by Sophia Gray
If she’d even consider dating me. I wasn’t exactly in the running for Stand-Up Guy of the Year, but I wasn’t a complete fuckup. Still, Vanessa was way too good for someone like me.
The thought kept me up for most of the night. When I finally dozed off, light was beginning to stream through the filmy white curtains that Vanessa had over her windows.
# # #
When I woke up, Vanessa was nowhere to be found. Confused, I got out of bed and yanked my pants on, striding into the living room. She was sitting at the dining room table in a white t-shirt and cotton panties, eating a bowl of cereal. Just the sight of her dressed like that was enough to make my cock hard.
“Morning.” I slid into a chair across from Vanessa. She grinned and passed me an empty bowl. “Lucky Charms? Really?”
Vanessa giggled. “I wasn’t allowed to have it growing up,” she said softly. “And I wanted to give it a try. And now…” She blushed, as if she’d said something naughty. “I love it.”
“I bet you do.” I smirked. Pouring myself a bowl, I dug in. “Vanessa, there’s something I wanna talk to you about,” I began.
She frowned. “What is it?”
There was a buzzing in my pocket and I reached for my phone. Rudy. Shit.
“Yo,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Cade, you need to get your ass over to headquarters now,” Rudy said. He didn’t sound pissed, but he sounded like something was really wrong. “We need to have a talk.”
Shit. “Okay,” I said. “Yeah, I’ll be there soon. I’m gonna wrap some things up here and then head over.”
“No,” Rudy snapped. “Now. You hear me?”
“Yeah,” I said. I swallowed and hung up the phone, sliding it into my pocket. Standing up, I looked down at Vanessa. She was staring at me expectantly. I wanted to talk to her, wanted to tell her that I wanted to date her, but I knew I didn’t have time.
“Vanessa, I gotta head out,” I said, pulling on my vest. “I’ll call you, okay?”
Vanessa nodded. She looked sad as I let myself out of the front door, but she didn’t say anything. I wondered what she was thinking. Did she think I was ditching her for another woman? Or something illegal? Fuck. Stop thinking like this, you’re turning into a real pussy!
At headquarters, I expected to see the other guys. But instead, it was just Rudy. He was sitting out front, waiting for me with a cigarette in his hand.
“Cade,” he said by way of greeting. “Get inside. We need to talk.”
Apprehension descended over me as I followed him inside the darkened room. My eyes took a second to adjust and I blinked, coughing.
“What’s up?” I stared into Rudy’s face. There were lines on his forehead and his jaw was twitching. “What the fuck was so urgent?”
“Were you pushing pills last night in Catchers territory?”
“What?”
“I asked you a fucking question,” Rudy roared. “Were you pushing drugs last night outside of our territory?” His voice boomed and echoed off the walls.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I was. So?”
“So, the Catchers are fuckin’ pissed!” Rudy glared at me. “Colton got a call this morning, saying that Bruno saw you on his turf, pushing X. I thought you were going out there to fuck that girl and get it out of your system?”
I winced. Now wasn’t the time to tell him that I wanted to keep seeing Vanessa, but I knew it would have to come out.
“Yeah, Rudy, that’s the thing,” I began. “I did fuck her last night. I spent the night with her.” I shrugged. “I wanna keep seeing her. I like her a lot.”
Rudy glared at me. I could tell he wanted to punch me, but he was always one of the more restrained Bleeding Prophets. “You were fucking stupid last night,” he said solemnly. “You really need to think about how this chick is affecting your behavior. It ever occur to you that the Catchers are just looking for a reason to fuck us? Take us down? They could fucking report you for that, and they’d be justified,” Rudy said. He crossed his arms over his burly chest. “And I wouldn’t fucking bail you out. You’d deserve it.”
I sighed in a huff. I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to admit it and give him the satisfaction of knowing. “Right,” I said. “I’m sorry. You’re right, and I fucked up. I won’t do it again. I should have known better.”
“But you were thinking about that piece of ass too much, right?” Rudy glared at me.
I sighed again. “Yeah. Probably I was.” I cringed, thinking of how excited I’d been to see Vanessa. I hadn’t even thought that pushing a few pills would be a bad idea. It didn’t occur to me that any of the Catchers could have seen me, even though I’d been on their turf. Rudy was completely correct. I’d fucked up big time.”
“Stop seeing that girl,” Rudy thundered. “Or you’ll be demoted, and you won’t be replacing Colton or anyone else for a long time. You get that?”
“Right,” I said. How was I going to play this one?
“Cade, answer me,” Rudy hissed through gritted teeth. “Tell me that you fucking understand and that you won’t go chasing after her anymore. Tell me!”
I swallowed hard. “I get it,” I growled. “I won’t see her again. You happy now?”
Rudy waved his hand in the air. “No,” he said. “My club is fucking up left and right, and now I gotta worry about you fucking some girl and letting it rot your brain.” He shook his head. “I’m disgusted with you, Mitchell,” he added. “I need to fuckin’ cool off.” He stormed away without saying anything else.
I frowned. I knew that I wouldn’t stop seeing Vanessa. I liked her too much. All I had to do was keep an eye on the club and make sure I didn’t fuck up again, or they’d know it was because of her. If I started doing a bang-up job again, they wouldn’t care that I was still seeing her. At least that was what I hoped.
I knew that I had to tell Vanessa everything. I hated the idea of telling her that she had to be a secret, but it was the only way to make sure that we still got to see each other. Even though she didn’t have a ton of experience with men, I had a feeling she wouldn’t stand for being anyone’s secret. Not even mine.
Pulling out my phone, I dialed Vanessa’s number. She answered on the first ring. I grinned—even in a shitty mood, expecting the sound of her voice was a pretty great feeling.
“Hey,” Vanessa said. “When you said you would call, I thought you meant in, like, a few days.” She giggled. “Isn’t there some kind of dating rule about that?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re cute,” I told her. “And yeah, normally I would have waited a few days.” I sighed. “But I have to talk to you about something. I was gonna tell you before I left, but it’s probably better now that I didn’t.” There was a pause and I wondered what she was going to tell me. Did she want me to fuck off and leave her alone forever? Would she say that she was too busy with her studies to have a boyfriend, much less an outlaw and a scoundrel?
I heard Vanessa swallow. “Okay,” she replied. “What is it?”
Chapter Eleven
Vanessa
Cade sighed on the other end of the phone. “I need to talk to you,” he said again, this time more urgently. A ripple of excitement passed through me—that was always what happened when I talked to Cade, but this time it felt more urgent, more desperate. Like if I didn’t see him now, I’d wind up missing him forever.
“Where should I meet you?”
There was a pause. “Is Kimmy home?”
I shook my head even though Cade wasn’t there to see me do it. “Nope,” I said cheerfully. She was out; she’d actually been gone for the last couple of days. “You wanna come over?”
“I’ll be there soon,” Cade said darkly. He hung up before I could say goodbye.
After we got off the phone, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. Just what exactly was going on, and why did he want to talk to me so desperately?
I rushed to my room and looked in the mirror. My outfit made me groan but I knew there was not
hing better I could change into unless I pilfered something from Kimmy’s closet. And Cade could be here at any second! I didn’t really have time to change, but I could at least do something about my face. I’d gone downtown yesterday and bought some makeup. It wasn’t the first makeup that I’d owned, but it was the first makeup that I’d picked out on my own. I’d gotten a red lipstick and some mascara with light eye shadow to accentuate the blue of my eyes. It wasn’t exactly as dramatic as what Kimmy wore, but I figured that it could at least keep me from looking so babyish.
I put lipstick on and blotted my lips with a piece of tissue. There was a loud knock on the front door and I gasped in anticipation. It had only been, like, two minutes! How the heck had Cade gotten over here so quickly?
I can’t wait to see him, I realized as I ran a comb through my tangles of brown hair. “Coming!” I hollered loudly towards the door. Cade must not have heard me as the knock came again, louder this time.
Sprinting through the living room, I wrapped my hand around the knob and yanked the door open.
“Vanessa, honey!” Mom launched herself through the doorway and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close.
I gasped. “Mom!” I felt blood rush to my cheeks and I had to look away. “What are you doing here?”
“Hi, pumpkin,” Dad said as he stepped through the door after Mom. “How are you doing? Your mom and I missed you so much, we just wanted to see how our little girl was doing!”
My mouth went dry. Cade’s gonna be here at any second! How the heck am I supposed to get rid of them?
“Sweetie?” Mom peered in my face. “Is everything alright? You look so upset!”
I swallowed hard. “Uh, Mom, well, the truth is—”
“And is that lipstick you’re wearing, young lady?” Dad peered close. “What are you doing wearing makeup in the middle of the day?” He frowned and I blushed again. “You know how your mother and I feel about you wearing makeup!” He said the word like it was a curse. “Vanessa, honey, has something happened to you?”
“Oh, Lloyd,” Mom chided. “She’s in college now, let her be! I think she looks nice.” She stared at my face and took hold of my chin. Again, I was reminded of the astounding similarity between our faces. “Although that shade of red is a bit much, honey. You might want to stick with something like pink or a nice neutral.” She nodded her head as though she knew all about makeup when I knew that she hadn’t worn it since her wedding. “Honey, maybe we can go shopping together and pick some out.”
That was when I noticed they were carrying suitcases. My stomach plummeted and I stared. “Are you guys…going somewhere?”
Dad let out a chuckle. “You know we don’t like traveling, Ape, we’re staying with you for a few days! Mom had this great idea to surprise you!”
My jaw dropped. “Um, I don’t know…”
“Honey,” Mom said. She frowned at me. “Are you telling me that you don’t want your parents around?” She wagged a finger at me, suddenly looking like she disapproved of everything she saw. “Don’t tell me that you’re getting all snobby just because you’re living on your own,” she chirped. “Most girls would be thrilled if their parents surprised them with a visit!”
I doubt it, I thought bleakly as I stared at the luggage. Finally, an idea popped into my head.
“Mom, it’s not that I don’t want you to stay,” I said softly. “But I don’t just live by myself, you know. I have a roommate. Remember Kimmy? She doesn’t know that you two are staying here.”
“Oh, Vanessa, don’t be ridiculous,” Mom cooed. “You know us! We won’t be in the way, will we, Lloyd?” She looked up at my dad. “And we can even stay in your room, honey. You can sleep out here, on the couch.”
I felt myself deflate. “Mom, this really isn’t a good time,” I said. “I have midterms coming up next week.”
Dad looked down at me sternly. “Are you telling your mother and me that you haven’t been staying on top of your studies?” He shook his head. “You know how I feel about that, Vanessa. If your grades don’t stay perfect…” He trailed off, like the possibility of my getting a B would be enough to send him over the edge. “You won’t be able to get into a good medical school,” he finished.
“Dad, I know,” I replied as calmly as I could manage. “And of course I’ve been staying on top of my grades, but you know how it is. I spent a ton of time studying for midterms!”
Dad looked at me as though he wasn’t convinced. Finally, he turned to my mom. “Stella, did you bring all of the bags from the car?”
“No! I forgot something. Sweetie, I’ll be right back.”
I stepped forward. “What did you need?”
Mom looked down at me. “Well, I brought some things to surprise you, that’s all.”
“You know, I bet you two are tired after driving for so long,” I said with as much of a smile as I could fake. “Why not let me go out to the car and bring everything in?”
“Oh, that would be nice, honey, thank you,” Dad said. He flopped down onto the couch with a loud grunt and spread his legs comfortably. “Stella, why don’t you get me a glass of water?”
Mom bustled into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the top shelf. I watched her, feeling my panic rise by the second. What the hell was I going to tell Cade? Shit! I pulled out my phone and texted him, telling him to hold off on coming over for a little while, but I wondered if it was too late. If he was riding over on his bike, there was no way he’d check his phone before running up the stairs.
I skipped outside, enjoying the slightly cool fall breeze that wafted over me. My parents’ car was double-parked in the parking lot and I sighed as I saw all of the bags and boxes in the backseat. It looked like Mom and Dad were planning to stay for months, not days. Rolling my eyes, I reached in and grabbed as many of the packages as I could carry.
“Honey, your refrigerator looks pretty sad,” Mom said as soon as I was back inside. “Bring some of those dishes over here.” She frowned. “There’s so much beer in here! That Kimmy seems like a real lush!”
I rolled my eyes and put them on the table. Immediately, Mom ran over and started digging through.
“I brought all of your favorites,” she said, beaming at me. “Tuna hotdish and green bean casserole and lasagna!” She smiled at me and I had to bite the inside of my lips to keep from scowling back at her. Mom had loved to cook growing up, but she wasn’t all that good. As soon as I smelled the noxious odor coming from the boxes, I stepped aside.
Kimmy is going to kill me, I thought miserably as I helped Mom unload the gross-looking Tupperware dishes into the fridge. And I wouldn’t blame her. I wished I could sink into the linoleum floor and die.
Dad was flipping through the channels and making himself at home. I watched as Mom made a couple of sandwiches and brought them over to him on a plate.
The doorbell rang.
“Vanessa, are you expecting someone?” Mom looked at me with her eyebrows raised.
I rolled my eyes. “I was,” I muttered under my breath. “Until you showed up.”
Mom’s face went from confused to angry in two seconds flat. “Young lady,” she said in a warning tone. “You get back here!”
I ignored her. Running over to the door, I opened it a tiny crack and slipped outside.
Cade was standing there, looking gorgeous in a pair of jeans and a leather vest slung over his shoulder. He grinned when he saw me.
“Hey,” Cade said. He raised his eyebrows and winked at me. “You okay? You look like you’ve been running around.”
I rolled my eyes and let myself flop dramatically against the door. “I’m fine,” I muttered. “My parents showed up, though. They brought their suitcases! They’re staying for a few days,” I said miserably.
Cade threw his head back and laughed. “Can I meet Mom and Dad?”
I glared at him. “Don’t even joke about this, ass,” I hissed. “I don’t know what to do to make them leave! And no, you can’t meet them.”
>
Cade crossed his arms over his chest. His face was stony. “I really need to talk to you,” he said. “Can you get out later tonight?”
I bit my lip. “I think so,” I said softly. “I can probably sneak out later. They’ve already decided they’re sleeping in my room, so it’s not like I won’t be alone after they go to bed.”
Cade stepped closer and I felt overcome with a wave of sexual energy. I wanted desperately to be alone with him, but I knew that if we so much as kissed, Mom would have a heart attack.
“Not now,” I said in a low voice.