“Why do you have to work in the casino? Aren’t there a million other jobs you could do?” She didn’t think the mafia lacked job positions, and thinking about Vincent working with half-naked women when she wasn’t down there anymore made her a little jealous, which she really hated.
Vincent took her hand after he straightened his tie. “There is nothing for you to be worried about.”
She started following him through the house. “You made it your mission to stop me from working there.” So I shouldn’t feel guilty about it.
“That’s fucking different.”
“No, that’s not!” She jerked her hand from him.
He grabbed her hand back, holding it tighter to where she couldn’t jerk it out again. “Yes, it is. You were wearing lingerie around a bunch of old men.”
“Yeah, and you’re a guy surrounded by a bunch of girls in lingerie.”
“The difference is no one will be thinking about fucking me, and trust me, baby, I’ll be too distracted by thinking about how I plan to fuck you tonight.” He opened his front door.
Lake’s cheeks started burning from his words. She was shocked when he took her into the hall, shutting the door behind him and going to the next door down at the end.
“Where—what are we doing?”
He knocked on the door. “Your surprise, remember?”
Nero opened the door a second later with Elle standing behind him.
“You and Elle can hang out while Nero and I go to work.”
Lake raised her eyebrow at him. “It’s also to make sure I don’t run away again, isn’t it?”
“Of course not.” Vincent leaned down and gave her a kiss, swiping his tongue over her bottom lip and making Lake weak in the knees. “Elle, call me if she even thinks about fucking leaving,” he said, leaning up.
Elle broke hers and Nero’s own kiss, blushing. “I swear.”
“Hey!” Lake pushed at his chest.
Vincent laughed before he stole another kiss from her then pushed her into Nero’s apartment. “Bye.”
Lake crossed her arms and scrunched her nose at him before Nero shut the door. She was still upset he was going to work in the casino and that he thought she needed a babysitter.
“How do you do it? Vincent drives me crazy,” she said, turning to Elle. The two looked so happy together.
Elle giggled. “You haven’t figured out the secret, have you?”
Lake shook her head, wondering what the secret to all made men was.
Elle’s cheeks grew pink again. “You have to let him dominate you.”
Excuse me? “Excuse me?”
“They are um … very aggressive, and you have to accept him.” Elle’s tone changed. “All of him.”
“You do know Vincent’s a psycho, right? He has a very, very bad side, which frankly scares the shit out of me.”
Elle smiled at her. “You’ll learn to love it.”
Her eyes widened, wondering how in the world a girl as sweet as Elle was saying these things. Just when you think you know a person…
It would be a cold day—never—before she was going to let the dark, psychotic side of Vincent dominate her. She shivered merely thinking about it…
Chapter Forty-Eight
In Case of an Emergency
Lake couldn’t believe Nero and Elle lived right beside Vincent. She didn’t know why that shocked her, but she found it kind of cute that childhood best friends lived beside each other. That also explains where Nero always disappears to.
Looking at his beautiful place, she saw it resembled Vincent’s in a way. They both had a modern flare, but Vincent’s was much darker. Nero’s place was black and white, not too dark and not too light. She could tell he had designed it to accommodate not only him but Elle. A lot of the things that had been put in there were for her. It made Lake a little envious; their love seemed so perfect.
Elle was a great person to be around and they got along great, finding themselves to be fast friends. Lake related to Elle in ways she honestly didn’t expect. She didn’t come from a rich family, having to go to Legacy Prep High on a scholarship, and from what she could gather, Dante didn’t care for her much, either. There was something else Lake saw in her, which reminded her of herself, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.
“It was hard for me, too, when I first started dating Nero, dealing with all the girls he had been with. I had to see them every day at school,” Elle told her.
Ouch. Lake wondered how in the hell their story had even started. She still didn’t like the thought of Vincent working in the casino. It actually pissed her off the more she thought about it.
“I just don’t think I can get over the fact that he’s freaking working around half-naked women. Does that make me a bad person? How do you deal with it so well?”
Elle blinked, staring at her stupidly. “What did you just say?”
“Oh, shit.” Lake’s eyes grew big. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”
“No … He’s working around half-naked women?” Elle looked hurt.