Vincent (23 page)

Lying limp and breathless, she felt him lick at the sting on her neck. She had barely felt him bite her as she had climaxed, but feeling the aftereffects, she assumed he had gotten her pretty good. It was okay, though; she had gotten his back pretty good in return, knowing he was going to have scratch marks for weeks.

Lake could barely open her eyes when he rolled away to slide off her heels then bring her body close to his. Every night he had held her, her back to his chest, but it was the first time she had ever been held by him naked, and boy, did it feel good.

His hand ran over the top of her thigh. “You didn’t tell me how come you’re so fucking smooth.”

She smiled softly. “Sadie makes all the girls wax regularly.”

“Damn, I hate that bitch.”

“I think she feels the same about you.” Lake laughed sleepily.

He pulled her into his chest deeper, changing his tone. “Go to sleep, baby.”

Lake had never felt like she belonged more than she did in that moment with Vincent as he placed a light kiss on her shoulder. She had never felt like that with her mom, with her dad, or even with Adalyn.

Adalyn … Oh, God.
How in the fuck was she supposed to explain this to her best friend when she couldn’t even tell her she had kissed him? Let alone that she fucked Adalyn’s brother and was pretty certain they both wanted it to be a regular thing.

She had to go to sleep, exhausted with a guilty conscience on her mind. Lake felt even guiltier for the fact that she had enjoyed it so much and that fucking Vincent had finally made her happy for once.

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

Chapter Forty-Two

May He Open the Gates for You

Lake scooted back on the bed, trying to find Vincent’s body behind her. She was still pretty much in dream state, but her internal clock was slowly telling her it was time to wake up.

She rolled over, looking at the other side of the bed to find no Vincent.
Why does he always leave me?
Somehow, her brain had told her that giving Vincent her virginity would make it to where he would be there in the morning when she woke up.

Getting out of bed, she took the blanket and wrapped it around her naked body. She then went to the end of the balcony, looking down at the first floor, only for him to not be there, either.

She went to his open closet to find he had picked up her black dress and hung it back up in its spot. Something about that made her smile. He had also retrieved her normal clothes from the previous night and the bag she had left in the locker, and they were with her corset and stash of tips she had made, sitting beside them. He had set everything perfectly on a leather stool in the middle of his huge closet.

Lake headed toward the bathroom with quiet excitement at finally getting to see what was behind the door.

Holy fuck!
She was not disappointed.

She never would have thought a black bathroom was possible, but man, was she wrong. She was going to try everything out and take her precious time showering in the massive glass shower she later found out rained down on the occupant. Then she was going to take the best bath of her life in the big Jacuzzi tub.

Lake was practically salivating as she threw off her cover and stockings from the night before.
How in the world has he been using my tiny, pathetic old bathroom?

Looking at the black tub, she believed that was where the saying ‘once you go black, you never go back’ had originated from. The poor child inside of her was already crying about how the clock would eventually strike midnight, and then the carriage would turn back into a pumpkin. Because as much as she felt at home there, ultimately it wasn’t her home, and she wasn’t planning on moving in with Vincent any time soon.
It’s not like he would want me to, anyways.

Relaxing didn’t go as planned. So many thoughts swirled around in her mind about losing her virginity, Vincent, Adalyn, her mom, her dad, Dante—the list was ginormous. She quickly got dressed in the clothes she had worn to work the day before and even made something to eat in his glamorous kitchen.

Sitting there with nothing to do, she wondered where Vincent had gone to for so long. It made her feel like a puppy watching for its owner as she waited either for him to return or for it to be time for her to head down to work. It was about an hour and a half until she usually started for work, but she couldn’t sit there any longer, not wanting to feel desperate when he came back.

She grabbed her stuff and headed downstairs to the casino, even though she was sure Vincent was going to be really pissed about it.

Lake was setting her bag down on her dressing table when she noticed Kim coming up behind her from the reflection in the mirror.

Kim eyed Lake’s reflection, seeing her semi-damp hair and clothes from the previous night. “I see he finally took your fucking v-card. Maybe now that he’s fucked you out of his system, he’ll let me take another spin. ‘Cause, let’s be honest, Vincent is like every other man—they want a challenge every now and then, but in the end, they want someone with experience sucking their dick.” Her smile twisted up into a smirk. “I bet you didn’t even suck his dick, did you?”

She watched Kim snicker off, not needing to wait for Lake’s answer to know. Lake quickly turned away from her reflection, not wanting to look at herself, and started to feel sick. She knew she shouldn’t listen to one word that came out of Kim’s mouth, but something in her found that everything Kim had been saying was the harshest fucking truth.

“Honey, what are you doing here?” Sadie asked, coming up to her.

Lake tried her best to shake off what Kim had just said. “I decided to come in a little bit early to apologize. I’m so, so, so sorry about yest—”

Sadie held up her hand. “It’s okay. Fucking jeepers creepers deserved it, but you don’t work down here anymore. Didn’t playboy tell you already?”

“Tell me what?” Lake looked at her in confusion.

“Of course he didn’t. He made me promise not to tell you that last night was your last night working here. Your debt is paid, honey!”

Lake’s mouth fell open. “Huh? How?”

Sadie shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me that part. You’re supposed to be happy, jump up and down, or scream. Some shit like that, anyway.”

Swinging around, she quickly grabbed her bag then headed for the door, her mind racing. She hit the elevator button for it to open.

Why didn’t he want me to know?
Clearly, there was a reason he told Sadie to keep it a secret and why he hadn’t told her himself. Only one person was going to give her the truth, the whole truth.

Getting on the elevator, she hit the code to take her to the top. Lake was going to the top of the fucking mafia food chain. There was another surprise visit in store for Dante Caruso.

*  *  *

Vincent spent his day cleaning up his almost fuck-up from the previous night. In all honesty, no one liked that fucker David, not even Dante who was racking up a shit-ton of money off him. After he had sent David into practically a coma when he had a flight back home to Canada the next day, some of the girls he had paid to take back to his hotel room had finally spoken up about how he had been quite abusive and given them a huge sum to keep quiet about it.

Vincent’s day had been made. He had gotten to piss on David’s motherfucking grave. Not only that, but he finally had woken up beside Lake’s warm, naked body that morning, and his balls were a lesser shade of blue.

He jumped off the elevator, contemplating how to tell her she no longer worked downstairs. He had planned to tell her the night before, but the fight with David and sexual frustration between them had put that on a back burner. He had been saving it for the morning, but a phone call from Dante telling him to get the fuck in his office had kept him from sharing.

Pulling out his card, he remembered the way she had looked at the bottom of his bed, naked in only her lace, thigh-high stockings and high heels.
It can wait twenty more minutes.

He slid the card in, unlocking the door, his need of wanting her outweighing telling her about how he had paid off her debt. Something told him it was going to probably cause an argument between them. He was positive Lake would tell him she couldn’t let him do something that crazy. Not that it mattered, because what was done was done.
And no fucking way is she wearing
my
outfits in front of other men anymore.

Vincent was calling her sexy lingerie outfits
his
because the only times she was going to be wearing them from then on were in
his
apartment. The fucking bad part about it was he was going to have to play nice to Sadie because he planned to give her his card to fill his closet full of those outfits. He also planned for those ‘working girl only’ waxes to be available to Lake. Whoever the hell was waxing Lake was the fucking wax master with the magic touch.

Opening the door, he expected to see Lake downstairs.
Maybe she’s still in bed. I bet she finally found the bathroom …
Several dirty thoughts swirled in his mind when he found she wasn’t on the bed, and he headed for the bathroom.
Today is a great fucking day.

Vincent’s sexual fantasies popped like a balloon when she wasn’t in there taking a bath like he had imagined. He felt like all his hopes and dreams had died in an instant. He knew she could only be at one place in the hotel, and he certainly wasn’t fucking happy about it.

Heading back to the elevator and putting in the code to the basement, he hoped Sadie had kept her big fucking mouth closed. He freaked out on the close button, trying to get it to hurry up.
Fuck, hurry!
He already knew he was going to have to sew Sadie’s mouth shut.

Once in the basement club, Vincent quickly moved through the bodies and into the dressing room, going straight to Lake’s dressing table and finding it empty, just like his apartment.

A hand ran up his back and squeezed his shoulder. “She’s not here anymore and I know she didn’t take care of your dick, but I can help out with that.”

He looked over to see Kim in nothing but pink panties. His hand reached out to grab her throat, giving it a firm squeeze.

“What did you fucking say to her?” His voice was lethal.

Kim grabbed at his wrist, trying to get more room to breathe and talk. “Nothing! I just saw her talking to Sadie, and then she stormed out.”

“You touch me again, slut, and you won’t get paid to fuck the highest-paying, dirtiest men in a clean room with a guard. You won’t even be one of the girls who fuck them in the hotel rooms. Your ass will be on the street corner, fucking the cheapest men, going to their nasty motel rooms and wondering if you’re going to be alive to walk back out that door. Do you understand me?” He squeezed her throat a little tighter.

Kim viciously nodded the best she could as Sadie came up beside them.

Vincent finally let go. “And stay the fuck away from Lake.”

Kim grabbed her throat, gasping for air as she looked at Sadie for her to do something.

Sadie crossed her arms and tapped her pump on the floor. “I don’t know what makes you think I give a shit, bitch. You’re lucky I didn’t get to you first. I don’t have to know what you did to know you deserved more than that. Now get the fuck out of my face.”

Vincent looked at Sadie.
Why does ninety-eight percent of me fucking hate her guts, but the other two percent likes her at the same time?
Because she was a fucking psychotic bitch, and he could relate.

“You told her, didn’t you?” he asked her.

“Yes, I fucking did when you neglected to tell her that her debt was paid.”

One percent.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry. I didn’t tell her you paid it off, playboy.”

His eyebrow rose. “I never told you I did.”

“Do I look like a stupid bitch to you?” She began tapping her heel again.

He wasn’t going to answer that. “Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. She just fucking ran out of here when I told her you made me promise not to tell. I’m not having Lake mad at me because you didn’t have the balls—”

Vincent started running for the door.

“
Really
? You bitches need to learn some manners!” Sadie yelled at him.

Running through the crowd, he quickly came up to the elevator and hit the up button.
Fuck-fuck-fuck, hurry up!

His gut knew exactly where she had gone, because Lake was fucking crazy enough to do it. Finally, the elevator door opened, and he punched in the code to take him to the top.

Face Dante Caruso once, God help you.

Face Dante Caruso twice, may He open the gates for you.

Chapter Forty-Three

Run

Lake licked her very dry lips as her knuckles landed on the black door.

“Come in,” a dark voice sounded on the other side of the door.

Walking into the dark room, she noticed Mr. Vitale pouring two glasses of whiskey while Dante sat in his throne.

Dante leaned back in his chair. “Well, Ms. Turner, I have to say I never expected to see you again.”

She watched Mr. Vitale set a drink down in front of Dante, giving her a warning look behind his back. She quickly looked back at Dante.

“I-I’m sorry. I was just curious about something which has to do with
our
agreement. I’m afraid Vincent isn’t keeping me in the loop, so I was hoping I could talk with you about it, Mr. Caruso.”

He took a sip of his whiskey. “Sit down, then.”

Lake took a deep breath then sat in the chair beside Vincent’s dad.
Why does he always have to be here at the worst times?

Trying to calm her nerves, she spoke in a somewhat even tone. “I went to work today for Sadie to tell me I no longer work there. She told me my debt was paid, but I don’t understand how that’s possible.”

“He didn’t tell you?” Dante took another sip of his drink, seeming amused. “Vincent came in here a month ago and paid your whole debt off.”

He did
what
?
She shook her head, not believing it.

“If that’s true, then why have I been working down there for a month? Vincent has been giving you money for all the tips I’ve made every week so I could pay you off faster, hasn’t he?”

“No, I can’t say I have received any money. I allowed him to pay off your debt as long as you continued to work for me for one more month. Unfortunately for you, you had made a big impression on David, and he is—
was
—my biggest customer. I’ve been giving your paychecks to Vincent. I assume you haven’t received them, as well.”

She shivered when he emphasized the word
was,
knowing he meant it as a
dead.
Also, knowing she had been forced to work down there because of David’s infatuation with her made her skin crawl even more.

She shook her head. “No, he hasn’t given me any paychecks.” She couldn’t believe Vincent had been keeping this a secret from her to the extent that he had been retaining all her money.

Dante looked her up and down. “For a girl who learned she is a free woman, you certainly came to the wrong place.”

Lake swallowed, unmoving.

“Has she been paid for her last week?” Vinny questioned.

Dante looked over at him. “No, I haven’t given it to Vincent yet.”

“Keep it.” Mr. Vitale set his drink down and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out money then quickly counting out some and holding it out for her to take. “This should cover it. I advise you to take it and run off to college, anywhere that isn’t here.”

She had to use the chair to support herself enough to stand. Sliding the money out of his hand, she went for the door while she still had the chance.

“Ms. Turner, I wouldn’t walk back through my door again if I were you,” Dante’s cold voice warned her.

She gave a quick nod before she left the room, closing the door behind her. Slamming her eyes shut, she tried to keep her breathing under control. Everything was hitting her like a ton of bricks—all the things Vincent had done and not told her about along with the fact that they had flat-out told her to run.

Lake wasn’t stupid; she knew when to run the hell away.
Especially from a whole family of psychopaths.

Waiting for the elevator door to open, her mind was going a million miles an hour, wondering where the hell to run. One thing was for sure: she was heading straight home on a bus and packing up a bag of her shit. Lake Turner was finally going to do what she had always dreamed of, but she had never expected the mixed feelings of it all.

She had been preparing herself to leave her dad and Adalyn behind for months, but leaving Vincent stung the worst. She didn’t understand why that was, since it was clear to her more than ever that he was a lying, man-whore asshole who was totally fucking deranged.

A part of her wanted Vincent to appear when the elevator door came open, to talk her out of it, and to somehow make everything better while her judgment of him was still cloudy.

The elevator door opened with a ding.

Goodbye, Kansas City.

*  *  *

Vincent impatiently waited for the elevator to come to a stop, hoping Lake was going to be on the other side of the door when it opened.

However, when it finally did, Lake wasn’t there.

Quickly, he moved down the hallway, through the security room, and hastily knocked on Dante’s door then swung it open before the word ‘come’ came out.

Dante raised his eyebrow. “You knew she would come here, didn’t you?”

Vincent smoothed his hand down his hair, praying he had made it in time. “Where is she?”

Dante took his time lighting a cigar before he spoke, “Luckily for you, your father was here and gave her money to scram.”

Vincent turned to try to catch her.

“You’re about an hour late. I assume she’s already somewhere that’s not worth the fucking time to find her.” He took a long hit, thinking about what he wanted to say next. “Lake is like a cat; she was born with nine lives. Sooner or later, however, she’ll be faced with her ninth and final one. Something tells me she’s more than halfway there, considering she just wasted another one with me.”

Fuck, Lake.
Vincent nodded in understanding before going back out the door to leave and attempt to catch her before she could run too far away.

“If you find her, I better not see her fucking face. Beat some fucking sense into that girl, or I will.”

Vincent ground his teeth. “Yes, boss.”

Closing the door behind him, he headed straight for the elevator, pulling out his phone in a desperate attempt to call her. It went straight to voicemail, though.

“Motherfucker!” he screamed when the elevator closed behind him.

The thought of losing Lake was already too strong, but Vincent had made up his mind.

He would go the ends of the Earth for her.