Grace Street (A Chapter 8 Novel, #1) (31 page)

As she stared at her reflection, she felt her
mother’s familiar touch on her shoulder.

“Who is he, Elsa?”

“No one,” she choked out, shaking her
head.

Her mother sighed loudly and pulled her by
the hand into the handicapped stall and seated her on the toilet as
she stood in front of her.

“Is he the reason you haven’t called?”

Again, she shook her head.

“I know he’s pretty to look at, but…”

“Please, Mom, don’t. It’s not about
that.”

“Then what?” her mother smoothed Elsa’s hair
behind an ear.

Elsa began nervously tapping her foot trying
to find the words. “He needs my help.”

“Oh, El, look at me,” she kneeled in front of
Elsa. “Some people can’t be helped.”

Elsa shook her head and felt as if her breath
was cut off. “I don’t want to believe that.”

“Well, I don’t trust him. Any man who doesn’t
answer personal questions has something to hide. I know you have
the common sense to figure that out.”

She nodded. Of course she had the common
sense and all along her inner voice had been screaming for her to
forget about him.

“Sweetie, men are…”

Elsa couldn’t listen to her mom. “Mom, I
appreciate your concern.”

“Take my advice, El. I’ve been where you’re
at in your life. I’ve been hurt to…”

“I know you have, and I love you and your
advice. Just not today.”

Her mother shook her head and hugged her
tightly.

She gave her mom a weak smile. “I’ll work it
out.”

***

Victor was getting impatient. It had been
nearly fifteen minutes since Elsa and her mother disappeared. What
the hell were they doing in there anyway? The Secret Lives of Women
in the Restroom: that would be the title of his next book. What he
wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall just to hear the private
conversations of women. He shook his head and chuckled at his
ridiculous thought.

Ridiculous.
Elise was ballsy, too, and
it wasn’t hard to see where Elsa got her cheekiness from.

The waitress brought the scotch that he had
ordered right after the women left and he gulped it down quickly.
Elsa was still angry with him and the sinking feeling that she may
never forgive him had begun to creep into his thoughts. He meant
what he said the previous day about hoping they could move forward.
He crunched on a piece of ice and unconsciously frowned.

He had really fucked things up. He wasn’t
learning anything from her and he sure as hell wasn’t helping her,
but he couldn’t give up yet. He had given less worthy Chapters far
more of his time and Elsa deserved more. He hadn’t planned on
attending dinner with Elsa and her mother, but seeing how lovely
she looked, he couldn’t resist the temptation. He also didn’t want
to miss the opportunity to watch her interact with her mother.

When the women approached, Victor stood,
allowing Elsa into the booth. She looked fantastically fuckable in
her red silk mini dress. He noted she wasn’t wearing any panties or
bra when she scooted in next to him and her compliance spoke to his
cock and heart. The headband he bought her was just the perfect
touch. He reached over and adjusted it on her head and she
bristled. Yes, she was definitely still pissed.

“So what took you two so long?” he asked as
he pushed a cranberry-sangria toward Elsa.

“How polite of you,” she glared at him when
she realized it was nonalcoholic.

He quirked his head at Elsa. “So? What took
you so long?”

Elise promptly chimed in. “We were having a
heart-to-heart discussion.”

“Oh? About what?” his interest was piqued,
especially when he saw the nervous glance Elsa threw her mother’s
way.

“You,” Elise answered coolly.

Victor narrowed his eyes but held his
composure. “And did you come to any conclusions?”

“Indeed, I did. I don’t trust you,” she
stared at him contemptuously.

Wow.
This woman really did have a set
of balls on her. Elsa picked up her drink and sucked on the straw
and kept her eyes on the table, obviously mortified with her
mother’s brashness.

Victor leaned forward and placed his elbows
on the table. “Is that a fact?”

Elise smiled and sat back, unaffected by him.
“It is.”

Frustrated where this was going and Elise’s
patronizing tone, Victor leaned back in the booth and wrapped a
possessive arm around Elsa’s shoulders, pulling her close. He
didn’t give two fucks what her mother thought about him.

“You don’t even know me,” he puckered his
mouth and tipped his head back to stare down at her.

She lifted her eyebrows and shook her head.
“No, I don’t, but I have a good sense about people and what I sense
is that you’re going to hurt my daughter. If you haven’t
already.”

Un-fucking-believable.

Elsa choked on her drink again and cut in,
“Mom, please!”

Elise put her hand up and continued. “I don’t
take kindly to people harming the one’s I love, Mr. Laurenzo.”

This woman was seriously getting under his
skin. When Elise sat forward, Victor cringed and prepared himself
to get a drink thrown in his face. It wouldn’t be the first
time.

“It’s never my intention to hurt anyone.” He
looked away from her knowing he had just bold-faced lied.

“
Not your intention
?” she mocked.
“You’re not a very good liar, Mr. Laurenzo,” she continued to smile
smugly.

What the fuck was this woman’s problem with
him?

Suddenly he had the inexplicable urge to
explain himself to her, but he had no fucking idea why. “Would it
make you feel better to know that I work for the FBI?” He felt Elsa
swing her head around and through his peripheral vision he could
see her eyes were as big as saucers. Elise sat quietly staring at
him but remained impassive, prompting him to continue. “I’m a
criminal profiler.”

“Well good for you, but I still don’t trust
you,” she added and took a drink. “As a matter of fact, knowing you
work for the government makes me distrust you even more,” she
tossed her long, curled, gray mixed with auburn hair over her
shoulder.

This was such bullshit. Can you say
impossible? Like Elsa. Why the hell was he surprised? Victor rolled
his eyes and shook his head. Elise was the ridiculous one and this
conversation was seriously going nowhere.

Elise crossed her arms over her chest and
cast her critical stare out the window.

With the tension still thick in the air,
their dinners arrived and they ate in silence with only occasional
comments made between Elsa and her mother.

It was intriguing to watch them interact. Her
mother clearly cared for her deeply, as any parent should. He was
glad to know Elsa had someone willing to stand up for her, even if
the person in question was a major bitch.

As their conversation picked up, he watched
intensely, taking mental notes. If only he could draw from his own
experience what it felt like to have a strong connection with a
parent, he might understand their relationship better.

Feeling the unexpected sting of jealousy, he
waved to the waitress for another scotch on the rocks and told her
to add it to his tab for the evening.

“Your drink, Mr. Laurenzo,” he heard next to
him in a familiar raspy, female voice.

Without looking up he knew immediately who it
was by her voice and scent. Dressed in her usual fashionable yet
unrevealing attire, Five handed him his drink and smiled knowingly
at him. His cock immediately twitched. After everything he had done
to her, including fucking her countless times and doing the most
debauched things to her body he could imagine, it was purely an
instinctual response; unwanted, but natural.

Without responding, he grabbed the drink from
her hand when her finger purposefully skimmed across the top of his
hand. Uncomfortable with her physical contact, he glanced sideways
to see if Elsa had noticed. She had. He draped his arm over her
shoulder to put her ease since she was clearly affected
negatively.

What in the hell was Peyton doing here
anyway? It occurred to him that maybe she had purchased the
establishment. He never even thought to check into that. Why would
he? He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in over a year. He sighed
irritably and shot Peyton a penetrating
fuck-off
look. They
stared at each other across a sudden ringing silence for only a
brief moment before she smiled and turned her attention to Elsa and
Elise.

“Welcome to Juniper’s, ladies. I hope you’re
finding everything to your satisfaction this evening,” she
professionally addressed them. “I’m Peyton, the owner of this
establishment and…” her words were drowned out by the sudden
jerking of Elsa’s body.

Victor stared down at her and her eyes burned
through him as the corner of her mouth twisted with some undefined
emotion that looked a lot like rage. Confused by her reaction, he
gave her a questioning look but her straight glance seemed to be
accusing him coldly.

With Peyton finally gone, Elsa’s breathing
became ragged and she reached for his drink and chugged it down in
one swift motion. Victor’s mind whirled at her reaction and body
language. He had no idea what she was fucking thinking, as usual,
and therefore he had no idea how to console her or rein her in.

“El, honey, is everything okay?” her mother
reached over the table when Elsa began to tremble.

Elsa gritted her teeth, but nodded and Victor
watched as she took in a deep breath and steadied her body. Next
she plastered that damned fake smile on her face. God he really
hated that phony shit.

Her mother seemed to relax and excused
herself once again to the ladies room. As she walked way, he took
all of her in. She was an attractive older woman. She was the same
size as Elsa in all respects: height, weight and breast size. They
even shared the same laugh lines and eyes. Elsa clearly got her
mother’s good genes. If only he had been as lucky.

When her mother was out of sight, Victor
turned to face Elsa.

“Your mother is an attractive woman. It’s
clear to see where you get your good looks and mouthiness from,” he
lifted Elsa’s drink and swirled the ice around in it.

Narrowing her eyes, she countered derisively,
“She’s a bit too old for you, don’t you think?”

What an absurd statement. He had never let
something as unimportant as age stand in the way of what he wanted.
Was she jealous of her own mother? He brought the drink to his
mouth and laughed. This will be fun to play with.

“I don’t discriminate against age.”

Her lips thinned with irritation and her gaze
scorched him. “Or gender.”

What the fuck?

Victor was so taken aback with Elsa’s
statement that he appeared to momentarily lose his ability to speak
and almost lost his grip on the glass in his hand. Still angry at
Victor for having let her sit in a jail cell while he sat at home
not lifting a finger to help her, then inviting himself to her
dinner with her mother so he could play with her and comment on her
mother’s looks was already more than she could take. But this? To
try and humiliate her in front of her mom by bringing her to a
place Chapter Five owns? How dare he include her mother in his
fucked up game.

She pushed against him to place distance
between them as he sat staring at her like an idiot.

“The next time you make reservations for me
and a member of my family, make it at a place where we won’t be
accosted by one of your fucking Chapters!” she whisper yelled. “How
dare you involve my mother in your sick game!”

Victor’s look of shock turned to quick anger
and he gripped her upper arm and dragged her out of the restaurant.
He moved so hastily she nearly fell over on her three inch heels as
she stumbled behind him.

Once outside, Victor further dragged her to a
darkened corner outside where Mr. Black verbally ripped into
her.

“Say what’s on your mind.”

Elsa closed her mouth tight.

“Ten. Nine. Eight…” he began counting down.
“Seven...” he narrowed his eyes. “Six…” he gritted his teeth.
“Five…”

This was absurd. No one counts down. When she
stood with her hands fisted at her sides defiantly, he ground his
teeth loudly.

“Fucking say it, Elsa!”

“Don’t you mean
Eight?
”

“You lying, little cunt!” he yelled, causing
several passersby to look over. “How fucking long have you
known?”

Elsa lifted a hand to slap him for having
called her something so despicable, but she stopped mid-air making
Mr. Black laugh loudly.

“So I guess you are trainable after all.”

Not caring what the consequences would be,
Elsa lifted her hand again and pulled her arm back as far as it
would go and slapped him with such intensity she split his lip.

“I’m the fucking liar?” she shrieked. “You
unbelievable hypocrite! I told you that if you showed me honesty
you would get it in return! My God, you were going to allow a
serial killer to read about me! What the fuck is wrong with
you?”

He stepped back and spit a mouthful of blood
onto the ground and growled in such a terrifying way that Elsa
suddenly felt like she was going to pass out. The look on his face
was murderous. She suddenly remembered his written words and what
his mother had done to him and though she didn’t know the details,
she could only imagine.

“Oh, God, Victor…” she whispered. “I’m so
sorry.”

“That’s Mr. Fucking. Black.”

“Fine, I’m sorry, Mr. Black,” she swallowed
hard.

“For what?” he ground out between his teeth.
“For lying this whole time or for being a nosey, fucking bitch?” he
belted out loudly.

She shook her head and tears filled her
vision when she saw more blood begin to ooze from his mouth. “I’m
not sorry for those things…”