Making You Mine (The Moreno Brothers 5)

  It got real loud all of a sudden and there was a scuffle. Sal couldn’t even make out who was shoving who but he heard glass break. Someone pulled him away from the shoving crowd and he struggled to stay upright. He blinked, the whole room blurring in and out as they stumbled toward the exit. He noticed people looking at him as he walked through the casino, but he could barely focus his eyes. Each time he blinked, it got darker until everything finally went black.

  ~*~

  Rose’s face lit up when she read her text and Grace frowned. Lately that had been happening a lot. Rose had never smiled so much from reading her texts. She knew exactly who the text was from. “Rose, I hope you’re not getting too friendly with Vincent. Sal was adamant that he’s bad news.”

  “How friendly can we get? He lives so far.”

  “He’ll probably be driving soon.”

  Rose finally looked up from her phone. “Oh yes, he’s gonna wanna drive all the way to Chula Vista from La Puente, just to see me. That’s over two hours.”

  Grace slipped on the shorts to her pajama bottoms. “You’d be surprised what a man would do when he’s really interested in a girl.”

  Rose laughed. “A man? He’s sixteen. He can’t even afford to call me because we’re on different carriers and he’s not allowed to use up his mom’s minutes or they’ll take his phone away. Besides who said anything about him being interested?”

  Grace gave her a look. Rose was showing her innocence, but ignored her question, not wanting to push that topic further. “Aren’t weekends unlimited?

  “Not his. His mom got the cheap package so even on the weekends they only have so many minutes.”

  Grace shook her head. She’d mentioned to Sal how Rose and Vincent had been texting. He wasn’t happy about it at all. But Rose was right. Grace didn’t see the harm in them texting, as long as nothing more became of it.

  “He is going to Rosarito in a few weeks with his family and he asked if maybe he could meet me somewhere as he passed through here.” Rose’s eyebrows went up and she gave Grace an imploring look. “We’re just friends.”

  “Nope, not happening.”

  “Why not? He just meant like grab a hamburger or something. His whole family is going to be with him. It’s not like we’re gonna be alone.”

  Grace plopped down on the bed. “Because Sal wouldn’t be so dead against it if he didn’t think it was dangerous.”

  “Did he tell you what he did that’s so bad?”

  “Tagging for starters.” Grace lay back, resting her head on the pillow. “And what sixteen-year-old gets a tattoo?”

  “Oh my God! Lots of them. A whole bunch of kids from school have them.”

  Putting her hand behind her head, Grace frowned at Rose who was looking at her incredulous. “Aren’t you supposed to be eighteen or something?”

  Rose laughed, lying down next to Grace. “No one checks your I.D. You just tell them you’re eighteen and that’s good enough for them.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I know people that have gotten them.” Rose lifted herself onto her elbow and faced Grace. “He’s just misunderstood, Grace. That whole tagging thing wasn’t even his fault, he was with the guys that were doing the tagging and they all got hauled in together. Even the tattoo he says he regrets. He and a few of his friends did it on a whim. He calls his it his incredibly stupid, temporary insanity moment and he says he hopes that’s as stupid as he ever gets. He’s actually really smart.”

  Grace didn’t like how empathetic Rose spoke of him. The few times Rose had spoke of any of her guy friends, she had very little to say. Maybe it was because this one happened to be her boyfriend’s cousin, but Grace could totally relate to the excitement she saw in Rose’s eyes when she looked down at her phone and realized the text was from Vincent. It was the same way she felt when she got a text from Sal. This was disquieting to say the very least. Her sister was only fifteen after all. Rose glanced down at her phone and her face lit up.

  “What is he saying that has you smiling so big?”

  She saw Rose try to wipe the smile but it was a fruitless effort. She did for a second, then shrugged and laughed. “He’s just so funny. The way he speaks and texts is hilarious. Most people shorten words in texts like OMG and JK; he writes it all out. And you saw how he looks like this hard ass bad-boy with a tattoo and all, but the way he speaks is so not like that. I noticed it right away when he schooled me on the differences between koi and regular fish. Then just now I told him I was in my room talking to my sister and look what he responds.” She showed Grace the text and Grace read it out loud.

  “I’ve heard the relationship between two sisters is far more profound than any relationship they’ll ever encounter with anyone else. Would you agree?”

  Rose laughed. “I mean who talks like that?”

  “Does he actually talk that way or does he just text like that?”

  “No, just like with his text, not everything he says is heavily worded but yeah, he threw in a few like that when we were talking at the shower. He used the word consequently when the subject of getting a job came up. He said ‘Consequently my dad will be speaking to my uncle today about possibly hiring me for the summer at one of the restaurants.’ He might come out and stay with your in-laws for the summer.”

  Rose’s reference to her in-laws threw Grace. She was already beginning to panic about the idea of Vince being so close to Rose all summer, then Rose used the term and her mind went elsewhere. Ever since she heard Sofia mention her sister-in-laws at the shower with the implication that she might possibly be next, she’d been trying not to put too much weight on the thought. But now that Sal had told her he was in love with her and she’d begun to allow herself to accept it as the truth, the likelihood that she might actually be his wife someday was beginning to feel more and more plausible.

  “Earth to Grace.” Rose waved her hand in f heactually bront of Grace’s face.

  Grace shook he head and remembered Vincent. “I hope you don’t plan on spending any time with Vince this summer. Sal hasn’t mentioned him coming out for the summer and honestly the way he speaks of him, I highly doubt he’d be willing to have him work at the restaurant.”

  “But Sal only knows what he’s heard through the grapevine. Vinnie said he’s never been close to any of his cousins out here in La Jolla. I’m sure if Sal gives him a chance he’ll see he’s not so bad.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. “You’ve known him a whole week and already you know so much about him?”

  Rose smiled sheepishly. “We text 24/7.”

  Grace’s jaw dropped. “But you said you’re just friends.”

  “Well yeah, what else can we be? We live so far from one another.”

  “That’s what worries me. If he’s in La Jolla, that just might change.” Grace could totally see why Rose would be attracted to Vincent. He was a Moreno after all. The amazing-good-looks fairy had been more than generous when passing them out to that family.

  Rose glanced back down at her phone and smiled brightly again.

  Nothing good could come of this. She’d get to the bottom of Vincent coming down for the summer as soon as Sal got back from Vegas. She lay there, knowing it would be hours before she would actually get any sleep. So many thoughts swam in her head it was impossible to settle her mind down enough to fall asleep.

  CHAPTER 22

  The Hangover

  Waking up to the worst hangover of his life and realizing he’d brought a woman back to his room was bad enough, but seeing who that woman was, nearly sucke at h0" d the life out of him.

  Sal stared at Melissa horrified. She stood at the door of the bathroom, holding two coffee cups, wearing a sundress, her hair and makeup perfect as ever. Did he really sleep through her getting ready that morning? “Why are you here?”

  Her eyes widened and she looked him up and down with a smirk. “You don’t remember?”

  It dawned on him just then that he was still naked. He walked past her i
n a hurry, grabbing his boxers off the floor and slipping them on. His head throbbed. “Remember what, Melissa?” He held out hope, based on the fact that she was fully dressed that what had happened wasn’t what he was thinking.

  But she put one of the cups down on the nightstand and bent over to pick up the panties on the floor. “There they are. I couldn’t find these this morning.” She smiled wickedly and pushed them into her purse.

  His patience gave way. “I asked you a question. Why are you in my room?”

  “You brought me here last night.”

  “I brought you?” He didn’t buy that for a second. Even in a drunk state, he would never do that to Gracie—not with any girl—but especially not Melissa.

  “Yes.” She smiled, taking a few steps toward him. “We were pretty drunk but not too drunk to…” She glanced at the bed. “You were amazing.”

  Sal put his hand up—a warning for her to not take another step. “Whatever happened was a mistake. I don’t remember any of it.”

  “But last night you said—”

  “I said I don’t remember!” He raised his voice with every word, feeling the enormous dread sink in and the pounding in his head double. “How the hell are you gonna hold me to something I said when I don’t even remember any of it?”

  Her wounded expression did nothing to make him sympathize with her. They might’ve been drunk and he’d man up to whatever he’d done, but he knew somehow she manipulated this outcome. There was no way he’d allow her to even think she could make more of this than what it was—a horrible mistake.

  “I don’t understand why you’re angry. We had a good time.”

  “Because this should’ve never happened.” He wanted to punch a hole through the wall. Why the hell had he drank so much?

  His phone rang somewhere near the bed and he glanced around then picked up his pants from the floor. He pulled the phone from the pocket and he saw it was Grace. No way would he take the chance of answering and having Melissa say something to make her presence known. “You need to leave.”

  “But I thought we were going to—”

  “Melissa,” he said through his teeth. “Whatever we did last night and whatever was said is a scratch. It’s like it never happened. Do you understand?” It sure as hell felt like it never happened. If only he could take the entire night back.

  He saw the tears in her eyes and he knew he should try to sound a little more sensitive but this was a disaster. All he could think of now was how he was going to fix this—was this even fixable?

  “You can deny it all you want, Salvador. But it did happen, more than once and you loved it.” She tooit.All he couk a step forward, her tears—probably fake—gone now. “And don’t say you forgot you had a little girlfriend because you texted her just before you fucked me.”

  His stomach nearly gave out and he glanced down at his phone, scrolling quickly to his texts. He found the thread between him and Grace and nearly choked at what he read. The first one he sent was just after two in the morning.

  Having so much fun I may never come home.

  She didn’t respond until fifteen minutes later.

  Then don’t.

  To his horror, his next text was even worse.

  I’m really busy right now...if you know what I mean. ; ) Can’t text anymore.

  She didn’t respond after that, but he had missed calls from both her and Alex. More than one from her which meant this last call that he’d let go to voicemail wasn’t her first that morning. “You need to go.” He hurried to the door. “I really hope you keep this between the two of us. Nobody needs to know, Melissa.”

  She smiled as she reached the door he held open for her. “Don’t worry I won’t be telling your little girlfriend. By the look on your face when you read your texts, something tells me you already did.”

  “Nope. And I appreciate you keeping this between just us. I don’t even want Jason to know.”

  She walked out and turned around to face him. Sal fought the urge to slam the door in her face. “He probably already knows. He was pretty out of it himself, but he saw us together.”

  Fuck. Who else had seen? “I’ll take care of him. Just don’t tell anyone else… please.”

  She turned around and stalked away without saying a word. Sal closed the door and began the damage control as soon as possible. He called Alex first.

  Alex sounded anxious. “Hey. You okay?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Grace is worried. She said she got a couple of drunken texts from your ass, then hadn’t heard from you since. She’s been calling you, too.”

  Sal put his hand on his forehead and paced. The continued throbbing of his temples didn’t help the thinking process. He desperately needed to figure out how to deal with this mess. “Is she mad?”

  “No. Why? What the hell did you text her?”

  “Nothing. Just drunken gibberish. Did she say anything else?”

  “That’s it. Just said she was worried and asked if I’d heard from you.”

  “All right. I’ll call her.”

  He called Jason next. No answer, so he called the phone in his room instead. A very groggy sounding Kat answered. “Hey, Kat this is Sal. Sorry to wake you, but I need to talk to Jason.”

  “Hmm hold on.” He could hear her trying to wake him and then Jason moan. This was no good. He probably had no clue either about last night’s events.

  Finally he was on the phone. “Sal?”

  “Yeah, dude. Hey, what happened last night.”

  “We drank too much and…” Jason paused. “Aw, fuck my head is pounding.”

  “How’d I get back to my room?”

  “The girls, I guess. All I remember was falling then being dragged back to the room by Kat and one of her other friends. Not sure how you got back, man. I was out of it.”

  Sal heard Kat say something about Melissa. “What was that?”

  Jason chuckled then moaned. “I guess Melissa got you back to your room.”

  Sal held his hand to his forehead. “Did anything else happen last night that I should know about?” Mostly Sal was digging for anything anyone else might have seen, like him and Melissa making out or something in public.

  “Nah, that’s it. After that it was lights out.”

  With no more helpful information and Jason saying he was going to be sick, Sal hung up, his stomach in knots, wondering what was the best way to go about this. He hated to lie but there was no way he would tell her the truth. The truth was he was drunk and didn’t remember sending the texts. He’d start with that.

  Hitting speed dial to call Grace, he took a deep breath. The pounding of his heart was now drowning out the pounding in his head.

  “Hello?” Hearing her voice made him feel even guiltier.

  Maybe he should’ve done the cowardly thing and texted her instead. “Gracie, baby. I’m so sorry about those texts last night. I had way too much to drink and I don’t even remember sending them.”

  She was quiet then asked, “Who were you so busy with?”

  “No one.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “It was all guys. Bunch of stupid, drunk ass guys.”

  She was quiet again, intensifying the angst he felt, then finally spoke again. “Even if you were drunk, why would you text that to me?”

  That’s what he didn’t get either. The thought that maybe Melissa had sent them crossed his mind but he couldn’t know for sure. All that mattered now is that the texts had been sent and the damage was done. What he needed to work on now, was making sure Grace forgave him. “I don’t know. I’m an idiot. Honest to God, I don’t remember much about last night at all.”

  “So does that mean you are coming home?”

  He felt a little relief. If she wanted him home then she didn’t hate his stupid ass. “Yes. I’ll be there in a couple of hours. You forgive me?”

  She didn’t respond for what felt way too long and he held his breath.

  “Just get home.?
??

  It wasn’t a yes but he’d take it. Once home, he’d do whatever it took to make it up to her.

  “I love you, Gracie.”

  “Don’t say that to me right now.”

  “But I do. I know I was an idiot and I swear I’ll make it up to you. But you can’t stop me from saying it, Gracie. I love you.”

  She was quiet for a moment then said, “Well, I can’t say it to you right now. You don’t know the night you put me through.”

  Jesus, she didn’t even know the half of it. “You don’t have to. I don’t deserve to hear it right now.” He didn’t even deserve her. “I’ll be home in a few hours and make this right.”

  Even he didn’t buy that last sentence. How the fuck was he going to make this right?

  ***

  The two aspirins Sal had taken just before boarding the plane did nothing to defuse his headache. He sipped the ice water the flight attendant brought him. It wasn’t just the hangover that made his head throb. Everything he’d woken to was a huge contributing factor.

  If he had known Melissa was even going to be in Vegas he would’ve never come. First chance he got he’d be telling Jason off for not telling him she’d be there. He let his head fall back on his seat and gulped hard. He could only hope what happened last night didn’t come back to haunt him. He remembered Jason’s words and the saying, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It was now something he’d be banking on. But with Melissa, you just never knew.

  Blurry bits and pieces had begun to come to him about the night before. Like the two guys fighting just before he’d walked out of the bar. As much as he wanted to believe Melissa had snuck in his room that morning and somehow set up the whole thing up, there were two vivid moments that for some reason kept flashing in his mind. And although they were tiny bits they were very significant. One was of Melissa pulling his zipper down and another of her kissing his lips while she lay next to him.