Wrong Side of Town (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Estella

The buzzing in my ears refused to fade.

My stomach churned as I tried to piece together what had just happened. I hated it when Vincent and I got like this. I missed the sweet moments we had shared together.

I’d never been so worried about Vincent before. It honestly scared me to see his face swollen and bruised like that. From what I understood, he had beaten up Conor for threatening me. That act alone confused me.

Why would he beat someone up for me? He’d told me I meant nothing to him. He’d acted cold and indifferent towards me. His behavior made no sense at all. His reckless behavior was bad for Dylan, but it was also bad for him. I knew he had the ability to leave that life behind, but maybe it was too late for him.

“He’s not a bad guy.”

Goat’s voice broke into my thoughts, startling me. “I’m sorry?”

We’d just pulled up outside my house and I’d been too distracted by my thoughts to get off the bike, and Goat had finally decided to say something about it. I guess it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was troubling me.

“Vincent,” Goat repeated as I climbed of the bike. “He’s not a bad guy. He’s been through a lot of shit and he doesn’t know how to deal with things in any other way. You gotta understand that about him if you’re gonna be around him.”

I stared at Goat in surprise, letting his words slowly sink in. I’d never expected this big, hulk-like, tatted up guy to be so insightful.

“I do understand, but I wish he could learn to handle things differently. He goes on about wanting a better life for Dylan but I don’t think he realizes the effect his own actions have on the way Dylan is raised.”

“Give it time. People can change.”

Goat looked me right in the eyes, and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement. He was right. I had to give Vincent a chance. I had to have hope that he could change his life.

“Thanks for the talk, Goat.” And despite my aversion to tattooed guys and the Madden gang, I stepped forward and wrapped Goat up in a hug. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Goat let out a gruff laugh and gunned the engine of the bike. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye,” I said with a smile, watching him pull out and speed off past the dilapidated houses on the street.

I turned to head inside and that’s when I caught sight of my brother’s car parked out the front of the house. That was strange. I didn’t know that Nate was going to be coming over.

Increasing my pace, I hurried up the steps and into the house. When I walked into the living room, Nate wasn’t there. Savannah sat by herself watching TV.

She glanced up when she heard me. “Hey.”

“Hey, is Nate here?”

“Nope.”

“Then why is his car here?”

“He left it for us.”

My mouth fell open. “He
what
?”

Savannah shifted around on the couch, tucking a leg underneath her. “Nate got a new car and gave us his old one to share. He picked me up in his new car this afternoon and I went and got the old one.”

Never in a million years had I ever expected my brother to give us his car. We were lucky to have a brother who cared about us that much.

“That’s awesome,” I said, because I was just so amazed that he would do that for us. “Where did he get the money for the new car?”

Savannah shrugged. “I don’t know. He told you to call him.”

That was strange. My brother worked part-time as a cashier at a grocery store, but I wasn’t sure how he’d been able to afford a new car. Maybe he’d been saving most of his money.

Pulling my phone out from my bag, I dialed Nathan’s number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey, Estee,” he said, answering on the third ring.

“Did you really give us your car?” I asked immediately.

Nathan chuckled on the other end. “Yeah, I got a new one so I figured you two could use my old car.”

“Really? Wow! Thank you so much!” The excitement was spreading through me at the thought of not having to rely on everyone else to drive me around. “How did you afford a new car?”

Nathan sighed. “I worked hard, Estee. We don’t have the best things in life, but I want to change that. I want to make sure that things get better from here on. I’m going to try to change our life around, I want you to know that.”

Tears stung my eyes at my brother’s words. I was lucky to have a brother who cared so much about us and was trying so hard to give us the life our parents had failed to. In a way he reminded me of Vincent—he was also trying to give Dylan the kind of life he deserved.

“I love you, Nate. Thank you for doing this for us.”

“I love you too. Don’t mess up my car or put girly stuff in there, okay?”

Despite my tears, I laughed. “Don’t count on it. I’ll have rose-scented air freshener and floral themed car seats in there tomorrow.”

He let out a groan. “I’m regretting this already.”

When I got off the phone, Savannah and I cooked dinner together like always and sat around watching TV. I wasn’t in a hurry to get my work done since it was a Friday night—I figured I could use this time trying not to think about a certain tattooed guy.

At about nine o’clock, Savannah left to hang out with her friends. I figured there was a guy involved since she was dressed up really nice, but I didn’t want to pry too much. Besides, she’d tell me when she was ready. I was glad that Savannah was going out and doing normal teenager stuff. She needed to escape from all the negative stuff that surrounded us at home.

I could go out too, but I wasn’t much of a party girl. Mariah was always trying to get me to go out to a field party with her, but I wouldn’t even know what to do at those things. Those parties seemed like the place to make out in and I wasn’t that kind of girl.

I’d just started watching an episode of
The Big Bang Theory
, when I heard loud knocking on the door that made me jump.

Oh no. Dad had been out drinking all day and I didn’t want to have to deal with him tonight. I should’ve just gone to bed a long time ago.

The pounding on the door grew louder, and I jumped off the couch and hurried to the front door, dreading what I would find.

When I pulled open the door, my heart stopped.

I definitely didn’t expect to find
this
.

Vincent was standing outside, swaying on one spot, his fist raised as though he was about to knock on the door again. When he caught sight of me, a goofy smile spread across his face.

Oh my gosh. He was completely drunk.

“Stelle, I need to talk to you.” He slurred his words as he spoke, and the overwhelming smell of whiskey hit me. “I should’ve told you this a long time ago.”

“Vincent, what-”

He staggered forward, pressing his hands into my shoulders. “I just-you make me feel so many things, Stelle.” He placed a hand to his chest. “I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t explain it. I think about you constantly. You need to know that.”

His eyes were glazed over as they searched mine, waiting for an answer. Finally, the shock faded and I found the ability to speak. Ignoring his drunken words, I took a step forward, searching the street outside and finding that Vincent’s bike was out front.

I shot him a look of disapproval. “You rode over here like this?”

Vincent gave me a half-shrug, placing an arm around my shoulder. “Did you hear me, Stelle? I’m trying to tell you how I feel about you.”

He didn’t know what he was saying. The alcohol was messing with his head and making him say things that he normally wouldn’t say, so I continued to ignore him as I placed a hand around his firm, muscular arm and dragged him down the stairs to Nate’s car—well, I guess it was my car now.

“I’m not listening to you right now. Not when you’re like this. Get in the car so I can take you home.”

I pulled open the passenger side door and waited for Vincent to get in. He didn’t complain—probably because he was too drunk to think of a reasonable argument—and stayed silent as he watched me walk around to the driver’s side.

“I really do have feelings for you, Stelle,” he said once I started up the car and began heading towards Penthill. “I don’t know what it is about you. Maybe it’s everything. Yeah, I think it’s just everything about you. You light up everything around you and all I want to do is be around that light all the time. I want to be around
you
.”

Vincent sounded sincere enough, but I’d dealt enough with drunken men in my life to know that you couldn’t believe everything they told you. I maintained a stony silence and focused on the road ahead. Vincent was quiet for a long while, and when I glanced over at him, he’d fallen asleep.

With a sigh, I let my thoughts cloud my mind. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel the same way about Vincent. It wasn’t that at all. But I wanted to hear these things from him when he was sober. And then there was a part of me that he knew nothing about and that I wasn’t ready to tell him about yet.

I realized that I had feelings for Vincent—very strong feelings—but he didn’t need me in his life. I came with too many problems of my own.

***

Vincent

If you really liked a girl, don’t be stupid and wait until you’re drunk to tell her how you felt.

I’d woken up to Estella shaking me and telling me that we were home, but all I knew was that I was a little drunk and I’d said stupid, cheesy shit to Estella that I probably wouldn’t normally say.

I guess I’d fallen asleep on the ride over here which was why a little of the alcohol had worn off. My head still felt hazy though, kind of like I was seeing the world through a tangled web.

My feet hit the ground and I staggered a little but managed to stay upright. Estella grabbed onto my arm and helped me up the front steps and through the door. I was trying to focus and pull my thoughts together, but all my mind was fixated on was how close Estella was to me and how desperately I wanted to kiss her.

“Are you gonna say anything?” I asked, pulling my arm from her and watching as she turned on the light in the hall.

“What do you want me to say, Vincent?” Estella’s voice was calm, but there was disappointment laced through it. “I’ve told you before that what you’re doing isn’t right. You need to stop this. If you really care about your brother, you have to change for him.”

“I do want to change for him!” I said, slamming the door shut so loud that the house shook. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do the last few weeks?”

Estella barely flinched as she stared me down. “I don’t know what you’ve been trying to do, Vincent! You’re so drunk right now; I don’t even know what to think!”

Something inside me snapped and I pushed her against the wall, locking her in with my arms. My heart was pumping in my head, and there was a surge in my chest and a thrill from being this close to her.

“Think this.” I brought my mouth close to hers. “I’m trying to change for Dylan. And I’m trying to change for you.”

“For me?” Disbelief flitted across her face. “You’ve been nothing but a complete jerk to me.”

“I don’t know how to act around you,” I admitted. “You’re different.”

“That’s your reasoning.” Anger rose in her voice. “I’m different so you ignore me and avoid me? You know what? I don’t want to hear this right now, Vincent. Maybe tell me all this when the alcohol’s not doing all the talking for you.”

Estella made a move to push me away, but I held my ground, pressing my hands into her cool skin. “I need you, Estella.” The words feel out of my mouth before I even knew I was saying them. “I need you to stay here with me.”

My eyes clashed with hers. There was something raging in hers, like a battle was playing out in her mind about her feelings for me and she didn’t want to let them win.

The surging in my chest rushed through my ears and filled up my head with a strange buzzing. Probably some of it was the alcohol screwing with me, but I knew most of it was the way I felt about Estella.

Yeah, I’d been a total jerk to her for most of the time I’d know her, but I didn’t know any other way. Women had been in and out of my life and screwed it up so completely that it was hard to let her in.

But I wanted to. Desperately. Because she made things better. She made me better. I was a better person for knowing her.

Now I just needed to convince her of that.

I paused, and Estella tensed, ready to bolt the minute I released her.  Then I lowered my voice and loosened my hold, gently massaging the place where I’d grabbed her. “Stay with me. Stay with me tonight. Don’t leave me.”

Estella was silent for so long that I was certain she was going to turn around and walk out of my house, leaving me forever. I couldn’t blame her if she did.

Instead, she nodded. “I’ll stay with you.”

Shock hit me hard in the chest. I hadn’t expected her to stay with me. I didn’t know what had made her agree to stay with me—maybe she just didn’t want to argue with a drunken idiot like me—or maybe a part of her was starting to admit that she had feelings for me. Either way, I wasn’t complaining whatever her reasons were.