“No!” She shook her head. “You can’t. We’ve talked about this. They’ll separate us. It’s just a few more years, Vince. As soon as I’m eighteen, I’ll move away and take them with me.”

“You really think he’s going to let you go without a fight?”

Anita glanced at Pepe who was now eating the Cheetos as Beto moved off her lap and walked over to Pepe. Her eyes met Vince’s, and she gave him that look. She wouldn’t say it in front of them, but he knew what she was saying with her eyes. She’d said it many times before. Her dad didn’t want any of them.

Vince frowned, defeated, feeling completely helpless to do more for her. “You sure you don’t need ice or anything?”

She touched her cheek. “No, it was openhanded, so I don’t think it’s going to swell,” she whispered even lower than she’d been whispering earlier. “He was mad about the boys still being up, but they wanted a snack.” She gestured to her brothers. “Thanks for the Cheetos. It’s not exactly the snack I would’ve chosen for them, but it’ll have to do for tonight.”

Her weak little smile did nothing to alleviate the enormous urge he had to grab one of the bookends on her shelf, rip through that door, and beat her dad over the head with it. He took a deep breath, swallowing back his anger. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d had to calm himself, and from the looks of it, it wouldn’t be the last. He just wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back or worse hold Lorenzo back, who was just as disgusted about the whole thing as he was.

Lorenzo stared at him, reaching out to help him as he climbed up the ladder to the fire escape outside their bedroom window. “She okay?

“Yeah, no lumps or open wounds this time, but he slapped her pretty hard.”

Lorenzo banged his hand against the fire escape rail. “What a pu**y! You know one of these days, I’m gonna throw a f**king brick through his truck windshield when he drives up the street.”

“No you won’t.” Vince looked into his angry brother’s eyes. “I know it sucks, but it’s not worth it, Enzo. You could go to jail for something like that, and for what? That piece of shit?” Vince glanced back down at Anita’s open window. “The other day she mentioned he’s been seeing some lady, and she’s noticed a small change in him—a small one, but it’s something.”

Lorenzo’s face contorted. “Who the hell would want date that ass**le?”

Vince shrugged. “I dunno, but if it helps Anita and her brothers’ situation, I’m hoping he keeps dating her.”

They climbed back in the window. Vince picked up his phone and saw he had a text from Rose. He plopped into his bed ready for his nightly dose of Rose. They’d usually text back and forth for at least an hour before calling it a night. He clicked on the envelope, already anxious to read it.

I’m sorry I was so quick to say we couldn’t be friends anymore today. I had just found out about Grace and Sal, and I was so upset I wasn’t thinking straight. Forgive me?

Vince smiled, his insides warming as he reread it. Even after dealing with Anita’s ordeal and everything else that had happened that day—Rose’s being so upset, blaming herself and knowing she’d been crying, the most disturbing thing of all that still lingered in his subconscious, was the fact that she’d dismissed their friendship so easily. Now here she was apologizing for that. Rose Zendejas was what he’d thought from day one—faultless.

***

The good news of getting the go-ahead from his uncle about summer in La Jolla was quickly paled when he found out Rose would be out of state for the first week. Her family was taking a last-minute vacation to Laughlin, so he’d been in La Jolla over a week now, and he may as well have been in La Puente. The only contact he’d had so far with her was their damn texting still. She was home now, and he was dying to see her. He still hadn’t even asked if he could use the restaurant’s car, which Sal had let him use to get to and from work, to drive out to see her.

The last few days she’d been busy packing because she was moving: nowhere far, just out of that scummy building she lived in now. Rose had asked Vince to share as little as possible with Sal about anything her sister was up to. He’d already blown it by letting Sal know they were in Laughlin, but fortunately Sal hadn’t asked much about it.

Finally, Rose said she might be able to see him tonight, only she had to convince her sister. Apparently, thanks to Sal, even though he wasn’t with her sister anymore, she was still holding on to the advice that Sal had given her before they broke up that Vince shouldn’t be trusted.

He walked into the dining room of the restaurant where Sal was chatting with his friend Romero. Vince had been around Romero before. He liked him. He wasn’t wound nearly as tight as Sal was. And from what he’d heard, he was a bit of a hothead himself so Vince could relate.

Vince hadn’t even finished tying his apron when Sal was already asking if Rose was still in Laughlin.

“Nah, they got back a few days ago, but she’s been busy packing for uh…” Shit! Vince finished tying his apron and tried to recover from the slip and changed the subject. “You think maybe it’d be okay for me to drive out tonight and see her for a couple hours after my shift?”

“You mean unpacking right?” Sal asked and Vince could feel his cousin eyeing him as he pretended to concentrate on tying his apron.