business with you. We could make it great."

  She smiled and put her head against my chest. "I guess if you think it's a good idea, go ahead and try."

  "I'm going to make this better, Charlie. I don't want you worrying about it. When I'm done with my father, you're not going to have to worry about ever losing this place again."

  We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. "You know, it's funny how I didn't want this place at first, but now I can't imagine not having it."

  "How do you think I feel? A month ago I was pretty much living out of my car, looking for new places to stop in and make a quick buck. Settling down was never an option for me. It wasn't even a blip in my vocabulary. Now, being without you for even five minutes makes me all fucked up in the head." I grabbed her leg and pulled it up on my lap. "Are you a witch or something? Did you put a bitch spell on me and make me go soft?"

  She giggled and shook her head. "Trust me, I'm not a witch, but if I was, I don't think I would have done a love spell on someone I couldn't stand at first."

  "Yeah right, you keep saying that, but you know you wanted me the first time you saw me. You gave me those little puppy dog eyes when I came in and saved the day. You wanted to take me behind the counter and ride my dick all night."

  “Wow, is that really how you portrayed our first encounter, because I saw things a lot differently.” She ran her hands through my hair and continued to look into my eyes, so I knew she wasn’t mad at me for kidding with her.

  “Yeah, you definitely wanted my dick.”

  She slapped my arm and laughed with me, before climbing off of me and heading into the kitchen. Of course, I had already made coffee and she headed right for the pot. “What time were you going to head out?”

  I shrugged. “I guess when you head down, I will go then. If you want to wait, I can help you do inventory when I get back. I’m not planning on sticking around to catch up.”

  We spent about an hour together before I headed out to hunt down my father. I was certain that after we spoke he would see my side of things and drop the
bullshit lien on the tavern. Charlie had nothing to do with his vendetta with her father. She didn’t even know she had another father out there somewhere who would leave her a bar and a brother to care for.

  When I pulled up at my parents’ house, the gate was already open, so I walked right through. The front door opened and my father was walking toward his car, until he saw me. “John, I was wondering when you were going to show your face. You’ve been in town for over a month and picked this week to come see your mother.”

  “I had my reasons.”

  “Yeah, shacking up with Joe’s daughter isn’t a reason, son. It’s a mistake that I intend to have rectified.”

  I couldn’t believe the nerve of this man. I hadn’t even seen him in years and he was going to dictate who I could spend my life with. Fuck that!

  “What are you talking about rectifying?”

  “Your little fling with the girl. It ends today, John.” He sat his brief case down on the ground and leaned against his car.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” I crossed my arms and dared him to say something about my girlfriend.

  “For six years I have watched you do nothing with your life. You really think I’m going to just stand back and let you shack up with a charity case in a rundown bar? Enough is enough, son. It’s time to come home and get involved with the empire I’ve built for you.”

  I walked closer to my father and pointed my finger in his face. “I’m not giving up the one thing that makes me happy. You’re crazy if you think you can make that happen. I came here to ask you to back off of us and let us be happy. Drop the damn lien and vendetta you have on Joe. Charlie had nothing to do with him. She didn’t even remember him. That girl has suffered enough. I won’t let you hurt her anymore or take away her and her brother’s home.” I was getting angrier by the second. I was always taught to respect elders, but I had no respect for this man standing in front of me. He was evil and would stop at nothing until he got what he wanted.

  “I tell you what. I consider myself to be a reasonable man. If you want me to back off of this girl and that tavern, it will be on my terms. What would you be willing to do for me to drop the lien and let her have the business paid in full?” He wouldn’t even look me in the eye as he talked to me.

  “I’d do just about anything. I want her to be happy, in fact, it’s all I want. Charlie means everything to me. She makes me want to be a better person. If you would give her half the chance, you might like her too.” Not that I wanted him to know her. I didn’t want to ever have a gathering where I invited my father. He meant nothing to me.

  “Good, since you put it that way, I will sign off on the business if you sign over your ownership and walk away from her completely. When you do both of those things, and I am sure that you have stayed away, I will sign off. Until that happens, the bank will still take over at the end of the month. I’m all for being fair, son, but I have no other options to offer. You leave the girl and she can have her business and do whatever she wants with it. Now, unless you can come up with fifty grand, I would start considering my offer, unless you plan on living on the streets with the little slut.”

  I hurdled myself at my father, swinging my arm around before he could throw his arms up to block me. I heard my mother screaming and backed away immediately. She rushed to his side and had started crying. “Stop this, both of you. I can’t take it anymore!”

  My father shrugged her arm off of him and held his bleeding nose. “This is all your fault, Lydia. You did this. Tell your son how you thought sleeping with my best friend was a good idea.”

  She backed away from him and covered her mouth. Then, she stood up straight and looked right at him. “You lied to me about that little girl. You knew I would take care of that child. What kind of man abandons a child out of spite?”

  My father threw his arms up in the air. “I gave you everything. Look at this house you live in. Look at those manicured nails and your designer shoes. Do you really think Joe was going to give you the life you have? Get your ass in the house, where you belong.”

  “Don’t talk to her that way!” I got up in his face again.

  “The choice is yours, John. How do you think that girl will feel when she finds out you could have saved her business? She’ll never forgive you. Walk away and everyone gets what they want, son.” He climbed into his car without giving me another second of his time. I held up my arms, but he kept driving.

  What the fuck had just happened? Did he really expect me to walk away from Charlie? How could I ever do that to her?

  I walked into the house and found my mother crying on the couch. “Mom, get yourself a bag packed. You’re leaving with me.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t understand, John. He won’t let me leave him. He’s too proud to admit that he was wrong. You go on and go home to Charlie. I will be fine.”

  I sank down on the floor next to her. “Mom, please, you can’t let him control you like that. Just come with me. We can figure this out together.”

  She shook her head again and grabbed my hand. “My sweet sweet boy, I am going to be okay. You have a chance to make things right, John. I want you to go make the right choices. I need you to be happy. It’s all I have ever wanted for you.”

  “You heard what he said. He’s making me choose. What the hell am I going to do?”

  “Just do what your heart tells you. I should have done that a long time ago. I just didn’t have the nerve.” She squeezed my hand and I got up and kissed her head.

  “I am calling you later to check on you. Keep your phone close, Mom.”

  When I walked out of there, my shoulders were heavy with fear. Charlie’s future was in my hands and I knew that no matter what choice I made, someone was going to get hurt. Now it was just a matter of doing what was right.

  Chapter 27

  Charlie

  I was trying not to lose my mind, but I’d never been so scared before. I wasn’t just responsible for myself anymore; I had Ryan to think about. It made me feel so much better to have Jammer by my side, even if I still was sad about him lying to me. I’d made the decision to follow my heart and when I did it made me happy. Jammer loved me and I knew that I wanted him through the good times and bad.

  It was days like today that I appreciated having Shaun as an employee. He was a good reliable worker who always showed up and did his best. He kept the kitchen clean and organized. I was grateful to have him, even though Jammer thought he was a klutz. Shaun had more tattoos than Jammer and his were more homemade done, where Jammer's were beautiful.

  I know he’d told me to wait for him to do the weekly inventory, but I had already started when he walked in the door. I threw him a big smile, but immediately I could tell that something was wrong. He didn’t smile back at all.

  I watched my boyfriend approach me. His dark hair was disheveled and I couldn't help but want to run my hands through it. He leaned down and kissed me when he got close enough. "Hey, baby. How's it going here?"

  I was too concerned about what happened with his dad. "Spill. Good or bad, I still want to hear."

  He grabbed a shot glass and filled it with Jack. After downing two, while I stared at him, he turned to look at me again. "I really don't want to talk about it. My father is a fucking asshole who obviously only cares about himself."

  "That bad?"

  "Let's just say that if he could control every part of my life, he would. It's fine, I will find another way to come up with the money." I could tell he was extremely irritated and he didn't want to talk about it. I was disappointed, but there was nothing I could do about it.

  I reached my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. “I love you, Jammer. Thanks for trying."

  "You're welcome. I'm just sorry it didn't work."

  "So what are we going to do now?" There had to be something.

  "Rob a bank?" I moved out of his arms and looked at him with a shocked face. He grabbed me and pulled me into him. "Charlie, I was kidding. I
know I look tough, but damn woman, I'm not a criminal."

  I started laughing out of pure relief. "Maybe we should just look for apartments."

  Jammer looked as upset as I felt about having to leave. Ryan had only ever lived here and it was the first place in a very long time to make me feel happy. I think Jammer understood more than anyone how much I was growing accustom to being here. At times I didn't think it was appropriate, but we made it work.

  "I hate that my dad is deciding the fate of this place." He shook his head when he said it.

  "I could ask Elle. Maybe her father could give me a loan." They had the money.

  He filled the shot glass up one more time and downed it. "You might have to."

  So, after calling Elle and setting up a convenient time for her parents to have a meal with me, I got dressed in my best outfit and headed to their elite community located in Montgomery County. Ryan had opted to stay with Jammer and I was more than fine with that decision. I couldn't deal with my outbursts of emotions when I begged with everything I had for help.

  Elle's home was like an apartment complex compared to its size. Going inside seemed even bigger, with its cathedral ceilings and marble floors. Her father was some kind of scientist for Johns Hopkins and her mother was a neonatal doctor. Sometimes I wondered were Elle had gotten her brain from, considering she was always so flighty.

  I'd met these people a few times, but this visit was beyond awkward. Asking someone that you really don't know for fifty grand isn't exactly a friendly kind of meet.

  We sat down in a white decorated living room and when I say white, I mean everything in the room was some hue of white. I felt like I looked filthy as I sat down on one of the plush couches. Elle’s dad was a nice looking man. I would guess he was in his forties. His hair was starting to gray on the sides, but the rest remained a brown in color. He was wearing business attire, but had loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt two buttons.