“I did find something out,” I say suddenly, brightening a bit as his hand moved down to my hips. “I asked Charlie about your dad and she seemed really evasive about it, like she didn’t want to talk about him at all.”
“That’s a start,” he says with a slight nod. “Charlie and my father never really got along. I remember she’d leave the room if he so much as came near her, especially toward the end in the last few months before he died.”
“Interesting,” I say as I glance toward the windows and out at the ocean. “I didn’t realize her relationship with him was so strained.”
“It was strange, honestly, but I just figured she couldn’t stand him. Frankly, Dad was an asshole.” He laughs to himself and releases me. “Come on, we’ll have lunch and then get out of here. Just another hour.”
I release a pent-up breath as he heads out the back door and rejoins the group. I linger for a moment, wondering why Charlie would’ve hated the father so much—it could’ve have been only because he was a bastard. She married a mafia asshole herself, after all, so she had to have been used to that macho bullshit.
Charlie laughs at something Vince says, but she doesn’t lean toward him—and barely even looks in his direction. There’s something strange here, something I can’t quite figure out, and I want to consider it longer but Susi spots me and waves for me to join them, so I plaster a smile on my face and head back to my spot and my drink and act like Calvino’s the best man in the world and everything’s normal, even if nothing is normal, not even close.
Chapter 13
Grace
Working at Crystal Lake feels strange ever since I started this thing with Calvino.
It’s not that I mind working—actually, I kind of like having a job that doesn’t involve lying to Calvino’s family all the time, and putting in hours makes me feel productive even if I’m just ferrying drinks, flirting with drunk guys, and pushing my tits together for tips.
Calvino’s always watching me when he’s around, and all the other girls give me a wide berth—except for Juniper, of course, who goes out of her way to make my life as miserable as she can by mixing up orders for me, stealing crap from my locker, giving me constant dirty looks, and calling me a slut whore under her breath whenever she’s nearby. Clearly, she’s super stable and mature.
But the strange part is, the other girls aren’t the same anymore, the ones that I thought were my friends. I used to be able to laugh and joke with Kia and Ginnie, but now they treat me like I’m a total stranger and they’re always careful to keep their distance. It’s like now that my thing with Calvino is widely known, I’ve turned into a leper and a pariah.
“What do you want me to do about it?” Calvino asks a couple nights after our visit to the Sandtrap. “You want me to force them to be your friends?” He smirks at me over his drink. “I can be your daddy if you ask real nice.”
I glare at him. “No, asshole. I want you to stop coming around so much. Maybe they’ll forget that we’re, you know.”
“Together? Fucking?”
“Together. Sort of.” I mumble that last part. “I don’t have any close friends in LA and it was nice to spend some time with the girls, even if it was at work.”
“There’s nothing I can do about it, little thief. If I tried, it’d only make it worse.”
“All I’m asking is you don’t sit there and stare at me all night. You think anyone’s gonna talk to me with you looking like you’re about to murder them?”
“I don’t look like that.”
“You definitely do. You have this thing when you’re thinking and you’re glaring around you like you’re about to light the place on fire and it’s pretty off-putting if I’m honest.”
He looks amused as he sips his drink. “That’s good to know, but I’m still not going to help.”
“God, you’re such a prick.”
He laughs and I’m about to tell him off some more when Kia comes running over. She hurries right up to Calvino and stands there looking a bit frazzled. “Your brother just walked in,” she hisses and looks over her shoulder.
Sure enough, there’s Vincent for the first time since that night I gave him sleeping pills. Calvino’s smile turns to a deep scowl as he stands up, finishes his drink, and looks at me and Kia. “Get the back room ready and tell Sunshine and Raven they’re needed.”
I’m taken by surprise and don’t censor myself. “Seriously?”
Kia looks scandalized and terrified as she stares like a rabbit from me to Calvino.
Calvino’s eyes narrow dangerously. “Don’t make me say it twice.” And he walks off without another word to greet his brother and the three men that came in with him, three big guys covered in tattoos and clearly hiding guns beneath their dark jackets.