Vincent (Made Men Book 2)(42)

He had touched many women but none had felt like her, and he had no clue how the hell that was possible.

Maybe she has a disease where she can only grow hair on her head? Wondering if that disease even existed made him curious as to exactly how smooth she was in other places. Of course, that made him totally want to keep his conscience hidden forever and go back on swearing off Lake when he had only done it not even five minutes before. Sure, we would crash and burn together, but it would feel so fucking good, his sinister voice whispered to him.

“I really am sick and fucked-up,” he told himself.

* * *

Lake tried to muster the courage to walk through the front door. She had already been through a lot and didn’t know how much more she could take.

Turning the knob, she entered the house of horrors.

“There’s my baby who’s all grown up!” Her mother ran to her, giving her a hug. “I am so sorry I couldn’t make it, but I got you something to make up for it.”

“Oh, thanks, Mom.” She tried to sound as enthusiastic as she could.

As her mother dragged her into the kitchen, she saw John and Ashley sitting at the table, eating Chinese food while they shot her disgusted looks behind her mom’s back.

After her mother gave her a big gift bag off the kitchen counter, Lake watched her mother practically burst at the seams in anticipation for her to open it.

She was going to have to act really excited for whatever was in the bag. Pulling out the tissue paper, she could see the contents. It literally killed her to have to pull it out of the bag and reveal it to John and Ashley.

Grabbing the straps from the very expensive, very big designer purse, she pulled it out.

“Mom, this is too much. Thank you.” She smiled as big as she could while giving her a hug.

Looking over at John’s warped face, she feared the coming storm.

“You’re welcome, honey. I know you don’t like backpacks, and I thought you could put your books in it for college. Congratulations!” Her mother gave her another big hug.

“Well, it’s perfect. Thank you.” She needed to wrap this up and get the hell out of there. Ashley wasn’t even trying to hide her disgust and jealousy at that point.

“John?” her mother nudged.

“Congrats.” He licked his front teeth. “They forgot my spare ribs again. I need you to go back out and get them.”

Shit, shit, shit. She had to think of something.

“Okay, I’ll be right back, honey,” her mother told her.

“Actually, I have to get back. Dad’s back home, waiting on me.” She tried to make sure John understood by emphasizing the dad part. He wasn’t going to be able to hold her up and torture her that night because her father was expecting her, but she was certain he was going to make her pay tenfold for it by the look on his face.

“That’s fine, honey. You can tell me all about graduation on Friday.”

Lake let out an unnoticeable sigh of relief as she put the purse back into the gift bag.

“Tr—Why don’t you go take that to your room. That way, it’ll stay nice and new for when the semester starts,” John told her.

She swallowed down the lump in her throat, “O-Okay. Be right back, Mom. We can walk out together.”

As soon as Lake excited the kitchen, she walked as fast as she could without breaking into a full run. Quickly, she went up the steps and down the hallway. She jumped up to retrieve the string, but only the tips of her fingers could reach.

“I thought you needed the extra workout. You were getting too good at it from what I saw the last time,” Ashley said, coming up behind her.

She turned around and held out the bag. “Just go ahead and take it.”

“It’s not very fun when you just give it to me.”

Lake put the bag back to her side when Ashley wouldn’t take it. The moment she did, Ashley snatched it out of her hands.

“Actually, it is, bitch.” Ashley began laughing. “Good luck getting into your shitty room now.”

Lake watched her walk off happily to her own room with her present in hand. She had known she wasn’t going to be able to keep it, and the truth was she didn’t even want it. Presents made everyone else in the world so happy, but to her, they only caused fear. The better the gift, the more scared she was.

That time she decided to run, not caring if anyone was going to hear. She needed to get downstairs before her mom left.

When Lake reached the top of the staircase, she knew she was too late. John was waiting for her at the bottom. If she didn’t have to work, she would have turned back around and locked herself in her attic.

Not having a choice, she slowly walked down the steps. About four up from John, she stopped moving and began to pray silently in her head.