Fate (9 page)

Vince continued toward the back of the building
,
still lost in his thoughts of Rose. He hated that she was feeling guilty. One thing he’d gotten to know about Rose in the past weeks was that as sweet and faultless as he still thought her to be, her life wasn’t
as
perfect as she was. Her mother
,
from what little she’d told him
,
was a real piece of work.

According to the little he’d gotten out of Rose about her mom
,
the woman had never showed any interest in anything she did. Growing up
,
she’d barely bothered to show up to any of her school events or soccer games. Basically
,
Rose considered Grace more of
a
mother figure. Her stepdad sounded like a perverted douche too, only she at least hadn’t mentioned any violence like with Anita’s dad. Still
,
as things with Grace and Sal had gotten more and more serious
,
Rose worried about Grace marrying and leaving her to fend for herself. She’d admitted this to Vince but made him swear not to ever tell anyone that she secretly wished things would slow down for them.

Vince was sure she had never wished they’d break up. Even if she had deep down inside, Vince understood why. He was certain that if she’d had even the faintest hint that her sister would be this devastated about it
,
she would’ve never wished it
,
n
o matter how bad it would’ve made Rose’s life. In the short time he’d known Rose
,
he knew she was as close to Grace as he was to Lorenzo. Vince would do
anything
for him.

Later that night
,
Vince got the text he’d been waiting for from Rose:

She says she’s okay with me continuing my friendship with you
,
and she’s claiming she’ll get over this
,
but I can see it in her eyes. This is tearing her apart.

Vince thought about Sal bringing Grace to meet the family. As far as he knew this was an absolute first for him. He wondered what could’ve gone wrong but decided if Rose wanted him to know
,
she’d tell him
,
so he wouldn’t pry.

I’m sorry to hear it. All I can tell you is I’m pretty sure this was the first time Sal had brought any girl to meet the family. I’m certain that has to mean something. Maybe this isn’t the end.

His phone beeped only seconds after he’d sent his message.

It’s so over! He FUCKED up. And honestly
,
I hate him now. So I’d rather not talk about it anymore if you don’t mind.

For Rosie to respond that quickly and use that kind of language
,
this had to be
bad
. Right there
,
Vince decided he didn’t want to know. His first thoughts were that Sal had cheated. As unlikely as that seemed, the only thing he could think of worse than that, that might have sweet Rosie cussing
,
was that he’d struck Grace. But unless he’d heard it straight from Sal himself
,
Vince would
never
believe that. He may not be very close to his cousins
,
but one thing he knew
was that
as fast as all of them would be to kick some ass for the women in their family or for each other, none would ever lift a hand to a woman. So he was left with the former.

Ironically
,
Vince
was now hoping Rose wouldn’t take that one personality flaw in Sal that she obviously loathed and associate it with
him
just because they were related. He almost chuckled. He never thought he’d see the day when he hoped being related to the perfect La Jolla Morenos wouldn’t cramp
his
style and not the other way around.

He was distracted for a moment when he heard Anita’s dad booming outside his window and then Beto’s cries.
Fucking asshole
. He hated to cut Rose short
,
but it was getting louder next door
,
and Lorenzo was already standing by the window. He texted her quickly before Lorenzo got any ideas.

Okay
,
no more talking about it. I gotta go for now
,
but will you be up a little later?

He smiled when she responded that she would be
,
but the smile was immediately replaced with a frown when he heard a door slam coming from Anita’s bedroom window. Lorenzo was already climbing out onto the fire escape.

“Hey, get your ass in here.”

Lorenzo turned to him
,
looking just as concerned as Vince felt. For years now this had been going on. Anita’s dad would get home drunk
,
and if anything set him off which was usually the case
,
he’d take it out on Anita and the boys. Anita always took the brunt of it because she was quick to throw herself in front of her brothers. The door slamming meant one thing. Her dad was done
,
and he’d slammed her door shut. It was over
,
but Vince knew she was probably crouched in the room now
,
not even able to cry because she’d be busy consoling her brothers.

Vince grabbed the bag of unopened
H
ot
C
heetos he’d brought in the room earlier before making his way to the window. “Get inside,” he ordered as he climbed onto the fire escape and joined Lorenzo. “I’ll go check on her.”

She lived directly across from him in the next building but one floor down. This was about the only thing he’d risk. He didn’t think he had a choice. A few of the times her piece-of-shit dad had beat
en
her
,
she’d been left with open wounds or lumps that required icing. Because she was too afraid to leave the room
,
Vince had climbed back up to his window and brought down the necessary supplies from his medicine cabinet or freezer. If anything ever happened to her because of unattended wounds—something he could’ve helped with
—he’d
never forgive himself. And he wasn’t about to let Lorenzo risk getting caught in her room by her drunk dad
,
so if he didn’t do this
,
he knew Lorenzo would.

Living in this area with their apartments so close and building
s
side by side
,
there was never any shortage of drama coming from one window or another. Over the years his parents had warned Vince and Lorenzo not
to
get involved. The crying and cussing coming from Anita’s window was nothing new to this building. There was plenty of this coming from other windows as well. Vince couldn’t save the world
,
but this was different. Anita was his friend. He couldn’t
not
get involved. He had to at least check to see if she was okay.

He climbed down the
ladder
then jumped over to her fire escape. Sneaking a peek into her bedroom
,
he made sure her dad wasn’t still in there. Pepe saw him and blinked
;
his tear
-
streaked face
was
a mess. The tough stink
-
eye expression from earlier
was
completely gone now as he stood next to Anita who sat in the corner of the room rocking Beto in her arms.

Holding up the bag of
H
ot
C
heetos, Vince smiled
,
hoping to make Pepe at least smile. But his lips didn’t even twitch. Vince climbed in
,
and Anita looked up, her eyes glimmering but no tears. There were fewer tears every time something like this happened
.
After all this time,
he knew most of the tears were from what her dad put her little brothers through having to watch him beat her
,
rather
than from any pain she felt
.

“You okay?” he whispered, handing the
C
heetos to Pepe and patting his head.

She nodded kissing the top of Beto’s head but said nothing. There didn’t appear to be any visible lacerations or bumps
,
but her cheek was bright red
,
making Vince clench his fist so tight it almost hurt.

“I wish you’d let me tell my parents
,
Anita. One of these days he’s really gonna hurt—”

“No!” She shook her head. “You can’t. We’ve talked about this. They’ll separate us. It’s just a few more years
,
Vince. As soon as I’m eighteen
,
I’ll move away and take them with me.”

“You really think he’s going to let you
go
without a fight?”

Anita glanced at Pepe who was now eating the
C
heetos as Beto moved off her lap and walked over to Pepe. Her eyes met Vince’s
,
and she gave him that look. She wouldn’t say it in front of them
,
but he knew what she was saying with her eyes. She’d said it many times before. Her dad didn’t want any of them.

Vince frowned
,
defeated, feeling completely helpless to do more for her. “
Y
ou sure you don’t need ice or anything?”

She touched her cheek. “No
,
it was openhanded
,
so I don’t think it’s going to swell,” she whispered even lower than she’d been whispering earlier. “He was mad about the boys still being up
,
but they wanted a snack.” She gestured to her brothers. “Thanks for the
C
heetos.
It’s n
ot exactly the snack I would’ve chosen for them
,
but it’ll have to do for tonight.”

Her weak little smile did nothing to alleviate the enormous urge he had to grab one of the bookends on her shelf, rip through that door
,
and beat her dad over the head with it. He took a deep breath
,
swallowing back his anger. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d had to calm himself
,
and from the
looks
of it
,
it
wouldn’t be the last. He just wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back or worse hold Lorenzo back
,
who was just as disgusted about the whole thing as he was.

Lorenzo stared at him
,
reaching out to help him as he climbed up the
ladder to
the fire escape outside their bedroom window. “She okay?

“Yeah, no lumps or open wounds this time
,
but he slapped her pretty
hard
.”

Lorenzo banged his hand against the fire escape rail. “What a pussy! You know one of these days
,
I’m gonna throw a fucking brick through his truck windshield when he drives up the street.”

“No you won’t.” Vince looked into his angry brother
’
s eyes. “I know it sucks
,
but it’s not worth it, Enzo. You could go to jail for something like that
,
a
nd for what? That piece of shit?” Vince glanced back down at Anita’s open window. “The other day she mentioned he’s been seeing some lady
,
and she’s noticed a small change in him
—a
small one
,
but it’s something.”

Lorenzo’s face contorted. “Who the hell would want date that asshole?”

Vince shrugged. “I dunno
,
but if it helps Anita and her brothers’ situation, I’m hoping he keeps dating her.”

They climbed back in the window. Vince picked up his phone and saw he had a text from Rose. He plopped into his bed ready for his nightly dose of Rose. They
’d
usually text back and forth for at least an hour before calling it a night. He clicked on the envelope
,
already anxious to read it.

I’m sorry I was so quick to say we couldn’t be friends anymore today. I had just found out about Grace and Sal
,
and I was so upset I wasn’t thinking straight. Forgive me?

Vince smiled
,
his insides warming as he reread it. Even after dealing with Anita’s ordeal and everything else that had happened that day—Rose
’s
being so upset, blaming herself and knowing she’d been crying
,
t
he most disturbing thing of all
that
still lingered in his subconscious
,
was the fact that she’d dismissed their friendship so easily. Now here she was apologizing for that. Rose Zendejas
was
what he’d thought from day one—faultless.