Vincent (5 page)

Chapter Eight

Run. Run While You Can

“Fuck!” Vincent squeezed the steering wheel as hard as he could to keep reminding himself to stay the hell in the car and not go after her.

When Lake went into the house, he reluctantly started pulling out of the driveway. Something inside of him felt as if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. He was only making mistake after mistake lately, and they all involved Lake.

He didn’t know how the hell this fuck-up had happened.
Yes, I do. Lake just had to be shaking her ass.
That in turn made him want to fuck her brains out, but he had fought it all until he had found those birth control pills. Then he had been furious.

Should he have been that mad? Probably not. However, it was because he had been jealous that someone could be fucking her instead of him.
What? Hell no, I wasn’t!

Moving on.

When he had confronted her about it, she just had to get mad and show him who she really was, which only made his dick harder. So, he had kissed her.
And it was a mistake.

He had told her not to move because he had been sure, if she’d touched him, there wasn’t going to be any turning back, and damn if she hadn’t pulled his hair. Hell, he hadn’t even thought she was going to kiss him back, but that little bit of nothing somehow made his dick about to explode.

That’s why I told her to go.
And there was his real mistake.

Vincent had made another mistake by calling the girl from Poison to come over, yet he had been going crazy. If someone hadn’t released his tension, he would have gone upstairs and showed Lake how to really fight.

She, of
course
, had to see the girl leaving.
That bothered him, made him mad, and again, he wasn’t sure why. Every girl knew he fucked around, so why did he care if
she
did?

The way they had bantered during breakfast brought him right back to feeling like he wanted to fuck her. He hadn’t wanted the fun to end; therefore, he had decided to take her home. He had known the car ride was going to be just as entertaining, although he hadn’t thought it was going to be
that
entertaining. However, all that went down the drain when she said, “
When I turn eighteen, they’ll hold no power over me, because I’ll be gone.”

That was when he had understood that whatever was going on between them had to stop. Not only because he knew Lake was different and wouldn’t want to only fuck, but also because she wanted nothing to do with the mob while Vincent wanted everything to do with it. They were on two different planets, in two different galaxies.

So, what did he do again? Yep, he made another blunder by telling Lake it was a mistake kissing her. Oh, the irony. When Vincent had grabbed Lake’s arm, telling her to wait, he had almost,
almost
tried to fix it somehow. However, seeing the hurt in her eyes, he had known he had to finish it. Vincent was in no way, shape, or form going to become a one-woman man, especially not at the age of eighteen.
Not ever
.

He felt something beating at his mind, telling him to turn the fuck around. Something didn’t feel right to him. His gut was churning and his mind reeling with what could be wrong.

“Why doesn’t she spend more time with her mom?”

Vincent knew what it was like to have parents not together. Ever since he could remember, his own parents had been separated. The more he thought about it, it became clear they were in the same situation, his mother marrying Sam who already had Adalyn and his dad being alone. His time had been split up half and half until he had gone to high school, but that was because of the whole mob thing, not because he felt bad for his dad being lonely. If anything, she should want to stay with her mom more
because
of the whole mob thing.

Vincent ran his hands through his almost-dry hair, knowing he was trying to come up with any excuse to turn around.

“Shit, did I make a mistake?”

No, you did the right thing.

The farther he drove away from Lake, the saner he became. By the time he made it to his father’s house, he had wiped Lake clean from his mind.

Stepping out of the car was almost like he had hit a ‘clear memory’ button.

*  *  *

Lake quietly closed the front door, praying she could escape to her bedroom unnoticed.
Please, God, I beg you, of all days, this is honestly the one I can’t
—

“Lake, there you are!”

“Oh. Hey, Mom.” Lake hugged her mom who was squeezing her tightly.

“Where were you yesterday? How was your first week back at school?” Her mother talked a mile a minute.

“I heard you were going out with friends, so I figured it would be okay if Adalyn and I hung out.” Lake had to force a smile. “School was great.”

Her mom smiled wide. “Of course it was okay, honey. I’m glad your first week back was great.” She began to look her up and down. “Lake, why must you always wear those old hoodies and jeans? I know you have plenty of clothes.”

“I just—”

“That reminds me; look what I bought you!” Her mother dragged her into the living room and picked up the bags beside the couch. “I went to the mall this week and had to pick these up for you.”

Great
.

“Thank you, Mom. I can’t wait to wear them.” Lake’s face started to turn sore from pretending to smile so much.

“All right, honey; I have to go. John gave me a bunch of errands to run. I’ll see you later tonight.”

No-no-no-no-no.

“Oh, you’re leaving? Already?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. You know how John gets when he wants something.”

Unfortunately, all too well.

Her mother kissed her on the cheek. “Bye, honey. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Mom.” Sadly, Lake didn’t have to fake that. She did love her mom because, at the end of the day, she was her mother.

She squeezed her eyes shut and began to pray again as her mother walked out the front door.

“Get your fucking ass in here!” she heard the man yell in the other room.

Run. Run while you can.

“I
said
get your fucking ass in here!” That time, the yell was louder.

Lake reluctantly moved her feet and headed for the den.
You have to. You don’t have a choice.

She walked into the room and saw the huge TV screen playing football then, all of a sudden, it was paused. Her eyes traveled to the recliner holding a grubby, older man.

“Are you a fucking retard or somethin’? I yelled for you twice.”

“S-sorry, I-I—”

He started mocking her. “Uh-uh-uh-uh.”

She heard cackling in the doorway and turned to see Ashley.

“From my understanding, you didn’t come home yesterday because you didn’t want to be here while your mom was gone, so I made sure she’ll be gone all day,” he said.

Lake shook her head. “No, I had already—”

He sat up in his chair, about to get up. “Don’t you lie.”

Lake nodded, closing her mouth.

He pointed his finger right at her, his face turning evil. “Your mom is gone, so now you’re mine. Clean this fucking house from top to bottom and do what trailer trash does best. Save me some of my goddamn money your mom likes to spend.” He sat back in his chair.

“Daddy?” Ashley sweetly said.

He flipped Lake off. “And I heard what you did to Ashley at school, so once my house is clean, write her English paper.”

Lake swallowed the little bit of pride she had left. “Yes, John.”

Chapter Nine

The Evil Stepsister and the Revolting Old Man

Lake grabbed the bags off the living room couch, holding tightly to the clothes her mother had bought her. She was dripping in sweat, and her body was going to give out at any second. The hardest part of the gruesome day hadn’t been cleaning the huge five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. No, it had been holding her tears in. If John or Ashley saw them, they would call her a ‘fucking baby’ and add more work. However, the real reason she refused to let them see her crying was because she was sure they got off on it, and Lake wasn’t going to let them win that one.

She started going up the huge staircase then down the hall to the right. At first, she thought she wasn’t going to make it past all the doors to the end but when she did, she almost burst into tears.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going with those?” Ashley came up behind her and snatched the bags out of her hand so hard Lake ended up falling on her hands and knees.

Don’t cry. Don’t you cry.

“Trashy girls don’t get to wear pretty dresses. You know that.” Ashley began to walk away, cackling. “And don’t forget my paper, bitch.”

Lake watched Ashley disappear down the hall, her eyes finally beginning to water. She looked up at the ceiling through the wetness to see the white string hanging. It appeared to be a million miles away. It might as well have been on the moon, though, because Lake had no strength left.

A tear rolled down her cheek.
Get up.
She used the back of her hand to wipe the tear off her face.
Get up. Now.

Lake used every bit of strength she had left in her body to push off the floor. That time, when she looked up at the string dangling from the ceiling, it no longer rested on the moon, but the Earth. She knew she had only one shot to jump up and grab it; otherwise, the string would become a pendulum, and she wasn’t going to be able to stand up long enough for it to stop.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she jumped up and grabbed the string with a tight grip, opening the hole in the ceiling. She continued to pull the string until the folded, wooden stairs appeared. Then she quickly unfolded them.

Lake stared up at the steep stairs. She was so close.

As soon as she climbed the first step, her eyes welled up again.
Climb!
More tears fell with each step she took.
Climb!
Climb! Climb!

Before she knew it, she had reached the attic floor. Her tears kept flowing as she crawled toward the simple mattress on the ground.

The moment her body hit the bed, she was out cold…

Lake piled noodles on the two plates then added marinara sauce on top. Picking up the plates, she headed toward the table and set them down in front of John and Ashley.

“About fucking time. I thought it would just take five seconds to cook for trailer trash. Isn’t that all you people can afford?” John said.

Knowing it was a rhetorical question Lake kept her mouth shut, no matter how much she wanted to open it. Then she started to head off to finish her chores, even though her stomach was growling. She was only allowed to eat what John and Ashley couldn’t consume.

When she got close to the doorway, her mother walked in with a big bag of to-go food.

Her mom walked over to the table and set down the bag. “John, I called and told you an hour ago I was bringing home dinner.”

He put on a smile. “Ashley didn’t know and decided to cook dinner. I didn’t want to upset her, but you know I can definitely eat both.”

“Aww, Ashley, that is so sweet of you! And you had time to clean the house, too. Thank you.”

Ashley’s smile widened. “You’re welcome.”

“Honey, are you going to come sit down?” Her mom waved toward her.

Lake walked toward the table and took a seat. She watched John and Ashley push their hardly touched plates of spaghetti away as they grabbed the to-go bag.

“Tr
—
” John coughed, restarting and pointing toward Lake. “She has something she wanted to talk to you about. I didn’t agree at first, but she talked me into it.”

“What is it, honey?” Her mother turned to look at her.

Lake’s eyes went to John’s mad-looking face.

“Go on, tell your mother.” His voice didn’t match the way his face looked, but that was for her mother’s benefit.

“Well, I was wondering if it would be okay if I could move my room to the attic.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Her mother looked confused.

Lake shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought it would be pretty cool.”

“How would you even get any furniture up there?”

“I’ll give the gardener a hundred bucks to take care of it. She only needs a mattress and desk up there. Think about it. We could turn her room into a gym, and I know you’ve been wanting me to get back in shape,” John said while he hit his gut.

“Well, if you’re sure, honey?”

She put a smile on her face. “Yeah, Mom. I’m sure.”

Her mother grabbed the remaining contents in the bag and handed them to Lake. “Look what I got, your favorite!”

Lake’s stomach growled in happiness that it was finally going to be fed, and by her favorite grub at that.

“I don’t think she’s that hungry anymore. You should have seen the big plate of spaghetti she ate. She doesn’t need to get any bigger.” John laughed, pretending he meant the last part as a joke.

“So full you can’t even eat one bite?” Her mother smiled.

Lake’s eyes again went toward John, and his face said it all: ‘Don’t you fucking dare.’

“Yep, I’m stuffed. Maybe I’ll heat it up later after I finish my homework.” Yet again, Lake began walking out of the kitchen with nothing other than her belly rumbling…

Lake finally awoke when she realized the sound of her stomach growling wasn’t in her dream.
I wish it was just a dream.
Sadly enough, it was her reality.

As she sat up in bed, she had no clue how long she had been out by looking out the huge window to the dark sky. She could tell her body was still sore, and the crust in her eyes told her she had fallen asleep bawling.

She reached into her jeans’ pocket and pulled out her cell phone to check the time, finding she had slept until the middle of the night. She was actually happy about it, because the evil stepsister and the revolting old man would be sound asleep.

Lake headed downstairs and took her time as she showered in one of the guest bathrooms then dressed in clean clothes. She even got to make herself a nice, hot breakfast. When she was done, she headed back up to her bedroom to get to work on Ashley’s paper.

She clicked on the light to illuminate her new bedroom, which was actually better than it seemed. Sure, it was a little sparse, but at least it was safe up there. There was no way anyone wanted to climb those stairs; as a result, at least she could sleep soundly.

It was a little on the dark side at night, but the room really was cool with its triangular shape. Every inch was wood from floor to ceiling, and the exposed wooden beams made for a nice touch. She had her mattress, a chair, and a small desk which held an old box computer. She also had an old leather trunk where she put her clothes. She was pretty certain the trunk had come with the house, though. But, all in all, it had everything she needed for two days of living. Besides, a hell of a lot of people were turning attics into bedrooms.
It’s a very hipster thing to do, right?

Lake sat down at her desk and turned on the computer. It was going to take five minutes for the thing to start up, but it would eventually get there. The paper was going to suck to write; however, the best part was she only had to make sure it was a ‘C’ grade paper, because a ‘C’ for Ashley was like getting an ‘A.’

Still waiting for the computer to fully start, she couldn’t help thinking about how the day had somehow managed to be worse than the previous one. John had given her twice the workload than usual, and her body couldn’t physically take it, nor could her mind. She hadn’t cried or reacted that way in a good while, and the only thing she wanted to blame it on was the fact that John had worked her to death.
Don’t even think it
. She didn’t want to believe she had possibly had a mental breakdown because of Vincent.

Lake squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep the thoughts of Vincent away. She was determined he was going to become dead to her. That was going to be the end of whatever they’d had for not even twenty-four hours.

Just six more months…

Lake’s end of her problems was going to come in June when she could finally graduate. Then no one—not John, Ashley, or even the mob—could own her. Lake would finally be a free woman. She was determined no one was going to change that, either.

At last, Lake could see her end in sight and nothing,
nothing
was going to come between her and her freedom.

Lake shed a happy tear. She could already hear the victory bells ringing.

Ding, dong. Ding, dong…