CHAPTER SIX

 

Rose

 

Her phone beeped and she read the text.

 

I’m here.

 

Those two little words had her insides spinning. This was the first time she’d be seeing Vincent since the shower. Rose had finally convinced Grace, who’d been seriously warned by Sal, that Vincent shouldn’t be trusted to let her hang out with him. Of course these were warnings that had come when her sister and Sal were still together, but her sister had taken them very seriously.

Since Grace was so leery about allowing it and thought Rose was still too young to have a boyfriend, Grace made her promise this was nothing more than a friendship. Up until now that was all she and Vincent called it, so she had no problem agreeing to that.

Rose understood why Grace was so apprehensive about Vincent. Some of the things he’d done or gotten in trouble for in the past were pretty bad, but Rose could feel it in her heart that he was a good guy. He’d made some mistakes: mistakes he’d learned from and that he was really trying to make up for. Her heart fluttered remembering how he’d said he was doing everything he could to stay out of trouble. His incentive was that if he did stay out of trouble, he’d get to spend the summer in La Jolla. The possibility of hanging out with her was all he needed.

She texted back that she’d be right down then kissed Grace’s forehead. She was now sound asleep in the bed they shared. Grace wasn’t feeling well lately. She said she was under the weather, but Rose knew better. Her break up with Sal had affected Grace in such a way that she’d made herself ill. Their trip to Laughlin had been, in part, to try and get her mind off him. Grace was trying to play it off that she was better, but Rose didn’t buy it. For that reason alone, she made sure not to do anything with Vincent that might upset her sister. Her sister had enough on her mind; Rose didn’t need to add more.

Stopping to check herself in the mirror before walking out of her room, Rose took a very deep breath. She never imagined that seeing Vincent again would be this nerve-wracking.

“Where you going?”

Her mother sat on the sofa watching her novella as Rose made her way to the front door. The question was almost rhetorical. Rose knew her mother didn’t actually care, but she answered anyway.

“Outside, my friend is downstairs.”

Her mother lifted an eyebrow then asked. “How’s your sister doing? She feeling any better?”

“I think so,” Rose turned to face her. “She’s sleeping right now.”

As expected, her mom upped the volume on the television when the commercial was over and her novella came back on. She didn’t bother to ask Rose any more about Grace or the friend waiting for Rose, not even how long she’d be gone. Rose stood there for a moment waiting to see if she might ask anything else. When she didn’t, Rose didn’t say another word; she just walked out. She was long over the sting that her mother simply had no interest in being a mother to her. Rose had Grace. That was all she needed.

Shaking away thoughts of her mother and Grace, her belly began doing flip-flops as she walked down the stairs toward the picnic area where she’d told Vince she’d meet him.

Her heart danced in her chest as she turned the corner and saw him. He stood there by the picnic tables near the playground wearing faded jeans and a white tank top holding his keys in one hand and smiling big the instant he saw her. Rose remembered that butterfly-inducing smile, but somehow it was even more amazing now. Maybe it was because seeing him in a tank top that showed off his toned arms and shoulders instead of that out of place polo added to the overall picture. The girls at her school would die for him.

“Hey,” she said when she was close enough.

She hadn’t even realized it until that moment that like him, she hadn’t stopped smiling from the second their eyes met.

“Hey,” he responded; his dark eyes practically sparkled.

With her heart still galloping away, it nearly skidded to a stop when he held his arms up and outstretched them for her. “Do I get a hug?”

Grace’s words were immediately in her head. Rosie, you said he’s just a friend. Promise me that’s all this is going to be. Not only did Grace think Rose was too young for a boyfriend, she was worried about her little sister getting her heart broken. Rose was sure this fear stemmed from the horrendous pain Grace was still feeling from her own breakup, but she had to agree Vince had heartbreaker written all over him. Rose wasn’t about to add more worry to Grace’s plate, but she hugged him anyway. Hugs were harmless, right? She’d hugged some of her guy friends at school before. No biggie.

Feeling his strong arms wrap around her tighter than she’d expected then taking in the smell of his hair and feel of his warm skin against her face had her thinking twice. Being in his arms like this felt heavenly, and she prayed he couldn’t feel her heart punching through her chest.

He pulled his face away from her but still held her, looking in her eyes, the smile gone now. That tenderness she’d seen in his eyes at the shower made an appearance. For a moment she thought he might kiss her, so she pulled back. “You got here fast.”

She started toward the picnic table, her insides still going wild. Was he actually going to kiss her? He couldn’t. Could he? No, no, no. She promised Grace. The last thing she wanted was to upset Grace in any way right now.

“Yeah, it wasn’t as far as you and Sal made it sound.”

Rose sat on the picnic table that directly faced her and Grace’s bedroom window. She knew Grace would be worried when she woke and Rose wasn’t there. With that in mind she started to text Grace to let her know where she was.

“But I’m right here, Rose. You don’t have to text me,” Vince teased.

“I’m not texting you,” she teased right back.

“So who are you texting?” His tone had changed a little, and she glanced up at him to see his eyebrow lifted, but he still smirked. “I’m just curious.”

“My sister—she was asleep when you got here. I just don’t want her to worry when she wakes.”

She sent the text then brought her attention back to Vincent. He hadn’t changed at all since she’d last seen him, but something had. Completely. While he’d unnerved her at the shower a few times with his flirtatious smirks and comments, she now felt more than unnerved. The excitement of being here with him was unreal. She really hadn’t thought she’d see him again and certainly not this soon. Sure, he was related to her sister’s boyfriend, and she figured at the time she’d run into him eventually, but with his being so far, she didn’t think it’d be often.

Her heart had done a few somersaults the day of the shower, but that was nothing like the way her heart felt now seeing the way he gazed at her. The fact that he’d come to see her and that he’d been good because he wanted to spend the summer here—near her—had her head spiraling now in delight.

She hadn’t actually expected to hear from him even after they’d exchanged numbers. The texting had turned into a daily thing—day and night. They’d even emailed on subjects a little too long for texts: subjects like the one she still had questions about.

“I’m still surprised Sal let you take his car to come see me. Grace told me about how adamant Sal was that you shouldn’t be trusted.”

She knew it was a sore subject for him. When he’d sent her the email explaining about his past indiscretions, as he referred to them, there was no hiding the tone of it. He resented having to tell her. But he had to because he preferred she’d hear it from him and not his cousins. Only the things he’d told her didn’t seem like quite enough to make Sal so distrustful. Yes, getting caught tagging was bad, but he explained it, and while she agreed he’d made a bad choice being there in the first place, he’d had the good sense not participate. He told her about a few fights he’d been in recently, and how his brother had been caught shop lifting, and that his mom blamed him. Not that Vincent had ever shoplifted but some of the guys he hung out with had, and Vincent had brought them around Lorenzo.

“It’s not his car. You kidding me? He’d never let me drive that thing. It’s the restaurant’s car, but I did have to make a few promises and was duly warned again about behaving myself.”

He hid the resentment pretty well behind that sexy smirk, but she could still see it. There was no hiding the anger deep in his eyes. There had to be more to this. “Can I ask you something pretty personal?”

He nodded, but his smirk slowly fell.

“I know you told me about the things you’d gotten in trouble for: the tagging, the fights, all that.” She shrugged. “As bad as those things are, I can’t help but think those are pretty typical for a teenager. Okay, maybe not the getting arrested part, but fighting and talking back to your parents and all don’t seem enough to make Sal give such serious warnings about you.” She tilted her head hoping he wouldn’t take it the wrong way. “Are you sure you’re not leaving anything out?”

His jaw locked, and she knew she’d touched a nerve. There was more. Rose sat up straight. As much as she liked Vincent and somehow she just felt like she could trust him, she needed to be sure. She owed it to herself and to Grace to make sure she wasn’t getting involved even just as friends with someone who might be dangerous.

Rose turned to look up at him, but he glanced away. “There is more, but I don’t want you to know about every stupid thing I’ve ever done. It’s in the past. I’ve learned my lesson and I’m straight now.”

Rose peered at him. His last comment made her think of the reality show on TV about thugs who go to a tough-love boot camp to be literally scared into going on the straight path. Some had done some horrible things. Surely Vincent couldn’t be that bad. Almost afraid to ask she did anyway. “What do you mean by straight?”

He jerked his head to meet her eyes wide open. “No, I didn’t mean it that way. I’ve always been, you know, straight in that sense. I just meant—”

Rose laughed at his misunderstanding. “I know that’s not what you meant, but there’s this show on cable called Scared Straight. Kids get sent to boot camp to get straightened out.”

“Yeah,” Vincent frowned, “I’ve seen it.”

“Some of those kids are pretty messed up.” Rose cringed, remembering the episode where one kid had tried to burn his own parents’ house down while they slept in it and the other kid who was caught bringing a knife to school he planned on using against one of his teachers. He said he wasn’t really going to do it, but he’d been in so much trouble already, they sent him on the show anyway.

“I can’t say I was much better.”

Vincent glanced away again as Rose’s heart plummeted. “I wanna know.”

“Why?” He turned back to her now the sparkle in his eyes replaced by something much colder. “I’m not like that anymore.”

The mood had changed completely. She hated that she’d looked forward to this for so long, and now that may’ve all been for nothing because she couldn’t get involved with someone that messed up. His looks alone screamed bad boy. He had a tattoo at only sixteen; he carried himself with such confidence that the girls at her school would be all over him, and the boys wouldn’t dare mess with him. He cussed a little too much. He’d even admitted to smoking weed once upon a time, but he’d been smart enough to stop. All that, but he couldn’t possibly be a bad boy who’d plan to knife a teacher or blow up his parents’ house. Yet, here he was comparing himself to them.

She stared at him, hopeful that he could convince her somehow that he wasn’t that bad. He didn’t look like any of those kids on TV—didn’t talk like them. “Because I need to know what I’m getting myself involved in. You said it yourself in your email that hanging with the wrong people could be perilous no matter how much you try to not get involved.”

Tired of looking up at him, she stood up and moved from the bench, sitting on the table next to him. He turned to her. Sitting this close made her heart start fluttering again: a feeling much more welcome than the hollowness she’d begun to feel just moments ago.

“Little by little I’ve shut a lot of people out of my life,” he began, “people that brought nothing but trouble. No matter how many times they got busted, they never learned. Even some of the guys doing the tagging that are out now because they still don’t even know what the outcome of that incident is gonna be, are already getting in trouble for other crap. They don’t learn. I don’t need that shit in my life. I have my brother to think about. For some reason his ass thinks I walk on water. Everything I do he wants to be part of.” He stared at his feet. “Do we really have to talk about this, Rose? I’m not proud of any of the stupid things I’ve done. I’d rather that not be the first real impression you get of me.”

Rose smiled. “You’ve already made an impression on me, Vincent, and it’s not a bad one. Trust me. I get you’ve messed up a few times, but I really would like for us to start off completely honest. If we’re gonna be friends, don’t you think that’s how it should be?”

Vincent didn’t even try to hide his exasperation, but exhaling he conceded. “Yeah, it should. Just promise me that you’ll still be my friend. I’m really not that person anymore.”

The curiosity was killing her now. “I promise.” Though it depended on how bad this was. Only that would determine how often she’d be hanging with him if at all.

“Okay, so I got caught in a stolen car once, but at the time I wasn’t aware the car was stolen. I was just cruising with a friend who claimed he’d borrowed it. Since I wasn’t driving, they let me go and arrested my friend. Me and the other two guys in the car had to walk over fifteen fucking blocks home. Lesson learned. If my friend’s mom wasn’t so hysterical and made such a big deal out of us getting home so late, my parents would’ve never even known about it. The driver is no longer anyone I hang out with.” He stared at her hesitating to continue. “I was…I was at party where a girl was gang-raped.” Rose noticed how he clenched his fist and banged softly his own thigh. “I didn’t even know about it, but when she went to the police, since I was there, I was called in. All my friends were, too. My dad was so scared he called my uncle. You know Sal and his family have a lot of money…lawyers and shit.

“This is probably why Sal is most worried about me hanging out with you. Nothing ever became of it. I wasn’t involved in any way, so they couldn’t prove shit, but I know Sal and the family have always had their doubts.”

He looked away again. Rose saw how hard it was for him to face her when telling her all this, but she was grateful that he was anyway. It obviously wasn’t easy for him.

“I like guns.” He must’ve seen the panic in her eyes; she was suddenly wondering if he was carrying one now. “But not like what you’re thinking, Rose. I like target shooting. It’s like one of the only things me and my dad do together. He’s the one that introduced me to it.” She could tell his eyes were searching hers to see if she’d calmed. She had a little. “When he got me a part-time job at the recycling factory where he works, we started going a few times after work to the shooting range next to the factory. And I’m good at it—like real good. The trainers there, who’ve been doing this for years, say I’m one of the best they’ve seen.”

He smiled for an instant proudly before shaking his head and frowned. “My dad has a gun for protection. It’s registered and everything. But of course, he’s not gonna let me use it for anything else but target practice, and only when he’s with me.” He shrugged looking away. “So, like a dumb-ass, when I heard some dude sold guns out of his car, I bought one. I was stupid. I actually thought my dad might even be okay with finding out if there was any way we could get it registered. Before I got the nerve to tell him about it, my mom found it in my room. She freaked—thought I was using it to mug people or something. But that wasn’t it at all. It was just another stupid plan I didn’t think through. The idea of having my own gun excited me. That was it. But of course she wasn’t buying it. ” He looked back at Rose. “My mom really thinks the worst of me right now, and I can’t say I blame her. I’ve done some pretty stupid shit.”

Rose stared at him hoping that was it. She didn’t know how much she could hear without running away. But there was more.

“The worst was the drugs because I have no excuse for that. I thought it through, and I did that willingly. It was easy money—too easy—even the strongest of wills would have a hard time passing it up. I’d make an easy couple of hundred just making a few drops a day.”

Rose stared at him, her heart beating for an altogether reason now. “You dealt drugs?”

“I wasn’t the dealer, but they paid me to deliver. I knew it was illegal and dangerous, but I did it anyway.”

Rose couldn’t pull her eyes away from him, and he stared right back at her. He was putting it out there and making no excuses. She asked for a full disclosure, and he was giving it to her. She almost regretted asking for one now, but she continued to listen silently as his words began to sound angry.

“I never took Enzo with me, but they could’ve followed me home. They could’ve broken in my apartment and hurt my family members just to get to the drugs. I hadn’t even thought of that until my dad found my stash. He’s the one that opened my fucking eyes about it. I’d heard about that kind of shit happening in my neighborhood all the time, but the money blinded me. I felt invincible. Even after my dad told me off, took my stash, and threatened to turn me into the cops if he ever found out I was doing it again, I still snuck around and did it here and there when I needed extra cash. Then it happened.”

He’d been looking everywhere but at her the whole time, and now his eyes stopped on hers. He didn’t even attempt to hide the anger now like he had earlier. “I got jumped. Enzo was with me. They wanted the drugs. It had gotten around that I delivered, and though I was only doing it when I needed to, not full time like before, not everyone knew this. And of course, the one time I got jumped for it, I didn’t have shit on me. Between me and Enzo, we managed to fight them off. They were fucking little wusses who only fought in groups. One on one I would’ve beaten each and every one of them till they were barely breathing, but there were five of them and only two of us.” He winced and looked away. “Enzo had to have stitches, and my mom blamed me again, and she was absolutely right. That’s when I decided never again.”

Rose had listened the entire time without saying a word or changing her expression. The very thought of someone hurting Grace because of something Rose had done made her shudder. She understood why Vincent seemed so angry at himself. Suddenly Vincent seemed nervous. “Rose, please don’t let this scare you into not wanting to be my friend…or more. I’m not like that anymore. I have a job still with my dad, and I’d be there now, but my dad wanted me away from the neighborhood for a while after the whole tagging thing. At first I didn’t want to. I know what the family thinks of me. I didn’t want to be scrutinized all summer, but after meeting you at the shower and then getting to know you better over texting, I could hardly wait. They can scrutinize all they want; it’s totally worth it. I’m straight now. I swear. No more of any of that shit for me ever, especially because my uncle and Sal have already warned me if I screw up, I’m gone.”

Rose gulped, feeling the steady beat of her heart strong. She was anxious but at the same time strangely excited. The touch of his fingers against hers sent shivers up her spine, his words making her insides liquid. Had she heard him correctly? Or more? What those two little words did to her was unreal. But if Grace knew everything he’d been in trouble for, guns, drug dealing? She didn’t care what he called it—delivering—selling. It was still drug dealing, and her sister would surely forbid so much as even a friendship.

Their eyes met, and his were so piercing, so full of remorse that Rose instantly caved. He did say it was all in the past. She inhaled deeply. “Is that it?”

For the first time in a while, he smiled. “Yeah, that’s it. I told you everything else in the email. And most of this was from way back, Rose. I swear.”

“Why do you get into so many fights? You said you’ve been in fights, but you didn’t elaborate just said lots.” She smiled nervously.

His smile morphed into a forced smirk. “In my neighborhood, it’s just like that.”

Rose frowned. She wouldn’t let him off the hook so easy. “Vincent, look around. I’m not exactly in La Jolla here. El Paso wasn’t much better either, and I’ve never been in a fight in my life.”

She wouldn’t mention that Grace had been in quite a few when they first moved to El Paso. But that was different. She was bullied because of her accent. There’s only so much you can take before fighting back.

“It’s different for girls, Rosie. When you’re a guy there’s a lot that’s so hard to let go.”

Rose was still recovering from hearing him call her Rosie, but she shook it off. “Like what?”

He stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicked a few rocks on the ground. “Like seeing others get picked on, girls disrespected, your buddies getting wailed on. You don’t just walk away from those things. My brother…sometimes he has a smart mouth and shit.” He shrugged. “He’s just a funny dude, but sometimes people don’t like it, and I’ll be damned if anyone’s gonna fuck with him. They go through me, first, and…over the years, that’s happened a lot.” He looked up from staring at the rocks he was kicking and flashed a hopeful smile. “Can we talk about something else now? Please?”

She was sure he used the sweet expression to gain her sympathy; instead, it made her knees weak. How could she say no? “Okay,” she smiled back, “but just one more thing.” His expression went hard again.” It’s not so much about you but about your dad. I’m just curious.”

Now he looked curious. “My dad?”

“Yeah, Grace told me about how Sal’s grandpa started the business way back with a taco truck, and then Sal’s dad got involved, and they made the restaurants what they are now. Sal’s dad and yours are brothers right? Why didn’t he join the business? I mean, how did you guys end up in La Puente?” She hoped he wouldn’t be insulted, but from all the stuff he just told her about Sal’s family and then his own, their families were like night and day.

Rose was surprised to see a little humor in Vince’s eyes. “Grandpa Moreno got busy after Grandma Moreno passed away and didn’t tell anyone.” He smiled at Rose’s raised eyebrows. “Yep. And then I don’t know why, but my grandma never told anyone either. My dad didn’t even know he had a brother until he was already married and had moved to La Puente near my mom’s sister. Then my dad found out my grandpa never even knew about him. My grandpa tried to make up for the lost time and even offered to let him come work for him at the restaurant, but my mom said my dad was too proud. He already had a gig.” Vince frowned shaking his head. “I was such a dick to my dad when I was younger. My mom would tell me he was working up north, but like an idiot I didn’t buy it.”

“Why not?”

“In my neighborhood, ‘Your dad’s going away for a while to work’ was code for a lot of things—going to jail, carrying off a job for the mob, going to live with his other woman; you name it. It was never anything good. So here I acted like a total asshole when he’d get back from ‘work’ and the whole time he’d been up north working his ass off as a field worker to support his family.” He winced shaking his head again. “Now can we talk about something else?”

Rose felt bad that Vincent felt so guilty, but she didn’t blame him. She was almost sorry she’d made him tell her, so she quickly agreed to change the subject. “What do you wanna talk about?”

That twinkle she’d seen too many times at the baby shower was back in his eyes, and she couldn’t wipe what she knew was a big silly smile on her own face now, too.

“You.”