Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2)

by Jennifer Foor

  “I want to go, Mom. That’s not fair.”

  Vessa rolled her eyes and shook her head. I could tell that she thought I couldn’t handle them both at the same time.

  “Why don’t the four of you go? I’ll finish dinner. Go have a good time,” Sue settled it.

  While the girls changed and got shoes on, Logan helped me get the fishing equipment out of the shed. The sun was blazing and it was a perfect day to be doing this. We walked down to the man made pond and all got situated on the pier. Logan wanted to bait the worm on all the rods, since he was fascinated that the worm still moved no matter how many times it was stabbed or poked. Vessa was busy having some girl time with Asha to care what we were doing.

  I got Logan situated next to me with his rod. Just like the last time, he swung his legs off the little pier. After making sure the girls had what they needed, I sat back down and cast out my line. At first I didn’t notice it, but with little movements, Logan had scooted himself to be right up against me. He leaned his head on my arm and looked up. “Thanks for being my best friend.”

  I put my arm around the kid and held it there while we fished. When I turned to look at Vessa, she was crying. I smiled and tried not to get emotional myself. I’d never want to replace the family just to move on, but being there on that pier felt so right. I had no problem being a part of these kid’s lives, even if it was a small part.

  When the sun started to set, we’d caught three fish. The girls caught two, but they let them go, because they were girls and didn’t want to touch them. Vessa helped me gather everything up and we walked back toward the shed to put everything away. When my hands were empty, I felt little hands grabbing one. Logan looked up at me and smile as we started to walk back to the house. Vessa looked over at me and smiled again, while Asha was walking ahead, doing cartwheels in the grass.

  Vessa took Logan’s other hand we started swinging him as we walked. He was laughing and having a great time; we all were, until someone cleared their voice and took our special moment from us.

  “What’s this?” From the amount of tattoo’s I took a guess and knew I was looking at Gavin. Vessa turned white as the guy started walking toward us. Logan kept hold of my hand until Gavin crouched down and called him. He kissed him on the top of the head, while looking right at me. “Hey, little dude. Where you been?”

  “We went fishing. We caught three fish. Mom threw hers and Asha's back. Ramsey is teaching me how to gut them.”

  Gavin ignore his son and stood up. He never took his eyes off of me. “So you’re Ramsey? The same Ramsey that isn’t fucking my wife, right?”

  “Gavin stop!” Vessa put her hands over Logan’s ears. “Asha, take your brother up to the house to wash up for dinner. Stay there until we get back.”

  “Is Daddy eating with us?” She asked.

  “Please just go to the house, sweetie.” I could tell that Vessa was furious. She waited until the kids were far enough away to get up in his shit. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  He looked back at me again, like he wasn’t afraid that I could beat his little ass. “I could ask you the same thing. I thought you said you weren’t with this guy. Then I come to visit my kids and he’s holding hands with MY son.” He emphasized the word son.

  “I don’t have to answer to you anymore. My relationship with Ramsey is none of your damn business. How did you even get my address?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I got it. I see what’s been going on this whole time. Did you meet him online and come here to be together? Is that what you did, Vessa? Did you run right to him?”

  I clenched my fists and tried to keep my cool. If he kept running his mouth, this wasn’t going to end well.

  “I met Ramsey when I moved here. We were friends…”

  “Were? So you are fucking my wife?” He asked me directly.

  I looked over at Vessa, afraid of doing the wrong thing. Maybe I should have walked away, but his next statement put me over the edge.

  “I wanna know if you’ve been fucking my wife. Are you hard of hearing? Is that how she got you to sleep with her? Are you deaf and dumb?”

  I knocked that mother fucker on the ground with one punch. He jumped back up and ran toward me, knocking me down and sending us rolling down the hill. His punches weren’t affecting me as much as Vessa trying to pry us apart. Gavin was swinging wildly, trying to make contact with me. When he fist hit Vessa in the shoulder, I lost it. She moved out of the way holding where he hit her and I never looked back. I took out all of my anger on him as he screamed and yelled whatever he could in between punches.

  Vessa threw herself in front of me, wrapping her body around mine, so that I wouldn’t be able to swing without hurting her. “Please stop! Please Ramsey…just calm down. Just calm down.”

  I wrapped one arm around her, keeping my eyes on Gavin’s battered face. “He’s not going to talk to you like that, Vessa.”

  He spit out blood. “Fuck you! I can say whatever I want to here. She’s not yours. She never will be. That girl right there has loved me her whole life. You really think you can compare to that?”

  Vessa was crying. Her head was against my chest. It was hard, but I managed to stand up and then pick her up off the ground. “You keep thinking that. In the meantime, I’ll be the one she comes home to every night. This is the last time you’ll ever lay a hand on her.”

  “Glad you’ll be there to pick up the pieces when I take the kids from her. There ain’t no judge around that’s going to let an alcoholic worn out sheriff near my kids.”

  I couldn’t react fast enough to his words. Vessa weaseled out of my arms and went flying over to Gavin, who was just standing up. She pushed him back down on the ground. “I hate you! I hate you so much! Ramsey is a better man than you could ever be.”

  “Yeah, we’ll see if you’re still saying that when social services comes for the kids. After they see my face, that verdict will be in my favor.”

  She went running into the house. As I went to follow her, I felt him grab my arm and yank me back. I fell on my ass and saw him coming at me. My feet lifted and blocked his cheap blow. I rolled and stood up quickly, ready for his next attack. This guy could come at me all night long. He wasn’t ever going to be strong enough to take me. “This isn’t going to solve anything.”

  “Says the guy that’s been sticking his dick in my wife.”

  “Where do you get your information from, man? We’re just friends. Neither one of us has ever given anyone a reason to think otherwise.”

  “Let’s just say that I know Vessa more than you. She would have come running home by now. I knew she found somebody. I might not have physical proof that you’re screwing, but I know you are. I can see it all over her face that she’s into you. What’s your story anyway? Why do you even want a used up whore with two kids?” I was going to kill him with my bare hands.

  “It’s taking everything I have in me not to take four more steps and knock your ass out. I advise you to shut your mouth up about Vessa. You know she’s not a whore and a real man doesn’t walk away because someone has kids. I don’t think you know her at all. You sure as hell don’t know me, or anything about me.”

  We were up in each other’s faces again, only until Vessa came running down the hill after us again. She pushed us both apart and stood there between us. “Ramsey, go inside!”

  “Hell no!”

  “The police are on their way. Go in the house. Please!” She was pleading with me, but I wasn’t about to leave her alone outside with him.

  “I’m not going in that house unless you’re with me.” She gave me this look, like I was making this harder for her.

  “I can handle this. Just go inside and wait for them to get here. I want them to hear the truth before he tells his lies. Everyone knows you acted in self defense.” A smile formed out of the corner of her mouth. She wanted to screw Gavin over and this was a good plan.

  Except the police didn’t buy it. They took one look at Gavin’
s face and put me in handcuffs, like I was a danger to be around. I argued with each of the deputies about who I was, but it didn’t make a bit of difference. Gavin was pressing charges for assault. I spent the night in jail because I took up for Vessa.

  The next morning, when I was released, she picked me up from the police station. I knew she wasn’t happy. She looked terrible, like she’d been crying all night long. I ran my hand through her hair that was in a ponytail. “I’m sorry.”

  She started talking with her hands, which was never a good sign. “Look, I get that you were taking up for me. I’m not mad about that. He deserved it. What I’m mad about it that you took it to a whole different level after I walked away. The police took pictures of his face, Ramsey. He had to get seventeen stitches in his head and face.”

  “I…I didn’t know.”

  “What am I supposed to do now? This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. He’s going to use this against me. He’s going to claim that I put the kids in danger being around you. I’m going to lose them.”

  I started to answer her when my phone started to ring. I knew it was work related from the number, so I let it go to voicemail. “Vessa, what can I do to make this better? I’m sorry. I just lost it when he got his hands on you. I hated what he was saying. You should never be treated that way. He had no right to…”

  “Save it. I can’t argue about this right now. I need to do some damage control and you aren’t going to like it.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “We need to be apart for a while. I think if Gavin sees that you’re not in the picture, he’ll drop the charges.”

  I wasn’t an idiot. “And how are you going to get him to do that, Vessa. You know what, don’t even tell me. I don’t think I want to know the answer to that.”

  She slapped me in the chest and pulled the car over to the shoulder. “How dare you think I would do that. I never even considered sleeping with him. Is that what you really think of me?”

  “Of course not! I just…”

  “I can’t do this, Ramsey. It isn’t because I don’t love you, because you know I do. I just have to protect my kids. You’ve seen what he’s capable of. I wasn’t kidding around. He will stop at nothing until he takes them from me. I don’t know what else to do.” Vessa started crying and there was nothing I could say to make things better. I hadn’t slept. I felt like shit and there was no way I was getting out of the assault charges.

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her over into my arms. “I am so sorry, Vessa. I just don’t want to lose you.”

  She cried even harder. “I don’t either. This hurts so much. I know it’s what has to be done. I just don’t know how to say goodbye to you, not when I know that you’re everything I want.”

  “I never imagine myself loving someone again. I don’t care what we have to do, or how long you make me wait, I’m not giving up on us.” My phone started to ring again and it was the same number as before. “I gotta take this. Hang on.”

  Hello?

  Is this Ramsey Towers?

  Yes, it is.

  This is Mayor Calvin Vance, I think you and I need to have a man to man talk about your future in this town.

  I can be there in an hour, sir.

  My office, one hour. See you there.

  “Who was it?” She asked.

  “That was the mayor. I think I just lost my job.”

  Chapter 18

  Vessa

  I didn’t understand how one perfect afternoon could turn into my whole world being turned upside down again. After years of being in a terrible marriage, with the most selfish person in the world, I’d fallen in love with someone that had more compassion than any man I had ever known. Unfortunately, in order to win custody of my kids, I couldn’t be with Ramsey.

  My heart was ripped apart and I knew his was too. We’d spent so much time building up to, what we thought was going to be, our future. This hurt so much different than being cheated on by Gavin or anything else that we’d been through in our marriage. I guess I never had hope that things were going to last forever with Gavin. Maybe deep down inside I knew he was going to disappoint me.

  At any rate, keeping my distance from Ramsey was tearing me apart.

  Fearing that someone could access phone records, he mailed me a pay as you go phone. Our time to talk to each other also got cut in half. Ramsey’s meeting with the mayor didn’t go as bad as he thought, but he was on probation. He was suspended a week with no pay, got his second cover story in the local paper and six months of probation pending the verdict of his trial. Yes, he was actually being sued by my husband.

  To say that it didn’t cause a major strain in our relationship would have been a lie. Even the kids knew something was going on.

  After the whole fight in the back yard, I sat down and talked to the kids about their feelings. They were both very scared and upset at what Ramsey had done to their father. It was hard to explain to child that their father had instigated it to happen and that Ramsey was only protecting me. Then of course, they wanted to know why Ramsey was protecting me the way he was.

  My aunt was great support, but even she couldn’t work miracles.

  On one of Gavin’s weekends, I decided to take the kids to meet him without my aunt. Ramsey wasn’t on board with my decision, but with our relationship consisted of mostly phone conversations, I knew there was little he could do about it. Besides, with his job on the line, he seemed focused on making sure that he was always available for anything that may come up.

  Ramsey kept blowing up my phone every five minutes, begging me not go into the Lion’s den alone. I would be fine. After dealing with this shit for as long as I had, I knew just what had to be done. When we pulled up at the house, all of the memories of the night I left Gavin came rushing back. I don’t think that I’d ever felt so angry with someone in my whole life.

  The house still looked the same on the outside. Of course he’d patched up every place that I shot out. The kids ran up to the door, while I took my time, looking around at what was once mine. Gavin came outside when I was walking up the porch steps. He held the door open to let me in.

  “Thanks for bringing them all the way here.”

  I looked right at him and wondered what the hell I ever saw in him. There was nothing appealing about Gavin when I had Ramsey to compare him to. “We need to talk, Gavin.”

  I walked past him and saw his girlfriend quickly duck into the back bedroom with a baby in her arms. I looked back at Gavin and he scratched his head. “Yeah, she had it a couple weeks ago. I meant to tell you.”

  I held up my hand. “Just save it. I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about our kids.”

  We sat down at the kitchen table facing each other. He reached over to grab my hands, but I pulled away. “I still love you, Vessa.”

  “How can you even say something like that when the mother of your newborn is right down the hall? Do you even think about the things that you say?” I felt so sorry for that poor girl. She was too young to see that in a few years, she’d be right where I was; raising kids and separated.

  “You’re my first love.”

  I raised my eyebrows and shook my head around, covering my face with my hands. “Please stop. I don’t care what load of bullshit you want to throw at me. I’m never coming back to you, Gavin. I thought that I loved you and the life that we built, but it turned out to be a lie. The whole damn town knew what you were doing behind my back. How do you think that made me feel?” I put my fist on the table and stood up. Then I started pacing. “I’ll tell you how I felt. I felt betrayed. I felt like everything that I’d ever loved was a fucking lie. I felt like the one person that I trusted more than anyone in the world had let me down. It wasn’t just me either that you betrayed. Those two kids in there, well, you betrayed them too. You broke up this family, not me. I never cheated on you, shit, I never even looked at another man until we were through.”

  Gavin stood up and wal
ked over to me. He cornered me near the stove in the kitchen. I didn’t want to be so close to him. Nowadays, he scared me. I wasn’t really certain what he was capable of. “Do you hate me, Vessa?”

  I looked him right in the eye. “Yes, I really do.” My tears were angry tears. I wasn’t crying for being honest with him. I was crying because I’d wasted so many years of my life with the monster standing in front of me. I was crying because he was taking Ramsey away from me. “I wish you could see who I really am. You treated me horrible. Do you even have a clue how hard I worked to save our marriage? All I ever wanted was for you to love only me. I wasn’t asking you for much. You stood before our family and God and promised to love only me for the rest of our lives.”

  Gavin wiped his own tears out of his eyes. He leaned back on the counter next to me. “I will love you forever. I didn’t lie.”

  “You don’t know what love is. You think manipulating someone is love? You really think sleeping with other people behind my back was love? You think blackmailing me out of finding real love is the right thing. After everything you’ve done to me, after claiming you still love me, I have to ask you. Do you love me enough to let me be happy, Gavin?”

  He shook his head and sighed. “You can’t ask me that. Not after what that dick…”

  “Stop! That man that you’re talking about lost his wife and daughter. How would you feel if me and the kids died? Would you just go on living normally like we never existed? Could you just forget about us and find replacements?” I walked up close and got up in his face. My heart was beating out of my chest and I was pretty sure that I was about to pass out. “You have no idea what kind of man he is! You have no idea what he’s been through. You can accuse me of whatever the hell you want. I don’t even care anymore. You and I both know that I haven’t been with enough people to be called a whore, So save your pathetic comeback attempts. Stop ruining my life! I know you don’t want to raise our kids. You’re doing this to get back at me for leaving you, but you can’t see that it was exactly what you deserved. I’ve been the only parent that those kids could count on every minute of every day. You really think they be happy living without me? You think they will love you more when they find out they can’t see me anymore?”