Hustle (Sample and Bonus Chapters)

1: Naive

A chorus of cheers greets me as I step into the tattoo parlor. I stop short and Rose bumps into my back, nudging me forward into the room.

Guys. Hot-large-guys. And lots of them. Most are standing, some are sitting, but they're all yelling, cheering, and it's focused on me. I'm speechless. Not once in my life have I walked into a room to this sort of reaction, and I'm not sure how to respond.

But they're greeting is like a wave of energy and I lift my hands in the air and do a little wiggle as I sing song. "Heeeyy."

The cheers melt into laughter and Rose tugs on my hand. "Stop." She drops her head to my shoulder, covering her face. "What are you doing?"

I drop my arms the moment the laughter starts, noticing too late the man who had entered behind us. I don't know how I missed him, he's a big dude, I only come up to his chest. His eyes are shaded under the brim of his snapback, but he's smiling, dimples showing in that strong jaw line.

He's still holding the door open since I'm still standing in the entrance making a complete ass of myself.

I shuffle my feet, trying to scoot Rose and I further into the shop, not able to take my eyes off that beautiful face. "Sorry," I squeak out between embarrassed laughter, not really caring too much.

It's clear now that the cheers had been for him, but he's ignoring his fan club at the moment, still looking down on Rose and me.

"Honest mistake, you know? People get so excited when I show up; I thought this was for me. But, I see now, you have the same affliction." Rose was tugging on my arm, trying to pull me away, but I resisted. I have no flippin' clue why because I should have just walked away, but an awkward tick kept me spewing bullshit. "I should have realized though. It's usually a much bigger deal when I walk in, people go crazy and throw money at me and" God, shut me up now.

"Mm-hmm" He nods at me, that twist of his lip affirming that I sounded just as crazy as I thought I did. He steps forward, nearly touching me, the warmth from the night cutting off as the door closes behind him. His cologne fills my senses, and it smells great, I want to inhale him. "You get money thrown at you?" He speaks low, almost a whisper, but it sounds dead sexy- even if he's teasing me.

My face has to be beet red, my cheeks are burning, but I laugh through it. "All the time."

"Interesting." He inclines his head a bit towards me then walks over to the group that had originally yelled for him. They engulf him in their circle, saying things I don't hear as I replay the past few minutes in my head, a rush of blood coursing through me.

"Oh. My. God. Brook. What were you thinking?" Rose pulls me to the counter on the opposite side of the room. "Do you have any sort of filter at all?" her stern voice cracks as she tries to keep the laughter from it. "Do you know who that is?"

I glance back at the group. All tall, all large, but not all fit, some are very round. "They're football players, right?"

Her eyes widen. "Yes. They are football players." She nods to the group. "But the one you basically told you're a hooker to is Andrew Fayden."

I don't know what shocks me more, her accusation or the name. I'd been hearing that name all week. "I never said I was a hooker."

She raises one dark eyebrow, white surrounds her hazel eyes as they widen. "No, you just said you get money thrown at you." She shakes her head and the tip of her tongue shows between her teeth as she laughs. "Forget about it." Looking at the empty counter in front of us, she frowns. "Looks like we might have to put off the tattoo though. They must be keeping the place busy tonight."