High Stakes (8 page)

My face burns in embarrassment. I can’t bear to reveal how fucked up my mother is. “She needed me to pay some bills,” I mutter.

“She couldn’t just ask for that on the phone?”

I can’t even look at him. My voice sinks even lower. “We don’t have the best relationship.” There’s a lot more to it than that, of course, but he doesn’t need to know that.

I’m glad when Vincent seems to sense that the topic makes me upset, because he backs off on any more questions.

It’s Blackjack today. I’m starting to recognize some of the players, but there’s a new guy I don’t recognize. He has a receding hairline and glasses. His body seems oddly still, and I can’t help but notice how he watches all the other players. He doesn’t engage in conversation because he’s completely focused, watching the cards fly out of my hands, his foot tapping. A two of spades is dealt to the man on my left. His foot taps. A six to the next one. He taps again. A king flies to the next man and he yells in triumph, but there’s no tap of his foot. Another four. Tap.

Alarm bells ring inside me and I look for Vince, but he’s across the room. I try staring at him, but he’s not looking at me. No matter, there’s a guard behind me.

I turn around, smiling. My hands shake a little. “Could you get me a drink of water?”

It’s the phrase Vincent told me to use if there was ever any problem. The guard nods and disappears from the table without attracting the card-counter’s attention. I watch him slide against Vincent, whispering something in his ear. He shrugs when Vincent asks him something. Both of them make a beeline towards me and my breath hitches in my throat at the look on his face.

He smiles at the table as he walks around casually, stopping behind me. Stooping down, I feel his breath on my ear and I shudder. “What?”

I turn my head carefully. “The one with the glasses,” I hiss. “He’s cheating.”

“You’re sure?”

We’re trying to be discreet, but by now the card-counter senses that something’s wrong. His Adam’s apple bounces as he rises from the table. “I’m out.”

“Yes, I’m sure!” I whisper back.

Vincent doesn’t utter another word. The expression on his face is dark and terrifying as he grabs the man’s scruff and forces him back into the chair. The man cowers in his chair and gives me a terrified glance.

“Please, miss—”

The plea rises into a yell when Vince takes him by the throat and slams his body backwards. His head smashes into the floor and his pant leg lifts up, revealing a device strapped to his ankle.

There’s a collective gasp around the table when everyone notices the electronic device attached to his hairy leg. It’s a black rectangle with electrodes and wires leading up his leg under his pants.

The guard bends over and seizes it, unstrapping the Velcro. “Holy shit,” he says as he turns it over in his hands. “Check this out, Vinny.”

Vince bends over the man, his hand still wrapped around his throat. “You fucking moron. Counting cards at one of my games. You must have a death wish.”

My blood runs cold at the venom in his voice. I’ve never seen this side of Vince—the ugly, violent side, even though I always knew it existed. Vince’s soldiers swarm around the man like hungry wolves. They grab his arms and drag him into the next room. He screams for help, but one of them sinks their fist into his stomach to shut him up. I hear them in the other room.

“You can tell your friends what happens to people who try to cheat us. We’re not fucking around. Nicky, get the hammer.”

The players seated around the table flinch horribly as they hear his screams, until someone stuffs something in his mouth to muffle them. Then there’s a hard, knocking sound and more muffled cries of pain. One, two, three, four, five. Every time the hammer smashes down, my heart jumps.

I don’t know what they’re doing, but I have an idea. It must be fucking painful. An image of swollen fingers with joints the size of grapes floats in my vision.

What have I done?

Three of them grab him while he moans, cradling his hand. They drag him back into view and throw his ass out. The door slams shut and we all jump in our chairs and look at the table.

I bite my lip hard. He
did
decide to count cards at a mafia card game. I mean, what did he think would happen? I tell these things to myself in an effort to make myself feel better, and I feel worse for attempting to alleviate my guilt. I should feel guilty, but his hand will heal and he’ll learn a valuable lesson.

I still can’t help but flinch when Vincent reenters the room, and his sharp eyes zero in on me. The stolen pen floats in my mind and I suppress a shudder at the thought of what he might do to me if he found out.

“Jesus,” one of the players mutters. “I’m out of here.”

Spooked, he gathers up his chips and hesitates near the guards surrounding the man with the money. My face is hot and I feel slightly sick, like I should leave, too.

It takes us a while to calm down while they reclaim all of the chips the cheat won. To my surprise, Vincent dumps a very sizable amount in front of me. His hands fall on my shoulders and he squeezes them in thanks, and my body heats up like nothing happened, like he didn’t just smash a guy’s hand with a hammer.

God, what’s wrong with me? Why am I attracted to this man?

I don’t know if it’s the incident with my mother that triggers this feeling, but I’m tired of letting opportunities slip away. I wish I were stronger. I wish I could scream at her to go fuck herself, and turn my back on her forever. I wish I could be the girl who asks the hot guy out.

As I watch all the players leave, I see myself leaving this place and going back to my boring life at Columbia, of watching him make out with waitresses while I sit there, feeling my insides rot.

Do something about it, Adriana. You want him? Go get him.

This is so fucking insane. He’s dangerous. I must be the dumbest person in the world.

Approaching him with the box in my hand takes what seems like five minutes. He’s still talking with Paulie, so I wait patiently for him to notice me. Frankly, I’m content to wait forever. Unfortunately, his gaze flicks towards me and both men gaze at me with admiring looks.

“Adriana, you did a great job over there.”

Great job? Is that what he calls getting a man’s hand smashed? I hardly feel anything from his compliment because I’m so nervous. “Can I talk to you in private?”

“Sure.” He takes the box of chips from me and hands them over. “Paulie, cash these out for me.”

Vincent brushes past me and for a moment I’m startled by his brusqueness, but I follow him into another room, a room with a queen bed. It’s dark inside. For some reason, this makes my face incredibly hot.

The door shuts.

We’re closed in together in this small bedroom. Vincent’s turbulent energy clouds around him, affecting me. His face is unsmiling and his body is tense as he crosses his arms in front of me.

“I know what you saw probably upset you, but that’s the way it is. In casinos, they throw people out for doing that. If I just let him off the hook without punishment, it makes me look weak.”

I feel like he’s cornering me. My legs hit the edge of the bed as he approaches me. I’m so overwhelmed with being alone with him, actually alone, that I don’t know what to do.

“If I catch another player counting cards, I won’t tell you. I’m sorry, but I don’t need broken hands on my conscience.”

The shadows on his face darken. “I guess that’s fair, but I doubt it’ll happen again anyway.”

I take a tentative step towards him like a child. My hands clench and unclench at my sides, and I let out a nervous laugh.

“That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Blood roars in my ears as his face smoothes over, his eyebrows raised in confusion.

“No?”

“No.”

“Well, what is it, then?”

Why is so hard for me to ask?
Just ask!

My arms fall limp at my sides, his dark eyes studying me with no emotion. He has no idea what I want from him. How can he not when I’m practically shaking just being in the same room as him?

“Vince, are—are you married?”

Oh,
Maddon
. I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that.

The silence in the room is deafening. Every slight movement, every sound is magnified a hundred times. I can practically hear my skin burning.

“What?” He laughs slightly, his arms uncrossing. “You pulled me in here because you wanted to know if I was married—?”

“Girlfriend?”

His dark eyes shine with amusement. “No.”

“But that girl at the restaurant…”

His face shines with more and more humor. “She’s just a—friend,” he settles on that word finally. “Why are you asking?”

A cocky grin spreads over his face as his eyes shine mischievously. 

Smartass
. He knows damn well why.

“Tell me.” Vince takes a strand of my hair, tucking it behind my ear. His hand grasps my neck lightly and his thumb caresses the jugular vein jumping in my neck.

The soft touch prompts me to look at him. I can’t look away from the intensity in his eyes. His hand feels amazing against my skin. I can’t describe it. It’s electric. I want to touch him, but I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s hard to explain, but I almost feel like I need his permission to touch him.

“I really—I think you’re…” My voice trails off as his thumb continues its slow stroking of my neck and a wide grin spreads over his face. “I can’t think when you’re touching me like that.”

“Yeah?” Another one of his low laughs washes over me. His other hand reaches up and glides over my shoulder. He pinches a knot and rubs hard with his thumb. “Adriana, you are a gorgeous woman. Absolutely beautiful.”

My lips tremble when I hear the “but” in his sentence.

“You don’t want a guy like me. You go to Columbia. Girls like you get PhDs and marry
medigans
.”

Medigans.
My grandmother used to say that to describe non-Italians, or those Italian-Americans who lost their roots. Vince uses it with the same contempt.

“You don’t know what kind of girl I am.”

He sighs and smoothes the hair over my shoulders. “You’re a sweet girl, and I’m not a good man. Look at what you saw today.”

“I know. I don’t care.”

Another look of surprise crosses his face before he speaks with a growl in his voice.

“I’ll eat you alive, honey.”

I believe him.

“Go ahead. Do it.”

Maybe I want an all-consuming passion that keeps me awake at night, instead of bad memories. Isn’t that exactly what I need? All I know, is that I’m tired of the nightmares, tired of drinking, tired of feeling numb all the time. Around him, I
feel
.

He has no answer to that, but I can tell that I surprised him. His hand continues his slow torturous massage while the other still strokes my neck, holding me still as if trying to seduce his prey.

“It really pissed you off when you saw me with that waitress, didn’t it?”

He loves,
loves
the attention. He’s eating all of this up. This is torture for me, but it makes him so happy that I oblige. “Yes, it did.”

His thumb strokes my bottom lip, and I let out a sigh as he pulls me closer. I wrap my arms around his waist, sliding inside his jacket as his lips fall against mine. He takes my breath away with a hard kiss, his lips crushing mine. God, it’s intense. The moment his lips touch mine, it’s like being prodded with a live wire.

Desire flows into my belly as he kisses me, and I can barely move because I’m so surprised by how amazing the chemistry is. My hands wrap around his back, stroking the hard muscles under his shirt. His hands are still around my neck, his body following me as I lean back over the bed.

My body takes control as if it has a mind of it’s own. I tug at his shirt, unbuttoning the first few to catch a glimpse of his muscled chest. I grasp the tie tickling my skin and I pull down. He laughs against my lips and takes my hands in his, stopping me from undressing him. He kisses a line down my jaw, and I gasp as he licks and kisses my neck, his teeth nipping at me. I moan when he pulls down my t-shirt.

The door knocks. “Vinny!”

Vince straightens himself as I jump horribly, his arms still wrapped around me as he addresses the door.

“I’m coming. Give me a minute.” He turns back to me, his face flushed and smiling. “Well, I definitely didn’t expect this. You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

I don’t want him to go. My heart is still pounding with the feeling of his lips on my skin. Every cell in my body screams for more, and the same battle seems to rage in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

I sigh heavily and nod, but Vince takes my face in his hands again.

“Tomorrow at 8p.m, I’ll take you out to dinner. Anywhere you want to go.”

Wild happiness floods my chest as he kisses me again. This time, his lips are as soft as silk. They’re barely there, teasing me. Then he pulls away, his hands drop from my skin. He turns around and heads out. His shirt is still unbuttoned, but I don’t think he cares. There’s a smile on his face that makes him look like he’s on top of the world.

Chapter 5

Can’t—I can’t. I can’t breathe.

He mouths the words, looking like a gaping fish, except blood sputters from his lips.

“Daddy! Daddy!” I scream his name like it’s a chant—a magical word that will instantly cure him if he answers.

The man standing over Daddy drops the knife. He looks confused. The other two bolt towards the door and he soon follows.

Mom’s hands are wrapped around his throat. Dark blood pulses through her fingers.

“Adriana, call 911! Go!”

My hand is clenched over my cell phone when I wake up, my head echoing with my mother’s voice. Jesus. Not again. My back is drenched with sweat and I throw back the covers, listening to Maria’s soft snore.

The agony over losing my father threatens to engulf me. Eying the mini fridge, I roll off my bed and grab the bottle of alcohol inside. I can’t remember what it is and I can’t see in the dark. It doesn’t matter what it is—as long as it burns on the way down, it’ll do. If only it could burn a hole in my head where the images were.