Vincent (Made Men Book 2)(56)

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.

John wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I had a cold.”

She talked before anything else could be said. “It went well. Vincent graduated, too.”

Pam’s face lit up. “You did? I’m so sorry I missed it. I would’ve liked to have seen you graduate, Vincent.”

Lake squeezed her fork while she picked at her food. Her appetite was completely gone by that point, even though she hadn’t eaten all day. Her mother’s words and actions continued to hurt her. She would have preferred John’s plans over this any day.

“You should have seen your daughter.” Vincent smiled at Lake and gave her thigh a squeeze under the table.

Lake found herself smiling back at him for trying to comfort her.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Her mother changed the subject back to Vincent.

He opened his water and took a drink. “My father works downtown at the casino hotel. He’s been friends with the owner Dante Caruso since they were kids. I’m sure you know it because Lake’s dad works there. I’ve been working down there for a couple of months now.”

Oh, God.

“Yeah, we know all about tr—her dad working there,” John said, pointing at Lake.

Vincent looked John in the eyes. “Good. I’m glad you do.”

The rest of the meal was spent silently eating for the most part. Vincent loved every bite of the food, eating his heart’s content while John glared down at Vincent every time he went to get more. Then her mother and Ashley couldn’t quit staring at him. Lake was barely able to stomach a few bites between all of that.

After dinner, Lake headed into the living room with Vincent. Okay, time to go.

Pam came in a moment later, going to Lake’s bag she had dropped by the door. “You know we don’t just lay our stuff around, honey. Go on and take it up to your room.”

Lake took her bag from her mom, confused.

I always leave it there. Fuck it, I don’t even care. You want him, you can have him. She had already had enough of watching her mother flirt with Vincent. Clearly, she was in the way and she would gladly remove herself from the situation.

She headed up the stairs, trying to pretend she wasn’t actually hurt that her mother would do that to her. Why would she do that? She had never done anything like that before, but then again she had never introduced her to anyone, even Adalyn.