Vincent squarely in the eyes. “Look, I know what I’m doing.” My voice faltered at the intense look in his eyes. A heat was radiating from his body and seeping into mine, making it difficult to think. “I just-uh find your annoying eyes on me disturbing.”
“I have annoying eyes?” He cocked a brow that made my stomach twist into knots. “Well, let me just step aside with my eyes and I’ll have a word with them about their annoying behavior.”
“Don’t talk to me like that!” Yes, that was the best retort I could come up with at the moment. I was so annoyed and embarrassed and mortified that I couldn’t think straight.
Vincent held up his hands in a way of surrender. “Hey, hey, no need to get so mad now, Stelle.”
“I’m not mad,” I protested, even though I wanted to stamp my foot like an insolent child. I forced a smile onto my face. “See, I’m smiling.”
“Your smile doesn’t reach your eyes.”
“That’s because you annoy me!”
Vincent cocked his head to the side, looking thoughtful. “No, your smile never quite reaches your eyes. It’s like it’s trying to get there but there isn’t enough to really light you up.”
I stared at him stunned, not really sure what to say. Where was this coming from? How often did Vincent watch me? He had clearly watched me enough to notice something so personal about me. He had found a piece of my truth that no one else ever saw.
We were doing that thing again—where there was complete silence and we were simply content to look at each other. We hadn’t looked at each other like this since the first night we’d met and now I knew that I hadn’t imagined anything—something really had changed in me that night. Vincent had changed me somehow.
Our silence was suddenly disturbed by the sound of engines cutting through the air. The sound of approaching motorcycles was unmistakable, and I barely had a second to glance at Vincent and gauge his reaction before eight bikes pulled up into the large, dusty area that I always called the “driveway” for lack of a better word.
“Fuck,” Vincent growled in an undertone.
Apprehension sank into me as I took in the intimidating men while they climbed off their bikes and moved towards like a pack of well-coordinated wolves on the prowl.
Oh no. If Vincent was worried then we were in trouble. Was this the rival Allbrook gang I’d heard so many bad things about? Had they come here to start trouble with Vincent?
One of the guys walked right up to Vincent and stopped, but instead of looking angry, his face broke into a smile. “Vin! We thought we’d come to you today!”
Doing a double take, I looked between Vincent and the guy in surprise. Vincent gave me a reassuring nod— these were friends; they were in the Madden gang.
The guy that’d spoken was tall, broad shouldered, and a lot bigger than Vincent. He had a goatee and a faint moustache. The tattoos on his bare arms were large and intimidating images of skulls and serpents. I immediately felt uncomfortable and turned away as the skin on the left side of my arm began to prickle.
The rest of the guys from the Madden gang began speaking at once and my eyes began to swim from the sight of their tattoos. I felt suffocated; trapped.
Just as I was just about to take a step back, Vincent slipped his hand into mine. The feel of his calloused hand against mine both thrilled and terrified me. I wasn’t sure why he was holding my hand, but I knew that I didn’t hate it as much as I wanted to.
There was something about Vincent that made me feel safe. He was the kind of guy who would protect you or die trying. There was something about that notion that I found intriguing.
A hush fell across the guys as their eyes darted between Vincent and me, like they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.
“Vin, who’s this?” the guy with the goatee asked, fixing me with a hard look.
Vincent released my hand and I felt a twinge of disappointment. “She’s the kid’s tutor Estella.” Vincent nodded at the guy. “Stelle, this is The Goat, but you can call him Goat.”
My eyebrows shot up as I took in the burly man in front of me. Despite my anxiety at being around nine members of the Madden gang, my curiosity got the better of me. I’d always wanted to know more about these people and now I had a chance.
“The Goat? You don’t look like a goat; more like a bull or a moose, but not a goat.”
Goat continued to stare at me, and I suddenly felt nervous. I’d just called a member of the Madden gang a moose. I was so dead.
Then something flashed in Goat’s eyes and a grin broke out across his face. I glanced at Vincent and found him trying to fight a smile. Relief flooded me when I realized that Goat probably wasn’t going to kill me today.
“I like her, Vin.” Goat continued grinning at me. “She’s not like the trash you usually hang around with.”
“Trash?” I wondered out loud. What kind of girls did Vincent usually hang around with?
Goat nodded, a smirk on his face. “More trash than a garbage dump. There was this one girl who had the biggest-”
“Cut it out, Goat.” Vincent elbowed him, and Goat let out a peal of laughter that made me want to join in. He really didn’t seem very intimidating anymore.
“You gonna introduce the rest of us or what?” A guy with spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes stepped forward. I was sure he had tattoos, but because he was wearing a leather jacket none of them were visible, thank goodness.
Vincent rolled his eyes, but it was clear that he was far from annoyed. “Stelle, this is Three.” My eyebrows shot up again, and Vincent let out a low chuckle which caused the tiny hairs on my arms to rise. “He’s the third William in his family, so we call him Three. That’s Todd, Topher, West, Hudson, Riley, and Cohen.” Vincent pointed out each guy in turn and they either waved or nodded at me.
I was trying to match the names to the faces and was pretty sure I had them all memorized when Three spoke again. “We thought we’d come see you first and say hi to the kid before we leave.”
“Leave?” My eyes shot to Vincent in question. “Where are you going?”
“We go riding for an hour every Tuesday and Friday,” Cohen supplied. “It’s a new thing we started doing a couple weeks ago.”
The pieces clicked together in my brain. So this is what Vincent did when he left Dylan and I for an hour—he hung out with his friends. This newfound knowledge annoyed me. Was hanging out with his friends more important than sticking around for an hour to support his brother?
“Uh…yeah, I guess.” Vincent seemed embarrassed, and ran a hand through his hair as he looked out across the large property to where an empty field spread out for miles. “Stelle’s about to make dinner anyway.”
“I like a woman who can cook,” Three said, placing an arm over my shoulder. “What’re you making, Stelle?”
Three was so close that I could see a faint scar just above his right eyebrow. His sudden proximity to me made me uncomfortable. I didn’t like it when people touched me and invaded my personal space.
“Knock it off.” The smile was gone from Vincent’s face and I could tell he wasn’t in such a good mood anymore. “No one calls her Stelle but me. It’s Estella to you.”
Well, this was interesting. Vincent’s show of ownership over my name had come from nowhere. I didn’t even think it was a big deal to him that he called me Stelle. Clearly, I’d thought wrong.
“Sorry, Vin.” Three stepped away from me, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m just fucking hungry.”
“Yeah, me too,” Goat spoke up. “What you making?”
“Uhh…mac and cheese.” I was kind of embarrassed now. It wasn’t like I was making a culinary masterpiece.
Strangely enough, the boys acted like I
“You got enough for us?” Goat asked.
There would be eleven of us altogether, including Dylan, Vincent, and I. There would only be enough food for a small number of people, but it was easy enough to get some more groceries.
When I looked to Vincent to see his reaction, he had a small smile on his face. “It’s up to you. You’re the one cooking.”
Surprised that he’d let me make the final decision, I surveyed the boys, smiling at the expectant looks on
