“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 was making a culinary masterpiece. They seemed impressed as they glanced around at each other, nodding in approval.

“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 their faces. “Well, if we get lots and lots of pasta and cheese, I don’t see why not.”

The guys let out cheers and I couldn’t help but smile as they started talking all at once again. Then my smile faded as reality set in.

I had to cook for eleven people!

Chapter Ten

Vincent

Routine. Stability. Love. Those were things that I wasn’t used to.

Chaos. Resentment. Indifference. They were words better used to describe how I lived.

Yet as Estella’s fingers dug into my jacket and the side of her head pressed into my back, it was starting to dawn on me that she had brought routine, stability, and love into my home without me even realizing it.

It had taken an ordinary, average day like this one for me to even realize what had happened.

As usual, I’d picked her up from the library and now we were on our way back to my house so she could tutor Dylan and get started on dinner for us. The boys had been so impressed with her cooking mac and cheese the other night, they’d wanted to come over for dinner again, but I’d let them know that Estella cooking for them wasn’t going to be a regular thing.

Things had to be kept under control. I couldn’t let Estella become a familiar thing. I couldn’t let everyone form attachments with her, because she wasn’t a sure thing. She could up and leave at any time.

That thought made me grip the handles tighter as I turned into the long, dusty road that led to the house. If Estella left for good, it would devastate Dylan. It was too late for him—he’d already formed an attachment with her; he already loved her.

Even I’d been affected by her. I was wrestling with these feelings that were growing daily; that increased the more time I spent around her. This wasn’t a girl I just wanted to screw; I wanted to make her smile the way she made everyone around her smile. The way she made me smile.

But I shouldn’t want that. I shouldn’t want to do that for her. Ryder would hate the feelings that were awakening inside of me. He’d call me weak. He’d call me a pussy. But for some reason I didn’t care. This was something he would never understand.

And for whatever reason I wanted to make her smile. I wanted to make her smile for real. I wanted to be that person and I didn’t even know why.

I pulled into the driveway out the front of the house and felt a twinge of disappointment as Estella released me and climbed off. I really wouldn’t have cared if she’d held on for a bit longer.

She turned to me, her eyes bright as she handed me the helmet. “I never thought I’d ever say that I enjoyed riding on a bike.”

“Really?” I turned off the engine and hopped off the bike, placing the helmet on the seat. “If you ever want to learn how to ride one, I can teach you.”

“Oh, no.” Estella laughed nervously, shaking her head so that her long honey brown hair spilled around her shoulders like waves. “I’m not that adventurous. It just feels good to close my eyes and escape. I like holding onto you as you drive.” Suddenly she stopped, her cheeks turning a cute shade of pink. “Oh, um, I mean, by holding onto you I meant-”

A laugh escaped me as I leaned in closer to her, tilting my head so that her lips were inches away from mine. “It’s okay to be attracted to me. You’re only human.”