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.”