Down to Business (Business Series) (31 page)

“If he’s screwing your brains out and telling you he doesn’t want to lose you, that’s a relationship. And having Viv’s naked photos on his phone is an offense. I should go kick him in his balls.”

I frowned at my reflection in the mirror and dragged the straitener over another chunk of my hair. “It’s my fault for even trusting him. I knew he wasn’t over her.”

“You guys used protection right?”

I paused and nodded.

“Autumn.”

“I said yes!”

“But I saw you pause. You had to think about it. Auti if you get pregnant—”

“Lindy don’t even say that word! We used protection the first two times and today he pulled out. I’m fine.”

“I’m studying nursing. Pulling out is risky. You need to get on birth control. I have an extra month of pills you can have. Start taking them now. It only takes a few days to become effective. I can also get you the morning after pill if you think you need it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop freaking out. I’m not going to sleep with him again, at least until all of this drama is over with Vivian.”

“Yeah right. You’ve had sex three times in forty-eight hours.”

“Yeah well that was before I saw the truth. I’m serious, Lindy. It’s not going to happen again until I’m one-hundred percent sure I can trust him.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

I sighed and combed my hands through my silky straight hair. “Better start being a believer then.”

After I finished getting ready for work, Lindy drove me to the train station. I spent the forty-five minute train ride convincing myself that I didn’t need Vinny and I was going to tell him we needed to just be friends until he got the Vivian and Mazzolas
mess figured out…if he ever did.

When I finally got to work, I used the back entrance so I could avoid having to see Vivian. As I was putting my stuff into my locker, I heard someone come into the room. I turned around to see Vinny standing there in a flour-covered black apron. 

Pain centered in my chest. I frowned at him and turned back to my locker.

“Hey, you made it.” he said.

“Yeah.”

“Are you still pissed at me?”

I looked over at him and frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

My answer came out just as a well-manicured hand grabbed his shoulder from behind.

Vivian squeezed past him, giving me one of her snide smiles. “Why wouldn’t you be what?”

“None of your business,” I answered.

He frowned at me and answered her. “Nothing Viv. Did you need something?”

“It’s busy.  Autumn you need to cover for me while I make an important phone call.”

I slammed my locker closed. “Sure, I’ll be right out.”

She crossed her arms and stood aside, watching me as I approached Vinny who was standing right in the doorway. My gaze warned him to move, but he didn’t. “Can we talk on your break?”

“I guess so,” I murmured. He accepted that answer and moved aside.

I walked past them both and I was surprised to find him following me.

“Hey Vinny, can I talk to you a second?” Vivian called after him with annoyance in her voice.

I glanced over my shoulder at him and he answered her with a smirk. “Sorry Viv, gotta get back to work.”

I smiled and he gave my butt a swat as he passed me.

Hearing him reject her lifted a little of the heaviness in my heart. I headed to the hostess counter to find it wasn’t as busy as Vivian claimed. I knew that she was just saying that to get rid of me so she could talk to Vinny alone and make me jealous. Little did she know how drastically the game had changed over the weekend.

I seated two tables before she came back from her break. She glanced over at me unsmiling as I picked up the marker and updated the seating chart.

“That was cute,” she said, turning one of her long black loose curls around her finger.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, what you did this weekend. Oh no my grandmother is sick so I can have a weekend with Vinny.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Excuse me?” I asked, feeling the urge to punch her in her already swollen lips. “Vinny had nothing to do with it. My grandmother is in the hospital because she fell and had a brain hemorrhage, and by the way, she’s recovering fine, thanks for asking. Vinny offered to take me this weekend, I didn’t ask him to.”

She rolled her eyes. “Like Lindy couldn’t take you.”

“No, Lindy couldn’t. She was sick.”

“Speaking of…you made a real ass of yourself at the party the other night. I hope you know you costed Vinny his place in Alpha Tau.”

I glared at her, shaking my head. “No I didn’t. He said he changed his mind about joining.”

“Yeah, because you shit on his opportunity with your dumb ass little drama queen scene outside. After he put your drunken ass in the car, they pulled him aside and told him they don’t need members with drama. He told you a different story so that you wouldn’t feel bad. He deserves better friends than little drama queens that ruin his life like you.” She snatched up the clipboard with the guests names on it and walked around me.

“Peter Torino. Party of four!”

She walked off to seat the party and I glared after her, wondering how much truth there was in her words. Even if that was true, I was probably doing Vinny a favor, living in a frat wasn’t good for anyone.

I was finally able to take a break around 8:30PM. I paid for a bottled root beer and took it with me as I went to find Vinny. I peered into the kitchen to see him pounding a piece of veal with a meat mallet.  He looked up the moment I entered the room and tossed the veal in some flour.

“I’ll meet you out back in a minute, just let me get this in the oven.” he wiped his brow with the back of his arm.

“Kay.”  I left the kitchen, grabbing my coat on the way out the back door. I sat down on the steps that faced the creepy ally way. I was glad for the glow from the security light overhead, giving some comfort to the otherwise dreary setting. The sound of traffic echoed off the brick walls as I took a sip of my root beer.

Vinny finally stepped outside and sat down on the steps next to me. He looked tired. I offered him my root beer. He took it and sucked down three large gulps before handing it back.

“Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You said you wanted to talk to me?” I asked, pressing the bottle between my knees.

“Yeah I did,” he said picking some flour off his fingernails before he glanced over at me. Our gazes met and the concern in his eyes melted to sincerity. “What happened today was wrong, but I don’t want this to be the end for us.”

“I don’t either.” I said, glancing down at my root beer.

He slid his arm around my shoulders. “I need you in my life.”

“You sure about that? Vivian said that it was my fault you didn’t get invited into the frat.”

His arm tightened around me. “Who cares what she said.”

“Is it true?”

We watched a man take his trash out from the building across the way before he answered.

“Does it matter?”

“It matters to me.” I said looking at him.

He shrugged. “Yeah, it’s true. But I don’t care. That night…” he paused to rake his hand through his hair. “That night put my life in perspective. I did some things and said some things, I shouldn’t have. I feel like things happened for a reason…and things are right where they should be now.” He took my hand in his and kissed my palm. “Can you forgive me?”

I smirked, my resistance melting. “I’m sure I’ll get over it, but I do think we should take things slow. At least until all of this shit with Mazzolas is over. Vivian is right in the fact that I do complicate things for you.”

“Bullshit. No one makes things more complicated than her. You have nothing to do with the complications in my life. You make them easier to deal with.”

I drew a breath. “You’re not making this easy, Vinny.”

“What do you mean? Do you want to forget what happened and be friends?”

“No…but I don’t want to repeat what happened today.”

“You want to stop having sex?”

“Of course not, but I also don’t want to get so emotionally wrapped up in it that I freak out again. The last thing I want to do is become a jealous, annoying bitch like her.”

He smirked. “You never could be like her, it takes skill to be that self-centered…but you could win an award for your acting. That screaming scene on the lawn and chase in the rain today were Oscar material.”

I laughed a little and elbowed him. “Shut up.”

He grinned and pulled me against him, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Look, I won’t pressure you, and you have a right to be pissed. So I’ll let you decide where to draw the line with us, you let me know. Until then I have to get back to work.”

“Okay,” I whispered watching him stand up and head back inside. I touched my forehead where he kissed me and felt my heart ache all over again. I was torn. I didn’t want to push him away, but I was afraid of what might happen if I didn’t…

The
next two days passed without any incident due to Vinny and Vivian both being off. I spent most of my time on schoolwork to keep my mind off Vinny and right where it should be. We exchanged a few small texts about our day, but the relationship status never came up. The only one who was overly concerned about it was Lindy, who kept pushing me to tell him that we should break it off until he gets his shit together.

The night before I had to see him at work, I was feeling especially hesitant about everything between us and I was tired of feeling so unstable. He was distracting me from every other aspect of my life and if it was for nothing, I wanted to know. After much contemplation, I finally texted him my decision that we should just be friends, mainly to see what he would say. I expected him to argue with me, but instead his reply was a one-word answer:

FINE.

Fine?

After all we had been through, all he could say was fine? I scoffed in disbelief and waited for another text, but nothing happened. I realized that not only did I not get the result I wanted, I also dumped him over text message. I felt like such an asshole and I spent the rest of the night laying in bed and chastising myself until I was so frustrated that I regretted the whole thing and ended up crying myself to sleep.

I showed up for work on Friday night to find Suz alone at the hostess stand. I greeted her with an optimistic smile and I barely got a hello out before Vivian came around the corner and stepped up beside me.

“He just got here,” She announced to Suz, completely ignoring me. “She pulled him into her office and he thinks he’s in deep shit.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Vinny,” Suz said smiling. “Tonight’s his surprise birthday party, remember?”

My jaw went slack. “It’s his
birthday
?”

“You didn’t know that?” Vivian scoffed and let out one of her bitchy laughs. “Some great friend you turned out to be.”

I glared at her as she grabbed a handful of menus.

“Well it’s technically not until tomorrow,” Suz corrected sympathetically. “He didn’t tell you?”

“No.” I frowned, still in disbelief. “He never even mentioned it.”

Vivian shrugged. “Guess it just slipped his mind. Come on Suz, we need to get back there before he comes out.”

Suz turned to me with a frown. “Are you okay up here alone Autumn? I don’t have to go, I can stay.”

“Suz,” Vivian glared. “She’s fine.”

I felt like the last kid picked for Red Rover. I shook my head. “No, you go, he’s your cousin.”

“Okay,” Suz said squeezing my shoulder. “I’ll save you some cake.”

I forced a smile. “Thanks.”

I watched with a lump in my throat as they both skittered off to the private table in the back. I could see at least ten to fifteen more friends and family waiting for the big surprise. I was seating guests when he finally came out of the office with his mother and the crowd waiting for him burst out with ‘Surprise!’

The whole restaurant turned to see what the surprise was, and the look on Vinny’s face was priceless. I couldn’t help but smile. His mother even looked happy as she ushered him forward toward his awaiting guests. I lost view of him for a moment behind the sectioned wall, so I joined a few of the bus boys who were also watching. Vivian and Suz held a three layer chocolate cake covered with candles up to him while they all sang happy birthday.  After he blew out the candles and everyone applauded, some old Italian song suddenly started playing and a couple of the guests, including his Uncle Tommy started clapping along and singing.