Vincent (9 page)

Chapter Seventeen

We. Are. All. Insane.

Lake found herself being stared at.

“Are you two going to shove me up against the wall, too?”

“Fuck no. I’d like to keep my dick, doll,” Amo said before walking off.

Nero laughed, drawing Lake’s attention.

“Vincent wouldn’t actually do that, would he?”

All laughter disappeared from his face. “What do you think?”

He would
. Lake swallowed the lump in her throat, clearly aware Nero’s question was a rhetorical one.

Nero relieved her from her thoughts. “We didn’t think you were mean to Chloe, by the way.”

“Then why did he ask me what I talked to her about?” She could tell he thought carefully before he spoke.

“No one’s ever run after her before like that. So when
you
did, we were curious as to why. We aren’t exactly used to girls being nice to her.”

Lake turned around to look out the glass, and her heart stopped beating for a split second when she saw Lucca walk up to the entrance of the gazebo where Chloe was sitting.

“Has she met him before?” Lake felt sick thinking about a man like Lucca sneaking up on a girl like Chloe.

“Yes,” he answered matter-of-factly.

She turned her head to look at him in shock at his answer.
She has?

As Lake turned her head back to Chloe, she caught Amo staring out the window in the corner of the living room. His eyes were black as night, but she could still see the look in his eye. She might not have caught it if he hadn’t just been checking her out but at that instant, his black depths had a different look altogether.

Fully turning back to Chloe, she watched Lucca walk over to her and put his hand out, making her breathing cease. Turning back to Amo, she saw his face twist.

She continued to look back and forth between the two scenes.
Holy shit
. “Holy shit.” Looking back at Nero, she saw it written on his face.

“So Lucca and Chloe … and Amo and … Chloe?” As she said each name, she looked between them. “How is that supposed to work out?”

“It’s not.” He said it as if he was certain, like he could see it playing out before his eyes.

She had to agree it was a train wreck waiting to happen.

There was no doubt Lucca was a demon, although he was chillingly handsome. Most of all, he didn’t try to hide his true nature like the rest did; instead, he reveled in it.

Amo, on the other hand, was only slightly less terrifying. He was huge for his age and didn’t speak much, making it worse. His eyes were as dark as his personality, and something told her she didn’t want to meet his
real
personality.

“
That
girl does not belong with
either
of them”—so the question was, who was worse?—“but especially
him
,” she said, looking at the terrifying as hell Lucca.

Nero smiled. “That’s what Elle says.”

“And what do you think?”

“You mean, choose between my brother and my best friend?”

Lake nodded, waiting for his answer.

“It doesn’t matter what any of us think. She is the one to decide.”

Like they are going to let her decide.
She knew one was going to win by beating the other one out. Chloe was never going to get a choice in her own fate.

Looking back, she watched Lucca stand over Chloe like she was his prey. “You can’t possibly think he should be with her.”

“What you don’t know is she likes the flippy thingy.”

Lake’s eyes widened.
He heard
. “I’m sorry, I didn’t —”

Nero stopped her. “It’s okay.”

Oh, thank God
. She was relieved, knowing he really meant it.

“Besides, I wouldn’t worry about her. You need to worry about yourself. I wouldn’t fight him if I were you.”

Lake looked into his bright green eyes.
Who? Vincent?

His voice turned cold, sending chills up her spine. “We. Are. All. Insane.”

Yep, it’s really time to go,
she thought as she watched Nero walk away. Lake went off to find Adalyn, and of course she hadn’t moved from the couch, still talking away. The worst part was Vincent, Nero, and Amo had all made it back there, too.

She really wished they all didn’t stop their conversations when she spoke quietly.

“Adalyn, um, I need to get back home.”

Adalyn tried to pull the pity card. “Come on, Lake. You’re leaving me, remember?”

“Where are you going?” Maria asked.

Lake really didn’t want them to know where she was going to college. The less the mafia knew about her, the better.

She tried to laugh it off. “I’m not leaving he—”

“Yes, you are, too, leaving me. You’re going to college two hours away.”

Shit, Adalyn!
She wanted to cover Adalyn’s mouth over the last part. Unable to help glancing at Vincent, she saw no hint of any feelings in his baby-blues. She didn’t know why, but that upset her in a way.

Maria looked at Nero, folding her arms. “How come she gets to leave for college? That’s not fair.”

Because I’m not mafia royalty
.

Lake gave Adalyn the it-really-is-time-to-leave look.

“Fine,” Adalyn sighed, getting up from the ottoman.

“Y-you’re leaving?” Chloe asked, coming up behind her.

“Yeah, I have to get home, but it was really nice meeting you.” She smiled at her.

Chloe swept her hair behind her ear, smiling, as well. “You, too.”

“We should all hang out sometime before you leave,” Elle interrupted.

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Lake replied, unsure as to why Elle was smiling so big. Her face looked like kids do when Christmas morning comes. Everyone’s face actually did, all except for hers and Adalyn’s.

“We could go shopping!” Maria interjected happily.

“Lake hates shopping,” Adalyn remarked, giving her the I-hate-that-you-don’t-like-to-go-shopping face.

Maria’s face became confused. “Hmm, I wouldn’t have thought that in a million years.”

After an awkward moment of everyone staring at her, Lake grabbed Adalyn’s hand as she waved goodbye with the other. “Yep. Well, time to go. Bye, everyone!”

Adalyn waited until Lake had pulled her far enough along. “Oh, my freaking God, Lake; this house is sick! How could you want to leave? I mean, seriously, how hot are all the guys? By the way, I saw Lucca, and
you
are the crazy one. The fact he’s so scary makes him that much hotter.”

She watched Adalyn practically fan herself then mumbled, “You all really are insane.”

“And Nero! His eyes … I want to touch his eyes!”

She really did cover her mouth that time. “Shh! Maybe you forgot he has a girlfriend, Elle.”

Adalyn swiped her hand away from her mouth. “Geez, Lake, I said I wanted to touch his eyes, not lick his abs.” When they closed the front door behind them, she continued, “Besides, I wouldn’t ever date my brother’s best friend. That’s just wrong.”

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, she swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah … Yeah, of course.”

God help me.

Chapter Eighteen

One Sick Cycle Coming to an End

Vincent heard a tap on the glass, drawing his attention. On the other side, Lucca was smoking a cigarette and giving him a ‘come here’ gesture with two fingers.

“Since when does he give a shit about smoking in the house?” he said, getting up.

“Very recently for some reason. He only smokes in his office now,” Nero answered as he and Amo followed behind.

“That girl of yours has got a mouth on her,” Lucca said, pointing his cigarette at Vincent when the door came to a close.

“She’s not my girl.”

“Well, it sure as fuck didn’t look that way when she ran out on your graduation. Did you really need to fuck all their mothers? Like there’s not enough high school pussy to go around.”

Vincent flexed his jaw, thinking back on watching Lake run out of the gym. He would never have thought all those women were going to fucking act like they were at a One Shit-rection concert. The first thing he had done when he had finished walking across the stage had been to look at where Lake had been sitting; instead, he had found her running out the door. He hated himself for the fact that his instinct had been to look at her.
Why should I feel bad for fucking around? She doesn’t own my dick.

He wanted to get this conversation over with. “So, what’s your point?”

Lucca flicked his ashes. “My point is her father has clearly done a shitty job teaching her respect, or anything for that matter. You need to tame that pretty mouth of hers before it gets her in trouble.”

“What the hell did you do to her? I overheard her call us insane, she called you the ‘crazy one,’ and she doesn’t care so much for your Zippo tricks.” Nero clearly enjoyed telling Lucca the last part.

Vincent and Amo tried not to laugh as Lucca sucked in a deeper and longer hit than usual off his cigarette. “Well, then she’s fucking smarter than I thought.” Lucca looked back at Vincent. “But that’s my point. I scared the shit out of her, and she’s still running her mouth. She’s fucking lucky I caught her talking to Chloe.”

“What did she say to her?” Amo asked.

“Lake apologized for staring at her, said she shouldn’t hide her face. Also that if she ever needed to talk, she understood what it was like being alone.”

Alone?
“What the fuck did she mean by that?”

Lucca shrugged. “Her mother didn’t come today.”

“Why the hell not?” Every goddamn member of the family had made it, so Vincent expected and, more so,
needed
a good excuse as to why her mother hadn’t come.

“Apparently, her husband being sick was more important.”

Vincent was furious. “Motherfucker.”

“Shit,” Nero said, running his hand through his hair.

“What a fucking bitch,” Amo spat.

Why does he know all this?
For some reason, he didn’t like that Lucca knew stuff about her when he didn’t.

Lucca could read Vincent’s thoughts all over his face. “She’s yours, so you figure it out, along with that fucking mouth of hers. I’d hate to teach her myself.”

“She is
not
mine,” Vincent hissed, squeezing the bridge of his nose as hard as he could to get himself under control. “None of this fucking matters; she’s leaving for college by the end of the summer.”

“She doesn’t have to go.” Taking one last hit off his cigarette, smoke clouds appeared with each word Lucca spoke. “Fuck college.”

Vincent went back inside, still fuming from the thought that Lake’s mom hadn’t come to her own daughter’s graduation.
Amo’s right; she
is
a fucking bitch.
He still didn’t want this thing with him and Lake to go anywhere, considering the fact she was leaving Kansas City and his dick would never belong to one person, no matter how much fun he forgot it was to fight with her. However, he was going to fucking see her mother, right after he got his head cleared from shoving Lake against the wall.

Vincent scanned the room, his eyes dancing between all the women for the first time that night.
I just need a distraction.

*  *  *

Buzzzz... Buzzzz… Buzzzz… Buzzzzzzzz.

Lake grabbed her phone off the old wooden chair she used as a nightstand. She must have forgotten to turn off her school alarm with it being her first day of summer break.
Damn you, alarm
.

Looking at the home screen, she didn’t see the alarm notification like she was used to; instead, it read:
Seven missed calls from Dad

Quickly, she dialed him back.

Her father answered so fast she didn’t even hear one full ring. “Lake, listen to me carefully—”

“Dad, what’s wrong?” Lake shot up into a sitting position, immediately worried sick from her father’s distressed voice.

“I don’t have a lot of time, Lake. Now, listen. Pack a bag then go to the bank and clean out your college savings account, all twenty grand of it. Remember that apartment we went up and saw a week ago, just a mile down from the college?”

She squeezed the phone to keep from shaking. “Yes. What’s going on?”

“It’s still up for rent. Go on up there and sign for it. My car is out front. Take it and don’t come back till I say. If I don’t, then it should be okay in a couple of months.
Do not
tell anyone you are leaving.”

Lake tried her best not to start crying so she could speak clearly. “Dad, what did you do?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just do what I asked, okay?” She could hear the tears working from the back of his throat.

Giving up defeat to her father and her own tears, she began to sob. “Okay.”

“Now, go on and be quick.” He paused for a moment to collect himself. “Love ya, kiddo.”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

Silence.

After her father’s sudden disconnection from the call, she rolled into a ball and let her emotions rack through her body. Lake had a pretty good idea what he had done. Her father was a major gambler who had been in the red with the boss for what felt like years. Their tiny kitchen table was filled with past due bills and recently, Lake had noticed it was getting worse and worse.

Instead of her father using his money to pay off some bills, he would gamble it away in hopes of winning big to pay them all off. Her father couldn’t get out of his debt, and his illness preyed on that fact.

It was one sick cycle coming to an end.

Now go on and be quick,
his words beat at her mind. She had to get up and do what she did best, because if there was anything Lake knew, it was when to run the hell away.
Especially from
the family
.

Lake had always known what her future looked like until then. She wiped her tears from her face, finally opening her eyes.

At that point, her future had turned black.