Chapter 10 Vinnie
VINNIE
“How’s that hot mama of yours?” Clarence asks as I gather up a few things from my locker before I head home.
Tonight’s the night I meet Bianca’s entire family, and I’m nervous as fuck.
“She’s great, man. Busy writing, so I haven’t seen her much.”
“Is the sex as wild as I think it is? I mean, if my woman wrote those books—” he grabs his junk underneath his towel “—I’m sure she’d practically be hanging off my cock like it was a jungle gym.”
“Can’t keep her off me,” I lie.
I haven’t heard from her since the other night after she came apart in my arms and I exploded in my pants. I don’t know what came over me or how the friction from the sweat pants combined with the tiny sounds she makes when being pleasured were enough to make me come like a virginal teenage boy.
“Lucky bastard.” Clarence punches my shoulder.
“I’m meeting her family tonight.” My stomach turns at the very thought.
I haven’t met any girl’s parents since I was in high school. I never stuck around long enough in college to make it even a remote possibility. Although Bianca and I entered into this together as a mutual agreement, it’s feeling more real than fake.
“They fans?”
I nod. “Huge fans.”
“Then you’re solid. You can do no wrong.”
I can think of plenty of things I can do wrong.
“Is that what it was like when you met Marquita’s parents?”
He shakes his head. “Hell no. They hated me. I was a punk college player, and they didn’t see a future for their princess with a nobody like me.”
“And now?”
“Now they kiss my ass.” He laughs. “They brag to all their snobby friends about their rich, successful son-in-law. It’s quite a change from the way they used to describe me. Even after all these years, I’ve never forgotten the way they treated me.”
Marquita isn’t much different from her parents. Clarence doesn’t see it, but she’s a total snob. She looks down her nose at everyone, but I’m not the one who has to sleep with her.
“That’s pretty shitty. Sorry you had to go through that.”
“You’re good, though. Bianca’s family will love you. What’s not to like? Pretty face, local football hero, rich as fuck.”
“Not exactly how some people see me.”
Clarence looks at me funny. “No one looks at you any other way, dumbass. You hit the jackpot and all the stars aligned when your ass was born.”
“Yeah,” I mumble.
If the jackpot was a mafia boss father who spent more time behind bars than raising me, then I hit the big one. I know I’ve been lucky. How many kids dream of playing professional football and actually do it? Not that fucking many.
“I’d better go so I’m not late. Bianca will have my balls.”
“Good luck, man. Knock ’em dead tonight. You got this.”
I’m halfway down the hallway when Tracie comes around a corner like she’d been waiting for me. “There you are,” she says, sliding her hand up my sweaty T-shirt, looking at me like I’m a piece of meat and she’s starving for a bite. “I’ve missed you.”
I peel her hand away from my chest and grip her wrist tighter than I have before. “Don’t touch me.”
She pouts like it’s going to have any effect on me. “Don’t be that way, silly.”
“Gallo,” Coach Malik says from behind me. “Go on ahead. I need to talk to Tracie.”
I drop her hand and glare at her. “Leave me alone, Tracie. It’s the last warning I’m going to give you.”
“It’s that bitch, isn’t it?”
My body stiffens, and an anger I haven’t felt in years courses through my veins. My hands ball up at my sides, and I’m about to open my mouth when Coach puts his hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“Go, Vinnie. Don’t do anything stupid. Let me talk with her.”
I don’t turn around.
I don’t speak.
I walk off, leaving Tracie and the coach to hash out the shit she’s still pulling with me, even after warnings from her grandfather.
“Whoa.” It’s the only word that comes to mind when Bianca opens the door to her place.
She’s dressed in a cream-colored gown, covered with lace and so many frills, she looks more like a princess than a writer. She grabs the bottom, holding it out and showing me all the layers. “It’s not too much?”
“You look…” I trail off and step forward, running my hand up her arm. “…like the most beautiful girl in the world.”
She doesn’t move away from my touch. “You’re looking quite handsome yourself, but then again, you clean up well.”
“Says the girl who pulls off sweat pants and a messy bun.”
She rolls her eyes. “Now I know you’re lying. I, in no way, pull off or look good in my writing outfit.”
“Baby.” I slide my hand up her arm before I trace her exposed collarbone with my finger. “You, wearing that outfit, riding me and moaning my name… There has never been anything sexier.”
“Vinnie.” She looks at me with those big brown eyes. “Don’t. We can’t miss this party.”
“Don’t what?” I play innocent, but all I want to do is walk her backward, peel off that dress, and bury my head between her legs. I’ve been dying to know what she tastes like, how different she’ll sound coming on my tongue instead of through her pants.
“You’re trying to seduce me.”
“Is it working?” I raise an eyebrow, hoping like fuck she says yes.
“Not one bit.” She smiles coyly, and I know she’s lying. “We can’t be late, or my parents will kill me.”
“Well, my chariot awaits.”
She shakes her head. “I’m driving. This is my night, and I’m not squeezing all these layers inside that tiny sports car of yours.”
I like when she’s bossy. “Whatever makes you happy.”
She tries to walk in front of me as we make our way toward the elevator, but I pull her backward, wanting her at my side.
“You don’t have to pretend yet. We’re alone,” she says as she pushes the button on the wall, but she doesn’t look at me as she speaks.
“Who’s pretending?” I stare at her, waiting for her to look at me. “I’m not.”
I don’t know what she isn’t getting. Maybe I haven’t made myself clear. I know we started this as some arrangement to help each other out, scratch each other’s backs, but that’s not how things have evolved this week.
“You don’t have to do this.” She stares down at the marble floor. “After tonight, you never have to see me again.”
I turn her to face me and place two fingers under her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Baby, don’t say those words. This may have started out as a favor, but there’s nowhere I’d rather be tonight than at your side. Don’t you know that?”
I’ve never had a chick push me away as many times as Bianca. Usually, I’m the one backtracking, trying to get them to move on and realize there’s no future. I don’t know what’s ahead for Bianca and me, but I want to ride this as long as I can and figure shit out.
She parts her lips, and it takes everything in me not to kiss her. “You want to date me?” She blinks a few times, probably just as shocked by that admission as I am.
“I want to see where whatever this is takes us.”
“Let’s see if we survive tonight, and we’ll talk.”
She didn’t say no, but she’s making me more nervous about tonight than I already was.
“Are they going to hate me?” I ask, trying to swallow down the nerves that have been climbing up my throat.
“My brothers will both like and hate you. I’m their little sister, and they’re protective. The rest of my family might not be overly thrilled that I’m not dating a Latino guy.”
“I can’t change who I am. I’m sure they’ll love me anyway. I mean, look at me, what’s not to like?”
She laughs and slaps my chest playfully. “You’re okay for a white boy. At least my mother will stop trying to fix me up with every available man she knows.”
Her mother sounds like mine, always sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. I have one mission tonight. Win over Bianca’s family. It’s the only way there’s any hope of moving beyond our dry-humping on her couch.
“I’ll make them happy I’m yours.” I usher her into the elevator as soon as the doors open.
She inhales slowly and plasters her back against the wall. “My family isn’t going to be as easy to convince as your team, Vinnie.” She closes her eyes, resting her head against the wood wall. “I haven’t had a real boyfriend in a while, and if we’re not careful, they’ll see right through the lie.”
“We’re lying?”
“We are.” She nods.
“You’re attracted to me?” I ask, touching her hips as I face her.
“I am.”
“I’m so attracted to you, Bianca. It’s taking all my willpower not to kiss you right now and fuck you right here.”
She sucks in a quick breath.
“I know what you look like when you come. I know the tiny noises you make as you rock against my cock. I’m pretty sure I know enough to make it believable.”
“I wouldn’t announce that to my family.”
“I’m not an idiot, and anything I do tonight will be real and genuine. I’m done playing, baby.”
“Vinnie, I can’t make a commitment. Not now.”
“You will,” I tell her. “After tonight, you’re going to be begging to be my girl.”
That’s the one thing I’m sure of. I’ll do everything in my power to win over this girl and make her mine. The realization hits me square in the chest, stealing my breath like I was just sucker-punched.
I’ve never felt this way before, and it scares the shit out of me.