Goat looked me right in the eyes, and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement. He was right. I had to give Vincent a chance. I had to have hope that he could change his life.
“Thanks for the talk, Goat.” And despite my aversion to tattooed guys and the Madden gang, I stepped forward and wrapped Goat up in a hug. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
Goat let out a gruff laugh and gunned the engine of the bike. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye,” I said with a smile, watching him pull out and speed off past the dilapidated houses on the street.
I turned to head inside and that’s when I caught sight of my brother’s car parked out the front of the house. That was strange. I didn’t know that Nate was going to be coming over.
Increasing my pace, I hurried up the steps and into the house. When I walked into the living room, Nate wasn’t there. Savannah sat by herself watching TV.
She glanced up when she heard me. “Hey.”
“Hey, is Nate here?”
“Nope.”
“Then why is his car here?”
“He left it for us.”
My mouth fell open. “He what?”
Savannah shifted around on the couch, tucking a leg underneath her. “Nate got a new car and gave us his old one to share. He picked me up in his new car this afternoon and I went and got the old one.”
Never in a million years had I ever expected my brother to give us his car. We were lucky to have a brother who cared about us that much.
“That’s awesome,” I said, because I was just so amazed that he would do that for us. “Where did he get the money for the new car?”
Savannah shrugged. “I don’t know. He told you to call him.”
That was strange. My brother worked part-time as a cashier at a grocery store, but I wasn’t sure how he’d been able to afford a new car. Maybe he’d been saving most of his money.
Pulling my phone out from my bag, I dialed Nathan’s number and waited for him to answer.
“Hey, Estee,” he said, answering on the third ring.
“Did you really give us your car?” I asked immediately.
Nathan chuckled on the other end. “Yeah, I got a new one so I figured you two could use my old car.”
“Really? Wow! Thank you so much!” The excitement was spreading through me at the thought of not having to rely on everyone else to drive me around. “How did you afford a new car?”
Nathan sighed. “I worked hard, Estee. We don’t have the best things in life, but I want to change that. I want to make sure that things get better from here on. I’m going to try to change our life around, I want you to know that.”
Tears stung my eyes at my brother’s words. I was lucky to have a brother who cared so much about us and was trying so hard to give us the life our parents had failed to. In a way he reminded me of Vincent—he was also trying to give Dylan the kind of life he deserved.
“I love you, Nate. Thank you for doing this for us.”
“I love you too. Don’t mess up my car or put girly stuff in there, okay?”
Despite my tears, I laughed. “Don’t count on it. I’ll have rose-scented air freshener and floral themed car seats in there tomorrow.”
He let out a groan. “I’m regretting this already.”
When I got off the phone, Savannah and I cooked dinner together like always and sat around watching TV. I wasn’t in a hurry to get my work done since it was a Friday night—I figured I could use this time trying not to think about a certain tattooed guy.
At about nine o’clock, Savannah left to hang out with her friends. I figured there was a guy involved since she was dressed up really nice, but I didn’t want to pry too much. Besides, she’d tell me when she was ready. I was glad that Savannah was going out and doing normal teenager stuff. She needed to escape from all the negative stuff that surrounded us at home.
I could go out too, but I wasn’t much of a party girl. Mariah was always trying to get me to go out to a field party with her, but I wouldn’t even know what to do at those things. Those parties seemed like the place to make out in and I wasn’t that kind of girl.
I’d just started watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory, when I heard loud knocking on the door that made me jump.
Oh no. Dad had been out drinking all day and I didn’t want to have to deal with him tonight. I should’ve just gone to bed a long time ago.
The pounding on the door grew louder, and I jumped off the couch and hurried to the front door, dreading what I would find.
When I pulled open the door, my heart stopped.
I definitely didn’t expect to find this.
Vincent was standing outside, swaying on one spot, his fist raised as though he was about to knock on the door again. When he caught sight of me, a goofy smile spread across his face.
Oh my gosh. He was completely drunk.
“Stelle, I need to talk to you.” He slurred his words as he spoke, and the overwhelming smell of whiskey hit me. “I should’ve told you this a long time ago.”
“Vincent, what-”
He staggered forward, pressing his hands into my shoulders. “I just-you make me feel so many things, Stelle.” He placed a hand to his chest. “I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t explain it. I think about you constantly. You need to know that.”
His eyes were glazed over as they searched mine, waiting for an answer. Finally, the shock faded and I found the ability to speak. Ignoring his drunken words, I took a step forward, searching the street outside and finding that Vincent’s bike was out front.
I shot him a look of disapproval. “You rode over here like this?”
Vincent gave me a half-shrug, placing an arm around my shoulder. “Did you hear me, Stelle? I’m trying to tell you how I feel about you.”
He didn’t know what he was saying. The alcohol was messing with his head and making him say things that he normally wouldn’t say, so I continued to ignore him as I placed a hand around his firm, muscular arm and dragged him down the stairs to Nate’s car—well, I guess it was my car now.
“I’m not listening to you right now. Not when you’re like this. Get in the car so I can take you home.”
I pulled open the passenger side door and waited for Vincent to get in. He didn’t complain—probably because he was too drunk to think of a reasonable argument—and stayed silent as he watched me walk around to the driver’s side.
“I really do have feelings for you, Stelle,” he said once I started up the car and began heading towards Penthill. “I don’t know what it is about you. Maybe it’s everything. Yeah, I think it’s just everything about you. You light up everything around you and all I want to do is be around that light all the time. I want to be around you.”
Vincent sounded sincere enough, but I’d dealt enough with drunken men in my life to know that you couldn’t believe everything they told you. I maintained a stony silence and focused on the road ahead. Vincent was quiet for a long while, and when I glanced over at him, he’d fallen asleep.
With a sigh, I let my thoughts cloud my mind. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel the same way about Vincent. It wasn’t that at all. But I wanted to hear these things from him when he was sober. And then there was a part of me that he knew nothing about and that I wasn’t ready to tell him about yet.
I realized that I had feelings for Vincent—very strong feelings—but he didn’t need me in his life. I came with too many problems of my own.
Vincent
If you really liked a girl, don’t be stupid and wait until you’re drunk to tell her how you felt.
I’d woken up to Estella shaking me and telling me that we were home, but all I knew was that I was a little drunk and I’d said stupid, cheesy shit to Estella that I probably wouldn’t normally say.