Fate (25 page)

Knowing there was no way he could talk to her right now without saying something he might regret, he decided to go hang out with his friends. It’d been a while since he talked to most of them. Between school, work, and driving out to see Rose
,
he’d pretty much made them last in his list of priorities. Lately, even while at school and work
,
thoughts of Rose rarely escaped him. Right now he needed to relieve his mind of her at least for a couple of hours.

It wasn’t hard to find them. El Taco Loco up the street where two of his friends now worked was the place to be these days from what Lorenzo told him. “We get all the free chips and salsa we want.” Vince remembered that was what his easily-excited brother had mentioned.

Happy that Lorenzo was there and not somewhere else getting into trouble, Vince decided to treat his brother to dinner. Lately Vince had been pretty tight with his money since he was trying so hard to get the money together for a car. But tonight he was feeling generous. He had almost enough money saved anyway. In the meantime he was still relying on his dad to lend him his car to drive out to see Rose. But he told her just a few more weeks and he’d have his own car.

After catching up with the guys and eating his dinner
,
Lorenzo stood up and said he was out.

“Where you going?” Vince eyed him.

Lorenzo flashed him a grin and bounced his brows. “I got someone to see.”

Vincent pulled out his phone to check the time and saw the missed calls and unread texts from Rose. The annoyance he’d managed to forget for a while was back. Ignoring it for a moment
,
he glanced up at Lorenzo. “Get your ass home early, Enzo. Don’t make me come looking for you.”

His brother nodded and saluted him as he walked out of the restaurant. Knowing he had Rose to deal with still, Vince began to wrap it up and finish his food.

Most of the evening Vince thought Alfonso had been eyeing him kind of weird.
Now that Lorenzo was gone Vince
turned
looked up from his plate
and caught that same strange leer Alfonso wore on his face all night. “What?”

“
Nothin’
,
I just thought I knew you better is all.
”

“
What are you talking about?” Vince laughed taking one last bit
e
of his taco. Alfonso laughed now
,
too and stood up from the booth where he’d been sitting all night. “You still
i
n the
market
for some wheels?”

Now Alfonso had
Vince’s
undivided attention. Lifting his eyebrows in anticipation
,
he wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Yeah, why?”

“I know someone who might
get you a good
deal.” Alfonso smirked again. “That is
,
of course
,
if you’re willing to
deal
.”

Looking around
,
Alfonso motioned for Vince to follow him outside. Vince grabbed his tray
,
standing up and following his friend outside. He wouldn’t get his hopes up just yet. This could be something
,
or it could be one of his friend
’
s crap
-
ass ideas. But curious he’d hear him out.

Rose

At first
,
Rose worried that Sal and Grace were fighting. She’d heard their hushed conversation as they hurried from the kitchen to their bedroom and back out again. Then Sal was gone. She’d rushed out of the bedroom
,
ready to comfort her sister if in fact they had had an argument, something so foreign in their relationship. Ever since they’d gotten back together after their breakup
,
things had been nothing but blissful between them.

When Rose had walked into the kitchen
,
there was no denying something was wrong. Grace glanced at her then looked away just as quickly. Immediately concerned and remembering how tortured Grace had been during their break up
,
Rose’s heart sped up. She’d already been tense the entire evening ever since Vincent had hung up on her and hadn’t returned any of her calls or texts, but now this only heightened the stress she was feeling. Sal never left in the evening and never so suddenly.

“What happened? Where did he go?”

Grace began cleaning up the counter and cleared her throat. “Something’s happened
,
but I don’t have the details yet.”

Confused and growing even more concerned, Rose took another step forward. “Something happened? With who? Is it bad?”

Grace turned to Rose, her expression as concerned as Rose felt. “I don’t know, hon. You haven’t talked to Vince?”

Feeling her insides sink, her heart did a sudden leap. “Vince? What about him? Is he okay?”

Grace rushed to her. “He’s fine…I think.
It’s s
omething with their neighbor. Vince’s dad called. All he said
was
he needed money to help keep Vince out of trouble. It was all so rushed Sal barely had a chance to explain. But he was angry.”

A million things ran through Rose’s head. “Trouble? Did he say what kind of trouble?”

Rose couldn’t even imagine what Vince would be in trouble for
that was
bad enough Sal would have to be called. She began walking back to her room to retrieve her phone but slowed waiting for Grace to respond.

“I’m not sure…something about drugs.”

Rose’s heart nearly stopped
,
and she stared at Grace for moment before rushing off to her room. “There’s gotta be a mistake,” she said dismissing Grace’s words.

It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t. Trying again in vain to call him
,
her call went to voicemail. “Vincent, call me, please.” Her shaky voice finally broke, giving way to what had been building since he’d hung up on her earlier. Only now her heart was breaking. “I just heard about you being in trouble.” She wiped away the tears, feeling a sudden anger start up from deep inside. “They’re wrong
,
right?
Call me
. I need to talk to you.”

By the time Sal got home late that night
,
Rose had cried herself to sleep. The only news they’d gotten was when Sal called to update Grace
,
telling her he was on his way home and would explain when he got there. Rose insisted
that
Grace demand some kind of details—anything. She was dying to know what was going on
,
and Vincent wasn’t returning any of her calls.

When Grace asked
,
the only thing Sal said was that Vincent had been caught dealing again
,
and there’d been an altercation between Vincent and the girl’s father who he’d been dealing to. The man was threatening to call the cops on Vincent unless they paid him which to Rose’s relief Sal had. Only he said there was more
,
and he’d explain when he got home.

The fact that Vincent had been dealing again was enough to break Rose’s heart in a million pieces. What could he have been thinking? Didn’t he know that was something Rose could never accept? Didn’t she mean as much to him as he did to her? Already Grace had that look of disapproval all over her face.

As much as she wanted to stay up and wait for Sal to get home to find out more, exhaustion overcame Rose’s cried
-
out body. She woke in the morning
,
sitting straight up when it all came back to her.

Romero was in the kitchen with Sal and Grace when she rushed in after hearing their voices and
knew
everyone was already up. They all went quiet when she walked in.

“So what happened? Was he really dealing?”

Sal nodded his face stern. “Yeah, he was.”

Filled with incomprehension
,
she shook her head still unable to believe it. “But he’s not going to jail
,
is he?”

Sal and Romero exchanged glances then Grace spoke. “No, but he
is
going away.”

Rose’s breath caught the words taking a moment to register. “What? Where is he going?”

The panic sunk in fast. She needed to talk to Vincent
now
—
hear his side of the story. There had to be some kind of mistake.

“The Army, Rose.” Sal said matter of fact. “He’s enlisting today.”

Feeling the warm tear
s
drop down her cheek, Rose
’
s eyes went from Sal to Romero and then stopped on Grace. “Why?” The only people she’d ever known of who’d enlisted in the Army were gone for
years
. Why would he want to be gone—away from her—for years?

“It’s what the girl’s father and Vince’s dad agreed to,” Sal said. “The girl’s dad wanted him gone and punished. I offered to bring him here
,
but Vince’s dad said that would be rewarding him. I was able to convince him boot camp and the Army would straighten Vince out. It’s not a walk in the park
,
but it’s not jail
,
and it won’t ruin his life.
It m
ight even help save him from himself.”

“This was
your
idea?” Rose felt her insides warm. She was certain Vincent would’ve never agreed to this. Sal must’ve forced him. “
You
suggested he enlist? How could you?”

“Rose,” Grace’s voice was soothing yet cautionary
,
“Vince agreed to this. It was necessary.”

“Necessary?” Rose glared at Grace then brought her glare back to Sal. “Why? Because
you
said so?”

Deep inside
,
Rose had always
doubted
Sal
truly
believed in Vincent. He’d always thought him a thug even after he’d proven he wasn’t. She had no idea why Vincent would get involved in dealing drugs again
,
but she was certain there had to be a reasonable explanation.

The tears streamed down her face now. She hated Sal at that moment, almost as much she had when she’d found out he’d broken her sister
’
s heart
.
N
ow he was breaking hers.

“It was either the Army or go to jail
,
” Sal said as he stood up from where he was sitting. Walking his coffee mug over to the sink as nonchalantly as if he’d just confirmed Vincent would be leaving for a day
,
not years
,
only made her angrier. Then he turned and said the worst thing he could at that moment. “He brought this on himself, Rose. It’s time he mans up for his mistakes.
This will be good for him.
He’ll be back soon enough.”

Romero stood up as Rose’s jaw dropped. “Soon enough?” She said through her teeth. “When does he leave? I need to talk to him.”

“Normally it would take weeks to get him in
,
but Romero here has some connections that might get him in a lot faster.”

Romero’s smug smile only pushed her already fiery buttons. She was dying here and
,
he was smiling? “Why are you in such a rush to get rid of him, Sal?”

She knew she should be grateful to Sal for getting her boyfriend out of trouble
,
but how could she be grateful? Because of Sal, Vincent would now be leaving her—for
years
. Before Sal could respond to her lethal question
,
his phone rang.

“I gotta get this. It’s the attorney I spoke with last night,” he said raising an eyebrow
,
and he stepped into the other room.

Rose immediately turned to Grace. “Why is he doing this? Is he enjoying socking it to Vince?”

Thoughts of not being with Vincent for months and months suffocated her. How could Sal? How could Vincent damn it!

“It’s for the best, Rose.” Grace insisted. “Vince might’ve been looking at doing some hard time—ruining his life. This will actually do him good. And until then it’s probably a good thing that he’s away from you.”

“What?” Rose felt like screaming. Didn’t Grace remember what it was like when she and Sal had been apart? Grace knew how much Rose loved Vincent now. “That’s a real shitty thing to say, Grace
,
”
s
he cried. “Why would I want to be apart from him?”

Romero and Grace exchanged glances as the baby began to whimper in the monitor. Grace pushed away from the counter
,
but Romero held his hand up. “I’ll get him. You two should talk.” Without waiting for Grace to respond
,
he stepped out of the kitchen.