Vincent (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

We All Can’t Be Blessed

Lake had to admit, she was a little shocked to be having such a good time at the mall. The boys merely stayed behind, keeping an eye out on them, so she didn’t feel bothered by Vincent at all. Although, every now and then, she would look back and catch him staring at her ass. She would give him the I-see-you look, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t trying to hide the fact that he was.

Mostly, the girls were window-shopping without really finding anything they liked enough to buy. Lake figured it must not have been that long since the last time they had gone.

Giving up, they went to the food court and took a table just big enough for them to sit at. The guys brought them a bunch of hamburgers and fries.

“You know I hate it when you do that,” Nero told Elle, setting the food down in front of her.

“Sorry, there’s just no room for you to sit with us.” Elle smiled sweetly up at him.

“You’re going to pay for that later,” he warned before they went and found their own table close by.

Lake looked at Elle’s blushing face. “What does he hate?”

Chloe laughed. “He’s still a little wounded that she told him no when he asked to sit beside her for the first time in the school cafeteria.”

“You told Nero no?” Adalyn asked, her jaw dropping.

“Yep, and he reminds me of it every day,” Elle said before taking a bite of her hamburger.

“What changed your mind?” Lake asked curiously. Something in her wanted to know what had altered her opinion about a man like Nero.
Or Vincent.

Elle spoke loudly so he could overhear. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”

That wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but it certainly didn’t let her down. Nero’s face made them all burst out in laughter; however, Elle’s chuckles didn’t last very long.

After they finished eating, they decided to try one more store before they left, not wanting to come out empty-handed.

Looking through the racks for the hell of it, Lake found a light and airy dress she thought would be perfect for the hot summer. Holding it up, she contemplated at least trying it on. For once, she
did
have cash in her purse thanks to the previous night, so she could buy it.

No, I don’t need it.

“Uh, you’re not going to at least try it on? It’s so pretty,” Maria asked.

Lake looked at all the girls staring at her. “It won’t look good on me.” She shrugged. “Here, you can try it. It’ll look better on you, anyways.”

Maria pointed her finger to the dressing room. “Quit being silly and go.”

She hadn’t expected her to say that.

Smiling, Lake headed toward the dressing room yet stopped in place when she saw Ashley and her friends.

“Just the person I wanted to see. Your mom wants you to come by the house to get your graduation gift. I’m sure my dad would love to congratulate you, as well.” Ashley clearly enjoyed telling her the last part.

*  *  *

Vincent, Nero, and Amo followed the girls to go find Lake.

He swore he heard his sister say ‘uh-oh’ when they found her talking to some girls. Knowing all too well where this could head, Vincent went to Lake’s side.

I am sick of all these fucking bitches…

Nero put up his hand, stopping him. “Maria can do a lot more damage than we can.”

*  *  *

Walk away before…

It was too late when the girls came up to find her.

“Oh, my gosh! Does my sister actually have more than one friend?” Ashley asked, pretending to be in shock.

“
Step
-sister,” Adalyn reminded her.

Lake wanted to disappear, knowing they were all witnessing her humiliation.

“I’ll go see her later today. Let’s go, guys.” She headed back toward the dressing room, not wanting anything to escalate.

Ashley forcefully grabbed the dress out of her hand. “This dress would look so much better on me. Don’t you think, trailer trash?”

Maria sounded strangely sweet when she spoke. “Oh, sweetie, you don’t
actually
think that would look good on you, do you?” She politely went up and took the dress from a shocked Ashley. “We all can’t be blessed with Lake’s body.”

Lake shook her head. “I-It’s okay. I don’t want it.”

“That’s okay. I wouldn’t want anything which had her hands on it, either.” Maria shrugged, hanging it back on a rack.

Ashley left with her mouth gapping open wide, her friends following right behind her.

“Thanks.” Lake smiled at Maria before her eyes returned to the floor in embarrassment.

“You’re welcome.”

“Adalyn, I, um … really need to get home,” she told her.

Adalyn nodded. “Okay, sure.”

Lake’s head came up when she noticed the boys standing there. She wished she could have at least taken back the last twenty seconds so her eyes wouldn’t water when she saw Vincent’s face.

She headed straight to the car and was grateful Adalyn did, too. The car was silent all the way back to the house. Lake liked to keep things to herself most of the time, and her best friend knew when those times were. When they reached the house, she quickly got out, telling Adalyn bye.

Lake went to her old car, wanting to pull out before Amo dropped Vincent off to retrieve his. She managed to shut her door before they pulled into the driveway and she quickly put the key in the ignition and turned it, only for the engine not to start.

“Come on. Not today!” She turned the key again and held it longer in hopes the engine would turn on.

Lake hit the steering wheel with each word she spoke. “Fuck you, you stupid piece of shit. Why won’t you start?”

She heard a knock on her driver’s side window.

Turning her head, she saw Vincent. Calmly, she rolled down the window, using the knob.

“Yes?”

“Let me guess, it does this, too?” he asked with a smile on his face.

“Yep, it’s just warming up.” She turned the key again and again and again until Vincent reached in and stopped her.

“Okay, sweetheart, I think that’s enough. Pop the hood.”

Lake’s hand shot fireworks from his brief touch. She hated that she was affected by it when he clearly wasn’t. He had barely touched her hand, only to drop it a second later to go to the hood of the car.

As she looked at him through her windshield, he gave her a look to hurry up. She hit the button to pop the hood then got out of the car.
Geez, I don’t want to hold you up from probably going to screw a line of girls.

“It’s okay. I don’t need your help.”

Vincent pulled up the hood, revealing the engine. “Yeah, okay, sweetheart.”

Who does he think he is?
His sarcastic tone pissed her off.

“I see my dad do it all the time.” She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back.

He started to raise his voice. “I bet you don’t even—”

Lake bent over the hood, looking inside.

“You probably know better than me.” His tone lowered as he backed up even more to get a better view of her ass.

“I think that should work,” she commented after a few minutes of hitting and turning a few things, trying to mimic what her father did.

“That looks really, really good,” Vincent agreed.

Smiling, Lake got back in the car and turned the key again. When it still didn’t start, she went back to the hood, stumped.

“It did sound like it almost started. I think whatever you were doing was working,” he encouraged her.

“Yeah, you’re right; it felt like it almost started to me, too.” She bent back over the hood and jiggled a few more things around.

“See that thing all the way in the back? Try messing with that.”

“What, this?” Lake bent over more to touch a pipe.

Vincent moved to stand close behind her, and then he pointed to something even farther back. “No, that.”

She had to step on her tiptoes to reach what he was pointing at.

“Let me help you, sweetheart,” he said, leaning over her.

Lake held her breath when his body covered hers. Then she slightly pushed her body closer to his, unaware of her own actions. The fireworks returned, wanting more when she could feel his bulge at her backside. A second later, she felt his hand go to the top of her thigh, making her heart stutter. When it traveled up to the very bottom of her revealed ass cheek, thanks to her short-shorts, she snapped out of her haze.

“Vincent, what the hell are you thinking?” She quickly turned around and pulled her shorts down to cover her butt again.

His dark, husky voice enveloped her body. “Sweetheart, you don’t want to know what I’m thinking.”

I do.

She licked her suddenly dry lips and backed up onto the hood of the car, trying to put some room between them. She couldn’t get her mind straight being that close to him.

“Um, Adalyn could see us.” Finally, she got out her thoughts.

“I told Amo to go distract her.” He took a step toward her, covering the front of her body.

“So, you knew this was going to happen?” It came out more breathy than she intended, still wanting to fight the urge to touch him.

Vincent rubbed his thumb over her wet bottom lip. “Sweetheart, my dreams of you haven’t been as good as you bent over the car.”

Lake’s eyes went from his baby-blue depths to his lips. She was so close to kissing him again. She’d had dreams about their last kiss and knew this one was only going to top it. The way he was talking to her made her femininity respond to every word. It scared her how much she wanted this, needed it.

She had to shut her eyes as she turned her head away from his incoming kiss. “Don’t,” she whispered.

He gently grabbed her chin and turned her face to look at him. “Why not? I know you want me, too, sweetheart.”

Lake didn’t want to tell him the truth, but she knew if she didn’t, he would kiss her. Vincent wasn’t a man a girl could say no to, either.

She had to look at his chest, unable to look him in the eye. “Because you’ll just tell me it’s a mistake and leave me again.”

Vincent dropped his hands from her and took a step back, running his hand through his hair. “You’re right; that’s not fair to you. I’m sorry.” He went to the hood of the car and started to work on it.

She knew she had made the right decision by how quickly he had changed, no matter how much it stung. He obviously only wanted a quick fuck from her, nothing else. It was the same thing he got from every other girl, and Lake wasn’t going to be merely a number to any guy, even if he had descended from the gods.
I doubt he can even keep count anymore.

Watching him, she noticed she had seen her father do what he was doing.

“You know exactly what’s wrong with it, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

Oh, my God!
Lake hit at his arm. “You’re such an ass. You did that so you could get a better look at my butt, didn’t you?”

Vincent looked up from under the hood of the car and flashed a smile. “Sweetheart, I’ve warned you twice not to dress like that, and trust me, your tight little ass was begging for it in those shorts.”

She didn’t comprehend exactly what he said to her at first, still finding him irresistible when he talked to her like that.
No, he isn’t!

“Well, your sister didn’t exactly tell me I was going to the mall with you all, and I didn’t exactly know my car was going to do this, either.”

“Is this the car you’re taking with you to college?” he asked, sounding almost concerned.

Lake looked down at the pavement as the realization that she no longer had the money to go to college finally hit her. She had no idea how she was going to tell Adalyn—or anyone, for that matter—too embarrassed of why she could no longer go. That was why she wasn’t going to tell him.

“No, it’s my dad’s car. I’m planning to get an apartment just a mile down the road, so I won’t need one.”

“You mean, you’re going to a new fucking city where you don’t know anyone, and you plan to walk everywhere?”

She didn’t like the way it had come out in a yell, and if she didn’t know any better, she would think he almost cared.

“That or take a bus. Or, what the hell, I’ll find someone to give me a ride.”

“You better be fucking joking, Lake,” he growled at her.

“Don’t pretend like you care about me.” She turned to go sit back in her car. She could wait there for him to fix it.

Vincent quickly grabbed her hand to stop her. “I
do
care about you, sweetheart.”

She still got amazed by how quickly his voice could turn from furious to smooth as butter. Looking into his baby-blues, she believed him.

“You do?” she quietly asked, wanting to hear him say it again.

“Of course. You’re my sister’s best friend.”