Chapter Twenty-Two
We’ll Be Too Outnumbered
Lake woke up the next day with the pillow plastered to her face. She had cried herself to sleep the previous night from the shame and horror of her trying day.
Reaching for her phone on the scuffed-up wooden chair, she looked at the time and was surprised to see missed calls from Adalyn. Quickly, she dialed her number.
Adalyn answered the phone immediately. “Why haven’t you answered my calls?”
Lake yawned. “Because I was sleeping.”
“Yeah, but you wake up at the crack of dawn. Did you do something yesterday?”
You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.
She had decided she would take the waitressing in an underground casino at the age of eighteen to her grave. “Nope, now what is so important?”
“Get up, wash that beautiful face of yours and be at my house in thirty minutes. Okay, thanks. Bye. I love you!” Adalyn spoke as quickly as she could before she hung up on her.
There’s no telling what mess she’s going to get me into today.
Getting out of bed, she took one step. “Son of a bitch!” She immediately remembered where half of the tears had come from—the waxing. Literally the whole thing had been torture. She had no clue how in the world she was supposed to get them on a regular basis. Trying to walk to the bathroom was more of a hobble as she grabbed her crotch area and walked like a penguin.
It didn’t take her very long to get ready; she just washed her tear-stained face after she brushed her teeth. She decided to put her hair up in a messy bun, considering it was still full of curl and hairspray, worried Adalyn would question why her hair looked like that. It was a shame to put it up because second-day curls were actually amazing, but then again, her bun looked pretty stylish.
Going to her closet, she could feel the warmth from outside. Probably because we can’t afford to turn the AC on. She decided to grab a loose, white tank top and light-colored blue jean shorts. The shorts were way too short, but it didn’t really matter because she was only going over to Adalyn’s.
Going to her purse in the tiny living room, she saw her father’s car keys right where she had left them the night before.
“Dad?” she yelled, walking to his bedroom.
Lake knocked then opened the door when she didn’t get a response. When she saw he wasn’t in his room, she grew a little worried. Grabbing her cell out of her back pocket, she dialed his number.
It only rang one time before the call was declined. What the—? A moment later, she received a text.
I’m at work. Catch you later, kiddo.
The pit in her stomach had ceased and putting the phone back in her pocket, she grabbed the keys along with her purse and headed out the door.
Lake’s eyes slammed shut the moment the brightness from the sun hit her. “Jesus Christ!” She quickly went back in the house. Going through a junk drawer, she grabbed a big pair of sunglasses. So this is what it must feel like to be hungover.
In her second attempt of going out the front door, thankfully, the sun wasn’t as harsh. Getting into the Frankenlac, she drove straight to Adalyn’s house.
“Dammit, Adalyn,” Lake said, slowing the car down when she saw several Cadillacs parked in the driveway, knowing one of them belonged to Vincent.
Lake had two options. One was to park the car and go see what shit Adalyn was getting her into. And the second was driving straight past the house and calling Adalyn to tell her some story she would think up on the drive back. Sure, she would be lying, but Adalyn purposely didn’t tell her what was going on, knowing Lake would never agree to whatever she had planned.
Reminding herself of the last encounter she’d had with Vincent, she made her decision. Nope, definitely not stayi—
Boom!
Lake pulled the car to the curb and rested her head on the steering wheel. God was giving her no choice. You could hear that noise all the way to China so there was no way Adalyn didn’t, and she would know exactly what the sound was.
Groaning, she got out of the car and slammed the door as hard as she could, cussing and mumbling under her breath as she walked up the driveway. “Stupid car … Adalyn is dead…” Halfway up, she had to start penguin-walking again. “Fucking Sadie … See if I ever wax again...”
“Um, Lake, what are you doing?” Adalyn asked.
Lake looked up from the ground to the front door where she saw Adalyn, Maria, Elle, Chloe, Nero, Amo, and Vincent staring at her like she was a freak show.
Quickly closing her legs, she stood up straight. “Nothing … What are you all doing?”
“Well, we were pretty sure we heard a bomb,” Vincent said, looking at her car.
“Nope, it does that,” Lake responded, laughing and hoping that would be the end of the conversation.
Amo crossed his arms. “Does it do that, too?”
She looked back at the huge smoke cloud. “Yep, totally normal.”
They all only continued to stare at her like she was more of a freak show.
Adalyn came up to her. “Are you okay, Lake?”
“Yes. What are you”—she swatted at Adalyn’s hand to get it off her forehead—“doing—ow! Stop it.” Lake closed her eyes to the bright sun and pulled her sunglasses back down as she smacked harder at Adalyn’s hand.
Adalyn shook her head. “Something’s wrong with you. Why are your feet covered in Band-Aids?”
Lake looked down at her feet. She’d had to cover all those blisters from the previous night, and the only thing she was able to put on her feet afterward were flip-flops.
“Your feet will eventually get used to being in pumps,” Maria chimed in.
Adalyn laughed. “She doesn’t wear high heels.”
“I got them from an old pair of shoes,” Lake agreed.
Maria continued, “I’m pretty sure they came from some seriously high—”
Nero lightly hit his sister’s arm with his to shut her up.
Lake could feel everyone eyeing her up and down again, and the way Vincent was doing it reminded her of the looks she had received from the men in the casino. She desperately needed to get the attention off her.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on?”
“Oh, yeah, we’re going shopping!” Adalyn revealed, smiling.
“Even them?” Lake said, pointing to the three guys. Please say no. Please say no.
Maria sighed, rolling her eyes. “Yes.”
Lake wondered if she would look like a bitch if she simply turned back around and started walking away. Maybe I can smooth-talk my way out of this. She had always felt left out when she went shopping because she could never afford clothes, and when she did buy some new ones which had some style, Ashley always stole them.
“You all don’t need me. There’s already enough people.” She made sure to smile before she turned on her heel.
“No, you’re going with us, Lake. Why are you being weird?” Adalyn said, grabbing her arm to stop her.
Lake didn’t know how to respond. “You’re being weird!”
“No, you’re being freaking weird!”
“No, you’re freaking weird!” she said. The two continued to argue, but they were clearly playing with each other, laughing.
* * *
Vincent stared at the two girls, shaking his head.
“Are they always like this?” Elle whispered.
“They aren’t really mad at each other, are they?” Chloe whispered even lower.
Maria squinted. “I don’t know. I can’t see if she’s mad under those big sunglasses.”
“Fuck this. I’m not going. You two can take them,” Amo said to Nero and Vincent.
“No, we’ll be too outnumbered,” Nero commanded.
Vincent could feel his rage starting to boil, although the voice inside his head was trying to tell him to calm down. He was getting a headache from all the arguing, and looking at Lake’s long legs wasn’t helping his thoughts.
“You both are fucking weird. Now can we go?” Vincent roared.
“Sheesh, Vincent, you don’t have to be so mean,” Adalyn said, putting her hand on her hip.
He had to take a long, deep breath. Calm the fuck down before you murder your sister.
* * *
“Yeah, Vincent, you don’t have to be so mean,” Lake mimicked her friend, smiling. She could tell he was about to blow but if she was going to be stuck with him all day, she was going to at least have fun.
Maria covered her ear closest to him. “I agree. You yelled right in my ear.”
“Mine, too,” Chloe added.
Elle turned to look at Vincent. “You should try taking some deep brea—”
Nero quickly grabbed Elle and started dragging her to the car, away from Vincent’s grasp. “Time to go.”
Never mind, this might be fun, Lake thought as she looked at Vincent’s face. The child inside of her wanted to stick her tongue out at him for the dirty look he was giving her. Everyone knew Adalyn could get away with talking to him like that when he went psycho, but it was a very short to non-existent leash for everyone else.
Nero opened the backseat of a black Cadillac Escalade for them to get in. It looked brand new and was huge, with three rows of seats.
“Whose car is this?” Adalyn said in awe.
“Lucca’s,” Maria answered.
Adalyn’s mouth dropped open. “Why would he let anyone borrow this? I wouldn’t even let my mother touch it. It’s so beautiful.”
Vincent gave his sister a little shove. “Well, that’s good to know.”
Lake looked at Amo’s face, quickly sensing how he felt about the conversation when it was Chloe’s turn to get in.
“He knew a bunch of us were going out, and we could use a big SUV is all,” Nero replied.
Mhmm … right. She felt the way Nero had said it had almost been to cool down the fire building in Amo.
Lake quickly did the math. “Adalyn, let’s take your car since there’s not enough seats, and I would rather not be squished.”
“I-If Nero and Elle sit up front, then Maria will have to sit beside one of you two,” Chloe said to Vincent and Amo. “But that will leave me squished beside the other person.” She hadn’t even gotten in the car yet, clearly worried someone would end up touching her.
“Fuck it. I’m driving my car.” Amo stormed off toward his vehicle.
“I’ll go with you.” Vincent quickly went after him.
She quickly pulled Adalyn to start heading to her car. Adalyn’s eyes had lit up like she had an opportunity to ride in the beautiful machine, and Lake was afraid she would jump in beside Chloe, unaware of her problems.
Vincent’s loud voice rang through their ears. “Adalyn and Lake, you two ride with us.”
“Say no, say no,” Lake whispered to her, holding a tight grip on her friend’s arm when Adalyn started heading toward Amo’s car.
“Sorry, Lake said no!” Adalyn yelled to Vincent.
Lake rolled her eyes. “Do you want me to kill you today?”
“Do it!” Vincent yelled before he slammed the car door shut.