She walked farther back into the kitchen to tell the cook she was leaving. “See you this weekend, Steve.”
He didn’t even look up from the dishes. “Bye, Elle.”
Elle walked back through the swinging doors and went to the cash register, putting in ten dollars’ worth in tips instead of breaking the hundred. Elle smiled. She didn’t want to take Nero’s money. But I did work for it all night. She turned some lights off and grabbed her coat before walking to Nero, who was waiting by the door.
Her smile never disappeared when Nero drove her home. As they reached her house, Nero parked at the next house down, making Elle curious as to why he had done it. When he spent a long time kissing her goodbye, Elle realized why, remembering her family looking out the window earlier.
She lay in her bed that night, still unable to stop smiling. Being with Nero made her happy in her life once again. She had forgotten the feeling.
That night was the first in years Elle fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Thanks for Killing Our Fucking Dreams
Elle sat in Spanish, looking at the clock. My, how things can change. This time, Elle didn’t mind the ticking when she usually wished somehow time would freeze so the ticking would stop. This was a monumental moment in her life.
She had been terrified of lunch time ever since…
Brrring.
“Can I solve this problem?” she asked her teacher. Elle decided to finish her algebra problem as everyone else ran out of the classroom to go to lunch. It’s not like she was in a hurry to sit all by herself at lunch anyway.
“Go ahead. Shut the door on your way out.”
Elle didn’t have time to even nod before the teacher ran off into the teachers’ lounge.
Elle finished her problem and went out to head to lunch, sure to close the door behind her. Her classroom was all the way in the back of the school.
As she started heading down the hallway, she began hearing laughter from a crowd. Elle kept walking to get out of the back hallway and into the main one. When she did, she came right into a group of people. She already knew who the girls were, but she hadn’t met the guys yet.
“That’s who I was telling you about, Sebastian.” Cassandra pointed toward Elle.
Elle saw a guy walk forward who looked almost identical to Cassandra. The only reason they didn’t was because they were of opposite sex.
“So, you’re the little bitch who disrespected my sister?”
Elle tried to pass him. She knew exactly where this was going.
“Oh, no, you don’t. We’re going to take a little walk.” Sebastian hooked his arm in hers and headed back down the back hallway.
“Get off me.” Elle tried not to move with Sebastian and then began fighting him.
Another guy hooked her other arm and both of them started pulling her down the hallway.
Elle desperately tried to fight them, kicking and screaming. Tears started to fill her eyes and a powerful feeling came over her that what was about to happen to her would change her forever.
Elle was now being pulled through the back school door. She saw the girls following behind her through her tears while she heard their laughter over her screams…
Elle shook her head. It doesn’t matter anymore. She had already cried too many nights because of that day, and the memory was too bad to bring up. I don’t want to ruin a good day.
Elle was having a good day, too. Nero had picked her up again, another house down of course, and Amo had brought Chloe safe and sound to English this morning. Now she was going to have a great lunch, no matter what anyone decided to throw at her.
When the bell rang, Elle got up smiling.
Chloe smiled at her. “Someone’s happy.”
Elle laughed. “Yeah, you don’t look too unhappy yourself.” She had told Chloe last night why she had been upset yesterday. Chloe actually stood up for Nero, agreeing with what he told her in the car. Needless to say, Chloe enjoyed having three big shields to stand in front of her.
Elle stopped in the doorway, looking at the guys leaning against the lockers. “Yeah, I guess they aren’t so bad.”
Chloe stopped beside her. “You’re right.” Chloe paused. “Well, besides the beast.”
They both started giggling, unable to hold it in.
Nero walked toward Elle, smiling. “What are you all laughing about?”
They both looked at each other. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, right, nothing. Clearly they were talking about us,” Amo said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Elle smirked. “Nope, just you.” Elle started laughing again at the look on his face, making Chloe laugh with her.
Nero took Elle’s hand, laughing as well. “Come on, girls; leave him alone.”
Elle let Nero push her and Chloe along, still laughing at Amo’s face. She saw Vincent pat him on the back before she turned away. She knew Amo just wasn’t used to girls talking to him that way. Apparently he doesn’t talk with girls when he could be doing something else with them. Elle figured that was why bugging him made it that much better.
As they walked into the cafeteria, stopping to talk in a circle, Elle had déjà vu all over again.
“What do you want to eat?” Nero asked, looking at her.
Elle was about to turn around and look at the line, but Vincent’s voice stopped her.
“The question was, what do you want, not the opposite of what they are fucking eating.”
Elle looked at Chloe, smiling. “Tacos?” She couldn’t believe a day would come where she could actually pick what she wanted to eat at school.
Chloe smiled back. “Tacos.”
“Jesus Christ, probably never had tacos, either.” Amo stomped forward, going to the line.
Amo was right, but Elle wasn’t about to tell them that.
They went through the line, this time not cutting—besides Leo. Technically, he cut to join them, though. Elle figured Nero had told them not to cut by how unhappy Amo and Vincent looked.
After they went through the line, Elle headed to their table but saw that it was already occupied. What? We have always sat here.
“Come on, Elle; we’ve moved.” Nero pushed her forward, keeping her going until the only empty table she saw was the one in the back corner, deep in robot territory.
“You two sit here.” Nero pointed to the two seats that faced the rest of the cafeteria.
Elle and Chloe sat down while the boys took their seats. Elle couldn’t see the rest of the cafeteria because their bodies blocked her view. She felt awkward.
“Why did we move? This isn’t our table.”
Nero picked up his taco and took a bite. “Now it is.”
“We have sat at that table since freshman year.” Elle needed to be close to the door so she could escape if need be.
“No one cares, sweetheart.” Vincent picked up his taco and took a bite.
Elle stared at the boys, chowing down on their tacos. Why would they move us? Elle looked behind her. It’s just walls. Elle looked in front of her. They’re blocking my view. Elle leaned up to see over Vincent’s head and saw that the whole football team was sitting at the surrounding tables.
Realization hit Elle that only a tank or a sniper could reach her from now on. Elle quickly kissed Nero’s cheek, finding it incredibly sweet he would do something like that for her. When he smiled at her, Elle’s heart started to ache. She was really starting to care for Nero and wondered if she was going to regret that someday.
Elle decided to finally start eating. After a few bites, she turned to Chloe. “Can we still go shopping tonight, or is your car not fixed yet?”
“Lana told me it should be done after school, so we are going,” Chloe said happily. “The towing company was supposed to pick it up this morning. If it can’t be fixed in time, then she’s going to get me a loaner.”
Thank God!
“Good. Do you want to sleep over tonight?”
“Yep, we need to catch up on some movies.”
Elle heard Nero mumble under his breath, “Oh, Lord.” She then kicked him under the table.
“I have to know. Do girls really have pillow fights at slumber parties?” Vincent flashed his smile.
Elle rolled her eyes. Typical.
“Yeah, I wondered that, too.” Leo said.
“Are you all serious?” Elle looked at their faces. They looked serious.
“I wanna know,” Amo chimed in.
Nero turned and looked at her. “Do you?”
Elle pushed at his shoulder. “No, we don’t. We wear green face masks, paint each other’s toenails, and watch old movies.” She looked around at their disappointed faces.
Vincent threw down the rest of his taco. “Wow, Elle, thanks for killing our fucking dreams.”
* * *
Nero watched Elle’s ass as she followed Chloe into Spanish class. Hey, I can’t help it.
He had pulled Elle aside earlier, telling her he had wanted to take her on a date tonight since this was the only night she had off this week. She told him she desperately needed new clothes and some girl time. Nero smiled. I’m getting to her.
He couldn’t complain to her because he had asked Amo to hook him up with a girl tonight. However, yesterday he had decided no other girl was going to satisfy him. His dick craved Elle. It will have her, too.
“I don’t understand why Chloe’s father hasn’t fixed her car yet. She said Lana was going to, and that’s who’s been picking her up and dropping her off,” Amo spoke when the door came to a close.
“Yeah, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem right, but maybe the man is just too busy. Lana clearly is the help, and you know people like that force their kids to be raised by their workers. I’ll ask Elle about it sometime, but you know she doesn’t give up shit.” Nero knew Elle wasn’t going to tell him, yet if he asked strategically, maybe he could find out something.
“Well, we know if she doesn’t say shit, then that isn’t good.” Amo continued after a moment, “My dad knows I set us three up tonight.”
Nero ran his hands through his hair. “Shit.”
Amo laughed. “Yeah, I figured you might have changed your mind.”
“Doesn’t matter. Now I have to go.” Nero would go. Amo’s dad would tell his father if he didn’t go, and since they were in public school and no relation to Elle, it would be uncharacteristic for him not to. Hell, it will look good that I go.
“The girls wanna go to Poison,” Amo said.
“Fuck me.” Nero hated that place. It was an expensive-ass lounge for teens. Nero never needed to go to a lounge to get laid and waste all his money in the process. He figured the girls wanted to go since they had most likely never been. Now Nero was going to not only have to pay for him, but her, and he wasn’t even going to get laid by the end of it.
Vincent shrugged. “I heard Cassandra is planning to be there tonight, so it might not be that bad.”
Nero smiled. “At least I’ll get something out of the night.” He would pay double what the night would cost him to get a hold of Cassandra. He hadn’t seen her since she’d tried to fuck with Elle in the cafeteria. “Just give me the shy one out of the group, but I’m sure you two won’t mind.”
Vincent spoke quickly, “Fuck no, man. I’ll be able to swoop in and have two to play with.”
“Not if I swoop in first,” Amo replied.
Nero shook his head as he walked away. Tonight might not be so bad. He could get even with Cassandra, and keep making his father think Elle was just a job. Nero smiled, thinking it was all working out.
What could possibly go wrong?
Chapter Twenty-Six
You’ve got This All Wrong, Motherfucker
Elle flipped through the rack of clothes. The Goodwill gods are not looking out for me today. They had scoured every thrift store, and all Elle had been able to find was more t-shirts. She had only been able to find three she liked, and they were a little iffy with all the holes they had accumulated. Elle was looking for something different, but of course, those staple pieces only came along every so often.
Going through the racks, Elle thought about what Nero had asked her on the drive home. He had asked her if she was planning to drive with Chloe again once her car was fixed. She had told him she hadn’t made her mind up for his sake. She liked riding with Nero, but she would be there for Chloe before him. That wasn’t what bugged Elle, though.
He had then proceeded to ask her why Chloe’s car had still been parked at the school until this morning. That brought up a whole can of worms Elle would never talk about. She had been thankful when he dropped the conversation pretty quickly, yet now she was thinking it might have given him some information he had wanted to know.
Elle moved to another rack, this time smiling at remembering when Nero had parked a house down. She had been able to see he was a little upset still that he wasn’t going to take her on a date yet; as a result, she had promised him, the next time she was off, she was all his. That was when it dawned on Elle.
They were becoming pretty serious. Yes, it might have only been a few days between them, but Elle had seen since freshman year that Nero was never around only one girl. She had watched the way he treated girls, and he didn’t treat her the same as them. Well, maybe in the beginning he did.
Elle couldn’t describe the feeling. She didn’t even attempt to understand it, but something in her said it was right. It only grew stronger every second they spent together alone as well as when Nero kissed or touched her when no one was looking.
“What about this?” She saw Chloe hold something up a few racks down. The emerald green color struck her.
“I love that.” Elle walked over and took the garment from Chloe then headed to the dressing room.
She threw off her shirt and put it on. Elle looked at herself in the mirror, loving her reflection. It was a tight, V-neck sweater that was almost meant as a dress. It hugged all her curves and the color looked fantastic next to her hair and skin coloring. Elle knew it would match perfectly with her black leggings at home.
Elle opened the door so Chloe could see the outfit.
“Oh, my gosh, you have to get that. I would wear that. Well, if it was black.”
Elle laughed at her friend. Chloe only wore one color and that was black. She could barely remember Chloe in bright and cheery clothes so long ago. Honestly, Chloe looked good in anything. Her clothes might be black, but they were expensive. Her father forced her to dress in the nicest ones, and even though he didn’t approve of the color that much, he at least didn’t force her to wear a different one, like pink.
Elle shook her head at the thought of Chloe wearing the color pink.
“Thank God. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t find anything. At least this will replace my white sweater Bimbo Number One destroyed.” Elle had loved that sweater, but this one was definitely going to make up for it.
“Me, too. Maybe the person who donated that brought more. We better hurry up and look through the rest of the racks. It’s late and they close soon.”
Elle nodded and turned around to head back in the dressing room. She heard Chloe laughing behind her, making her stop to look at her before she closed the door.
“What is so funny?” Elle inquired.
“I was just thinking about what Nero’s face is going to look like when he sees you in that.”
* * *
Nero listened to the obnoxiously-loud music playing. It was very dark with almost-neon lighting all around. They sat at an uncomfortable, high table as they ordered some drinks and appetizers.
Nero looked around the full table. Amo and Vincent looked like they were at home, sitting beside two public school girls who were wearing glitzy, tight dresses. Unfortunately, the girl beside him was dressed the same way and there was not a shy one out of the group.
Nero hadn’t even caught their names when they’d introduced themselves. Before Elle, he would have had all their n
ames in one second and their dresses off the next. Looking at Amo and Vincent, he could tell they clearly liked that Nero was out of the game.
Nero’s eyes had wandered the whole night, looking for Cassandra. I find her, get what I want, and then I’m out of this fucking place.
He could sense the girl he was with was getting a little wounded that Nero wasn’t paying her any attention, especially with his friends all hands-on and frisky in front of them. At first, he did feel a little bad, but then, when she started to get a little hands-on and frisky herself, he didn’t care that he was rude, pushing her hands off him. This girl was far from Elle, and that was who both of his heads wanted.
Nero turned his attention to the dance floor. That part of the lounge was crazy, and he had no intention of going near it. Everyone was barely two inches apart, dancing on top of each other. Get a bunch of horny teenagers together and you get an orgy.
As Nero saw a fake blonde appear on the dance floor, he turned toward Amo and Vincent and waved his head toward the mass of dancers. Nero stood with Amo and Vincent, them telling the girls to wait there.
Nero kept his eyes on the back of the fake-ass blonde hair. I fucking got you.
He and his crew pushed through the teenagers, who desperately needed to get laid already, until he finally reached the girl. Nero spun her around, and his control started to shake.
* * *
“Ugh, today is not my day, is it?” Elle said as she finished up with the last rack.
“I cannot believe we only found one thing.” Chloe was now sitting on the floor.
Elle looked over at her friend, who was exhausted from trying to help her find clothes. “I know. Let’s pay and get the hell out of here. I’m starving.”
“Thank God. My stomach has been growling for the last hour,” Chloe confessed.
Elle and Chloe walked to the checkout and handed over the green sweater.
“It’ll be three dollars,” the older woman said from behind the counter.
God, I love Goodwill. Elle handed over the three dollars, and the woman handed her a grocery bag with her sweater inside. She and Chloe then headed for the door.
Nero (Made Men #1) Page 17