Hustle Me Read online

  I plugged in the address on my phone and was soon sitting in front of a bar. After walking all the way around the building and not seeing another entrance, I walked inside. An old man was shining a glass behind the bar. “Can I help you, kid?”

  What was with everyone calling me kid?

  “A guy named Joker told me to come see him about getting a repair done.”

  He shook his head. “Sure he did. Another charity case, I see. Take the hallway until you come to a set of stairs and go up. Knock three times and he’ll let you in.”

  After finding the stairs and standing at the old beat up red metal door, I was reluctant to knock, but I had nothing better to do and I wasn’t about to let that old man downstairs laugh at me.

  Joker answered the door promptly and smiled when he saw it was me. “Hey, kid, come on in. I was just cooking some dinner. You hungry?”

  I followed him into the open studio type apartment. The smell of something cooking filled my nostrils and I realized just how hungry I was. “A little.”

  He laughed and shook his head, while he grabbed an extra plate and sat it at the bar. After eating one of the best steaks I’d ever tasted, he got up and grabbed my stick, before taking it into another room. I finished eating and followed behind him. The room was set up with a couple machines. A few sanders were on one table and a bunch of long pieces of light wood were in a bin. “You make sticks?”

  “Yep, as a hobby. It keeps my mind off of things when work’s slow.”

  I walked around and looked at some of the finished sticks. The wood grain was amazing and I’d never felt a stick that was so smooth. “These are great.” I saw a price sticker and almost threw up my steak dinner. “Holy shit, this stick is two grand?” I put it back where it sat and backed away from the display case.

  Joker shook his head and kept working. “You probably don’t want to know how much the other ones are. They can run you a pretty penny.”

  “Obviously.”

  He was staying on task and never looking up at me being so nosey. “You got a place to stay kid?”

  I shook my head and looked down at the equipment. “Not really, but I was thinking about going home. I shot like shit and there’s nothing left for me to do.”

  “I could use a hand around here. If you’re interested, I got an extra room in the back. It ain’t much, just a mattress on the floor, but it’s yours if you want it.”

  This man was a stranger and aside from being really awesome at pool, I knew nothing about him. What I did know was that I wasn’t about to go home and face my father after failing so quickly. Did this guy know how desperate I was? I could be running from the law or something. While he slept, I could rob and kill him. This was real life. “Why are you helping me?”

  He smiled and shook his head. “My life had revolved around this game, kid. Let’s just say that if I could go back and change things, I would. Now, I just try to do the right things whenever I can. If I’m wrong about you, then don’t take offense, but I’m throwing you a bone and you can decide if you want to take it.”

  After thinking about it for only a few seconds, I agreed to be Joker’s assistant, but in doing so, I had no idea that the man was going to change my life.

  For the next year I worked alongside of Joker and learned how to make pool sticks during the day. At night, we’d shoot pool for hours and he taught me everything that I never even knew about billiards. I threw myself into my new lifestyle and learning how to get better. Eventually, I stopped talking to my friends and family and focused only on the game and my training. There was the occasional time that Joker would have people over and older women would end up in my bed. Not that I ever complained about that. It was always no strings attached and even they had things to teach me.

  Joker was also like a second father to me. Aside from him basically taking me in and giving me a job, he’d take me out to meet other pool players. He played high stakes games involving a lot of money. Some would even last over twenty four hours. Coffee became my best friend and the game was my infatuation.

  There was so much more than making shots to the game. It took precision and being able to maneuver each and every shot in my mind. I learned about positioning the ball after every shot and lining myself up for safeties and hard combinations.

  Joker insisted on me not playing for money the whole first year that I lived with him. Since he had taught me so much, I respected his decision, but when Valley Forge came around again, we were both registered and I was ready to show the world of billiards my improvements. It was my second chance at redemption and I knew if I failed again, that I wouldn’t want to continue on the path I was headed. I loved the game, but had been humiliated before and I just wasn’t about to have it happen again.

  I was so nervous when the day came, but managed to make it to the fifth round. Joker was still in the tournament as well, but he was waiting to play his next match and was acting as a coach for me. While the other guy I was playing was hiding my next shot, making it impossible for me to see my ball, I stood to the side contemplating what I was going to do.

  I looked around the large room full of people. They were watching my match and I could feel the beads of sweat running down my forehead. I was nervous and this shot was going to determine if I won something or nothing at all. Sure, I’d come far from how I shot the year before, but I wanted the candy pot and first place was where it sat.

  Joker came up behind me and told me a shot I needed to take, but the idea of him making that decision pissed me off. I’d played the whole match without his help and I wanted to finish it that way too.

  I went against his advice and tried a kick shot that was impossible to make. The cue ball missed the object ball within inches and the guy I was shooting ran out the rest of his balls like he could have done it with his eyes closed. The crowd of people cheered for the man that won, but all I could hear and see was Joker shaking his head and cussing at me.

  I knew I should have listened, but I was too damn stubborn to do it.

  When we got back home he screamed at me for having an attitude and blowing my chances of ever doing good. I was so pissed that I grabbed my things and left. I should have gone back, but never had the balls to admit that I was wrong.

  I started traveling around, playing at bars for money and getting better with each game. The lifestyle took over and with only maybe three people that I called friends, I found myself thinking back to the man that helped me get where I was.

  After five years, I was standing in front of the little bar owned by the guy that taught me everything I knew. I was ready to apologize to the man; to maybe have a clean slate with our friendship. It was something that I knew I needed to do.

  Chapter 3

  Charlie

  My day was going great. Zach and I had met in the morning and gone for a long run. I'd just climbed out of the shower when someone knocked on my door. I opened it while being wrapped in a towel, thinking it was just Zach or one of the girls from the building. Instead there was a guy with a tan messenger bag standing there, looking me up and down.

  I looked down and made sure the towel was covering all of the important parts before shooting him a rude look. "Can I help you, or are you just going to stand there staring?"

  He cleared his throat and finally brought his attention from my breast to my face. "Sorry, I have a certified package for a Charlene ...ugh..."

  Just hearing my full name ticked me off enough to interrupt him. "That's me. Where do I sign?"

  "Right on the x." He pointed to the spot.

  I grabbed the package and didn't wait for him to turn around before I closed the door and walked back into my room. I wasn't used to getting mail so I sat down on my bed and slowly opened the envelope.

  Dear Charlene Rose,

  We are trying to reach you regarding the last will and testament of Joseph J. McNally. Please contact the law offices of Ridgely and Denton to set up an appointment regarding this matter. Our office hours are Monday thro
ugh Friday, eight to five.

  Sincerely,

  John P Lachey

  Attorney at Law

  It wasn't the letter that had me flabbergasted, it was the name that the letter was referring to. For as long as I could remember I had been having nightmares of a man named Joe. Before my mother died, she had insisted that there had never been a Joe in my life. Now I was receiving a legal document stating that I was a part of a will that happened to belong to a man named Joseph.

  Elle came in and saw the look on my face.

  She gave me a curious look. "What's up, bitch?"

  I rolled my eyes. I just wasn't in the mood for her sarcasm. This was too unreal for me to laugh about anything. The room started to spin and I could feel the bile making its way back up my throat. "I think I'm going to be sick." I dropped the letter on my bed as I ran to the bathroom and threw up my breakfast. All throughout my life I'd read and heard of secrets that people took to their grave and suddenly it was like all of the air had left my body when I read that name Joseph. As I sat on the cold bathroom floor, hovered over the toilet, I thought about that name. Who was this man and how did he know me enough to have left me something in his will? Was he the evil man who had haunted my dreams for my whole life? If I'd had any inclination of not seeing this through, it left me the moment I realized I had to know more.

  My heart was still racing as Elle walked into the bathroom. "Are you pregnant?"

  My eyes flew open. "Of course not! I just...it's just...I don't even know what to say right now. I'm not pregnant! I think I'm just in shock." I put my hands through my hair and tried to grasp exactly what was happening. How could this man really exist? My mother and even my therapist had said he was a figment of my overactive imagination. Now there was this piece of paper showing me that there was possibly a real-life Joe.

  "Charlie, what are you being so dramatic about? Did Zach start dating someone? Is your friends with benefits arrangement over?"

  There were sometimes where I wanted to smack my roommate and this was one of those times. She wouldn't have even known about my arrangement with Zach, had it not been for her walking in on us. She wasn't even supposed to come home that night. How was I supposed to know that her and her boyfriend were going to get into a fight?

  "It has nothing to do with Zach."

  She put her hands on her hips and stood over me. "Spill it. You look like hell, so obviously it's something big. If you're not prego, then it must be something else huge and you know I love juicy gossip."

  I got up and started washing my face off. "You know I haven't exactly had the best of lives. I mean, all my life I've had problems with trusting people."

  She grabbed my arm. "If it’s that serious, you know you can trust me, Charlie. Girl, I would never betray that."

  I believed her. She'd been nothing but a friend to me. Maybe a little prissy at times, but always a friend. "I know. It's just hard for me to talk about when I don't exactly know what's going on myself. You see, ever since I was a little girl, I had these horrible dreams about this terrible man that hurt my mother and was coming after me. My mother used to tell me it was my imagination and he didn't exist. I always believed that, until this came today." I walked over and showed her the letter. She sat down on the bed and read it.

  "Okay, I'm kind of lost here. What does Joseph McNally have to do with anything? I mean, the guy’s dead right?"

  I grabbed the paper and played with the corners. "Yeah, but this could mean that the man I dreamed about was real and that I've been lied to by everyone I trusted. Why would my mother do that? Where was my father when this guy was around? It makes no sense. My parents were happily married. They never talked about a guy named Joe, not ever."

  Elle wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "Maybe you should just call the lawyer and see what it's about before you go all lunatic up in here. I mean, it could be a coincidence or something right?"

  I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

  "Cool, well put something of mine on. I'm taking you out tonight." I hated when she forced me to go out. I never had a good time.

  "I'm just going to call Zach and catch a movie or something."

  She pulled me up off of the bed. "I won't take no for an answer. We're going into town. There is a band playing at the tavern and I know the drummer. He's yummy and I don't want Tommy to know I’m interested. If you come with, then I can just tell him you are the one who's into him."

  "Since when did I agree to help you cheat on your boyfriend? What's so wrong with Tommy? I mean, every girl at school wants him."

  She leaned over and fixed her makeup in the mirror. "Nothing is wrong with Tommy silly, but he's just someone my parents expect me to be with. I want to have some fun, before I have to appease them. Tommy isn't about taking chances and if I want to skinny dip in a freezing cold lake with a hot tattooed drummer, well I'm going to do it."

  I had to giggle at how she made it sound like it was okay to cheat on her boyfriend. The truth was, he was probably doing the same thing behind her back. The lifestyles of the rich just boggled my mind sometimes. "Fine, I will go with you, but only because you won't leave me alone until I do."

  An hour later we were making our way across town. I think Elle applied her lip-gloss three times on the fifteen minute bus ride there. Her lips were going to be so slippery she wouldn't be able to even kiss someone without slipping off them. She did a double check of my short skirt and tugged my shirt down to show more cleavage than I already had. I don't know why I worried. I knew that my body was nice. Not only did Zach talk about it constantly, but I got whistled at frequently, even by other girls. My reddish brown hair was thick and I could wear it anyway I wanted since it was pretty long. The trait that kept the guys at bay had to have been my breasts though. I think I'd been a D cup since sixth grade and with my body being curvy in all the right places, it just added to the mirage. Did I think I was the hottest thing ever, not at all, but I did feel attractive, even if I was a broken little girl on the inside.

  One thing that I hated was wearing heels. The damn boots that Elle insisted that I wear were way too high and I was sure that by the end of the night, I was going to fall on my face, maybe more than once.

  The tavern was packed as usual and I recognized more faces than I wanted to admit. Elle pulled me through the crowd until we got to Tommy and his preppy friends. I watched all of them starting at my breasts and then ending at my legs. I know I wasn't the only girl to have a two hour conversation with a guy who never looked up from my breasts, but I wasn't exactly proud of it either.

  Since I'd worked so hard to get into school and maintain my GPA, it was important for me to have standards. Sure, Zach and I had a special friendship and I had considered that maybe one day it could be more, but he and I were both too involved with other things to give the attention to a real relationship. Our situation worked for us and it wasn't anyone else's business to judge anyway. In the past year, I'd been accused of being a lesbian, because I refused to date a few douchebags.

  I couldn't help but notice the drummer eying up Elle. She was trying to not look, but I caught her peeking. She leaned into my body. "Oh my God, Charlie, tell me he is not one fine piece of hotness. Look at his tattoos. Look at those eyes. I bet he has a huge cock."

  I giggled. "Why would you bet that? I don't even want to know how big his package is. You better not send me a damn picture either. The last time you did that I was in an exam and I almost screamed when it popped up on my screen."

  "If I didn't give you details then how would you even get by? You know you live vicariously through me. Speaking of being vicarious, I might need you to cover for me later tonight. You think you can do that?"

  I looked up at the drummer, who happened to be looking our way again. Obviously, Elle had already made arrangements to see this guy. "I will cover for you, if you come with me to the lawyer’s office this week. I don't want to go alone."

  She kissed me on the cheek. "Deal! I love you for this. You are fucking
fabulous, Charlie. Now come on, we're going to dance."

  For the rest of the night we drank and danced around the tavern, while the crowd got even larger. Even though I was out supposedly having a great night, my mind was still on that piece of paper and what it had to do with me. I wasn't going to be able to relax until I knew the truth.

  Chapter 4

  Jammer

  Five years was a long time to go without talking to someone that had helped me so much. Sure, I felt bad about it, but I needed time to grow up and forcing myself to be on my own gave me that freedom. I'm not going to even lie and say that it was easy. None of it was. Sure, I started out with a couple grand saved up, but money spends fast and a grand won’t get you far.

  The only thing I had going for me was the fact that I believed I was the greatest pool player to ever live and just having that attitude gave me the balls to go out and start hustling people for money. It sounds hard, but if you become good at lying, there isn't anything you can't lie your way into. It took me a few times to get the hang of it, but I became a pro at being someone else whenever I pulled out that pool stick.

  Sometimes I would use a false name, but as I really started bringing in the cash, I wanted to be known for my accomplishments and went by Jammer. I learned real fast that using my own name would only allow me a couple nights in one given town before everyone knew what I was up to. Several times, I was kicked out of an establishment. Gambling isn't permitted and if you piss off the right people, your ass is getting booted out before you can even collect your winnings. I learned that the hard way too.

  Luckily, in my travels, I'd run into several guys who were heavy pool players and they showed me a few tricks and ways to move from town to town without having to use any of my money. The best way was what they called Sugars.

  Sugars were chicks of all ages that hung out in billiard halls and bars looking to hook up with a guy. They almost always had their own place and with just a little bit of fake swooning would provide food, sex, a place to sleep and sometimes even laundry services. Yeah, it's a dickhead move, but I didn't really care. If it saved me money, then I was going to hook up with a Sugar in every city. I didn't have to answer to anybody.