Fate (Fate 1)

After Grace’s interrogation, a still stunned-looking Vincent adjusted her hand in his. His eyes spoke volumes. She’d seen him nervous before, but this was more than nervous. He’d been staring at her silently the entire time she explained everything. Now he blinked, still staring, but he seemed almost afraid to speak. “How…” He stopped to swallow then take a breath. “How bad is this, Rosie?”

“It’s not.” She squeezed his hand attempting to assure him.

“But you need injections. My grandpa…” He looked away as if to shake the thought away.

He’d shared with her about his grandpa’s death after losing his battle with diabetes. She hated for him to be thinking this was that bad.

“It’s just a vitamin deficiency, Vincent. The doctor said because of my age and because I’m so healthy otherwise, this can easily be controlled. The very minor symptoms have completely gone away already.”

That seemed to calm him a bit, but not a whole lot, so she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I feel fine. I really do.” She turned to Grace. “I promise you both. I’ll be fine, okay?”

Sal stuck his head in the door. “There you are. Everyone’s looking for you, Vince. What’s going on? Why are you all in here?”

“I’ll explain later,” Grace said. “But we’re done,” she turned to Rose, “for now.”

Lorenzo walked out after Grace and Sal. Rose and Vincent began walking out until he pulled her to him then pinned her to the wall. “So why was your bra in Enzo’s car?”

She could see he was serious, but the smirk told her he knew there was a legit explanation. Happy to see his worry had been put aside, though she knew it was only for now, she smiled playfully “Well you see, the last time me and him…”

Vincent eyes opened wide, and he pushed his body against her even harder making her laugh. “He gave me a ride to my game today, silly. I was late, so I had to change in his backseat. You’ve seen me change in and out of my uniforms, so you know he didn’t see a thing. But I ran out of the car so fast a few things must’ve fallen out of my bag.”

He stared in her eyes for a moment, turning her insides into liquid like he always had then kissed her deeply, stopping only to look in her eyes again. “I want my bra back.” She smirked. “It’s one of my lucky ones.”

“You’re not getting it back.”

“Why not?”

“Because after having to deal with seeing my girlfriend’s bra in the backseat of another guy’s car—my brother’s car—I deserve some kind of compensation.”

Rose laughed. “So you’re gonna hold my bra hostage?”

“Yes.”

She tsked, unbuttoning the top button of his army fatigues. Something about seeing him in them was such a turn on. “Pity, there are so many better ways I can think of to compensate you.”

He groaned, leaning in and kissing her like she’d missed for too long. She didn’t even care that they were standing in Grace and Sal’s bedroom doorway. She kissed him back with the same unabashed hunger as he kissed her.

“Vicente!”

Vincent pulled away instantly. His mother stood at the doorway of the guest bathroom, glaring at them. Okay, now Rose cared. She felt her face heat instantly. His mother pursed her lips and shook her head pointing to the other end of the hallway then walked into the bathroom without saying another word and closed the door behind her.

Vincent turned back to Rose then laughed. “Man, I’ve never seen you so red. C’mon,” he pulled her hand down the hall. “This is nothing. Just wait till she finds out it’s your bra in the backseat of Enzo’s car. She’s the one that found it.”

Rose covered her face with her hand, groaning. “No!”

“Yes!” Vincent laughed.

The rest of the evening, as expected, Vincent was pulled from one person to the next. Everyone wanted to hear his story. Rose had heard it several times, and already she knew no matter how many times he told it, no matter how many times they all heard it, no one would really get the magnitude of what Vincent had gone through. It’d be with him forever, and she hated that. She hated that these images and terrifying memories would most likely haunt him forever.

“I really thought that was it.” Vince said deep in thought. “They were coming in and with a purpose. Neither one of us understood what they were saying, but the way they were tearing down that bunker to get to whoever was down there, there was never any doubt they were going to kill us. Of course, I wasn’t gonna go down without a fight, but I could barely move. The pain was so bad already, and I was unarmed. I’d already begun to thank God for all the blessings he’d given me up until then.” He turned to Rose and squeezed her hand. “Thanked him for the people in my life I’d been so lucky to have spent some time with.”

Rose smiled at him, feeling choked up all over again, and he turned back to his cousins and some of the others that were listening intently. “That’s when the gunfire erupted. Me and the Sarg took cover with what we could and listened to the chaos above us. When it was all over like a miracle we heard our names being called out.” Vincent laughed just like he had the first time she’d heard him tell it. “They weren’t just there on accident; they’d been sent there to look for us, and they’d arrived just in the nick of time. It was nothing short of a miracle.”