Vincent finally managed to get out of her grasp to pull Lake’s phone out of his pocket. “You left this in the car.”
She quickly checked her hoodie pocket where she knew she’d had it the entire time. Looking at his gloating face, she realized what had happened. He fucking picked it from me! She went to reach for her phone, but her mom beat her to it by grabbing it out of his hands slowly.
Pam smiled. “You are such a sweetheart for doing that.”
Lake’s mouth dropped open at her mother’s obvious flirting. She couldn’t believe she would act that way in front of her. She wasn’t going to be able to stomach it much longer.
“Well, thanks. See you later.” She went to shut the door.
“Your house smells so good. What’s cooking?” Vincent asked, stopping her.
Her mom laughed. “I just had some Chinese delivered is all. Would you like to stay for dinner? I have plenty.”
“I thought you had to run some errands for John.” Lake reminded her mom.
“Oh, don’t be silly. It can wait. We need to talk about graduation, remember?”
It’s never waited before when I was left to be tortured. Lake looked at Vincent, silently pleading for him to say no.
“Thanks. I would love to.” Vincent walked into the house, looking around. “Your house is really nice, Pam.”
“Thank you. Ashley, my step-daughter, keeps it in tip-top shape.” Pam tossed Lake’s phone in her bag on the ground. “Here, let me show you into the kitchen.”
Vincent draped his arm over Lake as if he didn’t see Pam holding out her hand. “I bet she does.”
Lake forced a nervous smile up at Vincent. What the hell is going on?
Pam quickly dropped her hand, laughing it off as she led him into the kitchen.
“John, Ashley, Lake’s friend Vincent is here for dinner.”
Lake and Vincent walked into the kitchen behind Pam to see boxes of Chinese food scattered over the table, and John and Ashley were already digging into two hugely loaded plates.
John sucked his teeth, looking Vincent up and down. “I thought you had to run out and get a few things?”
“It can wait till tomorrow.” Pam went and grabbed a few more plates and forks out of the cabinet before setting them on the table. Then she grabbed a few waters from the fridge. Finally, she took a seat beside her husband. “Vincent, come on and sit down.” She patted the empty seat next to her and Ashley.
Vincent dragged Lake into the kitchen with his arm still around her and went on the other side of the table with two empty seats. Then he dropped his arm and pulled out the seat closest to Ashley, motioning for Lake to sit down.
Sitting, she curiously looked up at him. When she watched him take off his jacket and start rolling up his sleeves, she looked away and saw Ashley and her mother both practically drooling over him. Glancing over at John, she could picture him murdering Vincent in fifty million ways in his mind.
He held out his hand as he did the final rolls of his sleeves. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
John had to look up at Vincent as he shook his hand. “Yeah, you, too.”
Vincent took his seat next to John and grabbed two plates, forks, and waters off the table to set in front of Lake then himself.
Ashley set down her fork, smiling. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Ashley, Lake’s step-sister.”
Vincent didn’t even look at her as he started taking food out of the containers and putting it on his plate. “Yeah, I was at the mall Monday when you came up to Lake.”
Lake opened her bottle of water, hurriedly drinking down the contents. This is not happening, is it?
Ashley let out a nervous laugh as she picked her fork back up to start eating.
“Aren’t you going to eat, Lake?” Vincent asked her when he and Pam both had filled their plates.
Lake had been watching John get more and more pissed as Vincent had scooped out some food. Seeing his face after Vincent’s question, he definitely didn’t want her to touch anything.
I have never touched his food.
She bit her lip, doubting what to do. He was surely going to punish her if she did.
“I’m not hungry. I guess I’m still a little sick.”
“You’re sick because you haven’t eaten. Eat.”
She didn’t have any option other than to eat if she didn’t want to make a scene. She scooped out a little spoonful of rice and John’s least favorite item of chicken and broccoli.
“You need to eat more than that.” Vincent put some more rice on her plate and grabbed the last of the spare ribs, adding them to her portion.
No, that’s his favorite!
Quickly looking at John, she saw the fumes were practically exploding from his head.
Vincent started digging into his food as his attention returned to Pam. “What was it again that you needed to talk to Lake about? Graduation or something?”
“Yes, I couldn’t make it because I was taking care of John. How did it go?” her mother finally addressed her.
Lake went to speak, but Vincent spoke first.
“What was wrong?” he asked, looking at John.