“Wait, there’s something else...” She looked down at her old sneakers. “M-my dad, he hasn’t come home all week, and when I call him, he doesn’t answer. I’m worried that…”
Vincent took a deep breath and grabbed her chin. “I’ll take care of it.”
Lake took her chin away after a moment, hating herself for liking it when he touched her. “Thanks.”
Getting on the elevator, she couldn’t look at Vincent as the doors closed. You’re supposed to hate him. Somehow, someway, he had managed to get right back under her skin. He’s going to be the death of me.
* * *
Vincent knocked on the office door for the second time today. That time, he heard “Come in” instead of “Wait.”
Opening the door, he went inside the smoky room and took a seat in front of the boss.
Dante took a hit of his cigar. “Does this have to do with the girl?”
“How’d you know?”
“I got a call telling me you dragged Lake away from a very important customer of mine,” Dante said, leaning back in his chair.
Well, this is starting off fucking great.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know it won’t?”
Vincent reached into a bag he had brought with him and set stacks of cash in front of him. “Thirty grand for Lake’s debt.”
Dante sat back in his chair, thinking for a moment. “Lake working for me brings in a lot more money than just her debt. My customers go there just to see her, so it benefits me to have her work it off, not just have you give me the money and have her gone the next day. So this is what I’ll do: I will accept your money and clear Lake’s debt, but she has to continue to work for me downstairs for a month.
“That customer you dragged her away from today—David—has a thing for Lake and is here on business for the next month. David is my biggest customer right now, so when he’s gone, Lake can leave. This will also serve as your punishment for dragging her away. Now, you will have to watch that sick shit stare at her every day.”
Motherfucker.
Vincent gave a nod, unable to speak because if he did, nothing good was going to come out of it.
“I will make sure Lake gets paid now for her hours.”
“Just add it to my cut, and I will give it to her.”
Dante took another hit off his cigar. “If you say so.”
Vincent ran his hands through his hair, unsure if he wanted the answer to the other thing on his mind. “Her father hasn’t been home or spoken to her this week.”
The boss picked up his phone and punched in a number then placed it on the table on speakerphone.
The man on the other end answered. “Hello?”
“I need to see you in my office,” Dante responded.
“I’ll be right there once the job is finished, boss.”
“See you soon, Paul.” He hung up the phone, looking at Vincent. “Satisfied?”
He nodded. I would be if Lake didn’t have to fucking work down there again.
“Good. I will let Paul know the debt is paid and his daughter is worried about him. No harm will come to him as long as he stays away from my slots and tables,” Dante promised him.
“Thanks, boss.” Vincent stood, going to the door.
The boss had parting words for him just like his father. “If I were you, I’d be knocking some fucking sense into that girl.”
That wasn’t advice like his father’s; that was a clear fucking warning.
Vincent managed to nod one last time before he shut the door.
One thing was for damn sure: he was going to be knocking some fucking sense into her in more ways than one. As long as she doesn’t fucking kill me with the shit she keeps pulling.
Replaying in his mind how quickly she had dared to hit the button to come up and see the boss, he was certain death would come first.
Chapter Thirty-One
Family Men Are Not Men; We Are Fucking Deranged Animals
Lake nervously waited in the lobby for Vincent’s return. She was on pins and needles, wondering if her father was okay as she continued to watch the elevator for him to come out.
When she finally saw Vincent come off the elevator, her heart stopped and she no longer wanted to know. She found herself walking to her car, instead. She could hear her name being yelled behind her, but she picked up her feet and started running through the casino and out the doors. She had to work hard to get through the crowd of people, and she knew Vincent wasn’t going to fair well with it.
Fumbling with the car door, she swung it open and stuck the key into the ignition. She turned it, only for it to not even attempt to rev the engine. It was completely dead.
Lake laid her head on the steering wheel, trying to take deep breaths. Then the driver’s side door came open a second later, and she didn’t even raise her head to look at who it was.
“Why the fuck did you just run from me like that?”
She continued to keep her head down after Vincent’s harsh question.
“Lake, look at me,” his voice commanded.
Looking at a furious Vincent, her eyes started to blur with tears. “I’m scared of what you will tell me.”
Vincent softened his face and his words. “He’s okay. I just talked to him.”
“He is?” Her eyes stopped from watering.
He began lessening her fears. “Yes. He’s just been busy working, it seems, but he knows you’ve been worried about him. He’ll probably come home tonight to see you.”
She felt the weight on her chest release at knowing he was alive. Thank God.
“I have to go to my mom’s tonight for the weekend. I’m just glad he’s okay.”
“See, there was no need to run from me, Lake. I don’t want you to ever do that again.” His tone became slightly rougher.
Her eyes drifted down to his chest. “I just got scared.”
“I know. It’s okay. Come on, I’ll take you to your mom’s.” He held open the car door for her.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll take the bus.” I am not getting in his car again.
“You are not taking a fucking bus,” Vincent snapped at her.
“Jeez, what do you have against buses?”
“Lake, do you have any clue where you are and how dangerous it is downtown?”
Shit, he’s right.
“Maybe Nero can take me?”
He shook his head, becoming aggravated. “No, he’s busy with Elle after I made him work a double shift to watch you.”
“Well, how about A—”
Vincent grabbed her arm and started pulling her from the car. “Don’t you fucking dare say Amo. I should let him take you home for even suggesting that.”
With no other option, she went to his car with him. Why couldn’t my car start today, of all days? It was like every time he was around her, her car magically didn’t work.
When Vincent opened the car door for her, she got in and buckled her seatbelt as he went over to the driver’s side.
“Is Amo bad?” she asked when he started the car.
He looked over at her. “Where the fuck did that come from?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You just said ‘I should let him take you home’, and it makes me think he’s a bad person.”
“None of us are good, Lake. I don’t think you understand that.”
“But how bad is Amo … like, compared to Lucca?”
Vincent snapped his head to look at her. “Listen to me. You stay out of that fucked-up situation. That is something you sure as fuck don’t want to get in the middle of. You’ll find out real fucking quick how bad Amo and Lucca really are.” When she didn’t respond, he asked, “Got it?”
“Yes. I was just asking. Why are you being so bossy today?” She crossed her arms over her chest. He needs to calm down. He turned hot then cold every five seconds.
“Because you just ask for trouble. You don’t think before you speak, or fucki
ng act for that matter. What you did was suicide. My father told me all about you asking to see the boss and dropping twenty grand in front of him. No one—no one—approaches Dante like that and lives. You don’t even begin to understand how lucky you are. From now on, you speak to me, Nero, and Amo. That’s it. Family men are not men; we are fucking deranged animals.”
Lake looked out the window. “He told you?”
Vincent understood what she meant. “Yes, he told me you gave him all of your college money. Why would you do that?”
“It was the only option I had. My father is my family. Please don’t tell Adalyn anything. I don’t know how to tell her I’m not going to college yet.”
He took a moment before he responded with, “You don’t have to worry; I’m not going to tell her anything.”
Lake believed him, if only for the fact that he would probably have a lot of explaining to do himself if he did.
She rested her head on the window, trying to relax before she had to face a torturous night with John and Ashley. She was pretty sure he was going to kill her since she was already exhausted from working. John was livid the last time he had seen her, and he’d had a whole week to plan her demise.
When Vincent pulled up to the huge house, for once she would have preferred to stay in his car.
“How come I’ve never met your mom before?” Vincent asked.
“She and my dad broke up when I was young, and she’s usually busy.” She went to open the door.
“Does she work?”
“No,” she quickly answered, going to open the door again.
Vincent stopped her. “I just think it’s strange that I’ve never even seen her. Why wasn’t she at your graduation?”
Lake shook her head. “Thanks for the ride and for making sure my dad is okay.” She managed to open the door that time before he grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“You’re welcome, but you could thank me by inviting me in for dinner.” He grinned, showing his magnificent smile.
Does he know something?
“Um, maybe next time when I can give my mom some warning. Bye!” Lake quickly got out of the car, grabbing her bag and shutting the door behind her.
She hurriedly walked into the house, thankful she had managed to get out of that situation. Vincent wasn’t exactly someone who gave up, and he was definitely hedging at something.
“Hey, honey!” Her mother met her at the door and took her in for a big hug. “Now, you promised to tell me everything about graduation, but it’s going to have to wait till I run these errands for John. I just had Chinese del—”
Dinng.
Lake turned around. He fucking didn’t.
“Who could that be?” Her mom went to open the door.
No fucking way it’s him.
A baby blue-eyed blonde god in a suit stood in the doorway, smiling. “Hello.”
He fucking did.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Shit Was About To Hit The Fan
“Well, hello. Who are you?” Lake’s mom said, smiling from ear to ear.
“I’m a friend of Lake’s. Vincent. It’s nice to meet you.” When he held out his hand, her mother took it.
“I’m Pam, her mother. It’s very nice to meet you.” She kept shaking his hand, not wanting to drop it.
Lake stared at her mother who was all googly-eyed for him. What the hell, Mom?
Vincent finally managed to get out of her grasp to pull Lake’s phone out of his pocket. “You left this in the car.”
She quickly checked her hoodie pocket where she knew she’d had it the entire time. Looking at his gloating face, she realized what had happened. He fucking picked it from me! She went to reach for her phone, but her mom beat her to it by grabbing it out of his hands slowly.
Pam smiled. “You are such a sweetheart for doing that.”
Lake’s mouth dropped open at her mother’s obvious flirting. She couldn’t believe she would act that way in front of her. She wasn’t going to be able to stomach it much longer.
“Well, thanks. See you later.” She went to shut the door.
“Your house smells so good. What’s cooking?” Vincent asked, stopping her.
Her mom laughed. “I just had some Chinese delivered is all. Would you like to stay for dinner? I have plenty.”
“I thought you had to run some errands for John.” Lake reminded her mom.
“Oh, don’t be silly. It can wait. We need to talk about graduation, remember?”
It’s never waited before when I was left to be tortured. Lake looked at Vincent, silently pleading for him to say no.
“Thanks. I would love to.” Vincent walked into the house, looking around. “Your house is really nice, Pam.”
“Thank you. Ashley, my step-daughter, keeps it in tip-top shape.” Pam tossed Lake’s phone in her bag on the ground. “Here, let me show you into the kitchen.”
Vincent draped his arm over Lake as if he didn’t see Pam holding out her hand. “I bet she does.”
Lake forced a nervous smile up at Vincent. What the hell is going on?
Pam quickly dropped her hand, laughing it off as she led him into the kitchen.
“John, Ashley, Lake’s friend Vincent is here for dinner.”
Lake and Vincent walked into the kitchen behind Pam to see boxes of Chinese food scattered over the table, and John and Ashley were already digging into two hugely loaded plates.
John sucked his teeth, looking Vincent up and down. “I thought you had to run out and get a few things?”
“It can wait till tomorrow.” Pam went and grabbed a few more plates and forks out of the cabinet before setting them on the table. Then she grabbed a few waters from the fridge. Finally, she took a seat beside her husband. “Vincent, come on and sit down.” She patted the empty seat next to her and Ashley.
Vincent dragged Lake into the kitchen with his arm still around her and went on the other side of the table with two empty seats. Then he dropped his arm and pulled out the seat closest to Ashley, motioning for Lake to sit down.
Sitting, she curiously looked up at him. When she watched him take off his jacket and start rolling up his sleeves, she looked away and saw Ashley and her mother both practically drooling over him. Glancing over at John, she could picture him murdering Vincent in fifty million ways in his mind.
He held out his hand as he did the final rolls of his sleeves. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
John had to look up at Vincent as he shook his hand. “Yeah, you, too.”
Vincent took his seat next to John and grabbed two plates, forks, and waters off the table to set in front of Lake then himself.
Ashley set down her fork, smiling. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Ashley, Lake’s step-sister.”
Vincent didn’t even look at her as he started taking food out of the containers and putting it on his plate. “Yeah, I was at the mall Monday when you came up to Lake.”
Lake opened her bottle of water, hurriedly drinking down the contents. This is not happening, is it?
Ashley let out a nervous laugh as she picked her fork back up to start eating.
“Aren’t you going to eat, Lake?” Vincent asked her when he and Pam both had filled their plates.
Lake had been watching John get more and more pissed as Vincent had scooped out some food. Seeing his face after Vincent’s question, he definitely didn’t want her to touch anything.
I have never touched his food.
She bit her lip, doubting what to do. He was surely going to punish her if she did.
“I’m not hungry. I guess I’m still a little sick.”
“You’re sick because you haven’t eaten. Eat.”
She didn’t have any option other than to eat if she didn’t want to make a scene. She scooped out a little spoonful of rice and John’s least favorite item of chicken and broccoli.
“You need to eat more than that.” Vincent put some more rice on her plate and grabbed the last of the spare ribs, adding them to her porti
on.
No, that’s his favorite!
Quickly looking at John, she saw the fumes were practically exploding from his head.
Vincent started digging into his food as his attention returned to Pam. “What was it again that you needed to talk to Lake about? Graduation or something?”
“Yes, I couldn’t make it because I was taking care of John. How did it go?” her mother finally addressed her.
Lake went to speak, but Vincent spoke first.
“What was wrong?” he asked, looking at John.
John wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I had a cold.”
She talked before anything else could be said. “It went well. Vincent graduated, too.”
Pam’s face lit up. “You did? I’m so sorry I missed it. I would’ve liked to have seen you graduate, Vincent.”
Lake squeezed her fork while she picked at her food. Her appetite was completely gone by that point, even though she hadn’t eaten all day. Her mother’s words and actions continued to hurt her. She would have preferred John’s plans over this any day.
“You should have seen your daughter.” Vincent smiled at Lake and gave her thigh a squeeze under the table.
Lake found herself smiling back at him for trying to comfort her.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Her mother changed the subject back to Vincent.
He opened his water and took a drink. “My father works downtown at the casino hotel. He’s been friends with the owner Dante Caruso since they were kids. I’m sure you know it because Lake’s dad works there. I’ve been working down there for a couple of months now.”
Oh, God.
“Yeah, we know all about tr—her dad working there,” John said, pointing at Lake.
Vincent looked John in the eyes. “Good. I’m glad you do.”
The rest of the meal was spent silently eating for the most part. Vincent loved every bite of the food, eating his heart’s content while John glared down at Vincent every time he went to get more. Then her mother and Ashley couldn’t quit staring at him. Lake was barely able to stomach a few bites between all of that.
After dinner, Lake headed into the living room with Vincent. Okay, time to go.
Pam came in a moment later, going to Lake’s bag she had dropped by the door. “You know we don’t just lay our stuff around, honey. Go on and take it up to your room.”
Vincent (Made Men Book 2) Page 15