Vincent (17 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

Family Men Are Not Men; We Are Fucking Deranged Animals

Lake nervously waited in the lobby for Vincent’s return. She was on pins and needles, wondering if her father was okay as she continued to watch the elevator for him to come out.

When she finally saw Vincent come off the elevator, her heart stopped and she no longer wanted to know. She found herself walking to her car, instead. She could hear her name being yelled behind her, but she picked up her feet and started running through the casino and out the doors. She had to work hard to get through the crowd of people, and she knew Vincent wasn’t going to fair well with it.

Fumbling with the car door, she swung it open and stuck the key into the ignition. She turned it, only for it to not even attempt to rev the engine. It was completely dead.

Lake laid her head on the steering wheel, trying to take deep breaths. Then the driver’s side door came open a second later, and she didn’t even raise her head to look at who it was.

“Why the fuck did you just run from me like that?”

She continued to keep her head down after Vincent’s harsh question.

“Lake, look at me,” his voice commanded.

Looking at a furious Vincent, her eyes started to blur with tears. “I’m scared of what you will tell me.”

Vincent softened his face and his words. “He’s okay. I just talked to him.”

“He is?” Her eyes stopped from watering.

He began lessening her fears. “Yes. He’s just been busy working, it seems, but he knows you’ve been worried about him. He’ll probably come home tonight to see you.”

She felt the weight on her chest release at knowing he was alive.
Thank God.

“I have to go to my mom’s tonight for the weekend. I’m just glad he’s okay.”

“See, there was no need to run from me, Lake. I don’t want you to ever do that again.” His tone became slightly rougher.

Her eyes drifted down to his chest. “I just got scared.”

“I know. It’s okay. Come on, I’ll take you to your mom’s.” He held open the car door for her.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll take the bus.”
I am not getting in his car again.

“You are
not
taking a fucking bus,” Vincent snapped at her.

“Jeez, what do you have against buses?”

“Lake, do you have any clue where you are and how dangerous it is downtown?”

Shit, he’s right.

“Maybe Nero can take me?”

He shook his head, becoming aggravated. “No, he’s busy with Elle after I made him work a double shift to watch you.”

“Well, how about A—”

Vincent grabbed her arm and started pulling her from the car. “Don’t you fucking dare say Amo. I should let him take you home for even suggesting that.”

With no other option, she went to his car with him.
Why couldn’t my car start today, of all days?
It was like every time he was around her, her car magically didn’t work.

When Vincent opened the car door for her, she got in and buckled her seatbelt as he went over to the driver’s side.

“Is Amo bad?” she asked when he started the car.

He looked over at her. “Where the fuck did that come from?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. You just said ‘I should let him take you home’, and it makes me think he’s a bad person.”

“None of us are good, Lake. I don’t think you understand that.”

“But how bad is Amo … like, compared to Lucca?”

Vincent snapped his head to look at her. “Listen to me. You stay out of that fucked-up situation. That is something you sure as fuck don’t want to get in the middle of. You’ll find out real fucking quick how bad Amo and Lucca really are.” When she didn’t respond, he asked, “Got it?”

“Yes. I was just asking. Why are you being so bossy today?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
He needs to calm down.
He turned hot then cold every five seconds.

“Because you just ask for trouble. You don’t think before you speak, or fucking act for that matter. What you did was suicide. My father told me all about you asking to see the boss and dropping twenty grand in front of him. No one—
no one
—approaches Dante like that and lives. You don’t even begin to understand how lucky you are. From now on, you speak to me, Nero, and Amo. That’s it. Family men are not men; we are fucking deranged animals.”

Lake looked out the window. “He told you?”

Vincent understood what she meant. “Yes, he told me you gave him all of your college money. Why would you do that?”

“It was the only option I had. My father is my family. Please don’t tell Adalyn anything. I don’t know how to tell her I’m not going to college yet.”

He took a moment before he responded with, “You don’t have to worry; I’m not going to tell her anything.”

Lake believed him, if only for the fact that he would probably have a lot of explaining to do himself if he did.

She rested her head on the window, trying to relax before she had to face a torturous night with John and Ashley. She was pretty sure he was going to kill her since she was already exhausted from working. John was livid the last time he had seen her, and he’d had a whole week to plan her demise.

When Vincent pulled up to the huge house, for once she would have preferred to stay in his car.

“How come I’ve never met your mom before?” Vincent asked.

“She and my dad broke up when I was young, and she’s usually busy.” She went to open the door.

“Does she work?”

“No,” she quickly answered, going to open the door again.

Vincent stopped her. “I just think it’s strange that I’ve never even seen her. Why wasn’t she at your graduation?”

Lake shook her head. “Thanks for the ride and for making sure my dad is okay.” She managed to open the door that time before he grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“You’re welcome, but you could thank me by inviting me in for dinner.” He grinned, showing his magnificent smile.

Does he know something?

“Um, maybe next time when I can give my mom some warning. Bye!” Lake quickly got out of the car, grabbing her bag and shutting the door behind her.

She hurriedly walked into the house, thankful she had managed to get out of that situation. Vincent wasn’t exactly someone who gave up, and he was definitely hedging at something.

“Hey, honey!” Her mother met her at the door and took her in for a big hug. “Now, you promised to tell me everything about graduation, but it’s going to have to wait till I run these errands for John. I just had Chinese del—”

Dinng.

Lake turned around.
He fucking didn’t.

“Who could that be?” Her mom went to open the door.

No fucking way it’s him.

A baby blue-eyed blonde god in a suit stood in the doorway, smiling. “Hello.”

He fucking did.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The Shit Was About To Hit The Fan

“Well, hello. Who are you?” Lake’s mom said, smiling from ear to ear.

“I’m a friend of Lake’s. Vincent. It’s nice to meet you.” When he held out his hand, her mother took it.

“I’m Pam, her mother. It’s very nice to meet you.” She kept shaking his hand, not wanting to drop it.

Lake stared at her mother who was all googly-eyed for him.
What the hell, Mom?

Vincent finally managed to get out of her grasp to pull Lake’s phone out of his pocket. “You left this in the car.”

She quickly checked her hoodie pocket where she knew she’d had it the entire time. Looking at his gloating face, she realized what had happened.
He fucking picked it from me!
She went to reach for her phone, but her mom beat her to it by grabbing it out of his hands slowly.

Pam smiled. “You are such a sweetheart for doing that.”

Lake’s mouth dropped open at her mother’s obvious flirting. She couldn’t believe she would act that way in front of her. She wasn’t going to be able to stomach it much longer.

“Well, thanks. See you later.” She went to shut the door.

“Your house smells so good. What’s cooking?” Vincent asked, stopping her.

Her mom laughed. “I just had some Chinese delivered is all. Would you like to stay for dinner? I have plenty.”

“I thought you had to run some errands for John.” Lake reminded her mom.

“Oh, don’t be silly. It can wait. We need to talk about graduation, remember?”

It’s never waited before when I was left to be tortured.
Lake looked at Vincent, silently pleading for him to say no.

“Thanks. I would love to.” Vincent walked into the house, looking around. “Your house is really nice, Pam.”

“Thank you. Ashley, my step-daughter, keeps it in tip-top shape.” Pam tossed Lake’s phone in her bag on the ground. “Here, let me show you into the kitchen.”

Vincent draped his arm over Lake as if he didn’t see Pam holding out her hand. “I bet she does.”

Lake forced a nervous smile up at Vincent.
What the hell is going on?

Pam quickly dropped her hand, laughing it off as she led him into the kitchen.

“John, Ashley, Lake’s friend Vincent is here for dinner.”

Lake and Vincent walked into the kitchen behind Pam to see boxes of Chinese food scattered over the table, and John and Ashley were already digging into two hugely loaded plates.

John sucked his teeth, looking Vincent up and down. “I thought you had to run out and get a few things?”

“It can wait till tomorrow.” Pam went and grabbed a few more plates and forks out of the cabinet before setting them on the table. Then she grabbed a few waters from the fridge. Finally, she took a seat beside her husband. “Vincent, come on and sit down.” She patted the empty seat next to her and Ashley.

Vincent dragged Lake into the kitchen with his arm still around her and went on the other side of the table with two empty seats. Then he dropped his arm and pulled out the seat closest to Ashley, motioning for Lake to sit down.

Sitting, she curiously looked up at him. When she watched him take off his jacket and start rolling up his sleeves, she looked away and saw Ashley and her mother both practically drooling over him. Glancing over at John, she could picture him murdering Vincent in fifty million ways in his mind.

He held out his hand as he did the final rolls of his sleeves. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

John had to look up at Vincent as he shook his hand. “Yeah, you, too.”

Vincent took his seat next to John and grabbed two plates, forks, and waters off the table to set in front of Lake then himself.

Ashley set down her fork, smiling. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Ashley, Lake’s step-sister.”

Vincent didn’t even look at her as he started taking food out of the containers and putting it on his plate. “Yeah, I was at the mall Monday when you came up to Lake.”

Lake opened her bottle of water, hurriedly drinking down the contents.
This is not happening, is it?

Ashley let out a nervous laugh as she picked her fork back up to start eating.

“Aren’t you going to eat, Lake?” Vincent asked her when he and Pam both had filled their plates.

Lake had been watching John get more and more pissed as Vincent had scooped out some food. Seeing his face after Vincent’s question, he definitely didn’t want her to touch anything.

I have never touched his food.

She bit her lip, doubting what to do. He was surely going to punish her if she did.

“I’m not hungry. I guess I’m still a little sick.”

“You’re sick because you haven’t eaten. Eat.”

She didn’t have any option other than to eat if she didn’t want to make a scene. She scooped out a little spoonful of rice and John’s least favorite item of chicken and broccoli.

“You need to eat more than that.” Vincent put some more rice on her plate and grabbed the last of the spare ribs, adding them to her portion.

No, that’s his favorite!

Quickly looking at John, she saw the fumes were practically exploding from his head.

Vincent started digging into his food as his attention returned to Pam. “What was it again that you needed to talk to Lake about? Graduation or something?”

“Yes, I couldn’t make it because I was taking care of John. How did it go?” her mother finally addressed her.

Lake went to speak, but Vincent spoke first.

“What was wrong?” he asked, looking at John.

John wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I had a cold.”

She talked before anything else could be said. “It went well. Vincent graduated, too.”

Pam’s face lit up. “You did? I’m so sorry I missed it. I would’ve liked to have seen you graduate, Vincent.”

Lake squeezed her fork while she picked at her food. Her appetite was completely gone by that point, even though she hadn’t eaten all day. Her mother’s words and actions continued to hurt her. She would have preferred John’s plans over this any day.

“You should have seen your daughter.” Vincent smiled at Lake and gave her thigh a squeeze under the table.

Lake found herself smiling back at him for trying to comfort her.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Her mother changed the subject back to Vincent.

He opened his water and took a drink. “My father works downtown at the casino hotel. He’s been friends with the owner Dante Caruso since they were kids. I’m sure you know it because Lake’s dad works there. I’ve been working down there for a couple of months now.”

Oh, God.

“Yeah, we know all about tr—her dad working there,” John said, pointing at Lake.

Vincent looked John in the eyes. “Good. I’m glad you do.”

The rest of the meal was spent silently eating for the most part. Vincent loved every bite of the food, eating his heart’s content while John glared down at Vincent every time he went to get more. Then her mother and Ashley couldn’t quit staring at him. Lake was barely able to stomach a few bites between all of that.

After dinner, Lake headed into the living room with Vincent.
Okay, time to go.

Pam came in a moment later, going to Lake’s bag she had dropped by the door. “You know we don’t just lay our stuff around, honey. Go on and take it up to your room.”

Lake took her bag from her mom, confused.

I always leave it there. Fuck it, I don’t even care. You want him, you can have him.
She had already had enough of watching her mother flirt with Vincent. Clearly, she was in the way and she would gladly remove herself from the situation.

She headed up the stairs, trying to pretend she wasn’t actually hurt that her mother would do that to her. Why
would she do that?
She had never done anything like that before, but then again she had never introduced her to anyone, even Adalyn.

Turning down the hall her room was on, she heard someone come up behind her.
Run!

Lake ran down the hallway, afraid John or even Ashley had followed her up. At the end of the hall, she felt someone wrap their arms around her. Instantly, she knew who it was.

Lake was out of breath as she whispered, “You scared me to death, Vinc—”

Vincent quickly turned her around to face him, still holding her to him. “Why the fuck did you just run?”

She turned her head, unable to look him in the eye. “You snuck up on me. It just startled me.”

He grabbed her face and turned her to look at him. “Bullshit! You don’t fucking run from someone in your own house.”

Looking at his predatory face, she had to keep lying.

A bad feeling in her gut started to form at how the night could end. It screamed at her that the shit was about to hit the fan.

“I told you, Vincent, you scared me. I’m just so tired.” She pushed away from him, unwilling to have him continue to hold her. “Now, go on back downstairs. I’ll be down there after I put my bag up.” She picked it up off the floor from where she had dropped it when he had grabbed her.

“I’m not going down there without you. I told your mom we planned to hang out for a bit.”

“Y-you want to go in my room?” she asked, her mouth running dry.

Vincent crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes. Is that a fucking problem?”

“Well, yes! I didn’t want you here in the first place. I know you stole my phone off me, and now you want to go in my room? I draw the line there.”

“Why are you making such a big deal out of me seeing your room? If you don’t want me to see it so bad, I’ll wait here for you to put your bag up.” He leaned against the wall.

Lake looked up at the string that pulled down the steps leading to her attic bedroom.
Dammit!
She had to make a decision. The closest bedroom to hers was her old one, but it contained workout equipment and she was afraid of him peeking his head inside. If she just admitted to the attic bedroom, it would hopefully be fine because it wasn’t all that weird.
Right? It’s a normal thing now.
She was going to own her room being in the attic. If she made it a big deal, then he was going to take it as one.

Reaching up, she went to jump for the string yet missed.
Of freaking course.
Ashley had cut it way too short the last time. She quickly jumped again, but the tips of her fingers could only brush it.

“Is your room up there?” he asked, sounding confused.

“Yes.” Lake laughed it off and went to try to grab it again.

Vincent came over, stopping her from trying to jump again, and easily grabbed the swinging string to pull it down, revealing the stairs.

Great, now he’s definitely a god—perfect
and
tall
.

“Thanks.” She smiled at him as he unfolded the stairs.

Lake crawled up them, feeling self-conscious until her feet touched the ground and her butt was no longer available for him to view. She hurriedly went to set her bag on her mattress, which rested on the floor, so she could get back down there.

Lake’s head snapped back when she heard a creak on the stairs and she saw Vincent’s face peering out from the hole on the ground.

“I-it’s cool, isn’t it?”

When he fully came up the stairs, he did a three-sixty of the room, his face becoming more horrified and disgusted by the second.

“Lake, look the fuck around you! Is this really your fucking room?”

Her eyes grew wide. “Ye—”

“Grab anything in here that’s fucking important.” He was starting to shake.

“What? Why?”

“Now!” he growled at her.

Lake jumped at his demand and glanced around the dark, sparse room. “T-this is all I-I need.” She put her bag back over her shoulder.

“Fuck’s sake! That’s all that’s important in here?” He shook his head, pointing down the steps. “Just go back down. I don’t want you taking anything from this fucking place, anyway. There’s probably mold and rat shit all over.”

“I don’t understand. Where am I going?” She was on the verge of tears at that point.

Vincent came over and grabbed her hand, taking her to the hole. “You’re fucking leaving, Lake, and you’re not fucking coming back.”