The Fear That Divides Us (The Devil's Dust #3)(27)

The day I actually talked to Vincent, he was wearing black dress pants, and a button up shirt that was partially unbuttoned at the neck, and he had the sleeves rolled to his elbows. He wasn’t that attractive really, but was different from most of the people I came across.

“Why are you sulking? Did princess not get her way?” Vincent ridiculed as I sat on the fluffy patio chair.

“Excuse me?” I questioned, holding my arm up to shield my eyes from the blazing sun. He smirked and looked out over the pool, running his hands through his short sandy-colored hair. He pulled a cigarette from behind his ear and lit it. He slid his gaze from the pool and looked at me, his vibrant eyes looking me up and down as he blew smoke out of his nose into the summer heat.

“So why are you so sad?” he asked, taking a drag from his cigarette.

“I’m not sad. I’m just bored,” I replied, wrapping my arms around myself. I had never had anyone talk to me in such a manner before.

“Bored?” he scoffed, sliding his tongue over his bottom lip that looked like it was healing from being split open. “What do you do for fun?” he questioned, humor lacing his words, implying I wouldn’t know what fun was.

“I don’t know, stuff,” I responded, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.

“Stuff?” he snorted. “Like being nose deep into some medical book?” he asked condescendingly, tilting his head to the side as he placed the cigarette between his teeth. I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was bad, so very bad, but beautifully bad.

“Everyone around here has heard how Jessica Wren is destined for great things. Hell, my father won’t shut up about how great Dr. Wren’s daughter is,” he huffed, pacing around me. I shook my head and gritted my teeth. I hated how my father showboated; I was nothing special. The only reason I did so well in my academics was because he drilled my head into medical book after medical book. I was homeschooled by the best.

I stood up and grabbed his cigarette from his mouth, placing the butt of it between my glossed lips.

“I have a lot of fun; I’ll have you know,” I responded, taking a drag. Its metal taste burned my throat, urging me to cough, but I held it back. He smirked, his grayish eyes looking at me with interest.

“So, then what are you waiting for?” he asked, his smile daring and scandalous as he took the cigarette from between my fingers.

“What?” I questioned, my eyes widening in panic.

“Let’s go. Show me what you do for fun,” he continued smoothly, grabbing my hand. My heart pounded faster than it ever had as he ran toward a bright red barn near the property line, my hand in his sweaty palm.

My father found us behind the barn making out a couple hours later. Vincent was my first kiss. I felt things I never had before. He made me laugh, made me feel like an actual woman in only a couple of hours. I kicked my heels off and climbed a tree that day, caught my first frog by hand at the pond behind the barn. He also managed to get to second base. I felt free from accusing eyes, not worried if it was lady like or well mannered.

I remember my father’s trusty sidekicks dragging Vincent under his arms into a shed on the property that was always locked after they had found us. I never saw Vincent again. I yelled that I was running away and that I hated my father; that I was a prisoner in his household. My father told me Vincent was the kind of scum who would use me. That Vincent left without hesitation when my father asked him to stay away. That if Vincent truly wanted to be with me, he would show back up. I waited at our security gate for three days, but he never showed up again.

“Jessica!” My head jolts upward from looking at the white tablecloth, lost in my memories of early childhood lust.

“Yeah?” I question, my voice cracking my suddenly dry mouth.

“I don’t know a lot of what happened between you and Travis,” she mutters. She holds her hands up and pins me with her eyes, “and I don’t want to know, but I would think you are lucky getting the second chance at life after escaping such a dreadful marriage. Don’t waste it.”

I give a tightlipped smile and look back at my menu while thoughts of Vincent still swim in my head.

“What ever happened to Vincent?” I blurt out.

My mother’s cheeks turn red as she licks her lips slowly.

I stare at her intently, waiting.

“Your father told him to never come near you again,” she responded quickly, looking at her menu.

“Did he? Did Vincent ever come back?” I ask. My mother sighs and sets her menu back down.

“Yes, but he was no good for you, just like your father said. You were so young, capable of so much. Vincent was a wild child. He would have taken everything you worked so hard for and ran with it before you even had the chance to discover what you truly wanted in life. I don’t know what his kind was doing at our party,” she continues, shaking her head. I slam my menu down angry. This is not my mother talking; this is the woman my father has sculpted.

“Stop the act,” I snap harshly. She jumps and looks at me with wide eyes.

My mother nods, taking a deep breath.

“Why didn’t you stand up for Vincent, for me?” I interrogate further. Maybe if she had, I would have never ended up with Travis.

“Your father had his eyes sat on Travis at that point, Jessica. There was no interfering with that,” she answers softly, pursing her lips. “If I thought it would have helped, I would have stepped in,” she continues. “After your father met Travis, all he could see was making it on the board of the hospital and you working in that hospital; it was his dream.” I try not to roll my eyes. My mother loves my father. She will never speak ill of him. To her, my father ignoring my bruises and black eyes was him reaching his dream.