Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2) (16 page)

The more I tried to focus on other things, the more I thought about Ramsey and our intimate moments together. His touch was like nothing I had ever experienced before, which of course, made me want to do it again.

Two weeks went by and he never came in to have dinner or shoot pool. I think my aunt felt sorry for me. After years of saying that she wasn’t going to let it happen, she started up an in-house pool league so that I could get out and meet people that had the same interests as me.

We had five teams of two people to start out and played what was called scotch doubles. Your turns are alternated as balls are made. It was a bit harder as far as winning, because you had to rely on your teammate to be able to position the ball after they made a shot.

We left the signup papers on the bulletin board for two weeks and my aunt recruited a couple older players that she knew personally. We arranged for the neighbor to watch the kids, so that she could be a member as well. I was having fun and the people were nicer than the ones I had shot with before. My aunt was happy, because it brought more business in. The only thing I was missing was the partner that I wanted to shoot with.

I’d thought about going to see him, but realized that if he wanted to see me, he knew whe
re to find me. Many nights I would cry myself to sleep at what a mess I had made with him. I should have never got involved. It was just, once I did, I couldn’t turn away.

Gavin was true to his word. One month after our argument, I was served with papers. I was fine with the divorce part, but him taking the kids was never going to be alright with me. Luckily, my aunt knew someone at church that studied law. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was a nice man who was very devoted to his family.

The battle for custody had begun, and with nothing else to worry about, I focused all of my energy into my kids.

G
avin was trying to prove that I was an unfit parent and that I was out partying instead of being a good parent. The funny part was that was exactly what he was doing, even while we were still together.

So I countersued him.

By that point, Ramsey was just a memory. If someone was watching my every move all they would see was me being a good mom. On the weekends that the kids would visit Gavin, my aunt would drive with me and deal with him so I didn’t have to.

It wasn’t the kind of situation that I wanted my kids involved in, but none of it was my fault. They were adjusting better than I had expected.

By law we had to be separated for a year before we could file for the full divorce. Since we were fighting for the kids, it wasn’t going to be as fast as I wanted to.

In the meantime, the kids signed up for sports and scouts. They started having play dates and even Logan loved living in our new town. He especially loved when my aunt brought home a puppy. She was just a mutt, but was the cutest little black and white puppy I’d ever seen. Asha was excited, but Logan had been begging for a dog for years. We name
d her Priscilla, but we called her Prissy for short. She had longer fur and loved to be brushed and pampered.

Aside from being heartbroken, my life was getting back to the way it was. We had schedules and the children were always my first priority. The day shift gave me more time with them and it also helped me from worrying if Ramsey was going to walk back into my life.

Logan asked about him often, but thankfully, my aunt told him that he moved out of town. I took him fishing a couple times. Of course, he constantly compared me to the sheriff and I couldn’t deal with it, so I stopped offering it as something to do on a lazy day.

One morning, after I’d put both kids on the bus, I went into work as usual. The day shift was much different than the evening. A lot of the town frequented for lunch and my aunt had an older man who came in and worked the kitchen for three hours a day. He minded his own business and
helped out a bunch.

That particular day, he was carrying in an order of food supplies in the back. I was busy making sure the register was set for the day and packing the deposit for when I got off and dropped it at the bank. To say I wasn’t paying attention would have been an understatement.

When someone tapped on my shoulder, from my side of the bar, I screamed out loud, before turning to see who it was.

Ramsey just stood there looking at me. I was sure it was him, except he looked different. His face was clean shaven and he wasn’t wearing a hat. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Vessa.”

“What are you doing here?” I didn’t say it in a rude way. I really wanted to know why he was standing in front of me.

“I was wondering if I could join the pool league. I have a partner already and we understand that you are already a few weeks in, but we still would like to play.” Was he really asking if he could come here to have a good time in front of my face.

“You’ll have to ask my aunt. I don’t run the league and if it were up to me I would tell you no! I thought you didn’t socialize.”

“Things change. People change.”

“My aunt is at home if you want to call her. She took over the night shift so that I could be with the kids in the afternoons.”

“How are things going for you?”

“I thought you didn’t care about anything anymore. Do you really want to know about my business?” If he thought that he could come in here and act like we never happened, like I hadn’t slept with him, he had another thing coming.

“It doesn’t have to be this way between
us Vessa. I never lied to you.” He hadn’t lied, but he sure didn’t have to give me false hope.

“I’m fine about what happened between us. It’s water under the bridge. We had a one night stand. I’ll chalk that off of my bucket list and move on.”

“I’m sorry if I hurt you. The timing was wrong.”

I held up my hand to make him stop talking. “I’m a big girl, Ramsey. We slept together once, it isn’t like I fell in love with you. Just drop it. You want to come in here and shoot, so be it. I’m just telling you right now that I can’t be your friend.”
Did I just say the “L” word? Had I really let myself fall in love with this broken man?

It killed me to say it out loud and to talk like that night hadn’t been one of the best moments I had ever experienced. The whole situation had hurt me when I was already at my lowest point.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but I understand why you do. I’ll call your aunt to make sure it’s alright for us to join. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

When he finally walked out the door, I buried my face in my hands and started to cry. Who was I kidding? My feelings for Ramsey were still there and maybe even stronger from the time that had gone by. I missed seeing him and trying to get the truth out of him. I missed the way he kissed me and how he touched me.

Two nights later I was sitting with my partner waiting to see if he was going to show up. I couldn’t imagine who had offered to be his partner. Since we had five teams before they joined, their team made it even and nobody had to sit out. Unfortunately, the way the schedule fell, I had to shoot him first.

When he came walking in, my heart stopped. Beside him was a tall brunette. Her hair was down her back and she looked like
a damn model. She was smiling at something he said.

My eyes met Ramsey’s and I knew that he knew I was jealous. He threw me a wink and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t going to let him get to me. I’d tried so hard to be there for him when he pushed everyone else away. Now, he was going out and doing things in public with some beautiful chick at his side?

I grabbed my stick that had belonged to my father, and headed toward the two of them. My partner hadn’t showed yet, so I had to go about things all alone. “We should flip to see who breaks.”

Ramsey leaned into the table, so nobody else could hear us. “How long are you going to pretend that the night we spent together didn’t change things?”

“Says the guy who came here with another woman and disappeared for weeks, after he told me that he couldn’t be with me,” I whispered.

“If you’d let me explain then you wouldn’t be so mad about it,” he said under his breath.

“I’m trying not to think about that night anymore. Can we just play this match before everyone in this place thinks something is going on between us?” I didn’t get why he was doing this when he was with someone else. Was he trying to torture me more?

“
That would be a bad thing?” When I raised my eyebrow he shook his head. “Fine, I call tails, because in those jeans all I can think about is the way you looked when you were naked on top of me.”

I was shocked that he’d said something like that to me. This couldn’t be the same man that I fought to get to know. This man was cocky and sure of himself. I flipped the coin and rolled my eyes. “It’s heads. I guess you lose.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” He walked back over to his partner and right away I felt jealous. I never met the woman and I already hated her. She was with Ramsey and as much as I was fighting my feelings for him, seeing him brought them all back.

I wanted him.

I wanted to touch him and feel his naked body against mine again.

I was so relieved when my teammate finally came walking over, because I was about to walk over and just put myself out there.

We played our match, but the female and I never spoke. Since it was only one shot partners, Ramsey wouldn’t be able to tell my skill level. Luckily my teammate shot better than usual, so he never noticed that I was the higher ranked player.

Still, I couldn’t help but notice that he just kept staring at me. I tried to act like it wasn’t bothering me, but the truth was, it was driving me crazy.
After we played two of our five games, I excused myself to the bathroom. I didn’t really have to use the restroom, but I did need to catch my breath. He was making me crazy and I think he knew it. Hell, I think he was doing it on purpose.

When I hea
rd the bathroom door opening, I just figured it was another female coming in to use the facilities. Hands wrapped around my waist and I was instantly spun around to be face to face with Ramsey. “You can’t be in here.” I never moved away from him.

“I need to talk to you.”

“People are waiting for us. You’re here with someone.” When I said that it made me upset and I pulled away from him.

“If you’d hear me out, I think it would make a world of difference.” He was so
adamant about me listening to him. I just couldn’t deal with hearing that he’d moved on.

“No!”

He grabbed me and pulled me back into his arms. Our faces were only inches apart. I could feel him breathing. His lips were so close. I could feel my eyes starting to close, like I was waiting to accept my kiss. Instead of feeling his lips against mine, He moved his mouth next to my ear. “When you’re ready to listen, you know where to find me. I’m not going anywhere.”

He left me in that bathroom panting for him. There was no way in hell that I could handle being around him once a week like this. It was going to kill me.

Chapter 15

Ramsey

It had taken me a while to begin to get my shit together. After
my visit the girl’s gravesites, I had to face my family that I had shut out of my life. I knew that they were also devastated after the girls died, but I chose to run away rather than face them day in and day out.

Jules’ parents weren’t that happy to see me again. I had words with her father and made her mother cry. After we all got what we needed to say out,
we were able to make amends to the best of our abilities. Since we never got along great, I knew they would never forgive me. It didn’t matter. This trip was about being able to forgive myself.

My progress continued to be slow moving until I realized that getting help was the only way I was going to be able to live a real life again. While back in my hometown, I decided to look into
grief groups. I went into my first one with sweaty palms and nothing to say and when I came out, I had a group of people who knew exactly what I had been going through.

After a few more meetings, I was able to share my pain openly with others. The urge to drink seemed less necessary as each day I took another step toward moving forward. Being back in my parents home, made it feel like Jules and Katie were all around
me. My mother was so happy to see me that she cried every time I was around. I didn’t think about how much my leaving had hurt them. They hadn’t just lost my girls, they’d lost me too.

After spending a whole week there, and getting as close to my girls as I possibly could, I still couldn’t get my mind off of Vessa. My late night memories were filled with the night we’d spent at my cabin. I longed to be able to touch her again, even when I knew that each day that passed was probably getting me further
and further from that ever happening again.

I’d taken a week of personal time from my job after the whole article about my family came out. It wasn’t like the town was burning down with crime sprees. When I came back, people weren’t treating me any different. To follow through with moving forward, I found a counselor that I could see once a week, to help me cope with my situation.

Every step I took was to work toward being the man that I once was. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to be with Vessa again, but if I did, I wanted to have my head on my shoulders. With two kids to raise, she didn’t deserve to be strayed along by someone who was unsure of themselves. As a father, I wouldn’t want that myself.