Rose smiled. “You’ve already made an impression on me, Vincent, and it’s not a bad one. Trust me. I get you’ve messed up a few times, but I really would like for us to start off completely honest. If we’re gonna be friends, don’t you think that’s how it should be?”

Vincent didn’t even try to hide his exasperation, but exhaling he conceded. “Yeah, it should. Just promise me that you’ll still be my friend. I’m really not that person anymore.”

The curiosity was killing her now. “I promise.” Though it depended on how bad this was. Only that would determine how often she’d be hanging with him if at all.

“Okay, so I got caught in a stolen car once, but at the time I wasn’t aware the car was stolen. I was just cruising with a friend who claimed he’d borrowed it. Since I wasn’t driving, they let me go and arrested my friend. Me and the other two guys in the car had to walk over fifteen f**king blocks home. Lesson learned. If my friend’s mom wasn’t so hysterical and made such a big deal out of us getting home so late, my parents would’ve never even known about it. The driver is no longer anyone I hang out with.” He stared at her hesitating to continue. “I was…I was at party where a girl was gang-raped.” Rose noticed how he clenched his fist and banged softly his own thigh. “I didn’t even know about it, but when she went to the police, since I was there, I was called in. All my friends were, too. My dad was so scared he called my uncle. You know Sal and his family have a lot of money…lawyers and shit.

“This is probably why Sal is most worried about me hanging out with you. Nothing ever became of it. I wasn’t involved in any way, so they couldn’t prove shit, but I know Sal and the family have always had their doubts.”

He looked away again. Rose saw how hard it was for him to face her when telling her all this, but she was grateful that he was anyway. It obviously wasn’t easy for him.

“I like guns.” He must’ve seen the panic in her eyes; she was suddenly wondering if he was carrying one now. “But not like what you’re thinking, Rose. I like target shooting. It’s like one of the only things me and my dad do together. He’s the one that introduced me to it.” She could tell his eyes were searching hers to see if she’d calmed. She had a little. “When he got me a part-time job at the recycling factory where he works, we started going a few times after work to the shooting range next to the factory. And I’m good at it—like real good. The trainers there, who’ve been doing this for years, say I’m one of the best they’ve seen.”

He smiled for an instant proudly before shaking his head and frowned. “My dad has a gun for protection. It’s registered and everything. But of course, he’s not gonna let me use it for anything else but target practice, and only when he’s with me.” He shrugged looking away. “So, like a dumb-ass, when I heard some dude sold guns out of his car, I bought one. I was stupid. I actually thought my dad might even be okay with finding out if there was any way we could get it registered. Before I got the nerve to tell him about it, my mom found it in my room. She freaked—thought I was using it to mug people or something. But that wasn’t it at all. It was just another stupid plan I didn’t think through. The idea of having my own gun excited me. That was it. But of course she wasn’t buying it. ” He looked back at Rose. “My mom really thinks the worst of me right now, and I can’t say I blame her. I’ve done some pretty stupid shit.”

Rose stared at him hoping that was it. She didn’t know how much she could hear without running away. But there was more.

“The worst was the drugs because I have no excuse for that. I thought it through, and I did that willingly. It was easy money—too easy—even the strongest of wills would have a hard time passing it up. I’d make an easy couple of hundred just making a few drops a day.”

Rose stared at him, her heart beating for an altogether reason now. “You dealt drugs?”

“I wasn’t the dealer, but they paid me to deliver. I knew it was illegal and dangerous, but I did it anyway.”

Rose couldn’t pull her eyes away from him, and he stared right back at her. He was putting it out there and making no excuses. She asked for a full disclosure, and he was giving it to her. She almost regretted asking for one now, but she continued to listen silently as his words began to sound angry.

“I never took Enzo with me, but they could’ve followed me home. They could’ve broken in my apartment and hurt my family members just to get to the drugs. I hadn’t even thought of that until my dad found my stash. He’s the one that opened my f**king eyes about it. I’d heard about that kind of shit happening in my neighborhood all the time, but the money blinded me. I felt invincible. Even after my dad told me off, took my stash, and threatened to turn me into the cops if he ever found out I was doing it again, I still snuck around and did it here and there when I needed extra cash. Then it happened.”

He’d been looking everywhere but at her the whole time, and now his eyes stopped on hers. He didn’t even attempt to hide the anger now like he had earlier. “I got jumped. Enzo was with me. They wanted the drugs. It had gotten around that I delivered, and though I was only doing it when I needed to, not full time like before, not everyone knew this. And of course, the one time I got jumped for it, I didn’t have shit on me. Between me and Enzo, we managed to fight them off. They were f**king little wusses who only fought in groups. One on one I would’ve beaten each and every one of them till they were barely breathing, but there were five of them and only two of us.” He winced and looked away. “Enzo had to have stitches, and my mom blamed me again, and she was absolutely right. That’s when I decided never again.”