Down to Business (Business Series) (38 page)

“No, I mean now.” He shifted gears again and sighed.

I frowned, feeling guilty for having to depend on him so much. The last thing he needed was to worry about me on top of everything else.

“I have a few paychecks saved. I can use them for a down payment or I can call my dad and see if he can get me the car early…”

“Maybe I can see if my mother will let me borrow her Mercedes and I can let you drive this. Do you know how to drive stick?”

“I’ve only drove stick once, but I can learn.”

The closer we got to home, the more impatient he grew. He squealed tires as he pulled into the apartment parking lot and came to a quick stop. “Sorry, I can’t walk you up.”

“I didn’t expect you to.”

He had an iron grip on the wheel and tight lines of frustration on his face. He was freaking the hell out.

I reached over and took his hand, trying to calm him down. “It’s going to be okay, Vinny.”

He looked at me and hesitated, the irritation in his eyes slowly fading away. He frowned and squeezed my hand. “Thanks, I needed to hear that.”

I reached over and pulled his face close to mine so I could kiss his lips.

He returned my kiss and then looked into my eyes. “Sorry I had to cut our afternoon short.”

“It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“I love you, Autumn.”

I smiled, wondering if I would ever stop getting excited when he said that. “I love you too.”

I pecked his lips once more and slid out of the car, taking my backpack and shoes with me. I stood on the sidewalk and watched as he sped out of the parking lot.

That evening I rode the train to work with the anticipation of finding out what happened between Vinny and his father. When I arrived at Mazzolas, everything was as it should be, but Vinny was missing from the kitchen staff. The moment I stepped up to the hostess stand, Suz took me by the hand and led me off to a private corner to talk.

“Shit went down this afternoon, Autumn.” She whispered, frowning.

“What happened?” My stomach turned to a giant knot.

“Aunt Tina promoted Vinny to the manger of Mazzolas.”

I blinked. “Oh my god.”

“I know, but that’s not all. I guess Vivian’s father owned Mazzolas secretly all this time, and it was supposed to be given to give it to Vinny, but her father got greedy and wanted to keep a share of it in his family, so he told Vinny the only way he’d sign the documents is if Vivian was to have partial ownership.”

My eyes went wide. “What?!”

“I know, and he told Vinny that if he didn’t like the terms that he could just sell it back to Vinny’s father. So, to keep it out of his father’s hands, Vinny agreed to let Vivian have partial ownership. Aunt Tina was so pissed. Now Vinny’s father has heard about Vinny getting the restaurant and he is on Aunt Tina’s case. I just hope he doesn’t do anything crazy.”

I covered my hand with my mouth. “Oh shit, Suz. What do you think is going to happen?”

“I have no idea, but I have a feeling Vivian is going to be using her new position to her advantage so watch yourself around her.”

I looked over my shoulder. “Do you know where Vinny is?”

“No. Last time I saw him he was in his mother’s office and then he left out the back entrance. That was about thirty minutes ago.”

“Where is Vivian?”

“She left with him.”

I frowned and glared toward the entrance, feeling as if one-hundred butterflies had been released into my stomach.

Suz followed my gaze toward the door. “He’s fine, Autumn. Let’s just do our job and stay out of the way. I think he has enough to worry about right now.”

I nodded and reluctantly followed her back behind the hostess counter. Regardless of all the drama behind the scenes, Mazzolas was packed and there was no time to think about Vinny. I seated at least forty guests before nine PM and then I took my break and called Vinny. He didn’t answer so I texted him.

SUZ TOLD ME WHAT HAPPENED. ARE YOU OKAY?

I waited a minute for him to answer before I sent another text.

VINNY, PLEASE CALL ME WHEN YOU CAN. I’M WORRIED.

The knot in my stomach got even tighter when that text went unanswered too. Giving up hope of a response, I returned my phone to my locker. As I was standing there, I heard Tina having a heated phone discussion with someone in her office.

“What did you want me to do? Maybe if you weren’t such a greedy son of a bitch we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place!”

I swallowed and felt self-conscious walking past the door, so I waited, crossing my arms beneath my chest.

“You had no right to send anyone. Pinch Capino had better keep his nose out of my business. Do you want to go right back to prison for another ten years? Don’t send your thugs to handle my problems, do you hear me? Your son is handling it. Yes your son. Call him all the names you want but he has ten times the sense that you do.”

There was a pause and some banging around in her office. “I stepped down because I’m going to act as his attorney. We will get shit settled and out of their hands. It would be nice if you would stop sending your thugs to help. I need to go. Bye.”

I panicked as I heard her heels clicking toward the open doorway. I spun around and tried to escape back into the break room, but I wasn’t fast enough.

“Autumn?”

I pinched my eyes closed.

Shit.

I slowly turned around. “Yes?”

She narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously. “Have you heard from Vinny?”

Taken off guard by her question, I faltered. “Uh, n-no. I called and texted him, but he didn’t answer me.”

“Can you step into my office for a minute?”

I hesitated and held my breath.

“I’m not going to scold you. Come on.” She turned and headed back to her office.

Reluctantly I followed her inside.

“Close the door and have a seat.” She commanded.

I shut the door and settled into the nearest chair.

She dropped into the leather chair behind her desk and yawned while she rubbed at the dark circles beneath her eyes.

“Is everything okay?”

She gave me an irritated look. “As if you didn’t hear my conversation a moment ago.”

My face burned and I looked away. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Look Autumn. Let’s cut the bullshit. I know you know about what’s going on. Vinny told me everything.”

I blinked and grabbed the sides of the chair, my stomach clenching abruptly. “He did?”

“He did. I also know that you and he are apparently in some sort of relationship.”

“Oh.” I shifted my gaze to the paperwork on the desk.

“Regardless of how I feel about that…” she folded her hands over the papers on her desk. “He is going to do what he wants and now that he is managing Mazzolas,  I want to make one thing clear, I have enough grimy hands grabbing for everything I hold dear, I don’t need anyone else abusing their privileges around here so if you think you are going to use my son for his money or—”

“Look, I don’t care about the money,” I said, honestly. “I care about Vinny. I won’t do what Vivian did.”

She cracked a hint of a smile. “Good.”

“So he hasn’t called you either?”

She picked up the stack of papers before her and straitened them on top of the desk with a sigh. “No. I never thought Vivian’s father would pull some shit like this. My ex and Vivian’s father worked at a pizzeria together in high school. I thought I could trust him,” she shook her head as if she was still trying to comprehend it. “I really should have known better. Anyway, I just wanted to know if you’ve heard from Vinny.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

“Thank you,” she said rubbing her forehead and looking over the paperwork on her desk. “You can keep your phone on you tonight, just in case. You’d better get back to work.”

I stood up and left the office. I felt relieved that I finally broke the ice with Tina, and even more so that she semi-approved of Vinny and I. I made a quick stop at my locker to get my phone. When I returned to the hostess stand, Suz was off seating some guests and every table was almost full.

I spent the next hour doing whatever I could to keep my mind off Vinny. I even cleaned the whole hostess counter area. When it was finally eleven, and I still had no texts or calls from him, I was ready to start looking for him myself. Suz offered me a ride home and since I was in no mood to take the train and it was starting to drizzle, I took her up on it.

On the ride home, I went from worried, to frustrated, and by the time we reached the apartment parking lot, I was thoroughly pissed off. I thanked Suz for the ride and headed upstairs. I walked into the apartment and found Lindy in the bathroom getting ready to go out.

“Hey!” she called out, clamping her hair in a straightener as I marched past the bathroom door. “How was work?”

“Crazy.” I answered, going into my room. I tore off my work clothes and changed into a pair of soft cotton pajamas. She came in with half of her make up done and leaned on the doorframe.

“I’m going to a frat party if you want to come? I need a rebound.”

“No thanks.” I took my hair down from its ponytail and brushed it aggressively.

“Are you in a bad mood?”

“Yeah. There’s a lot of drama at work. Vinny was promoted tonight. He is now the owner and manager of Mazzolas. And he had to give partial ownership to Vivian. He left Mazzolas in a pissed off mood around seven and no one has heard from him since.” I swallowed, unable to stop the emotion in my voice. “He hasn’t called me or answered my texts…what if something happened? His dad was pissed about the promotion and he is a major asshole, what if he did something to him?”

“Oh shit. His dad got out of prison?”

I nodded. Just the thought of him hurting Vinny caused tears to spring to my eyes. I drew a deep breath to keep them in check.

“Auti, don’t cry.” She said grabbing me and pulling me against her. The smell of her hairspray burned my runny nose. “Vinny is probably just overwhelmed, yanno? He was stressing about taking over Mazzolas even before you knew him.”

I pulled back and shrugged. “I just figured he’d call me.”

“Do you want me to call Vivian? She might know where he is.”

I glared at her and then I remembered his mother mentioned they left together. “I guess you could. She supposedly left with him.”

I was beyond desperate.

Lindy walked back to the bathroom to get her phone. She returned to my doorway a minute later with it pressed to her ear.

“It’s ringing,” she whispered and placed her fingers against her lips all serious like.

I held my breath and waited.

Her eyes got wide. “Hey Viv! It’s Lindy.”

My heart pounded and I clutched my brush in my hands.

“Sorry for calling so late, but I was wondering if you’ve heard from Vinny? I guess he never came back to work tonight?” She glanced at me. “Oh, really? You guys talked in the parking lot and then he drove off? Did he say where he was going? No? Okay. Autumn said everyone was worried, so I thought I’d call and see if you knew anything. Are you going to Delta Nu’s kegger tonight? Yeah I am. I think it’s time for a rebound. Tyler can kiss my ass. I haven’t talked to him since I gave his little whore a black-eye.” She bragged and walked out of my room.

I glared after her, insulted that she was actually having a conversation with my mortal enemy. I followed her into the bathroom and leaned on the doorframe, glowering. She did even notice me as continued to ramble while she applied her mascara.

“I know!” she cried, clamping her lashes with a curler. “I hate that professor with a passion. I was like, I know how to fucking take blood pressure, why do we need to be tested three-hundred times?”

“Lindy,” I finally growled.

She looked over at me, and removed the curler from her eyelashes, blinking rapidly. “What?”

I gave her an ‘are you dense’ stare and she rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I need to go. I’m trying to finish my make-up. Thanks, I’ll need all the luck I can get. See you around.”

She hung up and looked at me. “What? Don’t give me that look. You wanted me to call her. You should really come out with me tonight.”

I rolled my eyes and walked back to my bedroom, feeling worse than before. If Vivian didn’t know where he was either, that lowered the chances he was okay. I fell upon the bed and curled up into my pillows, trying to squelch the worry gnawing my stomach raw.

Lindy came in a few minutes later and dragged me off the bed and into her room to have me help her pick out an outfit to wear. After three outfit changes, she settled on a bubble-gum pink cocktail dress that enhanced her cleavage with silver stilettos. I never understood how she walked in them, but she pulled it off.

“How do I look?” she asked, staring at me through the reflection in her full-length mirror.

“Amazing.”

“I wanted to hear Beautiful. Gorgeous. Make that-drop dead gorgeous.”

“All of those too.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hey if I bring someone home, don’t kick them out of the bathroom in the morning while they are trying to shower.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Ha. Ha.”

She smirked and stuck her tongue out.