Dante's Way (7 page)

The faster Amara ran, the fainter the sound of Griffin’s voice got behind her until she could no longer hear it. Once she got inside of the park, she headed straight for the iron bench where Liam had found her the first night she slept on the streets. The sight of him and Theresa still sitting there waiting for her was a welcoming sight. Her two best friends always had an instant calming effect on her racing nerves.

“Liam, Theresa. I’m so glad to see the two of you here.” Amara gasped as she ran around the bench and stopped in front of them.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked concern ringing out in his voice as he jumped up from the seat. “You’re late and you’re never late.”

“I ran into a problem.” she answered, sitting down next to Theresa. “One of the guys from the bar caught me outside
Inked,
the tattoo shop on Scherm Ave. I thought he wouldn’t recognize me, but I was so wrong.”

Placing her hand over her pounding heart, she took several breaths trying to calm down. She had gotten away from Griffin. He hadn’t followed her into the park, so everything was good on her end.

“Oh God, Amara are you sure that you’re okay?” Theresa questioned, touching her on the leg. “Liam told me about the jerk who wanted to call the cops on you.”

“I’m okay,” she assured her friend, patting her hand. “I was only caught off guard by him. I truly wasn’t expecting the guy to remember me. I mean I was only around him and Dante for probably no longer than ten minutes.”

Theresa placed her other hand on top of hers giving it a squeeze. “Amara, I hate you‘re still living out here on the streets begging and stealing food. Why don’t you move in with me? I have an extra room at my condo.”

Easing her hand away, Amara frowned at Theresa. “When did you get a condo? I thought you were staying with Ike across town at his place?”

“Ike got it for me last week for doing such a good job for him. He told me that he couldn’t have his best girl without her own place. Please stay with me,” Theresa said, grabbing her hand again. “The place is so big and he only comes over twice a week to tell me where to go now. I don’t like being there all by myself. We can have a girl’s night anytime we want.”

Without hurting Theresa feelings, Amara tried to think of a nice way to turn down her offer. She didn’t want to be anywhere Ike could show up at any given minute. He wanted her to become one of his ‘girls’ and she wasn’t interested in using her body to gain shelter and food.

“Theresa, I—” she stalled still searching for the right words to say.

“Didn’t I tell you not to bring that up to her?” Liam jumped into the conversation. He took a seat on the other side of the bench next to her. “She doesn’t want to live under the same roof as you and the men you take care of every night. Why would you ask her to lower herself like that? What is wrong with you?”

“How dare you judge me, Liam? You don’t know all of what I went through living out here before Ike took me in. If you have a problem with what I do to stay warm and keep food in my stomach then I shouldn’t be around you,” Theresa hollered getting up from her seat.

Amara grabbed her friend by the arm preventing her from storming off. She hadn’t seen Theresa in weeks and she didn’t want her to leave before finding out what else was going on with her.

“Theresa, please don’t leave. I want to know where you have been. You know how much I worry about you.” Theresa yanked her arm out of her grasp and then shot Liam a hard look. “Amara, I would love to catch up with you but I don’t want to get another lecture from the ‘high and mighty I-never-do-anything-wrong’ Liam over there.”

Amara looked at Liam and then back at Theresa. “Can’t you just ignore him? You know how protective he can be about the two of us.”

“I know you and Liam can't stand what I do for a living, but I can’t be like the two of you,” Theresa said. “Sleeping on the cold ground underneath boxes and a garage bag isn’t something I can handle. Both of you know how difficult it was for me before Ike came into my life.”

Amara believed Theresa’s life had gotten worst since Ike took an interest in her, but her girlfriend didn’t see it the same way as they did. She was too blinded by what he had already done for her, not seeing what it was costing her now every time she went with one of those men. It seemed like the best part of Theresa was disappearing.

Ike had approached her more than once offering his ‘
help
’, but she wasn’t crazy or desperate enough to take anything that asshole was offering out of the goodness of his heart. Did he actually think she was dumb enough to let him into her life?

No way in hell
!

Both of her parents would turn over in their graves if she allowed herself to be used that way each and every night. She might be starving and cold most of the time, but she wasn’t down or out enough to be a ‘professional escort’ like Theresa.

“Please stay. He isn’t going to say another word to you. I promise,” Amara said, giving Liam a glance over her shoulder. “Can’t you stay here for a little while longer? I’ve missed talking to you.”

Sighing, Theresa ran her hand through her curly, black hair. “I know I’m going to regret staying here, but I can do it for a few minutes.” Retaking a seat back on the bench next to her, she pulled the hem of her short skirt over her knees. “So, besides getting chased down the sidewalk by some strange guy, what other trouble have you gotten yourself into lately?”

“I haven’t been doing much at all. I’m looking for a new spot to sleep now. I’ve spent enough time taking shelter behind Mr. Lee’s cleaners. It’s not safe there anymore,” Amara answered.

From the corner of her eye, Amara noticed how Liam was watching the both of them like he was dying to tell them something. Liam kept so many secrets from her that she never knew what he was thinking about. He wasn’t big on opening up to people because he thought in the end no one was going to be there for him.

“Liam, come and sit down beside us. I want all of us to have a good conversation,” she said. Amara hated when he isolated himself away from them. She missed her fun-loving friend.

Liam shook his head causing a lock of his hair to fall across his forehead. She only had two best friends to confide in and losing either one of them wasn’t an option.

“I’m sorry I can’t do it. I was trying to talk Theresa into leaving Ike before you ran up to us,” he admitted to her. “I won’t stay here and pretend that I’m pleased with the way she earns her money. You can do it, but I’m out of here.”

Taken back by Liam’s surprising outburst Amara sat and watched as he turned around and stalked off away from her and Theresa. He headed back down the jogging path without even saying goodbye to either one of them. She wondered if something else was going on with Liam that he wasn’t telling her. In all of the time she had known him, he had never lost his temper like this with them.

Something had to be going on and she would find him later to find out what it was. He might open up more to her if Theresa wasn’t around since it was usually just the two of them.

“What’s his problem?” Amara asked, glancing back at Theresa.

Theresa shrugged her shoulder. “I don’t have a clue. He was already in a bad mood when I met him here. Go after him because I know you want to and he’ll tell you what’s bothering him. He never opens up to me the way he does you. I know how close the two of you are with each other.”

“Are you sure?” She worried about Liam’s state of mind.

Amara wanted to go after Liam, but she couldn’t just leave Theresa like she wasn’t important to her, too. She was the only female that befriended her the first week Liam had introduced her to everyone. For some reason, the other homeless girls found ways to push her out of their close knit groups. It was almost like they found stupid reasons not to want her around them.

“Yes, I’m positive,” Theresa answered “Anyways, Ike is probably waiting for me at the condo. He doesn’t like it when I’m gone too long for a visit with my old friends.” Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, Theresa got up from the bench and walked off towards the other side of the park where the parking lot was located, disappearing from sight.

Amara quickly looked back towards the walking trail for Liam, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. Why did she think he would still be at the park? Once he walked off in one of his fits, Liam could be gone for days and he usually ended up being the one who found his way back to her.

Since her day was already ruined, Amara decided to visit one of her favorite haunting spots where she generally ended up making a couple of bucks. Hopefully, she would at least get enough money to buy something to eat from one of the vendors near the beach. None of them cared if she came around as long as she had money in her pocket to buy some food.

Getting off the park bench, Amara walked back across the grass. She knew of a short cut to get to her destination so she wouldn’t be unlucky enough again to run into Griffin. If she never saw him or Dante again it wouldn’t bother her in the least. They were trouble waiting to happen for her.

****

“How did you let her get away from you?” Dante asked, watching Griffin as he fixed himself a drink. “I mean she isn’t that big. All you had to do was get her back here and I could have done the rest.”

“I can’t help it if she’s fast. I mean she was fine until I brought up your name. You really scare the hell out of that kid and, honestly, I can’t blame her.” Griffin took a sip of his drink and relaxed his back against the bar. “I mean you were going to toss her into jail. Homeless kids fear the mere idea of being locked up by the cops.”

Dante hated the fact Griffin was telling him the truth. “I bet if I talked to her she would see I didn’t mean her any harm.” His stubborn streak was kicking in, and the thought of throwing in the towel hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“You shouldn’t try to bother her anymore. I think it would be for the best if you left her alone.” Griffin tossed back the drink and then placed the empty glass on the counter. “Look, what you are trying to do is really nice but you need to let it go. Focus your attention back on the bar. I can’t keep working the extra hours here for you. She doesn’t want any help from either one of us. Just forget about it.”

He knew he had been putting more work on Griffin and Caleb than usual, but he wasn’t aware of how bad it had gotten for his buddy. As troubled as he was about the young girl living on the streets, Dante wasn’t about to let his business suffer from lack of attention.

If it was meant for him to help her than everything he tried would have worked out better. So, as of now the search for the homeless kid was over. His total focus would be back entirely on his first love which was his bar.

“You’re right. I’m done trying to make amends for how I acted that night. I can’t force anyone to accept my help who clearly doesn’t want or need it.”

Resting his elbows on the bar counter, Griffin leaned forward looking him directly in the eye. “I’m not sure if she would even listen to you.”

“I can’t disagree with you on that,” Dante admitted. “I wasn’t the nicest guy to her. This is why I’m not going to focus my time on the past but the upcoming pool tournament because I want it to be a huge success.”

“Damn, now that’s what I’m talking about,” Griffin shouted, slapping his hand on the top of the bar. “I was hoping you would snap out of this
save the girl
attitude of yours. You might have been too harsh on her, but you shouldn’t spend all this time trying to fix it.”

“I know and I’m done with it. I won’t spend any more time thinking about her,” Dante said, sitting down on a bar stool. “Have you heard back yet from the last two teams wanting to sign up?”

Griffin shook his head. “No, they’re supposed to get back with me later on in the week. One team is coming from Florida and the other one is from New York. I’ve heard both of them are highly competitive. If they actually show up, we should make a shitload of money.”

At first, Dante wasn’t too excited about holding this competition when Caleb and Griffin suggested it to him a few weeks ago. Instead of agreeing on the spot, he spent some time looking into it and saw the interest was still pretty hot. So, he decided to go with it as a promotional idea to draw more new customers.

He had already done quite well for himself, but getting more people through the front door was a sign of a good business man. Making this place the hottest bar in Los Angeles was his top priority and he wouldn’t stop until it happened for him.

“I’m more interested in getting everything perfect. This is the first huge event the bar has ever hosted. Nothing can go wrong or it will tarnish what I’ve worked so hard to achieve in such a short period of time,” Dante said.

Grabbing the liquor bottle in front of him, Griffin placed it back on the middle shelf of the counter behind him. “I know you have a lot invested into your business. I was taken back at first when you left the tattoo shop to do this full time; however, I invested my money with you because I knew you could make this place a success and you have.”

Turning back around his buddy looked at him. “Don’t worry so much. Caleb is right. You need to get out more and away from this place. Are you still seeing Bambi off and on?”

Dante wished he had never gotten involved with her. She thought a couple of dates together meant they should be making wedding plans. He was trying his best to put her in the far corner of his mind. Bambi was bad news and he was just happy he found out about her before it was too late. He didn’t want or need her riding his back every second of the day.

“Like I told Caleb, things with Bambi didn’t work out much to her disappointment. I can’t have someone like her in my life. We’re over and it’s going to stay that way. She isn’t the kind of woman I need.”

Doubt showed on Griffin’s face. “Are you really sure about this? I’ve heard you say this before about women and you ended up giving them another chance.”

He couldn’t disagree but those days were over. He was tired of being with a woman who thought her good looks were going to matter to him more than her character. “I’m done dating money chasers,” Dante confessed. “I want to find a woman who wants to work with me. Hayward and Clinton are married to the kind of women who we need to be looking for and not the Bambi’s of the world.”