Chapter Eleven
A New Beginning and A Happily Ever After
Lake tapped her finger on the desk as she stared down the clock.
“Earth to Lake, are you even listening?” Adalyn snapped her fingers in front of her.
“What?” She turned her head away from the clock, only to look right back at it.
“You do know we have a whole hour left, right? And we need to discuss our plans for this weekend.”
That time when Lake turned her head, she kept her focus on Adalyn. “Okay. I’m sorry. So, what are the plans for this weekend that I am sure I will have no say in?”
“Oh, Lake, you know me too well. All right, so tomorrow we go to our graduation, of course!” Adalyn began clapping her hands together with a cheesy smile on her face. “Then we sit through Vincent’s graduation and go to Nero’s party. Okay, good talk.” The last sentence came out fast in an attempt to distract Lake from her words.
“Yes, no, and no.”
“Really, Lake? What the hell happened between you and Vincent? And don’t tell me nothing for the billionth time. I know something did.”
We made out. “Adalyn, I’ve told you nothing happened. The reason why I don’t want to sit through his graduation is because it’s going to be hard enough to sit through ours. I also don’t want to go to Nero’s party because I don’t even know him or anyone else who is going to be there, for that matter. Since when have I even gone to a party?”
“I’ll be there, and that’s exactly why we have to go. We haven’t been to one party, and this is our last chance to go to one together.” Adalyn made a pouting face.
Ugh! “I’ll think about it.” She watched Adalyn smile at her before she began to stare at the clock again.
Her friend had started to make her feel guilty as soon as Lake had received her acceptance letter to the university two hours away. Sure, there was the one in Kansas City, but she had made up her mind long before that she wasn’t going there. Picking the next closest university kept everyone happy and, most importantly, her happy.
Being only two hours away would give her the chance to visit her mother while not having to stay at John’s house ever again. Then there were the added bonuses of being able to see her father and Adalyn whenever she pleased. Oh, and being far enough away from the mob.
But Adalyn was trying to force her into going to Vincent’s graduation. She was certain it was going to be an absolute nightmare since graduations lasted a million years and were completely boring. She pretended the fact that she hadn’t seen Vincent since she had gotten out of his car didn’t play a role into why she didn’t want to see him walk or go to Nero’s party. Lake knew, without a doubt, Vincent was going to be there, and the last place she wanted to see him was at a party.
She had been successful in pretending Vincent was dead, choosing to only remember him up until the day he had kissed her. Truthfully, Lake was scared of seeing him again, and she planned to avoid what it felt like to be in his presence forever. Okay, now quit thinking about him already.
Lake drew her attention back up to the clock, not able to believe it was real. Any second, she should hear…
Tinng.
That was it, the victory bell she had been waiting for. She had imagined the sound to be way better than that. But who cares!
“So, Lake, how does it feel to officially be a high school graduate?” Adalyn asked, getting up from her desk.
Smiling, Lake stood up. “Pretty damn good.”
Lake was determined it was going to be a new beginning and a happily ever after from there on out.
* * *
Would they fucking hurry already?
Vincent waited down the hall from the art room with Amo and Chloe. The two were arguing about God only knew what.
“I’m going to hurry their asses up,” Vincent mumbled, knowing they wouldn’t hear him.
He started the walk down the hallway, wondering how the fuck one semester could change everything. All throughout high school, he had fucked almost every girl in Legacy Prep, but he hadn’t fucked one in months. Vincent had one girl to blame all that on, too. Elle Buchanan.
Honestly, it was a whole other story, but the short version was she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Then the boss had given Nero the job of finding out what she knew. Along the way, Nero had needed his and Amo’s help and lucky for them, Elle had come with a best friend. Chloe Masters. They had found out the two friends were sickeningly bullied at school, and instead of fucking all the girls his last months in high school, he had been paying them back for every fucking thing they had ever done to the two girls. Admittedly, he had enjoyed it, a lot.
It wasn’t like his balls were blue; he merely started proudly fucking public school girls, instead. Despite his lack of blue-balls, he definitely wasn’t getting off like he used to. Vincent fucked longer and harder, and still he was hard. He began to fuck more and more girls, trying to satiate his appetite, but sleep ended up coming before satisfaction. Then Vincent had begun to prefer fucking them from behind so he didn’t have to look at their face. He decided to blame Elle for ruining all high school girls for him. One thing was for sure—his last semester had taught him something: high school girls are fucking bitches.
Vincent went into the art room to find it empty. Looking at the door in the back, he began to smile. He quietly started walking toward it, hearing noises coming from behind the door. Leaning against a table facing the door, he decided to wait.
It wasn’t much longer before the door flew open.
“I’m upset I wasn’t invited,” Vincent said, watching Nero come out of the art supply closet, zipping up his pants as Elle buttoned her shirt.
The strawberry-blonde tried to run back inside the closet, but Nero caught her hand and pulled her toward him.
Vincent winked at her. “No need to be shy, sweetheart.”
Elle covered her face with her hand. “I can’t believe you talked me into that, Nero. I won’t let you do that again.”
“I swear to God, Vincent, I’m going to pay you back for all your bad timing,” Nero said.
He started laughing. “Come on, man; it’s the last day of school. You two aren’t going to see that closet again. There’s a million other closets you two can—”
Nero held up his hand. “Vincent, shut the fuck up. Right now.”
“I will if you two are done so I can get the fuck out of here.”
“Oh, my God,” Elle whispered into Nero’s shoulder as he pulled her along.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart; you weren’t the closet’s first. I was in there freshman year.”
“You’re not helping,” Nero hissed.
Vincent laughed, deciding to stop giving Elle such a hard time. He didn’t have a choice, really. If he kept going, Nero was going to kick his ass.
They had all grown fond of her and Chloe. Hell, because of them, he, Nero, and Amo had all become soldiers. Being a soldier in the Caruso mob was the best and last thing which had changed that semester.
When they reached the end of the hallway, Elle ran to Chloe’s side.
Vincent watched the two girls laugh side by side as they started to walk toward the school parking lot. He knew Nero and Amo couldn’t stop staring at the two, either. The girls had come a long way, and they all felt responsible for them. What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re being a pussy.
He was done having a moment. “You all need to come to my sister’s graduation tomorrow.”
“Fuck no. I ain’t sitting through two,” Amo retorted.
Nero kept his eyes on Elle. “As much as I don’t want to go, either, we all have to. She’s family.”
“That reminds me, is Adalyn’s friend going to Nero’s party?” Amo asked Vincent.
“I don’t know. Maybe.” He shrugged.
“Fuck, I hope her hot ass will be there. What’s her name again?”
Vincent’s hands wanted to rip his throat out even though he had no feelings toward her.
“Lake.” He wasn’t prepared for it to come out as a growl.