Dante's Way (6 page)

Dante hated the time he spent caged up like an animal. Those days were truly the worst of his life and if he hadn’t become friends with Griffin he didn’t know how he would have made it with the other tougher teenage boys there.

Luckily, Griffin’s parents were kind enough to allow him to stay in the extra bedroom at their house while he decided what he was going to do. He would never forget their compassion and the promise he made them to help another person in need.

Even after all of these years, he hated tremendously how his relationship with his family was destroyed. He hadn’t forgotten over the years how they never let him come back into the house after spending six weeks at the detention center, because they didn’t want his ‘disrespectful behavior’ to rub off on his younger brothers.

He knew the destitute girl hadn’t come across his path for no reason. Something or someone brought her to him and he was going to do everything he could to assist her like Griffin’s parents had helped him.

Yet, there was one huge problem standing in his way. The part of town where his bar was located was huge and by now she could be hiding anywhere. Finding her would literally be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but he was up for the test.

Chapter Seven

Pulling the light blue jacket tighter around her body, Amara tried to block out the hunger clawing at her empty stomach. It had been over two weeks since Mr. Lee treated her to all of that delicious food and now she was starving for a complete meal of something found in the trash can.

More than once she thought about going to one of those shelters to get something to eat, but changed her mind. The last time she ate at a shelter’s soup kitchen, she ran into two homeless men who had tried following her back to where she was sleeping. Luckily, she had spotted them out of the corner of her eye and made a break for it hiding out until she knew they were gone.

Keeping herself under the radar was already hard enough during the day without having to constantly keep an eye open at night. The few hours she was able to get some sleep were a blessing to her; it might not be peaceful but it was something and she would take it without any complaints.

Most people who saw her living on the street instantly formed their opinions and it only involved one word--lazy. None of them realized her childhood dream had always been to move to Los Angeles, land a great job and make her parents proud in the progress.

Sadly, not one of her dreams came true for her because out of the blue, both of her parents died within three months of each other and after flying back home twice, paying for their funeral costs almost completely emptied out her bank account.

Yet, even before their unexpected deaths, what little money she had saved up was disappearing fast living out here in Los Angeles.

In addition to those problems, her boss fired her for missing too many days for personal issues. To make matters worse, the day she went for a job interview for a waitress position at a local coffee shop two blocks from her tiny apartment, her bitch of a landlord locked her out of her place, placed all of her belongings into two black garage bags then tossed everything outside on the sidewalk for the entire neighborhood to search through.

Everything around her seemed to go downhill fast after that and she spend her first night on the streets sleeping on a park bench. She had woken up the next morning and found Liam looming over her with a half-eaten Subway sandwich in his hand.

Sheer black fright had swept through her as she jumped up from the bench and slid to the other side. Her stomach had clenched tight and her body froze in fear as he sat down next to her.

Idea after idea raced through her mind at finding some kind of protection. She knew he might be bigger than her, but she wouldn’t give up without a fight.

Just as she had been about ready to bolt and run for her life, Liam smiled at her and offered her a part of his sandwich. Somehow hours later, he had convinced her to go with him to a safer place to sleep for the night. At first, a wave of apprehension gnawed away at her but in the end, she trusted him and followed him because of his caring eyes. Her fears of him were premature because he turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her

Her mother always told her to look into a person’s eyes because they never lied. Words were easy to twist and turn to make them look more enticing, but the eyes were the mirror to who they truly were on the inside.

Amara’s heart grew heavier at the memory of her amazing mother. There wasn’t a better woman in the world than her. She loved her parents dearly and missed both of them every single day.

Brushing a tear away from the corner of her eye, she walked around the corner of the pet shop and suddenly froze in her tracks as her gaze landed on a guy who looked very familiar coming out of the tattoo shop next door. Stopping next to a dark blue motorcycle, he pulled a black and silver cell phone out of his pocket.

No, it couldn’t be. Why was this happening to her today
?

Amara knew immediately who he was. She would never forget him in a million years. He was the other man from the bar that night. Now, he wasn’t Dante, the bastard who wanted to have her arrested, but his friend Griffin who thought Dante should let her go with only a firm warning.

Dante’s angry face still sometimes haunted her at night in her dreams. She had never seen someone so furious before. He had left a burning impression on her. She still felt the warmth from his fingers on her arm for days after the incident was over.

God, Amara didn’t know what to do. She was torn since she promised to meet Liam and Theresa at the park and this was the fastest way to get there. However, she would have to walk right past his guy knowing he knew who she was.

Why was he still standing next to his motorcycle like he didn’t have a care in the world? She could tell he wasn’t in a hurry to leave, but she wished he would get on his bike and just ride away.

Could she actually be lucky enough that an adequate amount of time had passed and he wouldn’t remember her
?

She wasn’t around him long enough for anything about her to have set in his mind and she was covered up by the hoodie until she made a break for it at the end.

Besides, why would anyone who looked like Dante still be thinking about a homeless black girl. He probably had a lot more going on in his life to have even given her a second thought since that horrible night weeks ago.

Pushing her growing fears away, Amara took a deep breath and continued walking down the sidewalk trying to make her body as small as possible, so she wouldn’t get noticed. The closer she got to Griffin the more panic set into her body making the urge to run past him even greater, but she kept herself calm. She wasn’t going to give him any kind of reason to notice her.

Keeping her head down, she tried not to look at Griffin but she got an eerie sensation like she was being watched as the hairs on the back on her neck stood up. Slowly, Amara turned her head and almost stumbled over her feet when she noticed he was no longer on his cell phone, but his eyes were fixed directly on her.

His eyes raked over her studying her with a curious intensity like he couldn’t quite figure out where he had seen her before. Slowly, Amara watched his face light up with recognition.

“Hey, don’t move. I want to talk to you. It’s important,” he said, taking a step in her direction. “Dante has been looking all over for you. He wants to talk to you about what happened.”

Icy fear twisted around her heart as Amara took a step back. She couldn’t allow him to take her back to the bar. Dante hated her and it wouldn’t do her any good to listen to anything he had to tell her.

“No, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Amara lied, taking another huge step back putting more space between their bodies.

She knew she had to get away from him and fast. She silently cursed herself for not turning around and going the other way. Yeah, it might have taken her longer to get to the park, but she wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

“We both know you’re lying. Look, my name is Griffin Bell. As you already know, I’m friends with Dante and I don’t want to hurt you. All I want to do is take you back to him. I swear he isn’t as unbending as he came off during the rainstorm. Just listen to me and let me take you back to the bar to see him.”

Go back
!
Was he out of his damn mind
?

He was crazy! Amara couldn’t believe that he actually wanted her to go back to that place and talk to Dante. It didn’t matter he was an absolutely gorgeous man. Shit! She hadn’t lost her mind and she sure in the hell wasn’t about to let Griffin take her anywhere. She would give him a fight that he wasn’t prepared for.

“I don’t care what your name or his name is. Stay away from me. I’m not about to go anywhere with you. Keep your distance,” she warned, pointing a finger in his direction.

Griffin shook his head and moved even closer to her. “Sorry, I can’t do that. You’re coming with me, so don’t give me any problems.”

Before Amara could move again, Griffin suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back in the direction of the tattoo shop. Instantly, she started struggling and pulling at his tight grip but she couldn’t shake him loose, but she wasn’t about to give up.

In the past, she had found ways out of a lot of tougher situations than this one she was in right now. All she had to do was stop panicking and use her head. She was smart enough to outthink this guy because she wouldn’t be able to beat him in a test of strength.

“Sir, you don’t really want to take me all the way back to the bar. I didn’t do anything wrong. Your friend Dante lost his temper with me for no good reason and I’m not about to take the blame for it.”

Griffin stopped dragging her behind him and glanced down at her. His gray eyes never left hers for a moment while he used his free hand to grab his cell phone out of back pocket.

“I’m not about to let you get away a second time,” he told her. “So, just stop trying to talk your way out of this. You’ve caused enough problems for yourself. All you have to do is stand here while I make this phone call.”

Disbelief shook Amara’s small frame as she stood there in shock watching as Griffin dialed his phone. She didn’t even need three guesses to know Dante would be on the other end.

“Let go of me,” she screamed, restarting her intense struggle to get loose.

A bruise might be there tomorrow because of his fingers, but Amara didn’t care at all. All she was thinking about at the moment was breaking away from Griffin.

“Stop making this harder than it is,” he snapped at her. “I’m not going to hurt you. Why won’t you listen to me?”

“Sure you aren’t,” Amara flung back. “I don’t know you from Adam. I’m not about to take your word.”

His eyes grew stony from sudden anger as he glared at her. “Good thing I’m not interested in the opinion of a homeless teenage girl or my feelings might be hurt.”

Instantly, Amara stopped struggling and stood perfectly still staring up at Griffin. She couldn’t believe he actually thought she was a teenager. She had been told before she looked young, but she never thought she could pass for a teenager. Maybe this might work in her favor if Dante thought she was in her teens instead of her twenties. Right at this moment, she would take any help she could get.

“Dante, what took you so long to answer the phone?” Griffin complained.

She leaned closer so she could hear Dante’s warm, deep rich voice. She might be scared of him, but her fears didn’t take away from how attractive he was. She would be a liar if she didn’t think he wasn’t a nice-looking man.

“I was outside throwing away trash.” Amara heard Dante answer as she took another tiny step closer to Griffin. “Are you still at
Inked
? How much longer are you going to be there? I’ve something I want to talk to you about concerning the pool tournament.”

“How was I supposed to know you were throwing away the trash?” Griffin questioned. “Yes, I’m still at the tattoo shop and you will never guess who I have standing right here next to me.”

She heard Dante answer. “Why don’t you just tell me?”

Amara knew she shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but she couldn’t help it. Something about Dante’s voice just drew her to listen to him. A tiny part of her wanted to know what Dante would say. Did he still want to toss her in jail or did he not even care anymore and would tell Griffin to just let her go?

“I found the girl who got away from you during the rainstorm,” Griffin said, taking another look in her direction as she tugged at her arm again.

“Are you sure it’s her?” Dante asked. “Bring her back to the bar. I want to talk to her.”

Amara didn’t miss the excitement in his deep voice and knew he was probably thrilled at the thought of getting his hands on her again, but it wasn’t going to happen. She would find a way out of this. All she had to do was calm down and think. Her wits were the best thing about her and they kept her safe out here on the streets more times than she could count.

“Yeah, I’m positive it’s her,” Griffin replied. “I know you want to see her. That’s why I’m going to bring her to you. Caleb is at the shop, so I’ll get his car and have him bring my bike to the bar.”

The longer Amara stood there listening to the conversation, the faster a new emotion settled into her body about coming face to face with Dante again. He really wanted to bring her down. Dante wasn’t going to give up on punishing her about the food.

Her mind burned with the memory of him and it was pure and clear. If she got within touching distance of him again, he wouldn’t let her escape him for a second time. At that split second self- preservation took over giving Amara the strength she needed to fight even harder.

“No, I’m not going back there with you.” She yanked her arm away, shocking Griffin. Spinning around, she raced towards the park praying she would be able to lose him in the crowd of people.

Chapter Eight