The Pull of Destiny (20 page)

“Well, look
here,” Nate said condescendingly, clapping slowly as he stared at me. “You go
to the library and come back in a limo, with a boy? What kind of studying were
you doing, huh?”

“Nate.” My
voice came out in a whisper and I gulped, trying to find something to say.
“I-.”

“You what? You
were giving this kid head in the back of his limo? That how you been getting
your money lately? Momma’s gonna have a field day with this one, you stupid
ho!”

“Hey, what’s
your problem, dude? CiCi’s my friend! She wasn’t giving me anything,” Luke
interrupted quietly, coming to stand next to me. Nate glanced at him and
disregarded him.

“Beat it,
Richie Rich. I’m talking to ‘CiCi’, not you. Listen here, missy,” he said,
stepping closer to me, a sneer on his face. “You told me you were going to the
library. I see you come out of a white boy’s limo. What I tell you about boys,
huh?”

“Trouble,” I
choked out, scared. Nate was mad. When he was mad, things got ugly.
Oh, why
did Luke have to be here!

“But you don’t
seem smart enough to listen, do you?” I shook my head as he continued. “How
much he pay you for a back seat blow job?”

“I wasn’t-,” I
started.

“Hey, man. What
the hell is wrong with you? I told you, CiCi and me are just friends. No
backseat sexual favors in exchange for money. Get your head out of the gutter,”
Luke put in, moving till he stood in front of me, shielding me from Nate and
glaring at him.

Nate glared
back, stepping forward till they were almost nose to nose. “Who the hell are
you, rich boy?” he asked intimidatingly. Luke didn’t back down.

“I’m Luke
Astor,” he said confidently, staring Nate down. “Who the hell are
you
?”

“I’m Celsi’s
cousin, so you better step off before I make you step off,” Nate growled,
clenching his hands into fists.

Standing his
ground, Luke said, “I’m not scared of you.”

“Luke, you
better go,” I said nervously.

I was so glad
that he was sticking up for me, but I didn’t want him getting into a physical
fight over me, and not with my cousin. Nate fought dirty. There was no way Luke
could win. But just knowing that he had stuck up for me was enough to make me
feel better about what was coming for me.

“Yeah, you tell
your boyfriend to get out of here, little slut,” Nate commented as Luke turned
to face me, an outraged expression on his face.

“You want me to
leave you with this guy?” he asked incredulously. “No frickin way!”

“Luke, it’s
okay. I can handle it. I’ll calm him down,” I lied. Whatever Nate was going to
do, I didn’t want Luke witnessing it. It would be humiliating. “You can go.
I’ll be fine.”

“CiCi, I can’t
just leave you here. I mean-,” Luke started, concern flitting across his face.

“Nino’s got my
back,” I whispered. I looked up at him, trying not to cry at the compassionate
look on his face. He cared about what happened to me! “I’ll be fine. Please,
Luke.”

Looking
unconvinced, he finally nodded, much to my relief. “Okay. I’ll call you,” he
said.

“Okay,” I
whispered and almost groaned as he hugged me close to him, disregarding Nate’s
presence completely as he squeezed me. My scared eyes sought Nate out, he
looked madder than ever as Luke whispered, “Take care,” in my ear, let go of me
and walked out of the store.

Immediately,
Nate was in my face. “You hugging on that kid right in front of me? What did I
tell you?”

“Nate, he’s
just a friend!” I protested as he breathed on me, his face twisted in anger.

“Just a friend?
How the hell are you gonna be friends with a rich kid like that? Huh?”

He grabbed me
by the shoulders, shaking me till my teeth rattled.

“Nate, I swear!
He just gave me a ride,” I said, tears in my eyes.

“If I ever
catch you with a boy again....” His voice trailed off sinisterly as his eyes
locked with mine. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me towards him.
“You think momma will pay for your tuition if she knows you’re whoring your
body to horny school boys?” He pulled my hair harder till I shrieked. “Huh?”

“That’s
enough,” Nino barked from behind the counter. “No violence in my store. Take it
outside.”

Nate let go of
me, wiping his hands on his pants. He looked at Nino. “Can you pay her, then? I
got to get outta here, it stinks in here.”

Nino nodded
brusquely, taking out his wallet and counting out some money. He gestured
towards me. “Your pay,” he said.

Still shaking,
I walked to the counter and took my money from Nino. Wordlessly, I counted out
thirty dollars and handed it to Nate, feeling a spurt of rage towards him as he
snatched the cash out of my hand and saluted me.

“I’m out,” he
said cheerily, as though nothing had happened. He waved at Nino, who stared at
him impassively, and left the deli. Immediately, I sat down at the counter, my
legs giving out. I put my head in my hands, tears seeping out.

“”Hey, kiddo,
it’s alright. You’ll be okay,” Nino said, sounding unconcerned. I wasn’t mad at
him. I knew he cared about what went on in our house, with Nate. But he never
got involved in what he said was ‘personal familia business.’ Only when it
seemed that things were escalating to violence did he step in. I respected that.
He saved my butt countless times.

“It’s never
gonna end,” I wailed. “He’s always gonna be in my business. I can’t even have
friends without him scaring them off.”

Nate had
definitely scared Luke off. Now he was probably going to avoid me and tell his
friends about my insanely violent cousin.

“Probably
better that he scared that one off, kiddo. Rich boy, poor girl. Never work,”
Nino told me, wiping a glass as I raised my head.

“Luke’s just my
friend. Nothing could happen between us,” I said.

“That’s how it
starts,” Nino said mysteriously as I eyed him. “Now. I give you 5 minutes to
collect yourself then you get to work, yes?”

CHAPTER 10

funny feelings.

Luke’s Point
of View

Lesson learned
for the day: never judge a book by its cover. Because no matter how cheerful,
sweet and helpful someone appears, you never know what’s going on in their
lives.

Case in point-
CiCi.

The deli scene
managed to piss me off like nothing had pissed me off in recent history. All I
wanted to do as I opened the door and got into the car was to go back into the
store and beat the crap out of CiCi’s cousin. It made me sick to my stomach.
Why would anyone, especially her own family member, want to treat a girl like
CiCi that way?

Of course, I
knew a bit about strained family relations but even though I was ninety-nine
percent sure that my dad hated me, he had never physically abused me. God, I
hoped that Nate wasn’t physically abusing CiCi. As I thought of that, a wave of
revulsion swept through me and only the image of CiCi’s stricken face kept me
from marching back in the deli. I shouldn’t have left her alone to deal with
that scumbag of a cousin, even though she had practically begged me to leave.
She
had
said she could handle it, but I was sure she was bluffing. And
that fat guy behind the counter wasn’t any help at all. Maybe this wasn’t the
first time something like that had happened in his store and he knew to keep
his distance.

I groaned to
myself in the back seat, massaging my temples. A steady, dull pounding had
started again and I closed my eyes. The headache was Nate’s fault. I’d only
known CiCi for a while but I knew she didn’t deserve to have that scared look
in those pretty eyes. Leaning back in my seat, I remembered what Robyn had said
about CiCi and her cousin.

‘Because you
have no idea what Celsi goes through. I don’t want you hurting that girl, she’s
got enough problems already at home. You know, with her cousin and the money
and-.’

At that time,
I’d thought it weird and wanted to know more, but Robyn wouldn’t tell me. Now
it all made sense. Well, the cousin thing did, I still wasn’t sure about the
money issue. I made up my mind to ask CiCi herself what was going on. Maybe I
could somehow be there for her like she was for me.

“I’ll ask her
on Monday,” I said to myself, feeling better now that I had a plan of action.
Maybe I couldn’t do anything about CiCi’s situation but even if she didn’t want
my help I’d sleep better knowing that I tried. It would make me feel better
because I said something like what Nate said to her myself. So on Monday, I
would casually ask her what was going on in her life, find out what she was
hiding and be a friend. Oddly enough, even though the circumstance wouldn’t be
good, I still found myself looking forward to meeting CiCi on Monday. Her cheerfulness
rubbed off on me and God knows, I needed that. Anyone who could be cheerful in
spite of having a jerky cousin like that was a star in my book.

Faith ran to me
as soon as I walked into the living room, holding up the pinkest dress I had
ever seen in my life. She was beaming from ear to ear.

“Look at my
dress, Luke! It’s pretty, right?” she asked me.

I made a face
as I fingered the material. “Wow. It’s so- pink.”

Faith’s face
fell and she looked up at me, her bottom lip wobbling. “You don’t like it?” she
asked in a dejected voice.

I put a fake
scowl on my face. “Course I don’t like it,” I lied.

“Aw!” Faith
turned to her mother, who was sitting on a couch, a black bag perched next to
her. “Luke doesn’t like my dress,” she complained, pouting.

I grabbed her,
swinging her up into my arms. “I don’t like it; I love it, silly goose!” I
exclaimed, tickling her. Giggling fiercely, she tickled me back.

“You’re a silly
goose!” she said happily.

“I tried to
talk her out of getting a pink dress but she was set on it,” Hope said from the
couch.

I looked at her
over Faith’s head. “Why would you talk her out of it?” I asked. “Pink’s her
favorite color.”

Hope nodded,
pushing back her hair from her eyes. “How many people at these galas wear
pink?” she asked me.

That was Hope
in a nutshell. Always trying to conform, to be the same as all the rest of the
Park Avenue Stepford wives.

“Faith’s just a
kid,” I assured her, setting Faith on the floor. “She needs to liven the color
scheme up a little, right, Faith?”

“Yeah!” Faith
agreed, clutching the dress to her like she thought Hope would wrest it from
her and trade it in for a boring white one. The kid had the right idea.

Hope gave a
long-suffering sigh. “Luckily you’ll conform,” she said, holding up the black
bag. I gave her a quizzical look. “I got you a tux.”

“For what?” I
asked, baffled.

“For the gala.”
Hope held the bag out to me, an inviting smile on her face as I groaned. Why
me? “Go try it on.”

I shook my
head, running a hand through my hair as Faith started playing with my
shoelaces. “Sorry, not interested.”

“Luke, your dad
told me to get you a tux for the gala,” Hope explained.

“Really? But
I’m not going to the gala,” I said honestly. Faith stopped tying my laces
together and stared up at me, a puzzled look on her face.

“Why?” she
wanted to know.

I bent down
till I was at her level, smiling into her perfectly serious brown eyes.
“Because I’m not interested in hanging out with boring rich people, princess,”
I told her.

“You can hang
out with me! I want you to come to the party! We’ll have fun!” Faith flung her
arms around my neck, almost tipping me over.

“Oh, he’s going
to the gala alright,” a deep voice said behind me.

No points for
guessing who the eavesdropper was.

Faith’s face
lit up and she scrambled to her feet, running over to hug dad.

“Daddy! You’re
back!”

I sat down to
untie my laces, not even bothering to look as dad said, “Yes, sweetie, I’m
back.” There was a smacking sound as he (I presume) kissed Hope on the cheek.
Because Astor’s aren’t into PDA. “Good afternoon, Hope.”

How formal.

Ever the
perfect wife, Hope simpered, “Welcome back, dear.” I finally looked up to see
Hope try to untangle Faith from dad’s arms. Dad looked annoyed, of course,
standing in the middle of the living room in his neatly pressed suit. “I’ll
just take Faith to Liv for her bath.”

“Aw! I wanna
tell daddy about my dress!” Faith clung to dad like a leech. It was kinda
funny, seeing how irritated dad was getting.