Vincent (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Was It A Mother or Daughter This Time? Or Fuck, Was It Both?

The second day of work wasn’t any easier than the first. Her feet were still sore from the day before, and coming out from behind the curtain dressed like a playboy bunny still scared the shit out of her. It took her until halfway through her shift before she became used to the whole thing again.

Making her rounds, she went to a poker table. Holding her pad and pen, she wrote down orders of the men as she quickly went around the table.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked the man at the end while she jotted down the last one’s order. Usually, she didn’t have to ask when it was at a poker table; they quickly spit out what they wanted, and she never even had to look up.

“So, it’s true. I have to say, when I heard what happened, I didn’t believe you’d have the balls to work down here.”

She didn’t even need to look up from her paper to know whose scary, dark voice it was. Stunned, she didn’t know what to say as she looked into the terrifying blue-green eyes.

“Don’t worry, darlin’. I’m just as shocked as you,” Lucca said, looking at her transformation.

Feeling embarrassed and self-conscious of her revealing outfit, she wanted to get away. “C-Can I get you anything?”

Lucca looked back at his cards then slid a huge pile of chips in the middle of the table. “I’ll take some Jack, darlin’.”

Going to the bar, her heart began to race, wondering who all knew about her debt.
Who else knows?
What if Adalyn finds out?

Trying to calm her nerves, she grabbed the huge tray of drinks.
Don’t spill it!
She was shaking so badly the liquids were sloshing wildly in their glasses.

Taking a huge, deep breath, she went back to the poker table and handed out the drinks. As she set down the dark liquid in front of Lucca, he didn’t even look up from his game.
Thank you.
Running off, she went to her next table.

The night continued and every time she visited Lucca’s poker game, he paid her no attention. The only words he spoke to her were to order a new glass of Jack, but not once did he look at her. She was beyond grateful for this and after the first few times, she paid him no mind, as well, forgetting the fact that she knew him as the underboss. Hell, she never would have thought it, but she preferred serving him over everyone else since he never stared at her ass or tits.

Going once again back to the poker table, she noticed how huge Lucca’s pile of chips had gotten.

“Would you like some more to drink?”

“No, thanks, darlin’,” he said, standing up. Reaching into the back pocket of his dark jeans, he pulled out a wad of cash held in a silver money clip.

Lake stared at him in shock as he peeled off five one hundred dollar bills from the clip. She didn’t know how to take it. No one had given her a tip that big yet, especially not someone who had only drunk a bottle of Jack.

“Take it, darlin’,” he said, bringing it closer to her. When she finally took the bills, he stopped her. “And you don’t need to stuff it in your tits. That’s not why I’m giving you the money.”

“Thank you,” she said in disbelief as he started packing up his chips.

When he didn’t say anything else, she headed back to the bar.
What the hell just happened?

*  *  *

Vincent went into Lucca’s office, wondering why he had asked him there.

Walking in, he saw Nero and Amo were already there.
This is either going to be really good or really fucking bad.

“Did you take fucking long enough?” Lucca asked as he lit up a cigarette.

“Sorry, I was busy.”

Lucca looked at his wet hair. “Yeah, I can see that. Was it a mother or daughter this time? Or fuck, was it both?”

Vincent took a seat and smiled at him. “This one didn’t have a mother or father; she had some real parent issues.”

Nero and Amo merely shook their heads.

“Let me guess, you helped solve her problems in ten minutes?” Lucca tapped his ashes in an ashtray.

More like an hour.

“What about Lake’s issues? You solved hers yet?” he continued.

“Yeah, he fixed her car, right after he stared at her ass while
she
tried to fix it. You still owe me for that.” Amo was clearly still mad at him.

“I told you last time, Lucca; Lake isn’t mine. She’ll be gone in a couple months, and you won’t have to listen to her mouth anymore. It’s not like you ever see her, anyways.” Vincent was getting aggravated, not understanding why Lucca cared so much.

“That’s going to be a fucking shame. I was hoping her car would break down again. Do you think you could get Elle to ask her to go shopping again?” Amo asked Nero.

Nero looked at him stupidly. “Did you really just ask me to get Elle to go shopping in hopes you’ll get lucky that her car breaks down again?”

Amo shrugged. “I mean, with
that
car it was pretty much a given, but I was going to make sure it happened.”

Vincent squeezed the arms of the chair, making his knuckles go white. He grew angrier listening to Amo; however, he couldn’t wring his neck in front of Lucca, no matter how much he wanted to. If he did, it would have seemed like he had feelings for Lake.
The only feeling I have for her is wanting to fuck her.

It was Thursday night and after he had fixed her car on Monday, he had successfully avoided listening to his conscience for days. He didn’t plan on going back on it, either. He knew what the reasonable voice in his head was going to say.
Lake, Lake, Lake, Lake, and my other head is already saying it enough.

Once he got his dick under control, he would see what shit Lake was into with her family. Something deep down had scared him into waiting because he feared, once he found out the truth, getting her out of his head wasn’t going to work. Lately, he had become a sucker for helpless girls, and he blamed Nero for that. He needed to do this strategically, and by that he needed to keep fucking Lake out of his mind then take care of her problems behind her back. He didn’t need to involve her, see her, or talk to her.

Lucca sucked down one last hit and put out his cigarette. “I’m going to give you all a new job to do since you two clearly like to look at ass all day.” He nodded to Vincent and Amo. “Consider this a graduation present. Meet me tomorrow at the casino, and I’ll fill you in there.”

Vincent, Nero, and Amo all left his office and went into the living room of the Caruso home.

Looking at Nero, Vincent sensed his distress. “You don’t look very happy.”

Nero shook his head. “It doesn’t seem right to me. My brother is fucking planning something.”

“I think he really meant what he said, and I would be fucking grateful to look at some hot ass all day,” Amo said.

Vincent smiled, looking forward to whatever was to come. He genuinely enjoyed taking on new jobs.

“He
did
say it’s a graduation present, man.”

“I don’t fucking like it,” Nero grumbled.

Chapter Twenty-Six

There Were Truly Some Things You Could Not Un-see.

Vincent opened the door leading to Heaven itself. His mouth dropped open upon seeing all the women in sexy lingerie. There was nothing like sexy-ass chicks and thousands of dollars being thrown around.

“Holy fucking shit, is this real?” Amo said in awe.

“I think I’m in Heaven. Do you think this is where family men go to die?” Vincent asked, watching a woman swing down a pole.

“This is fucking Hell; that’s what this is. I still don’t fucking like it.” Nero sounded pissed.

Vincent and Amo looked at him like he was crazier than shit.

“Elle is going to fucking murder me. I am
not
fucking working down here. I’m going to kill Lucca for this.” Nero’s rage only grew as he turned to go back.

Amo quickly grabbed him. “You go and complain to Lucca about a job, and it will take years for you to move up to a
Capo
. Jobs down here are not given to men who haven’t even been made for a year. Don’t ruin this for us, man. You’re the boss’s son and the underboss’s brother. He will pull us
all
out if you fucking go.”

Nero pushed their hands off him, nodding in agreement.

Thank you, God.
Vincent had been worried his friend would bail on him, and he wasn’t sure if he could ever forgive him if he took away this piece of Heaven right after he had finally gotten it.

Their eyes were drawn to a squeaking noise as a woman slid down the pole slowly while doing the splits.

“Nope, can’t fucking do it.” Nero turned back around.

That time, Vincent grabbed him. “Please, man, I am
begging
you. This is the easiest and highest-paying job we’ve had. All we have to do is stand against the wall and make sure no one lays a hand on the girls unless they pay to. It’s not like you tell Elle about the jobs you do, anyways. This one will be no different.” When Nero didn’t look like he was going to budge, Vincent decided to play the guilt trip. “Who helped you fuck-up everyone who ever looked at Elle wrong? We did. Now, for fuck’s sake, man, help
us
out. At least let me fuck a couple of them.
Please.”

“Fuck! You two fuckers better pray she doesn’t find out about this.” Nero still wasn’t happy.

One thing is for damn sure
, he thought as he took in his surroundings,
I am going to need to thank Lucca and God.

Dear Mafia Father, thank you for letting me into Mob Heaven.

Nero looked over at Vincent as he whispered to himself. “Fuck, Vincent; are you praying again?”

*  *  *

Lake really wished she had gone to the bathroom before she had gotten dressed in the tight clothes which were cutting off her circulation. She had been working for almost a full business week, making her feel a little proud.
Well, as proud as you can get working down here.

Thankfully, Sadie kept her in the same style of clothing, liking the whole innocent look on her. At that moment, she wore a lighter shade of pink corset which had a black silk bow between her breasts paired with light pink, ruffled booty shorts which seemed to always get smaller and black stockings with black silk bows to match. She still had to wear the same huge black pumps, but her feet were finally becoming numb and used to the whole thing like Maria had said.

The week had been really hard on her. She would work herself to death then go straight home to sleep and repeat the whole thing over again. It felt like the life had been sucked out of her, not being able to recognize the person staring back in the mirror.

The last time Lake had seen her father was when she had gone to Dante’s office. She would call him every day, but he would always text her that he would see her later. She was worried sick that something might be wrong with him, so she had decided to go see Dante after her shift to ask about him.

She also hadn’t spent more than maybe twenty dollars’ worth of her tips, so she planned to give all her tip money to Dante to help pay off her father’s debt. Lake figured if he got all her tips on top of her salary, she wouldn’t be working for him for the rest of her life. She was going to do whatever it took to pay him off as fast as possible, even if that meant living off dimes and nickels in the process. She was used to that, anyway.

Making sure her makeup and big hair looked suitable, she headed to the front of the huge dressing room, needing to use the restroom before her shift.

Turning the corner, she ran right into two bodies which were blocking the bathroom door. “Sorr—”

“Holy fuck. Lake?” Amo couldn’t keep his eyes from everywhere except her face.

Oh, no.

“Shit.” Nero sneaked a knock on the bathroom door.

Oh, no.

Lake needed to escape. She tried to quickly pass them to run in the bathroom before she vomited the little bit of food she had in her belly.

“Doll, you really,
really
don’t want to go in there.” Amo moved to completely block the door.

It’s coming up!
Quickly, she put her hand over her mouth to keep from hurling.

“Oh, fuck that.” Amo dodged out of the way like he weighed a hundred pounds.

“Coming in!” Nero yelled, giving her a wide berth.

Lake quickly flung open the door, her hand dropping to the side along with her mouth.

“Vincent?” She blinked her eyes a couple of times, hoping it was only a terrible illusion.

Vincent pulled his mouth away from the woman sucking on his lips and zipped up his fly. “Lake?” He turned around, revealing a platinum-blonde with huge, naked, perfect boobs which could poke your eyes out.

“Kim?” She wished she said her name while looking at her face. Of all the girls there, Kim was the bitchiest, not even giving Lake the time of day.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Kim asked Vincent.

Vincent stood there in shock, clearly not knowing whether he should be more surprised by the situation or the fact that Lake was dressed like a porn star as he looked her up and down.

“No, and I highly doubt she ever will be now,” Amo muttered behind them.

“I tried to fucking warn you,” Nero told him.

Lake felt the world starting to spin as the bile rose once again from her stomach. “I think I’m gonna…”

Kim strutted toward her, loving the fact that she could show off her boobs to three good-looking men. “Get the fuck out of here, new girl. We’re busy.”

Lake could no longer think or hold the sickness down in her stomach. The unfortunate target? Two huge tits.

A high-pitched scream filled the air.

There were truly some things you could not un-see.