Nero (Made Men #1) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-
Four

Can You Pass the Sugar?

Elle had a big crowd again at the diner tonight. She was thankful
; it would help keep her mind off Nero. The way he and her father had looked at each other when they’d left had her confused as to what they had talked about. Whatever it was, she probably didn’t want to know. The ride over had been nice and she had to admit she liked it. She could definitely deal with him driving her to and from work.

Elle looked at the door
to see who walked in, still on the lookout to make sure the boss and whoever worked for him didn’t walk through. Every time that door opened, her heart raced until she realized they had no relation to the murder. When Nero walked in, her heart calmed. W
ait, what is he doing here?

Elle could only stare
as Nero walked to a booth in the corner. He took a seat with his back up against the wall, giving him a full view of the diner. He had brought a bag with him. She had no idea what he had planned.

Elle walked over to his table
. “What are you doing here?”

Nero smiled wide
. “I’m starving.”

She didn’t like where this was going,
although she knew better than to question Nero when he was set on something. She was at work and needed to treat him as a customer; consequently, Elle reluctantly took out her notepad and pen.

“What can I get you?”

“Surprise me.”

Elle put the pad and pen back in her apron and smiled
. “Would you like me to pick your drink, as well?”

Nero leaned back in his
seat. “No, I’ll take a coffee.”

Elle realized he was clearly just getting comfortable
.
The perfect night for the perfect day.

Elle went to the window and asked for the special then she went and grabbed a plate
, holding a mug in one hand and taking the coffee pot in the other. She returned to Nero’s table and set the plate and cup in front of him, looking at him right before she poured the dark liquid into the mug. Elle could read his face and knew he had been waiting for this moment.

R
eturning her eyes to the mug, mostly because watching him look at her that way had started to heat her body, she managed to successfully pour the coffee. Nero’s hand covered hers for her to stop pouring, making Elle look at him again. She didn’t know how something like pouring coffee for Nero could turn sexual.

“Can
you pass the sugar?” Nero’s free hand pointed to the packets of sugar at the other end of the table.

Elle looked at the ceramic box holding the packets
. She knew he could very well get them and it would be easier for him to, but for some reason, Elle leaned over the table, having to go to her toes to reach them. She could feel Nero’s eyes all over her body, exciting her. She figured that feeling was the reason she wanted to please Nero.

Elle slowly slid the sugar across the table
until it lay in front of him.

Nero’s thumb rubbed the top of her hand
. “Thank you.” Then he finally released her hand, letting Elle look away from his eyes that had held her prisoner, as well.

She licked her now
-dry lips before she left the table without a word. Elle felt his eyes all over her body again as she walked away. She tried to get her thoughts and body under control as she waited on her other tables. By the time she managed to do so, Nero’s order came up in the window.

T
aking the hot plate, she headed for his table and set the plate of food in front of him. His expression now was sour, unlike the one he’d had on when Elle poured him coffee.
What got into him?

Elle left the table when Nero gave no response
, continuing to work despite Nero distracting her. His eyes hadn’t left her while she waited on her tables and he ate.

W
hen she picked up his dirty dishes, he looked pissed. She had even re-filled his coffee with a smile, trying to get him to lighten up, but he hadn’t. Elle had no clue what was pissing Nero off so badly.

Eventually
, Nero pulled out his laptop from his bag along with some schoolwork.
I guess he is staying till I get off.
That made Elle nervous. Nero was a complete wild card to her, and he was at her work. What he did in here would affect her, and this job was how Elle continued to go to school.

When
the diner started to die down and her shift was almost over, only Nero and a table full of four guys remained. Elle picked up the coffee pot to refill their cups, going to the full table and filling up their cups first.

“Can I get you all anything else?” Elle spoke as she filled a cup.

“No thanks, babe.” the good-looking one of the group responded. Elle figured they were in college by their university attire.

Elle smiled and walked away once all the cups were filled.

“Elle,” she heard her name called from the corner of the room.

Elle turned around and headed for the corner where Nero was sitting.
Nero’s face was now beyond pissed.

“
Sit.”

Elle looked around
. “I can’t.”

“Now.”

Elle looked back at Nero and felt like she only had one option, and that was to sit. She sat down in front of him, tired of his constant glares.

“What is the matter with you?”

Nero kept his voice calm and low so no one could hear their conversation. “I don’t like you pouring coffee and serving food to all these fucking men. The only coffee I want you pouring is mine.”

Huh?
Elle was taken off-guard by his response. First, she realized she liked his possessiveness, and then she realized the extent of his possessiveness.

“Nero
, it’s not like I enjoy it.”

“Do you think I enjoyed sitting here the whole night
, having to see a bunch of old men stare at your tits and ass?” Elle tried to speak but couldn’t get one syllable out. “Then listen to douchebags call you ‘babe;?” Nero’s voice started losing its calmness.

“Hmm, I wonder who that reminds me
of,” Elle said sarcastically.

“My fucking po
int. Tell them to fuck off next time.” Nero was fuming now.

Elle was pretty sure Nero was about to do something very stupid
, so she leaned forward and took his hand from the table. Taking a deep breath, Elle said, “Nero, this is where I work, so I can continue to go to school, and unfortunately, I pay most of it with the tips alone. That means putting up with the looks, stares, and babes. I can’t just tell them to fuck off; I could lose my job.”

Nero ran his hands through his hair
and flexed his jaw. When he nodded for her to get back to work, Elle stood and started to walk off.

“Are you forgetting something?” Nero pointed to his coffee cup.

Elle went back to the side of his table and decided to place her breasts expertly in front of his face as she refilled his coffee. The lust that had shown on his face before returned, and Elle smiled again. She didn’t know why she wanted Nero happy, or why that part inside of her wanted to please him, but Elle admitted she enjoyed doing so.

Elle scurried away
, laughing when Nero tried to reach out and grab her. She saw the smile on his face, discerning he was finally in a better mood. She went ahead and started to clean up for the night;
she was closing, of course. She asked the cook to throw away the trash this time.
Lesson learned.

About ten minutes before closing
, the table with the college students was still there joking around. They weren’t being rowdy or anything, but you could just hear them talking and cutting up with each other. They didn’t look like they had any plans to leave soon.

Elle went over to their table and took away some of their dirty dishes
. “We close in about ten minutes.”

The good-looking one smiled at her
. “We were just about to head out.” Then he quickly moved his elbow and a fork fell to the ground. “Sorry, babe.”

Elle’s heart started racing
. She quickly looked over at Nero, silently pleading for him not to do anything. When the guy didn’t make a move to pick it up and the other guys stared at her in anticipation, Elle had to pick it up.

She
quickly squatted down to hurry up and retrieve the fork. When she stood up and grabbed for the rest of the dishes, she noticed their displeased faces. They had clearly wanted her to bend over and get it.
No way in Hell.

Elle tried to force a smile as she walked away. She prayed Nero wouldn’t do an
ything and just leave it be as she went behind the counter and pretended to be busy so she could see if anything were to happen. She could tell Nero was on the verge of going crazy. She hoped he had listened to her earlier.

When the college guys walked out of the diner
, Elle stood frozen as she waited to see if Nero would follow after them. When he didn’t, Elle relaxed.

Elle went to the now
-unoccupied table and grabbed the tip off the table as well as the little dishes left. Dropping them off at the dishwasher, she headed for Nero’s table, unable to meet his gaze.

“How much?”

Elle kept her eyes on the table. “Ten for the meal.”

Nero stood and pulled out a silver money clip full of cash and handed her a hu
ndred-dollar bill. “Keep the rest.”

Elle looked at Nero finally and started shaking her head
. “I’m not taking your money, Ne
—
” Nero swiftly grabbed her and had her sitting on the edge of the table.
How in the hell?

He
parted Elle’s legs with his body and pressed himself up against her. His face came close to hers as he harshly spoke. “You are lucky I’m just asking you to take my money after fucking watching that. I am desperately trying to restrain myself right now.” Nero took the folded hundred-dollar bill and touched her chin with it before slowly sliding it down her neck to her chest and under her dress.

Elle’s chest started to rise and fall heavier
than it ever had before. Nero had blocked her legs, making it impossible to squeeze them together. She could feel the wetness start to soak her panties when Nero’s hands went to her bare thighs under her uniform, pushing it up. He greedily kissed her as he stroked her sensitive thighs, sending chills up her back.

Nero’s hands went to the inside of her middle thighs
when he said, “Now, you’re going to send me the rest of your work schedule in return for not shoving my foot up his ass. I’m not stupid, Elle. I know there was more.” Nero moved his hands higher up her thighs. “I can go back there and find it for myself and still have enough time to catch him if you don’t.”

His hands were
now mere centimeters away from her mound. She was sure he could feel the heat and dampness coming from her.

Sh
e nodded, half of her hoping he wouldn’t go any farther and the other half hoping to find out what it would feel like to be touched there for the first time.

Nero slowly slid his hands back down her thighs and returned her to her feet. “Now
, hurry up. I would like to get the fuck out of here.”

Elle didn’t know how she got her legs to hold her up
, much less walk to the back kitchen. She tried to shake off what had happened between her and Nero as she quickly took out her phone and sent Nero the first picture she had taken yesterday, showing her whole schedule. Elle figured there was no harm in giving it to him. She had already planned to keep riding with him to work now.

She walked farther back in
to the kitchen to tell the cook she was leaving. “See you this weekend, Steve.”

He didn’t even look up from the dishes
. “Bye, Elle.”

Elle walked back through the swinging doors and went to the cash register
, putting in ten dollars’ worth in tips instead of breaking the hundred. Elle smiled. She didn’t want to take Nero’s money.
But I did work for it all night.
She turned some lights off and grabbed her coat before walking to Nero, who was waiting by the door.

Her
smile never disappeared when Nero drove her home. As they reached her house, Nero parked at the next house down, making Elle curious as to why he had done it. When he spent a long time kissing her goodbye, Elle realized why, remembering her family looking out the window earlier.

She lay in her bed that night, still unable to stop smiling. Being with Nero made her happy in her life
once again. She had forgotten the feeling.

T
hat night was the first in years Elle fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Chapter Twenty-
Five

Thanks for Killing Our Fucking Dreams

Elle sat in Spanish
, looking at the clock.
My, how things can change.
This time, Elle didn’t mind the ticking when she usually wished somehow time would freeze so the ticking would stop. This was a monumental moment in her life.

S
he had been terrified of lunch time ever since…

Brrring.

“Can I solve this problem?” she asked her teacher.
Elle decided to finish her algebra problem as everyone else ran out of the classroom to go to lunch. It’s not like she was in a hurry to sit all by herself at lunch anyway.

“Go ahead
. Shut the door on your way out.”

Elle didn’t have time to even nod before the teacher ran off into the teachers
’ lounge.

Elle finished her prob
lem and went out to head to lunch, sure to close the door behind her. Her classroom was all the way in the back of the school.

As
she started heading down the hallway, she began hearing laughter from a crowd. Elle kept walking to get out of the back hallway and into the main one. When she did, she came right into a group of people. She already knew who the girls were, but she hadn’t met the guys yet.

“That’s who I was telling you about
, Sebastian.” Cassandra pointed toward Elle.

Elle saw a guy walk forward who looked almost identical to
Cassandra. The only reason they didn’t was because they were of opposite sex.

“S
o, you’re the little bitch who disrespected my sister?”

Elle tried to pass him
. She knew exactly where this was going.

“Oh
, no, you don’t. We’re going to take a little walk.” Sebastian hooked his arm in hers and headed back down the back hallway.

“Get off me.” Elle tried not to move with Sebastian and
then began fighting him.

Another guy
hooked her other arm and both of them started pulling her down the hallway.

Elle desperately tried to fig
ht them, kicking and screaming. Tears started to fill her eyes and a powerful feeling came over her that what was about to happen to her would change her forever.

Elle was now being pulled through the back school door
. She saw the girls following behind her through her tears while she heard their laughter over her screams…

Elle shook her head.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
She had already cried too many nights because of that day, and the memory was too bad to bring up.
I don’t want to ruin a good day.

Elle was having a good day,
too. Nero had picked her up again, another house down of course, and Amo had brought Chloe safe and sound to English this morning. Now she was going to have a great lunch, no matter what anyone decided to throw at her.

When the bell rang
, Elle got up smiling.

Chloe smiled at her
. “Someone’s happy.”

Elle laughed
. “Yeah, you don’t look too unhappy yourself.” She had told Chloe last night why she had been upset yesterday. Chloe actually stood up for Nero, agreeing with what he told her in the car. Needless to say, Chloe enjoyed having three big shields to stand in front of her.

Elle stopped in the doorway
, looking at the guys leaning against the lockers. “Yeah, I guess they aren’t so bad.”

Chloe stopped beside her
. “You’re right.” Chloe paused. “Well, besides the beast.”

They both started giggling
, unable to hold it in.

Nero walked toward Elle
, smiling. “What are you all laughing about?”

They both looked at each other
. “Nothing.”

“Yeah
, right, nothing. Clearly they were talking about us,” Amo said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Elle smirked
. “Nope, just you.” Elle started laughing again at the look on his face, making Chloe laugh with her.

Nero took Elle’s hand
, laughing as well. “Come on, girls; leave him alone.”

Elle let Nero push her and Chloe along
, still laughing at Amo’s face. She saw Vincent pat him on the back before she turned away. She knew Amo just wasn’t used to girls talking to him that way.
Apparently he doesn’t talk with girls when he could be doing something else with them.
Elle figured that was why bugging him made it that much better.

As t
hey walked into the cafeteria, stopping to talk in a circle, Elle had déjà vu all over again.

“What do you want to eat?” Nero
asked, looking at her.

Elle was about to turn around and look at the line
, but Vincent’s voice stopped her.

“The question was
, what do you want, not the opposite of what they are fucking eating.”

Elle looked at Chloe
, smiling. “Tacos?” She couldn’t believe a day would come where she could actually pick what she wanted to eat at school.

Chloe smiled back
. “Tacos.”

“Jesus Christ
, probably never had tacos, either.” Amo stomped forward, going to the line.

Amo was right, but Elle wasn’t about to tell them that.

They went through the line, this time not cutting
—
besides Leo. Technically, he cut to join them, though. Elle figured Nero had told them not to cut by how unhappy Amo and Vincent looked.

After they went through the line
, Elle headed to their table but saw that it was already occupied.
What? We have always sat here.

“Come on
, Elle; we’ve moved.” Nero pushed her forward, keeping her going until the only empty table she saw was the one in the back corner, deep in robot territory.

“You two sit here.” Nero pointed to the two seats that faced the rest of the caf
eteria.

Elle and Chloe sat down while the boys took their seats. Elle couldn’t see the rest of the cafeteria because their bodies blocked her view.
She felt awkward.

“Why did we move
? This isn’t our table.”

Nero picked up his taco and took a bite
. “Now it is.”

“We have sat at that table since freshman year.” Elle needed to be close to the
door so she could escape if need be.

“No one cares
, sweetheart.” Vincent picked up his taco and took a bite.

Elle stared at the boys
, chowing down on their tacos.
Why would they move us?
Elle looked behind her.
It’s just walls.
Elle looked in front of her.
They’re blocking my view.
Elle leaned up to see over Vincent’s head and saw that the whole football team was sitting at the surrounding tables.

Realization hit Elle that
only a tank or a sniper could reach her from now on. Elle quickly kissed Nero’s cheek, finding it incredibly sweet he would do something like that for her. When he smiled at her, Elle’s heart started to ache. She was really starting to care for Nero and wondered if she was going to regret that someday.

Elle decided to finally start eating
. After a few bites, she turned to Chloe. “Can we still go shopping tonight, or is your car not fixed yet?”

“Lana told me it should be done after school, so we are going
,” Chloe said happily. “The towing company was supposed to pick it up this morning. If it can’t be fixed in time, then she’s going to get me a loaner.”

Thank
God!

“Good. Do you want to sleep over tonight?”

“Yep
, we need to catch up on some movies.”

Elle heard Nero mumble under his breath, “Oh
, Lord.” She then kicked him under the table.

“I have
to know. Do girls really have pillow fights at slumber parties?” Vincent flashed his smile.

Elle rolled her eyes
.
Typical.

“Yeah
, I wondered that, too.” Leo said.

“Are you all serious?” Elle looked at their faces. They looked serious.

“I wanna know,” Amo chimed in.

Nero turned and looked at her
. “Do you?”

Elle pushed at his shoulder
. “No, we don’t. We wear green face masks, paint each other’s toenails, and watch old movies.” She looked around at their disappointed faces.

Vincent threw down the rest of his
taco. “Wow, Elle, thanks for killing our fucking dreams.”

*
* *

Nero watched Elle’s ass as she followed Chloe into Spanish class
.
Hey, I can’t help it.

He had pulled Elle aside
earlier, telling her he had wanted to take her on a date tonight since this was the only night she had off this week. She told him she desperately needed new clothes and some girl time. Nero smiled.
I’m getting to her.

He couldn’t complain to her because he had asked Amo to hook him up with a girl tonight. However
, yesterday he had decided no other girl was going to satisfy him. His dick craved Elle.
It will have her, too.

“I don’t understand why Chloe’s father hasn’t fixed her car yet
. She said Lana was going to, and that’s who’s been picking her up and dropping her off,” Amo spoke when the door came to a close.

“Yeah
, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem right, but maybe the man is just too busy. Lana clearly is the help, and you know people like that force their kids to be raised by their workers. I’ll ask Elle about it sometime, but you know she doesn’t give up shit.” Nero knew Elle wasn’t going to tell him, yet if he asked strategically, maybe he could find out something.

“Well
, we know if she doesn’t say shit, then that isn’t good.” Amo continued after a moment, “My dad knows I set us three up tonight.”

Nero ran his hands through his hair
. “Shit.”

Amo laughed
. “Yeah, I figured you might have changed your mind.”

“
Doesn’t matter. Now I have to go.” Nero would go. Amo’s dad would tell his father if he didn’t go, and since they were in public school and no relation to Elle, it would be uncharacteristic for him not to.
Hell, it will look good that I go.

“The girls
wanna go to Poison,” Amo said.

“Fuck me.” Nero hated that place
. It was an expensive-ass lounge for teens. Nero never needed to go to a lounge to get laid and waste all his money in the process. He figured the girls wanted to go since they had most likely never been. Now Nero was going to not only have to pay for him, but her, and he wasn’t even going to get laid by the end of it.

Vincent shrugged
. “I heard Cassandra is planning to be there tonight, so it might not be that bad.”

Nero smiled
. “At least I’ll get something out of the night.” He would pay double what the night would cost him to get a hold of Cassandra. He hadn’t seen her since she’d tried to fuck with Elle in the cafeteria. “Just give me the shy one out of the group, but I’m sure you two won’t mind.”

Vincent spoke quickly, “Fuck no
, man. I’ll be able to swoop in and have two to play with.”

“Not if I swoop in first
,” Amo replied.

Nero shook his head as he walked away
.
Tonight might not be so bad.
He could get even with Cassandra, and keep making his father think Elle was just a job. Nero smiled, thinking it was all working out.

W
hat could possibly go wrong?