Fate (11 page)

“Hey,” she said when she was close enough.

She hadn’t even realized it until that moment that like him, she hadn’t stopped smiling from the second their eyes met.

“Hey,” he responded
;
his dark eyes practically sparkled.

With her heart still galloping away
,
it nearly skidded to a stop when he held his arms up and outstretched them for her. “Do I get a hug?”

Grace
’
s words were immediately in her head.
Rosie
,
you said he’s just a friend. Promise me that’s all this is going to be.
Not only did Grace think Rose was too young for a boyfriend
,
she was worried about her little sister getting her heart broken. Rose was sure this fear stemmed from the horrendous pain Grace was still feeling from her own breakup
,
but she had to agree Vince had heartbreaker written all over him. Rose wasn’t about to add more worry to Grace’s plate
,
but she hugged him anyway. Hugs were harmless
,
right? She’d hugged some of her guy friends at school before. No biggie.

Feeling his strong arms wrap around her tighter than she’d expected then taking in the smell of his hair and feel of his warm skin against her face had her thinking twice. Being in his arms like this felt heavenly
,
and she prayed he couldn’t feel her heart punching through her chest.

He pulled his face away from her but still held her
,
looking in her eyes, the smile gone now. That tenderness she’d seen in his eyes at the shower made an appearance. For a moment she thought he might kiss her
,
so she pulled back. “You got here fast.”

She started toward the picnic table
,
her insides still going wild. Was he actually going to kiss her? He couldn’t. Could he?
No, no, no
. She promised Grace. The last thing she wanted was to upset Grace in any way right now.

“Yeah, it wasn’t as far as you and Sal made it sound.”

Rose sat on the picnic table that directly faced her and Grace
’
s bedroom window. She knew Grace would be worried when she woke and Rose wasn’t there. With that in mind she started to text Grace to let her know where she was.

“But I’m right here, Rose. You don’t have to text me
,
” Vince teased.

“I’m not texting you
,
”
s
he teased right back.

“So who
are
you texting?” His tone had changed a little
,
and she glanced up at him to see his eyebrow lifted
,
but he still smirked. “I’m just curious.”

“My sister
—she
was asleep when you got here. I just don’t want her to worry when she wakes.”

She sent the text then brought her attention back to Vincent. He hadn’t changed at all since she’d last seen him
,
but something had.
Completely
. While he’d unnerved her at the shower a few times with his flirtatious smirks and comments, she now felt more than unnerved. The excitement of being here with him was unreal. She really hadn’t thought she’d see him again and certainly not this soon. Sure
,
he was related to her sister’s boyfriend
,
and she figured at the time she’d run into him eventually
,
but with
his
being so far
,
she didn’t think it’d be often.

Her heart had done a few
somersaults
the day of the shower
,
but
that was nothing like
the way her heart felt now seeing the way he gazed at her. The fact that he’d come to see her and that he’d been good because he wanted to spend the summer here—near her—had her head spiraling now in delight.

She hadn’t actually expected to hear from him even after they’d exchanged numbers.
The texting had
turned into a daily thing
—day
and night
.
They’d
even
emailed
on subjects a little too long for texts
:
s
ubjects like the one she still had questions about.

“I’m still surprised Sal let you take his car to come see me. Grace told me about how adamant Sal was that you shouldn’t be trusted.”

She knew it was a sore subject for him. When he’d sent her the email explaining about his past
indiscretions
,
as he referred to them, there was no hiding the tone of it. He resented having to tell her. But he had to because he preferred she’d hear it from him and not his cousin
s
. Only the things he’d told her didn’t seem like quite enough to make Sal so distrustful. Yes, getting caught tagging was bad
,
but he explained it
,
and while she agreed he’d made a bad choice being there in the first place
,
he’d had the good sense not participate. He told her about a few fights he’d been in recently
,
and how his brother had been caught shop lifting
,
and
that
his mom
blamed
him. Not that Vincent had ever shoplifted but some of the guys he hung out with had
,
and Vincent had brought them around Lorenzo.

“It’s not his car. You kidding me? He’d never let me drive that thing. It’s the restaurant
’
s car
,
but I did have to make a few promises and was duly warned
again
about behaving myself.”

He hid the resentment pretty well behind that sexy smirk
,
but she could still see it. There was no hiding the anger deep in his eyes. There had to be more to this. “Can I ask you something pretty personal?”

He nodded
,
but his smirk slowly fell.

“I know you told me about the things you’d gotten in trouble for
:
t
he tagging, the fights, all that.” She shrugged. “As bad as those things are
,
I can’t help but think those are pretty typical for a teenager. Okay
,
maybe not the getting arrested part
,
but fighting and talking back to your parents and all don’t seem enough to make Sal
give
such serious warnings about you.” She tilted her head hoping he wouldn’t take it the wrong way. “Are you sure you’re not leaving anything out?”

His jaw locked
,
and she knew she’d touched a nerve. There
was
more. Rose sat up straight. As much as she liked Vincent and somehow she just felt like she could trust him, she needed to be sure. She owed it to herself and to Grace to make sure she wasn’t getting involved even just as friends with someone who might be dangerous.

Rose turned to look up at him
,
but he glanced away. “There is more
,
but I don’t want you to know about
every
stupid thing I’ve ever done. It’s in the past. I’ve learned my lesson and I’m straight now.”

Rose peered at him. His last comment made her think of the reality show on TV about thugs who go to a tough
-
love boot camp to be literally scared into going on the straight path. Some had done some horrible things. Surely Vincent couldn’t be
that
bad. Almost afraid to ask she did anyway. “What do you mean by straight?”

He jerked his head to meet her eyes wide open. “No
,
I didn’t mean it that way. I’ve always been
,
you know
,
straight in that sense. I just meant—”

Rose laughed at his misunderstanding. “I know that’s not what you meant
,
but there’s this show on cable called
Scared Straight
. Kids get sent to boot camp to get straightened out.”

“Yeah,” Vincent frowned
,
“I’ve seen it.”

“Some of
those
kids are pretty messed up.” Rose cringed, remembering the episode where one kid had tried to burn his own parents’ house down while they slept in
it
and the other kid who was caught bringing a knife to school he planned on using against one of his teachers. He said he wasn’t really going to do it
,
but he’d been in so much trouble already
,
they sent him on the show anyway.

“I can’t say I was much better.”

Vince
nt
glanced away again as Rose
’
s heart plummeted. “I wanna know.”

“Why?” He turned back to her now the sparkle in his eyes replaced by something much colder. “I’m not like that anymore.”

The mood had changed completely. She hated that she’d looked forward to this for so long
,
and now that may’ve all been for nothing because she couldn’t get involved with someone
that
messed up.
His looks alone
screamed bad boy. He had a tattoo at only sixteen
;
he carried himself with such confidence
that
the girls at her school would be all over him
,
and the boys
wouldn’t
dare mess with him. He cussed a little too much. He’d even admitted to smoking weed once upon a time
,
but he’d been smart enough to stop. All that
,
but he couldn’t possibly be a bad boy who’d plan
to
knife a teacher or blow up his parents’ house. Yet, here he was comparing himself to them.

She stared at him
,
hopeful that he could convince her somehow that he wasn’t
that
bad. He didn’t look like any of those kids on TV—didn’t talk like them. “Because I need to know what I’m getting myself involved in. You said it yourself in your email
that h
anging with the wrong people could be
perilous
no matter how much you try to not get involved.”

Tired of looking up at him
,
she stood up and moved from the bench, sitting
on
the table next to him. He turned to her. Sitting this close made her heart start
fluttering
again
:
a
feeling much more welcome than the hollowness she’d begun to feel just moments ago.

“Little by little I’ve shut a lot of people out of my life
,
”
h
e began
,
“
p
eople that brought nothing but trouble
.
N
o matter how many times they got busted
,
they never learned. Even some of the guys doing the tagging
that
are out now because they still don’t even know what the outcome of that incident is gonna be
,
are
already getting in trouble for other crap. They don’t learn. I don’t need that shit in my life. I have my brother to think about. For some reason his ass thinks I walk on water. Everything I do he wants to be part of.” He stared at his feet. “Do we really have to talk about this, Rose? I’m not proud of any of the stupid things I’ve done. I’d rather that not be the first real impression you get of me.”

Rose smiled. “You’ve already made an impression on me, Vincent
,
and it’s not a bad one
.
T
rust me. I get you’ve messed up a few times
,
but I really would like for us to start off completely honest. If we’re gonna be friends
,
don’t you think that’s how it should be?”

Vincent didn’t even try to hide his exasperation
,
but exhaling he conceded. “Yeah
,
it should. Just promise me that you’ll still be my friend. I’m really not that person anymore.”

The curiosity was killing her now. “I promise.” Though it depended on how bad this was. Only that would determine how often she’d be hanging with him
if
at all.

“Okay
,
so I got caught in a stolen car once
,
but at the time I wasn’t aware the car was stolen. I was just cruising with a friend who claimed he’d borrowed it. Since I wasn’t driving
,
they let me go and arrested my friend. Me and the other two guys in the car had to walk over fifteen fucking blocks home. Lesson learned. If my friend
’
s mom wasn’t so hysterical and made such a big deal out of us getting home so late
,
my parents would’ve never even known about it.
The driver is no longer anyone I hang out with.” He stared at her hesitating to continue. “I was…I was at party where a girl was gang
-
raped.” Rose noticed how he clenched his fist and banged softly his own thigh. “I didn’t even know about it
,
but when she went to the police
,
since I was there
,
I was called in. All my friends were, too. My dad was so scared he called my uncle. You know Sal and his family have a lot of money…lawyers and shit.