Sweet Tooth Read online

  An hour of dancing without incident and Isandro had finally started to relax again. Arianna was relieved. She didn’t want the night to be totally uncomfortable, but her mother had reached an all-time low.

  Isandro had skills, dancing across the floor, moving gracefully. He casually chatted with everyone she introduced him to. And other than her mother, he got along with everyone. Well, not Derrick, but he was laying low and out of sight.

  Bentley took the mic from the DJ and hushed the music with a motion of his hand. Then he turned toward Cherise, who looked amazing in her powder blue dress. “Come here, darling.”

  Blushing, Cherise made her way to her boyfriend of the last three years. He sold insurance in his dad’s company and rumor was he would be taking over the business before long.

  Dropping to one knee, Bentley took Cherise’s hand as her face lit up and a tear slid down her face. “Oh, don’t do that, Cherise. I haven’t even gotten my question out.”

  “Yes! Yes, oh definitely yes!” she squealed.

  He laughed softly. “Hang on. Let me ask first.”

  She nodded, her eyes sparkling like gems. Arianna laid her head against Isandro’s shoulder. He pressed a kiss to her temple. Her heart melted.

  Cherise fanned herself with one hand.

  “Cherise, you are the only woman who wanted me for me. You didn’t want to change me. You just love me. And you’re the only woman I want, exactly as you are, for all my life. Marry me.”

  “Yes, I already said yes.” She pulled him to his feet and wrapped her arms around his neck, taking a kiss.

  Bentley finally pulled back and opened a small velvet box, displaying the ring.

  Cherise gasped. “Oh my God, it’s beautiful.”

  He slid the ring onto her finger with a smile.

  Arianna’s mother whispered, “You’ll never have that. You’re too stupid to take the only man back who might marry you. And now you’re wasting time with someone who can never be what you need.”

  “You never did understand what I needed. And I don’t need your approval. You’re the one wasting time. Not Isandro.” Arianna dismissed her mother by taking Isandro’s hand and pulling him through the crowd to hug her sister.

  Isandro shook Bentley’s hand again. “Congratulations to the happy couple.”

  Cherise squeezed Arianna then turned to Isandro, giving him a hug too.

  He chuckled, patting her back. “I wish you both the best.”

  She beamed up at him, then turned to Arianna. “You finally found a keeper, Sis. Don’t let him go.”

  “No intention of it,” Arianna said, and meant it to the bottom of her soul.

  He pulled her toward the floor while her mother walked up to Cherise.

  “They make a cute couple,” Isandro rumbled.

  “They do. At least someone can make my mother happy. Nothing I do ever will.”

  “So stop trying.”

  “I’m not. Not anymore. Doesn’t mean I should let her cut me out of my sister’s life.”

  “And you shouldn’t. Now come here, because I love having you in my arms.”

  * * * *

  Isandro couldn’t believe the gall of Arianna’s mother. What the hell was her problem? Had she always been that way? And he didn’t feel comfortable asking in front of so many of her mother’s friends.

  Arianna wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and leaned up to whisper, “I think we’ve been here long enough.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked softly.

  She pressed tight, feeling his arousal, and smiled. “Very.” Pulling back, she led him toward the door.

  Outside Isandro froze. Some asshole kicked his car, swearing at the top of his lungs. His back end was a mess. The front end of the car across the aisle was bent to hell.

  “That’s your car,” Arianna whispered angrily.

  “Yeah, and it looks like he’s going to attempt to blame me.” He sighed. “Does your mother have it in her to set something like that up?”

  She winced. “Maybe.”

  Isandro walked across the lot and stopped before the jerk in a suit. “What the hell are you doing to my car?”

  “Me? You’re the one who hit my car. I came out here and my car was a mess!”

  A glance over at the new souped-up Honda Civic made him snort. “Funny, that wasn’t there when we arrived. And I haven’t seen you in the party we’ve been enjoying the last several hours.”

  “Bullshit. I was here all night.” He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

  All Isandro could think was, That’s right, call the cops. Hopefully my sister will come down. If not, I have plenty of friends in the precinct. This asshat clearly didn’t know him or his family. Couldn’t be her mother because the bitch knew more than he expected her to.

  “I’m going to need your insurance information,” Isandro told him as he went to the passenger door to get his information out.

  “Where are you going? I’m calling the damned cops, you fucking punk.”

  “Yeah, figured that out already. But hey, that’s fine. They’ll learn pretty fast who’s lying.”

  “You’re too damned calm, you fucking spic.” The guy bounced from foot to foot like he was thinking about hitting him.

  Isandro caught enough of the person answering the phone to know he’d called 911.

  “Yeah, I’d like to report an accident.” The guy glared at him, daring him to start a fight.

  Isandro shut the car door and stepped back, away from the cars. He was pretty sure this wasn’t going to go the way this guy planned. Either he was an idiot, trying to blame someone else, or it was a set-up. But why him? Unless it had everything to do with Arianna. And why?

  His phone buzzed in his pocket. Didn’t surprise him to find Marissa’s text. We’re on our way. Try not to clock someone.

  Tempting, but he wasn’t about to embarrass Arianna, nor would he prove her mother right, or that pussy she’d dated for too damned long.

  “You text another gangbanger, asshole?”

  Isandro shook his head and drew a slow breath. “What is your problem?”

  “I’m surprised you don’t have a gangster mobile with hydraulics. Too much money for you to trick out your ride?”

  “Do you know this guy?” Isandro asked Arianna.

  She gave him a look that confused him. Finally, she shook her head. “No.” She walked to the other guy. “I was with Isandro when he pulled into the lot. He’s right. Your car wasn’t here. We didn’t hit your car. You haven’t even been into the party. So stop the games.”

  He shook his head. “This isn’t a game. He hit my fucking car, and he’s going to pay.”

  “It will be easy to prove that’s not the case.”

  “Don’t bother, Arianna. I’m used to privileged idiots messing up and thinking they can blame it on someone else. He’s probably thinking I don’t fit in here. Of course the police are going to believe me.”

  Just in time, Marissa and Brian pulled into the lot and drove over in the cruiser.

  Marissa was the first out of the car as Brian was the one driving.

  “You want to report an accident?” Marissa asked.

  Dipshit sneered. “I’ll wait to talk to the man who won’t take the wetback’s side.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I was born and raised in this town. What gives you the right to judge? You want to deal with a cop, you’re going to deal with me.”

  “No. I’ll deal with him.” He pointed to Brian.

  Brian held his hands up with a laugh. “I’d listen to Officer Cortez. She’ll take the complaint from both of you, and we’ll get to the bottom of the accident.”

  Dumbfuck crossed his arms over his chest, staring at Brian, who didn’t reach for a pen or paper, while Marissa already had a report on a clipboard ready to go.

  He wove some idiotic tale of being at the club since that morning. That he went to the party, and as he was leaving, he found his front end smashed.

  Isandro
explained they’d been at the club since five, before many people were there. There were no Honda Civics when they had arrived, and he hadn’t crashed his car. “Arianna and I were leaving. You could pull the video.”

  “Vi-video?” asswipe sputtered.

  “You know, security video?” Arianna taunted.

  “There’s no security video.” He didn’t sound so sure of that.

  “Let’s go inside. We’ll find someone to get us what we need.” Marissa smiled pleasantly as she walked past the asshole then rolled her eyes once she was ahead of him.

  Idiot started sputtering to Brian. “That’s not necessary. You can see the damage. This asshole was being irresponsible, driving through here like a crazy man. He was probably high. He hit my car. Now look at it!”

  Isandro sighed and followed his sister.

  Arianna caught up and took his hand. “Sorry. I could call a cab for us.”

  “Just the bumper. I’ll have it repaired, but it should drive fine. At least to get us home.”

  Arianna shrugged sheepishly. “Oh. Makes sense.”

  Inside, Marissa was already talking to the owner, who nodded his head. “Right this way.”

  The idiot ran inside to follow. He paled the moment the video started. The owner of the country club rewound the feed and Isandro chuckled when he watched the Honda Civic pull away from his car. They stopped the tape and started it forward. Sure enough, dipshit drove through the parking lot looking for the right car. Then he backed up, slammed into his Mustang, and pulled into the spot across from it.

  The kid ran through the doors and out of the building. Brian had stayed outside.

  Marissa shook her head and touched Arianna’s arm. “We should talk later.”

  Arianna nodded, a curious look on her face.

  Mrs. Nelson appeared in the door. “What on earth is going on? Is he starting trouble at my daughter’s engagement party?”

  Marissa turned to her with a smirk. “No. He isn’t. Someone plowed into Isandro’s car and attempted to blame him. I believe Officer Cox has detained the culprit as it was clearly on purpose.”

  Mrs. Nelson turned to her daughter with a confused look. Then she clutched her chest and started to slide to her knees.

  Arianna caught her and helped her sit. “Mom, are you okay?”

  She shook her head, gasping for air as she clawed at her chest, her breathing erratic.

  Isandro didn’t buy it. He’d seen heart attacks, seen people collapse, all sorts of problems, but nothing that came on like that. First the accident, now her mother? Fishy as hell.

  Marissa took the radio and called the emergency line. The dispatcher came on and she reported a possible heart attack.

  Fuck, with Marissa calling 911 he wasn’t going to attempt to point out this was too damned convenient.

  He knelt beside Arianna and asked, “Can I help?”

  Mrs. Nelson looked up with pure hatred. “You’ve done enough.”

  “Mother!” Arianna warned. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “You have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  “You’ll let the ambulance take me away, and not even check on me,” she hissed. “I bet you go back to his place and fall into his bed like a whore.”

  Arianna sat back. “I have every intention of making sure you’re okay.”

  Isandro gritted his teeth but didn’t say a word. Mrs. Nelson was using this as a ploy to drive a wedge between them.

  Marissa looked at him and back at the woman with a snort. He knew what his sister was thinking without having to hear it. “I’m going to see how Officer Cox is handling the suspect.”

  She walked past Mrs. Nelson and shot her a look.

  Arianna looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Can you get my sisters? At least Cherise.”

  “Of course,” he answered, stepping around Arianna and her bitch of a mother. He found Cherise sitting at a table making moony eyes at her fiancé.

  Cherise looked up, then frowned. “Where’s Arianna?”

  “Something is wrong with your mother. An ambulance is coming. They’re back in the security room.”

  “Oh no. I should go back there.”

  Bentley stood and helped her to her feet. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Where’s your other sister? I told Arianna I would tell both of you.”

  Cherise smiled sadly and walked to the next table. “Antoinette. Mother needs us.”

  Her eyes cut to Isandro as she stood and sneered. “Did he do something?”

  He wanted to scream at her he hadn’t done a damned thing but try to help, but his mood was quickly turning to shit. There wasn’t a single thing wrong with their mother, except the ice cold, black fucking heart in her chest.

  “She’s back here,” he said and turned to head back to Arianna.

  * * * *

  Arianna watched Isandro go. There were a million things she wanted to say, but she caught how deeply her mother hurt Isandro when he flinched. She wanted to slap her mother and leave with him, but she felt like she had to go to the hospital.

  Antoinette would be busy with her husband. Cherise should celebrate her engagement. That left Arianna to deal with her. The last place she wanted to be.

  If she could convince Isandro to deal with his car and she could call him later, everything would be fine. Just one night of dealing with the woman who kept trying to shove her into the box she preferred.

  The paramedics came and everything blurred by.

  Isandro came down the hall, his jaw set and his stare stony. Whatever Antoinette said only darkened his mood. One night, that was all she needed.

  Her mother grabbed her arm. “I’m scared.”

  “I’ll be there,” Arianna answered.

  They wheeled her out while her sisters peppered her with questions she answered. Isandro watched, no emotion in his eyes.

  She felt like she was losing him already, but she needed to be there for her mother. Someone had to. Maybe if she played the good, caring daughter, her mother would finally give her a chance. Not like that would ever happen.

  So why was she going? Because someone had to.

  Antoinette sneered. “Are you going?”

  “Of course I am. I assume you’re busy with Gerald.”

  She nodded.

  Arianna squeezed Cherise’s hand. “You should enjoy the rest of your night. I’ll make sure Mom’s okay.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” she answered. “I’ll go.”

  Shaking her head, she pushed Cherise toward Bentley. “No. Not tonight. You should celebrate your engagement. Tomorrow morning, you can take over.”

  “You’re sure?” Cherise asked.

  “Yeah.” And Arianna didn’t bother asking Antoinette to do it because she knew the answer would be no.

  “You better not bring him,” Antoinette hissed, glaring at Isandro.

  He didn’t react.

  Her heart pounded in her chest. “That’s none of your business. Now I really should go.” She walked past everyone, not offering any excuse, hoping Isandro followed.

  He did.

  Isandro caught her hand outside the doors. “Let me take you to the hospital.”

  She nodded. “Please.”

  “Of course.” He smiled slightly and threaded his fingers through hers.

  The connection was instant, and she wanted to hold onto it with both hands. He let her into the car and made his way around to get in.

  Her nerves ratcheted up.

  He looked over. “How do you put up with them?”

  “Have to. They’re family. And Cherise isn’t so bad. Just…” She sighed.

  “Ignorant. She’s sweet, though.” He laughed softly. “Antoinette is the same as your mother. She cuts you down. You don’t have to put up with it.”

  “After tonight, I won’t. But Antoinette won’t go, and Cherise shouldn’t. So it’s me.”

  “Right.” He started the car
and backed up. Luckily, only his bumper was trashed, but that would be fixed and it would be fine. “After I drop you off I’ll take my car to Val’s Auto Repair. I’ll change and come out to the hospital.”

  “Isandro, that’s not a good idea.”

  Huffing, he pulled onto the road and shook his head. “Because I’m not good enough?”

  “I never said that. Look, my mother won’t want you in the room. Go home and sleep. I know you work tomorrow morning.”

  “I’d still be there for you. I don’t care about sleep. If she cuts you down, you can come out to the waiting room and sit with me. Let me hold you close and tell you how beautiful and special you are. Then you can go do what you need to do.”

  “She’s not going to let me leave the room, Isandro. Go home. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  “Fine,” he muttered.

  She took his hand. “I’m not shutting you out. I know how this will go. No sense in waiting for me if she’s going to sit there and bitch the whole time.”

  “And if she’s so horrible, you really shouldn’t go. I’m not asking you to go home because you won’t. I’m telling you to lean on me. That’s all.”

  “I will, but not tonight.”

  He pulled his hand away to turn but left his hand on the wheel.

  She blinked back tears. “Don’t do that. You don’t understand my family.”

  “I do. I want to be there for you. Not her. She never has to know I’m there.”

  “Please, give me one night to deal with her, then I’ll shut her out.”

  “Fine.”

  “Not fine. Damn it.”

  His eyes cut over to her. “What the hell do you want me to say?”

  “That I can come by tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, sure.” He pulled up at the hospital. The ambulance was already there.

  By the time he parked, she felt Isandro slipping away. He came around and opened her door, helping her out, but his expression was grim.

  He took her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “If you need someone to talk to, call me. I hate leaving you here, alone, with that hateful woman. She’s going to fill your head full of nonsense.”

  “I won’t listen.”