Isaac's POV
"Pops?" I lightly tap my knuckles on his office door, it wasn't closed entirely.
"Come in, son."
I place my hand on the door, pushing it open and poke my head inside. I immediately see Don, my fathers second in command, sitting across from him, a couple papers in his lap, he quickly turns them over. "Oh, I'm sorry, pops, I didn't know you were busy."
"It's fine, KP, come in," he waves me over to him, indicating that I close the door. "Sit."
I nod shutting the door behind me and make my way over to the empty chair next to Don. I greet him as I take my seat, "what's up, Don." He nods his head, his lips barely tugging to the side.
I frown a bit, he must be in a shitty mood because as big and scary looking as Don was, he was probably one of the friendliest persons you could ever meet, it was rare seeing him in a bad mood. It was actually something that pops was really concerned about, he didn't think anyone would take Dominic seriously, seeing how he was so kind hearted, but he proved everyone wrong four years ago when he put a bullet in between one of the new recruits eyes.
Dominic reminded everyone that day just what kind of authority he actually had, apparently some of the new recruits were getting a little comfortable around him. Don't get me wrong, Don was one hell of a guy, he would be anyone's friend no doubt about it, as long as you didn't cross him, as long as you respected him, but even then at the end of it all he was still their boss, and he made sure that they never forget that. Dominic didn't like being called boss though, he felt like that was pops title and only his title, that's where he chopped his name up and Don came in place.
"Have you handled your situation yet?" Pops grumbles. Okay, they're both in bad moods.
I shake my head looking over at my dad, he was referring to the whole Layla thing. As mad as he was, pops was actually letting me take care of this myself, rather than him. Layla had another thing coming her way if she thought I was gonna let this slide, she fucked with the wrong guy, literally.
I didn't necessarily tell my dad what had happened, I guess he put two and two together after we found my Beamer in the hotel parking lot with its windows completely smashed in. He was actually more mad at me that I was stupid enough to let my guard down and get caught in that situation, i mean how the fuck was I suppose to know that her crazy ass was gonna drug me? Then again we are talking about Layla Santiago, I should have seen it coming.
"They're still looking," I tell him.
I currently had Vinny and Albert on look out since Wednesday night, but could not find that stupid bitch anywhere. I would've preferred Dion to do it himself, he was real good with finding people, but pops currently had him busy with other things that I was usually in charge of.
"You have until Monday, KP, if you're still empty handed by then I'm taking matters into my own hands. I don't care if she's a girl, I don't care how old she is, who's daughter she is, she better pray to God that I don't find her, because nobody fuck's with The Matteo's."
I nod my head looking down at my lap, "I'll get it done, dad, I promise."
"What did you need, Isaac?"
"Oh, -um," I swallow the lump that's stuck at the back of my throat, not really knowing how to ask what was in my head. I was currently on lockdown and not allowed to go anywhere, so asking for permission to do anything was pretty weird, I normally just grabbed my keys and left. But for one I was grounded, and two my dad had all my keys and phone. Hell, he's been so pissed that he hasn't even got the Beamer fixed, it just sitting in the garage all busted up.
"Can I go out for a couple hours?" I finally manage to spit the words out.
My dads eyebrows clench together for a quick second as he glances over at Don and he shrugs his shoulders, pop then looks back at me chuckling softly. "I don't think you understand the concept of being grounded, Isaac," he shakes his head mildly.
"No I know, pops. It's just that," I pause and sigh deeply. "I asked Hailey if we could go grab a bite and talk things out."
"Wasn't the little red head just here a while ago?" Don finally breaks his silence.
I nod, "please, pops. An hour and a half tops. I'm really trying to get her back here, she's so fücking mad at me it's insane."
"Watch your mouth!" Pops snarls.
"Sorry," I mumble and hear Don chuckle softly beside me.
"What do you think, Dominic?" Pops turns to his second in command.
"I don't know," he grins sitting back in his seat, placing his hand over his chin. "How long did train with Jeremiah today?"
I roll my eyes thinking back to the time I stepped into the gym, "I don't know, almost three hours. I went down there a quarter till 1."
He smiles looking over at my dad, shrugging his shoulder yet again, "it's your choice, boss."
Pops doesn't say anything, he stares at me for a couple seconds, thinking long and hard when he picks his phone up from his desk, clicking it on. He looks back up at me, reaches into his drawer pulling out my phone and the Acura keys, handing them to me.
I immediately smile reaching for them, when my dad quickly yanks his hand back. "I want you home by 7, do you understand me?"
I nod my head, smiling, "yeah, okay, 7."
"Before 7! I swear to God, Isaac, if I find out that you fucking got into something, Im gonna kick your ass personal-"
"Dad, I'll be here, I promise."
He narrows his eyes for a second and proceeds to hand me the keys, finally placing them in my hand. "I don't know what the fuck you're gonna tell your mother if she gets home before you do."
I laugh softly getting up from the chair, walking around it. "I got it, pops, I'll be back by then."
"And put a fucking jacket on, it's cold outside!"
I laugh and turn to look back at him, "and to think the kids at school think you're not a normal dad."
Pops and Don both break out into a small chuckle, "get the fuck out of my face, Isaac."
~~~~~
I was a bit annoyed that my phone was completely dead when I tried to text Hailey that I was leaving my house, and ended up charging it in the car. I made a few quick stops before actually heading to her house to give my phone some time to get a bit of juice, then texted her that I was down the street.
My blood pressure immediately rises when I see Hailey standing in the drive way, but it's not because she's looking like a fucking gem, it's because of who she's with, her fucking dad.
It appears that he just got home from work at least that's what I'm assuming, he has the door to his car open, his gun and badge at his waist, his arms folded and pressed against his chest, one of the meanest glares I'd ever seen in my life, and that's saying a lot account on who my dad is. I quickly put my car in park, getting ready to step out of the car and face her fucking dad, when Hailey turns to look back at me immediately shaking her head no, pushing her dad back.
"Fuck man," I cursed under my breath. "I'm such a dead man."
I hear Hailey talking to hear dad outside on the drive way but I can't make out what she saying, everything's muffled because of the closed doors and windows. A few seconds later she's standing on her tippy toes, kissing her dad on the cheek, as he continues to stare in my direction. I now know where Hailey gets her new profound anger from. I start my engine the second Hailey starts making her way to the car and she's opening the door to the passenger side. She slides into the seat and puts her seatbelt on without saying a single word, I catch a whiff of her body spray as she's clicking her seatbelt in, it's the one I bought her a few weeks ago and it instantly makes me happy.
Hailey catches me smiling at her and immediately frowns, "what?" She grumbles.
"Nothing," I chuckle shaking my head, running my tongue along my bottom lip, my lips were insanely chapped and I fucking hated it. "Ready?" She nods and I put the car in first gear. "Should I wave or.. just drive by?" I ask referring to David still standing in the drive way.
I know she's trying her hardest not to laugh, I can see the small smile attempting to creep on her face, "don't wave," she says, and I don't.
"He hates me doesn't he?"
"He always did," she smirks, barely looking at me.
I laugh softly, nodding, agreeing with her, "this is true."
We drive out of Hailey's neighborhood and the silence in the car is fucking killing me, I want her to talk to me, but I don't know what the fuck to say other than I'm sorry. I'm starting to sound like a fücking broken record here. I mentally roll my eyes forgetting the fücking gift I got her and reach my hand behind her seat, grabbing the boutique of flowers I bought and set them on her lap.
She immediately looks over at me, a confused expressions on her face, "I thought you said nothing special?"
"What? I can't buy my friend some flowers?" I grin.
She scowls me for a second and then eases up, "thank you," she murmurs picking up the roses from her lap. "They're beautiful," she smiles, and I think it's actually a genuine smile.
I didn't want to be your typical cliché and buy Hailey red roses, nor did I want her to think that I was trying to buy her forgiveness, so the lady at the flower shop suggested that I get some light pink ones that were a big seller in her shop right now.
"You're welcome," I smile in return, running my tongue over my damn lip again. "What are you in the mood for?"
"I don't know, I kind of want a burger, what about you?"
My first instinct is to say some perverted ass shit, but I actually bite my tongue and continue to look straight, keeping my eyes on the road, away from her. "I don't care," I smile. "I'm down for whatever, it's just gotta be near by cause I'm on a time limit." I glance at the time on the stereo and note that it's only 4:18, giving me plenty of time to spend with Hailey.
"What?" She scoffs, placing her hand on her chest. "Big bad Matteo actually has a curfew?"
I laugh deeply, turning to look at her and she has a huge grin on her face. "Whatever, just pick a place."
She giggles and it nearly makes my heart stammer in my chest, it's been so long since I've heard her giggle, it's still as amazing as the first day I heard it. "There's a small shopping center coming up, there's a place in there that sells good burgers," she implies.
Sure enough the little shopping center comes into view and I'm turning into the parking lot, parking my car. Hailey reaches behind her, setting her flowers down on the back seat giving me enough time to run over to her door and open it for her.
"Stop," she grumbles, stepping out of the car.
"Stop what?" I smile closing the door behind her.
"Doing dately things!" She walks passed me.
I lock the car shoving the keys into my sweats, "if this were a date, Hail, don't you think I would've dressed up a little more? Plus, I don't think dately is a word," I chuckle walking up behind her.
Hailey playfully shoves me away from her, telling me to shut up as we walk towards the little burger joint. We actually never make it inside the little burger shop because Hailey suddenly decides that she wants Mexican food along the way, but I don't blame her though, it did smell pretty good while we were passing by. I get the door for her letting her walk inside first, and a guy immediately walks us over to a table, setting two menus down on the table, informing us that our waitress should be with us any second.
Hailey thanks the guy kindly while taking her seat, and I take the seat directly in front of her. She immediately picks up her menu and opens it, as I continue to gawk at her. She looks absolutely amazing. She changed from what she was wearing when she first came to the house, she was in jeans and some type of jacket thing, with her hair tied up, but now, now she looked more casual, relaxed, comfortable.
She was now in a grey hoodie, that was a size too big and a pair of black leggings, but that's not why I was staring, I've seen Hailey in sweats before, hell I've seen her in nothing at all. It was the cap that she currently had on her head that was catching my attention. Her hair was no longer up in a bun, she now had it down in soft waves, while wearing a black Nike hat, sporting the fuck out of it.
"What?" She looks up from her menu. I smile shaking my head no and pick up my own menu, opening it up. "I can literally feel you just staring at me, Isaac."
"I'm sorry, it's just.. I've never seen you wear a hat before," I tell her. "You looking fücking good in it."
There's a small tint of pink in her cheeks, "thank you. You don't look so bad yourself," she smirks, shifting her eyes to my own hat on my head.
"Ha' was that a compliment?" I tease.
Hailey smiles shaking her head no, when a girl probably a little older than Hailey and I walks up to our table, dressed in all black, a black apron tied at her waist.
She sets a basket of tortilla chips down on our table along with two other small bowls, ones filled with some type of salsa, and the second one is some refried beans with some cheese on top. "My names Isabel," she grins, looking in my direction. "I'll be your waitress today, can I start you off with some drinks?"
"Can I get a Dr. Pepper," Hailey ask's politely.
Isabel doesn't say anything and turns to look back at me, "and for you?" She continues to smile.
It takes everything in me not to bust out laughing right then and there, Hailey has an ugly scrunched up look on her face, yet there's a hint of amusement behind it. She raises her eyebrows, wiggling them at me.
"I'll take a Dr. Pepper as well," I say, never taking my eyes off of Hailey.
"Are you guys ready to order or do you need a couple more minutes?"
"Do you know what you want?" I ask Hailey.
She turns to look at Isabel, a fake smile plastered on her face, "we need a few more minutes."
"Take your time," she says before walking away.
" I think you got an an admirer," Hailey mumbles in a snarky voice, picking her menu back up.
I snort softly shaking my head. I wanna make a comment about her being jealous, but then I think to myself that it's not such a good idea, seeing how she hates my guts right now. I simply smile, looking over my own menu, "she's not my type," I smile.
"Oh right, I forgot you like the slutty easy ones," she quickly bites back. Ouch.
I hang my head low, slightly shaking it, "okay, I deserved that."
"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"It's fine, Hail, you shouldn't be the one apologizing."
She smiles sadly, changing the subject. "so why are you on a time limit? Where are you going after this?"
"Home," I scoffed. "I'm sort of, kind of, grounded," I flash her my teeth.
"Please tell me that you didn't sneak out just for this, Isaac."
I chuckle softly shaking my head no, "I didn't, I asked my dad for permission. I actually asked to come out for an hour or so and he gave me until 7, but only because I said I was coming out with you," I wink at her.
She playfully rolls her eyes, "how long are you grounded for?"
I shrug my shoulders, "until ma decides she not mad I guess."
"Are you guys ready to order?" Isabel's back.
"Yeah," I say under my breath and give her my order, but I never once look up at her, I keep all my attention on Hailey. She rolls her eyes at me again and gives Isabel her own order. She orders a carne asada quesadilla, with extra guaca on the side, no beans, extra rice. When I in the other hand order camarones costa azul, which is basically shrimp wrapped with bacon and cheese on the inside.
Isabel leaves and returns with our food later, as I continue to have small conversations with Hailey but she's still holding back, barely wanting to look at me. She ask's me if I'll be in school next week on Monday, and I lie and tell her yes, teasing her about missing me in class. She eventually lightens up and starts laughing, smiling, cracking jokes here and there, but truth be told, I honestly didn't know if I was gonna make it.
I needed to find Layla before my dad did, not because I was afraid of what he'll do to her, i could careless honestly. I needed to prove to him that I can still handle whatever he throws at me, that I was still worthy, reliable. Not only do I have to fix what happen between Hailey and I, but I have to fix the tension between Dion and I, he hasn't said anything, mostly because he's been so busy with cleaning up my shit, but I know for a fact that he's fucking pissed at me. Not only do I have to win Hailey's trust back, but I have to earn my dads also, it's why he's giving Dion all my job sites, why he wants me to handle this first, he thinks I'm growing soft, weak, and maybe he's right, I don't fucking know, but I'm gonna fix this, I'm gonna fix it all.
It's 6:18 by the time we're done eating and I'm taking Hailey back to her house. We're currently standing outside on the curb next to my car, talking, and Hailey seems to be back to her usual self but I don't want to chance it by making the stupid mistake in touching her and she slaps the fuck out of me, so I'm keeping my distance still.
The conversation we're having dies down and Hailey suddenly gets really quiet, looking down at the ground.
"What's on your mind?" I ask.
"Nothing," she shakes her head.
I wanna reach for her hand, I wanna pull her into me, cup her face, kiss her, tell her how much I love her, that I'm so fucking sorry, but I think she's tired of hearing me say the same shit over and over. We stand in silence for a few more seconds and I cross my arms over my chest, inhaling a deep breath, sighing deeply, about to attempt to get her to talk to me.
"Hail-"
"I wish you didn't have to go," she says softly, barely looking over at me.
"I know, baby, me either."
Fucking idiot.
I'm about to apologize for calling her baby, when Hailey's suddenly running into my arms, pressing her face against my chest, hugging the life out of me. I freeze up for a second not really knowing what to do, afraid that if I engage her back she'll pull away, but I chance it and wrap my arms around her.
"Talk to me, Hail, what's going on?"
"I missed you so much," she cries into my hoodie, and I feel my heart ache in my chest.
I wrap my arms tighter around her, kissing the top of her head, well her hat, "I'm not going anywhere anymore," I pull apart from her just a bit, lifting her head up by her chin. I instantly notice that her beautiful green orbs are glossy from the tears welled up in her eyes, "I promise."
She nods her head, her tears spilling out of her eyes. I cup her face with my hands, my thumbs wiping the tears off her cheeks, "don't cry, Hail, please."
"I'm sorry," she mutters, attempting to tear her gaze away from me, but I don't allow it.
I tilt her face back towards me and lean down to kiss her on the lips. Hailey immediately melts in my arms and is eagerly kissing me back. I break our kiss up but keep my face inches away from her, "stop, I'm the one that has to be apologizing, not you," and lock our lips together again.
My phone starts to ring in my pocket and I groan breaking our kiss up for a second time, pulling my phone out of my pocket. It's fucking Don. I glance over at Hailey who's just patiently watching me. I place my hand on the back of her neck and pull her in for another kiss, but it's only a quick peck this time, "I have to answer this," I tell her and she nods her head.
I take a couple steps away from her and call Dominic back, seeing how I didn't get to answer his call on time. He immediately picks up on the first ring, "you better be on your fucking way home," he snarls.
"I am, I'm dropping her off," I grit.
Don doesn't respond, the line goes dead as he hangs up the call without another word. I mentally curse to myself when I see the time on the top of my screen, it's 6:42. I have about ten minutes to get home and it's a fifteen minute drive with all the fucking lights on the way. I quickly shove my phone back into my jeans an walk back to Hailey, "I gotta go, come back to the house with me?"
She smiles sadly, "I can't," she shakes her head. "My dad; I had to convince him to let me go eat, i highly doubt he'll be okay with me going over."
I nod in response, running my tongue over my bottom lip, I gotta get some damn chapstick on the way home. I turn to face my car and grab the bouquet of flowers in the back seat that I bought for Hailey and hand them to her. Her face immediately lights up as she brings the flowers back up to her face.
"They really are beautiful," she smiles.
I smile in return and grab her by the waist pulling her into me, kissing her one last time before I head out. "As are you," I whisper and she smiles against my lips. "I'll text you when I get home if pops let's me keep my phone." She nods and I kiss her on the forehead, rushing over to my car praying to God that I get all the lights on green.