Vincent thought about his words, understanding what he meant. The last person in the world anyone wanted to owe was Lucca Caruso, because one day he would call in his favor, and that person had just better hope they had lived a full and happy life before that happened. It didn’t matter; he was dead without Lake anyway.
He nodded in agreement.
Lucca took a hit. “Tell him.”
Sal stared at his laptop as he talked. “I’ve been trying to find the address for Paul’s parents. For some reason, they dropped off the face of the Earth. Coincidently, around the same time Paul became a soldier. I’m not promising she will be there, but it’s the only place you haven’t looked. Her name isn’t popping up in the system anywhere, so I’m thinking she has to be with family.”
Vincent had spent the week driving and looking everywhere for her. She had little family that he knew of, and he had started there. Going to her mother’s first, he’d practically kicked the door in on those assholes, asking if they knew where she was. He didn’t expect her to be there nor did he expect them to give a shit, but he did have a fun fucking time scaring the shit out of them. Then he had gone to the college she had wanted to attend. Nothing. This was the first he had heard of her having any grandparents.
“Okay, so where is it?” He was anxious and ready to get her back.
Sal clicked a few more buttons before he started laughing. “I suggest you go home and get fucking changed out of those clothes.”
Vincent and Lucca stared at him, waiting for him to tell them where she was.
Sal calmed his laughter so he could finally spit it out. “The address is in Treepoint, Kentucky.”
“Kentucky?” Vincent sat, stunned. He tried to imagine how in the hell Lake had made herself go there. Never mind. Fucking desperation, that’s how.
“Well, have fucking fun there.” Lucca leaned back in his chair, smiling and clearly enjoying that he wasn’t the one who had to go.
Sal jotted down the address for him when he finally stopped laughing.
He looked down at the piece of paper. “What the fuck do they wear there?”
That made Sal laugh all over again. “Camo. Lots and lots of camo.”
“I’d talk as little as possible and keep your thick Italian accent to yourself. They’ll probably fucking shoot you there.” Lucca actually laughed a little when he told him the last part.
Vincent stood, storming out. “Fuck off.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Leather and Tats
Lake walked into the diner behind her grandparents’ house. She had left Kansas City the week before, coming to the only place she had family left—Treepoint, Kentucky.
If she was honest, the thought of living in Kentucky had made her skin crawl at first. She hadn’t been sure what it was going to be like, but she had known without a doubt that she wasn’t going to be in Kansas City anymore. Lake was born a city girl; therefore, stepping into a very rural small town was a bit of an adjustment. I think that’s an understatement.
Lake had called her father when she got home, but he had pushed it straight to voicemail. She cried hard at having to tell her father she was leaving through a voicemail. That was the hardest thing she had ever done. She didn’t tell him where she was going, afraid Dante might use it against him. The less he knew, the better.
Her father had kept an old piece of paper with a number hidden in a box with old stuff. She remembered him revealing to her the contents of the box once when she was a little girl. He had showed her the pictures of him when he was younger, where he had lived before his family had moved out to Kansas City, and he had even kept pictures of her grandparents. She wouldn’t have known whose number it was if he hadn’t written, ‘crazy fucking mother,’ above it.
Thankfully, her grandmother had answered, and then Lake had packed a bag and hopped on a bus straight there. Granted, she did have to beg them to come out. She could say they had been slightly paranoid about the mafia and life in general. Lake had simply told them she was trying to find a better life away from the mob, and she had assured them no one was looking for her. Basically, I just lied my ass off.
She had sat in the back of the bus, silent tears rolling down her face with Kansas City in the distance. It wasn’t leaving the city she was born and raised in behind that had destroyed her; it was leaving Vincent.
As bad as she wanted to hate him, she couldn’t. She cared about him, whether she wanted to or not. What’s more, she had shared with him something very special that she could only experience once. It didn’t matter how much time would pass, no one could never forget about their first. It was an impossible thing to do.
Thankfully, the waitress came and took their order, relieving her of her thoughts of Vincent.
“No, no, no, no!” her grandmother cried, looking at the door.
Lake turned her head to see a huge gang of bikers walk into the diner. From what she had gathered from her grandmother’s ranting, they called themselves ‘The Last Riders’ and owned some kind of survivalist company. Only in fucking Kentucky could you hear something as ridiculous as that.
When they pushed a bunch of tables and chairs together, her grandmother stood up. “We’re getting the hell out of here.”
Lake’s eyes grew big with how loud she had said it. Getting up, she watched her grandparents scurry out of the place so fast only the ding of the bell had her realizing they had already left.
Walking toward the door, she couldn’t help looking at the table full of bikers and their women, who had clearly heard and watched the whole thing. There was a sweet blonde with twins at the end of the table who had particularly looked upset.
She found her feet had stopped moving, feeling terrible for her grandmother’s actions.
“I-I’m sorry. My grandmother is, well…”—her eyes drifted slightly away from the blonde and onto some of the rough, tough-looking men in leather before she snapped them back to the pretty blonde—“um, old.”
“I completely understand.” She smiled softly, shooting the men around the table annoyed glances at their laughter. “I’m Beth.”
“Hi, I’m Lake.” She smiled back; the woman’s was contagious.
“I haven’t seen you around before. Are you new to town?”
“I’m just visiting my grandparents for the summer.” She watched the waitress come up and ask if they were ready to take their orders. “Well, I will get out of your way so you can eat.”
“You’re welcome to stay and join us,” Beth said. “If you had already ordered, she can bring it out with ours.”
Lake bit her lip, contemplating if she should stay. She did feel bad that the waitress had probably already put their order in, and at least her food wouldn’t go to waste. Even though the bikers looked scary, they couldn’t possibly be too bad if they had children at the table.
“That would be nice.” Thank you, God. I can get some peace away from my grandparents.
A man beside Beth rose from the table, hastily pulling a chair away from another while glaring at the occupants when they would have said something. He placed the chair next to him, between him and Beth.
“You can sit here next to me.”
“Down boy.” Beth rolled her eyes. “That’s Rider. He always likes to get to know anyone new who comes to town.”
Rider? I have made a huge mistake.
Going to the other side of the table she squeezed between them, although Rider wasn’t making it easy for her. Lake would have told them something had come up, but she didn’t want to hurt Beth’s feelings again.
Beth waited until she settled in before she introduced her. She started with the twin closest to her and went around the table. “These are my little boys, Chance and Noah; Razer, my husband; Lily, my sister; her husband, Shade; John, their son; Cash; Rachel; Train; and you already met Rider.”
Lake smiled at each one she was introduced to. She thought Rider was bad, but hearing Razer followed by my husband had her wondering if she had made a
wrong turn somewhere.
Each man was covered in leather and tats. The one called Shade was definitely the one nobody fucked with in their group since it looked like he had the most tattoos, which seemed like they went down from his neck to his feet. Cash, however, drew her attention the most; something about him had her staring at him for a few seconds.
“It’s nice to meet you all.” She hoped she didn’t sound a little frightened when it came out.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Rider cut off Beth when she opened her mouth to reply. “Where are you from? From your accent, it doesn’t sound like it’s Kentucky.”
Lake licked her lips, wondering what she should tell them. She didn’t think she should tell them the truth, considering Dante could come after her.
“Arizona.” She went with the first thing that popped in her head. It was where her dad had grown up.
“Really? Do you know any cowboys?” Lily asked. “I’ve always wanted to meet a real cowboy.”
The one covered in tattoos threw her a dark look. “I thought you said I’m your cowboy?”
Lily brushed his cheek with a brief kiss. “You are. I was just going to ask her if it’s true if they drink a lot or if they like women with short hair.”
I have no freaking idea.
She looked at Lily’s long, beautiful, black hair. “They like lots of orange juice, and they definitely prefer long hair. The longer, the better.” Lake was quite shocked to find that the two were married, and with a cute little baby boy at that. Lily was arguably the most beautiful and timid girl she had ever seen, while Shade… well, he could probably take out half of the Caruso Mafia by himself.
Lily turned to her husband, giving him a suspicious look. “We could always go to the Grand Canyon on vacation,” she suggested.
“Not going to happen,” Shade said, slipping an arm over her shoulders before whispering something in her ear, which had her face flaming.
“If you’re going to be in town for a while, stop by our clubhouse for a drink sometime,” Rider suggested.
“She’s not old enough to drink,” Beth snapped.
“I didn’t mean liquor,” Rider said to Beth before turning back to Lake, giving her a wink. “Unless she wants one. One beer isn’t going to make her drunk, is it?”
Hell to the no.
She took a long drink of water before she could answer, contemplating on the right thing to say, not wanting to piss off a biker. “I’ll think about it.”
The food came just in time, breaking the awkward conversation. Lake’s eyes drifted to Cash again, unable to help glancing at him from time to time. He was tall, blonde, dangerous, and outrageously handsome with just the right amount of tattoos. When he caught her eyes and smiled at her, it finally dawned on her why she was attracted to him. Cash was a perfect blonde god, exactly like Vincent.
Finally realizing the root of her attraction, it still didn’t mean she didn’t like staring at him, despite him not being Vincent. He was clearly very happy and very much in love with the pretty redhead beside him. Still, it was hard not to look at him from time to time, and she hadn’t seen Vincent’s perfection in a week.
Blondes are clearly my kryptonite.
Chapter Forty-Six
Falling Into a Book
“We were worried sick about you, Lake! All day, you disappeared, and you were hanging out with them Satan-loving, devil-worshipping bikers! You said you came here to get away from the mafia, but those men are just as dangerous if not more. At least Italians pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!” Her grandmother started praying to Jesus for her forgiveness and to help rid herself from any demons she might have picked up from the bikers.
Lake shook her head, wondering why she had asked Rider to take her home instead of to his clubhouse. Probably because he wanted to fuck me. Honestly, he and Train had eyed her together as if they wanted … No, that’s just crazy!
“They are really nice people, Grandma, and a lot of them go to church. One is even a pastor, I think. Beth is a nurse who is married to Razer. They have twin boys who are adorable. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.” Lake gave her a look like she had told her so.
Her grandmother’s face slowly turned pale. “Razer?” She turned to her old husband. “We need to move. The bikers have only multiplied since they first came here. I didn’t run from the mafia to be around a gang of dangerous bikers who call themselves Razer and God knows what else.”
Lake rolled her eyes, going to the one and only bedroom in the tiny trailer. She had been sleeping on the fold-out couch but right then, she was going to their room and hiding out while they planned their escape plan.
Shutting the door behind her, her mouth was immediately covered and she was dragged against the wall. Facing her captor, her eyes started to gloss over.
“Shh,” he said before he removed his hand.
“Vincent, how did you—?”
Vincent’s body pressed against hers while he covered her mouth with his, kissing her hard and rough as if he was starved.
Lake pushed at his chest and turned her head before it was too late. “You should go,” she whispered.
He grabbed her chin, forcing her to face him. “The only reason I didn’t tell you about paying your debt was because I didn’t want you freaked out by David. So don’t tell me to fucking go when you ran away from me without a fucking word, Lake. And now you’re hanging out with bikers? You better not be fucking seeing one of them.”
“So you can fuck around all you want, but I can’t? As a matter of fact, me and Cash have a thing, so you can go back home now!” she was yelling and whispering at the same time.
“Cash? That guy’s name makes him sound like the biggest fucking dick. Are you being serious with me right now, Lake?”
Lake looked at his baby-blue eyes, seeing past his fury to his hurt that she would be seeing someone else.
“No,” she whispered. “He had an epic shotgun wedding to Rachel, and they’re very happy.”
Vincent released his breath and rested his forehead on hers. “Please, baby, come back with me. You don’t belong here.”
“I do now, Vincent. Dante wants me dead, and I’ll be fine here. There’s a technical college not far—”
“You don’t belong in a fucking trailer or going to a technical college.”
“There is nothing wrong with that!” She hit at him.
He grabbed her hand, stopping her from hitting him again. “No, there’s not. You’re not listening to me, Lake. I’m talking about you. Is this what you want in life? To live in a trailer and go to a technical college?”
Lake slowly shook her head, tears coating her eyes again. She once had a different dream, which had washed away the moment she had handed Dante the money to save her father’s life.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Vincent. I can’t go ba—”
“I love you.” He took her face in his hands. “I fucking love you, Lake, and I don’t want you to say it back. This week was the worst fucking week of my life without you, not knowing where you were. I’m asking you to come back with me. Come back with me and stay with me just for the rest of the summer. I have kept all the money you’ve made, and I’ll pay for the rest to allow you to go wherever you want to go to college. Just please, baby, stay with me for the summer.”
The tears finally fell from her face as she started crying. When he leaned down and started kissing them away tenderly, she kissed him back. Her mouth opened to let him explore, and she pulled him closer to her by grabbing onto his hair. The taste and feel of him hadn’t changed; it was only heightened from their loss.
Suddenly, the bedroom door flew open, breaking their kiss.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the mafia finally found us! They came to kill us!” Her grandmother ran, screaming through the trailer.
Vincent looked back at Lake. “What the fuck is she on?”
“Unfortunately, nothing.” She squinted when her grandparents’ Shih Tzu, Pippin, c
ame into the room, barking his head off at Vincent.
“Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Pippin, my baby!” Her grandmother quickly ran back in the room and snatched up her little dog then ran back out screaming, letting Lake fend for herself.
“Are you ready to get the fuck out of here now?” he asked her.
Fuck yes. “Yep, let’s go.”
Vincent took her hand and led her out of the bedroom.
She about had a heart attack when she saw her grandfather with a shotgun in his hand, pointing it at him with her grandmother behind him, holding Pippin to her chest.
Granddad, no!
“Put the fucking gun down. I came in while you were gone and unloaded it.” Vincent leisurely went to the door and held it open for Lake. “You don’t have to worry about the fucking mafia coming for you crazies. We would blow our own heads off listening to you fucking screaming like that.”
The door slammed shut, and Lake thanked God that was the last time she was going to have to hear that awful creaky door slam. She didn’t know how in the world her father had lived in a trailer like that for years before his parents had moved to Kansas City for a job. One week of his parents and that trailer was fucking enough for me.
Vincent walked her down to a car hidden off the road. He spun out fast, going to the nearest airport as if he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
On the way there, Lake pointed at the gang of bikers who passed them along the way. “That’s The Last Riders. And look, that one’s Cash.”
“Motherfucking dick,” Vincent growled as they passed him and his bike.
“Vincent, have you ever thought about getting a tattoo?” Her eyes danced between the bikers as they zoomed past.
“You ever fucking mention The Last Riders and that fucking dick Cash again, you won’t be able to sit right for a week.”
Her eyes grew big. “S-Sorry. I promise I won’t even mention this place ever again.”
Looking at the trees pass by, Lake was glad to be leaving. In all honesty, it had felt as if she was falling into a book the moment she had stepped foot into Treepoint, Kentucky. She was ready to get back to her mafia-filled world.
Vincent (Made Men Book 2) Page 22
