Nero (Made Men #1)(14)

Nero’s phone rang. “Yeah?”

“Tell me how it went.”

Nero got out of the bed and opened the door leading to his balcony. Walking out, he shut the doors.

“Well, she showed up to school. I gotta say, I was kind of shocked she actually did. Should have known, though, she wouldn’t let her friend go to school without her. First class, she was a little out of it. Looked mostly tired but snapped back pretty fast.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“You don’t seem surprised.” Nero must have missed something.

“I had Vinny and Enzo check in on her at the diner. She had enough balls to go to work, acting like she was already gone before it happened. When the cops asked her about the murder, she pretended it was the first she’d heard of it.”

“So, I assume this was a test. How did I do…boss?” Nero made sure his father got his meaning.

“Don’t take it personally, son. Answer the question.”

“Yes, I talked to her. It’s going to take time for her to trust me, though. She doesn’t exactly have reason to trust anyone in school. As you can see, she’s not your typical high school girl.”

“Yeah, I’m seeing that, especially after years of seeing the girls you and your brother bring home. Why can’t either of you bring a girl like that home?”

“Probably because we’d have to work too hard to get in their panties.”

“Well, you have one month to get into them and find out what she saw. Oh, and I don’t want to see another girl walk through my front doors unless it’s Elle. Mistake number one already. A piece of advice, father to son, she ain’t the cheating type. You’re done fucking around. Consider yourself married off till the job is done.” All Nero could hear after that was a tone saying his dad had said his peace.

Nero squeezed the phone. Done fucking around. That’s a joke.

He opened the door and lay back down on the bed, considering what his dad had said about Elle. ‘She had enough balls to go to work.’

Elle had fooled the cops and everyone else besides the family.

Nero smiled. Elle, I am going to have fun with you.

Nero heard the bathroom door open right on cue. Stacy came out, showered and dressed. She headed for the door. “See you tomorrow, Nero.”

“Did I give you permission to leave?” Nero grabbed her hand.

Stacy beamed and jumped on top of him.

No, he was not quite done with her tonight; he had only grown harder at the thought of Elle. Nero was sure he would fuck Stacy until the thought of Elle disappeared. Little did Nero know, however, it was sleep that would come first.

*

Elle lay in bed, exhausted. Work had been mentally draining, worrying about who was going to walk through the doors next. Then she had to come home and do homework on top of that.

To top it all off, the thought of Nero going home with another girl was really messing with her brain. Why do I even care about him?

She didn’t understand why guys were attracted to girls like Cassandra. Oh, yeah, right.

Elle knew she was nothing like them. She didn’t have money, didn’t buy fancy clothes, and didn’t throw herself at boys. I’m just a waitress.

It really bugged Elle to not be able to shake him from her thoughts because, clearly, he only wanted to get laid and girls meant nothing else to him. Moreover, Elle would never picture herself with a guy like Nero.

Honestly, Elle had never pictured herself with anyone. She had never liked anyone enough. Elle was definitely a virgin—hell, she had never even been kissed before. I am definitely not his type, and he isn’t mine.

Elle had decided long ago, no matter what changed, she wouldn’t be with anyone at Legacy Prep High because not one of them gave a shit about her. All the times she had been bullied, all the laughs and stares—she blamed them as much as the ones causing the actual pain.

Elle spent the night begging for sleep to come and rescue her from her thoughts, but not even sleep gave her a reprieve from Nero.





Chapter Seven

A Deal With the Devil

When Elle walked into English class the next morning, she came to a halt, causing Chloe to bump right into her. Elle slowly started walking to her seat, unable to believe it. She stopped at the seat in front of hers, staring down at a gloating Nero. She really wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

“Good morning, Elle.” Elle could hear how shocked Chloe was at hearing her name come out of his mouth.

Completely ignore him, Elle decided.

She took her seat, and of course, all she could see in front of her was Nero. She had spent the whole night trying to forget him, and now he’d graced her with an upfront view of himself.

She turned her head to look at Chloe, unable to look at him anymore; even the back of his head was handsome. She didn’t even want to get started on the back muscles she saw under his white, button-up shirt.

It wasn’t long before Elle couldn’t even look at Chloe, either; she had a big smirk on her face.

Attempting to ignore them both, all Elle could smell was Nero’s cologne; it was the scent of pure man. The smell of him brought her back to yesterday in the art supply closet. She got chills at the memory of his finger running down her skin. Stop!

Elle swore this was the longest class of her life. She needed to get away from him.