Lake hit the button to reply.
It’s okay. I love you, too, Mom.
It seemed like, no matter what, she couldn’t help the fact that she did love her. Her mother was family. There was nothing else to it.
Hearing the first name read, she put her phone away. As the names went farther down the list, she couldn’t help thinking about how John had managed to ruin one of the most monumental moments in her life. Regardless, she decided to try to push it out of her mind as her best friend in the whole wide world waited on the steps to be called next. Lake was already primed to clap and cheer.
“Adalyn Ricci.”
Yay—what the…?
Lake’s attention was drawn to the men in black packed onto the bleachers. They were yelling, clapping, and whistling so loud she thought her eardrums were going to break. She couldn’t help laughing at the goons for making such a scene and clapping along as Adalyn retrieved her diploma.
It wasn’t much longer before Lake found herself waiting on the steps for her name to be called. She honestly wasn’t nervous anymore. Her dad was the only one who was going to be paying any attention to her, so her nerves were finally gone.
The man spoke into the microphone, “Lake…”
She took her first step onto the stage.
“Turner.”
Lake’s walking slightly slowed from shock as she heard another roar come from the suits, so much so she had to keep telling herself to keep walking.
When she took the diploma into her hands, she put on a smile for the camera then went straight back to her confused face. Why would they do that for me?
Walking to the other side of the stage, she could finally look at the men cheering for her. Every one of them was standing, and every one of them was clapping. A smile began to touch her lips as she watched a couple of them hit her father’s shoulder in congratulations.
When she got back to her seat, she realized she had completely forgotten that someone important was missing when she had been walking across the stage.
Thankfully, the ceremony didn’t last much longer. Before Lake knew it, it was her turn to sit in the bleachers. The day before she hadn’t wanted to, but after seeing them all cheer for her… It’s the least I can do.
After they hugged their parents, Adalyn started leading her to the middle of the bleachers. On the way, they received many nods from the men. It was their way of congratulating them. One of those nods had her freezing in place, however. She knew exactly who the man was when she met his ice-blue eyes. There was no doubt about it; he was the boss. Dante Caruso.
The man had an air about him, a don’t-fuck-with-me vibe, while being classy at the same time. He was chillingly dark, yet she found him way too handsome for an older man.
Lake quickly nodded back, though not out of politeness. Nope. It’s because getting whacked on graduation day would really suck.
Squeezing through the crowd, Adalyn finally stopped by a girl who almost took Lake’s breath away. The girl was drop-dead gorgeous with shiny gold hair, like an angel or a goddess. Oh, my God, she is like the girl version of Vincent.
“Congratulations, Adalyn!” The gorgeous girl stood to give her friend a hug. She was even tall, wearing a pale blue dress which showed her perfect body. Lake thought she was going to go blind any second by her beauty.
“Thank you,” Adalyn responded, hugging her back. After the hug, she turned to Lake. “Lake, this is Nero’s sister—”
“Hi, I’m Maria. Congratulations!” She pulled Lake into a hug, too.
Jesus, she’s incredibly nice, too? Lake gave her a hug back. “Thank you.”
“Maria, when are you going to learn that people don’t like to hug?” a younger male voice said.
“Sorry, I’ve been trying to work on it.” Maria pulled away.
Lake laughed. “No, it’s okay. You shouldn’t stop being nice.”
Everyone went quiet around her and started to stare.
The young male’s voice returned. “Did she say nice? No one has ever called a Ca—”
Maria hit his shoulder. “This is my youngest brother, Leo, who likes giving me a hard time.”
Leo held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Lake.”
Who the hell did these people descend from?
The dirty-blonde boy was already a charmer and way too good-looking for his age. She figured he was early in his high school years, but he was definitely much better-looking than the seniors in her school.
Lake shook his hand back. “Nice to meet you, too, Leo.”
They all quickly sat back down as the second ceremony started to begin. Lake was relieved by the distraction, because she didn’t understand what she had said to make everyone gawk at her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lake thought someone was still staring at her. Stupidly, she looked at the row behind her to see a man she really wished she hadn’t.
Her head snapped forward as chills ran down her spine. Fuck-fuck-fuck that guy. She didn’t know who he was, nor did she ever want to know. Lake was going to keep her head forward; under no circumstance did she ever want to see his crazy eyes again. Surprisingly, she didn’t dare look back throughout the whole beginning of the ceremony.
“I need to run to the restroom,” Maria whispered in Adalyn and Lake’s direction.
As Lake turned her legs with Adalyn’s for her to pass, she saw Maria turn around then whisper to the guy behind her, and damn if it wasn’t the guy who scared her shitless.
As Maria stood up and began to quietly squeeze through, Lake watched two guys start to follow behind. One of them was the scary guy who was staring at her.
Oh, my God, does Maria seriously have bodyguards?
Lake was honestly starting to feel like she was missing something, so she thought carefully about whether a girl really needed a bodyguard.
Pssht! No, that’s crazy. I bet they won’t even come back with her.
If they did, that meant they were her bodyguards. But they’re not.
That thought didn’t stop Lake from sitting on the edge of her seat and staring down at the door Maria had just walked out.
Chapter Thirteen
The Mob Princess of Kansas City
Opening her small envelope purse, she grabbed her favorite Angel lipstick tube from the bottom. Looking in the mirror, she swiped it over her plump lips then rubbed them together. Happy with the results, she put the tube back in her purse.
She started to run her fingers through her curls, giving her legs more time to stretch. I’m sure he wants to finish his cigarette, anyways. She laughed, thinking about how he’d had it halfway lit before he had walked out the door.
Fiddling for another minute, she decided it was time to go out before the other one knocked down the girl’s bathroom door.
She grabbed her purse then put one pump in front of the other and swung open the door.
“Shit! Goddamn—” The cursing from the deep voice trailed off as the man started mumbling to himself.
She quickly dropped her purse and touched a man’s arm which was raised, his hand holding the side of his face. “I am so sorry. Are you okay? I completely forgot those doors fly open like that.”
Hearing the muffled laughter, she shooed her watchdog away to go laugh somewhere else.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He said it like he was trying to shoo her away, as well.
Dang, I hit him really hard.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Here, let me see.” She grabbed his wrist with her other hand so she could assess the damage she had done to his face.
“I said—” he began harshly as he dropped his hand from his face to look at who had almost knocked his brains out. Looking at her, he lost his train of thought. It took him a moment before he could clear his throat to change his tone. “I’m fine, really.” He smiled at her.
She stared helplessly up at him, her eyes unwilling to move away. She had been around countless good-looking men since she was born, but he was a different kind of ha
ndsome altogether. He had blondish-brown hair which was cut almost to his scalp and traveled down to his short-kept beard. The eyes, though, were what she couldn’t quit staring at. They looked like liquid gold. Feeling his strong arm under her hands, she realized his body definitely wasn’t bad, either.
Oh, gosh. She quickly pulled her hands away from him, trying not to smile in embarrassment from touching him longer than she should have.
She finally moved her eyes away from him. “I-I’m sorry. I feel terrible that I hit you.”
Did I just stutter? Being flustered in front of men was something which never happened to her.
“It’s really okay. It was my fault. I usually walk farther away from the door, but my mind was somewhere else.”
She smiled back at him. It made her feel instantly better to hear his genuine apology. “There’s no mark yet, but I hope it doesn’t bruise on you.”
“If it does, it wouldn’t be the first.” He started to lean down to the floor. “Here, let me get that for you.”
She watched him pick her purse off the floor and felt his gaze on her brand new nude pumps she had pulled out of the box that morning. Her body slightly tingled as his eyes rolled over her coming up. Thank you, Christian Louboutin.
He held her purse out and when she grabbed it, she noticed the size of his hand spanned the whole purse, making her touch it.
“Thank you.” Her hand began to also tingle when she slid it out of his.
“You’re very welcome…”
She swept her gold hair behind her ear, smiling. “Maria.”
Their heads turned when the front glass doors flung open with a thud.
Here we go, she thought as the man coming through quickly closed the distance between them.
“This is my brother.” She watched something flash in the handsome man’s gold eyes.
“Lucca Caruso.” Her brother held out his hand.
“Kayne Evans.” He took Lucca’s hand, shaking it. “I teach English here.”
He’s a teacher? How come I never got teachers who look like that?
Maria looked at their hands. Kayne’s grip matched Lucca’s; not to mention, he could shake his hand while looking Lucca straight in the eye. She could tell that was really starting to piss Lucca off considering not many men could, let alone an English teacher.
Lucca finally let go of his hand. “English, huh? You don’t seem like the teaching type.”
“And you don’t seem like the type who would listen when I said there is no smoking on school grounds,” Kayne said.
Oh, no. Maria tried to brace herself.
Lucca reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Grabbing a stick, he put it between his lips then began to talk as he held it there.
“Considering I never listened years ago when I was here”—he flicked open his Zippo and lit the end before taking a long, deep hit then blowing out the smoke, making sure it hit Kayne in the face—“I’d say you’re right, teach.”
“Well, I’m glad we know our roles here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my students are about to graduate.” Kayne then smiled at Maria. “It was nice meeting you, Maria.”
“It was nice meeting you, too.” Maria tried to keep from blushing and staring into the molten gold of his eyes.
“Lucca,” Kayne said as he passed by him.
“Kayne,” Lucca returned as he dropped the butt on the floor, stepping on it.
Well, that could’ve gone worse, she thought as she watched Kayne walk down the hallway. Damn if his walk wasn’t somehow sexy.
“What the fuck, Sal?” Lucca roared when Sal came back around the corner.
“Sorry, she fucking drilled him right in the face with the door. I couldn’t quit laughing.”
While Maria closed her eyes, feeling bad all over again, Sal began laughing once more, clearly replaying what had happened in his mind.
Lucca wrapped his arm around his sister, dragging them back to the gym. “What have I told you about hitting harder?”
* * *
Lake watched Maria walk through the door again. I knew it. A second after that thought, the two men walked through the door, staying close behind. Holy shit, they are bodyguards.
A million thoughts ran through her head as she watched them walk up the bleachers. She had no clue who she was sitting by; she only knew she didn’t want to sit next to her. Clearly, anyone worth guarding must be a target. I don’t want to be next to a freaking target!
“Get ready to scream. Nero’s next,” Adalyn whispered to her.
Lake swallowed at thinking about Maria, feeling as if at any second rounds of bullets were going to be shot in her direction. She looked around, seeing everyone preparing to jump up and down, and then she realized they were surrounded by the mob sea. Whoever the girl was, she was pretty fucking important.
She heard the man come back over the microphone. “Nero—”
Lake put her weight to her feet to stand.
“Caruso.”
You have got to be shitting me. She blinked her eyes over and over as she listened to the howling. She couldn’t see anything except black standing in front of her, because she couldn’t quite make it to her feet.
Lake looked over at the tall, golden blonde who was practically royalty. It all finally made sense, and she knew exactly who Maria was. The mob princess of Kansas City.
Chapter Fourteen
Staring Into the Eyes of a Demon
Lake sat uncomfortably in the bleachers, unable to stop fidgeting. Adalyn was going to get a nice piece of her mind when they were alone, since she deliberately hadn’t said who they were. She has got to be shitting me if she thinks I’m going to Nero’s party.
It wasn’t much longer before they all stood to their feet to cheer for the big guy, Amo. All she had left to do was cheer for Vincent, and then she could get the fuck out of there.
Lake couldn’t take her eyes off Vincent as he came closer and closer to having his name called. She just wished she was nearer to the stage. He was so different from before, and she desperately wanted to see it up close.
Stop it!
Lake’s knees were bouncing up and down at that point. She needed to get out of the confined space next to all those suits. It was also Vincent she needed to get away from, though. If she kept watching him for much longer, she was sure to fucking lose her marbles.
“Vincent Vitale,” the guy spoke into the microphone.
Lake stood, clapping, as the men began their howling. The sound of more whistling and screaming drew her attention away from Vincent. She looked around the gym and saw countless girls wailing at the top of their lungs, each one trying to scream louder than the other to gain his attention. That wasn’t it, though; older women were even whistling and screaming along with them.
Unable to take the torture any longer, she began to squeeze past the men and out of the bleachers. She tried her best to quickly exit the gym without breaking into a sprint; however, when she passed a blonde mother with huge fake boobs screaming and jumping over her daughter, she ran.
Lake slammed open the doors, letting the fresh air hit her face. Breathing heavily, she sat down on a bench. She wasn’t quite sure why she was out of breath yet decided to blame it on the run and not the fact that she might’ve actually been having a panic attack.
She began taking deep breaths, trying not to picture all those girls going into heat after hearing Vincent’s name. It was hard to pinpoint a single thought since so many were flying through her head.
Why were they acting that way? Did he know them all? How did he know them? Why do I even care? Oh, my G—
Lake’s head snapped toward the school entrance when she heard the door being thrown open. She sucked in a breath and just as quickly snapped her head back.
Please, please go away.
“Do you mind?” a dark voice spoke.
Lake swallowed then met the crazy man’s eyes again. Yes, I do. Shaking her head, she scooted as far as she could to the en
d of the bench. Looking out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him sit and pull a cigarette and lighter from his pocket.
He quickly lit the end with his Zippo before taking in a long drawl. “Why did you run out of there?”
Lake nervously bit her lip. “I-I didn’t.”
“Darlin’, I really wouldn’t try to deny it when you were the only girl in there running in the opposite direction of him.”
Shit.
Lake finally looked over at him, regretting it immediately when she stared into the dangerous blue-green eyes. Seeing him so closely, he looked much different than the other suits. Hell, he wasn’t even wearing one. Instead, he only wore dark slacks and a shirt. By the way he didn’t button his black shirt all the way up, it was almost as if he didn’t like wearing the clothes. Not only that, but he had a scruffy beard and well-past-shaggy hair which he kept slicked back.
Finally, she figured out why he made the hair stand up on her arms. Sure, he was dangerous like the other suits, but the man didn’t try to even hide it behind expensive Italian suits and ties like them. Made men were thugs dressed as millionaires, all except for this one. She only wondered exactly who he was to be able to get away with looking like that. I probably really don’t want to know.
She contemplated running from him, as well, yet thought better of it when she imagined what he would do to her if she dared.
She took another deep breath. “I was just feeling claustrophobic is all.” Hurriedly, she tried to take the attention away from her. “You didn’t want to finish the ceremony?”
“Fuck no. They’re lucky I made it to the V’s.” He took another hit then let the smoke roll past his lips, uncaring if it hit her in the face. “Now, Lake, why did you really run?”
Excuse me?
“Do I know you?” That had sounded better in her head.
“Maybe.” He gave a sinister smile. “Lucca Caruso.”
The underboss.
Lake tried to keep her jaw from falling to the floor. She should have known who he was, but she never would have thought someone so high up—let alone the son of Dante—would look like that. It was absolutely clear why he chilled her to her bones.
Vincent (Made Men Book 2) Page 6
