28

"No way that happened. You're joking!" I laughed, shaking my head at the crazy, funny story Cory told me about him and his kid sister when they were younger.

"I wish. It was embarrassing when the cops came over. Good thing they found it hilarious and let us go with a warning." He chuckled and sipped his coffee.

"Your childhood sounds like a lot of fun." I giggled. It almost made me wish I had a crazy little sister but I was contented with my mom until she, well, died.

"With a sister like Bethany, I had no choice. I can't wait for summer break so I can spend time with her and my mom. I haven’t had time to see them for a while." He grinned and picked up a muffin. "So, how's the muffin?"

"Perfect. I think my tongue is love." I beamed as I took a big bite of the baked blueberry delight. "I—"

"Gwendolyn!"

My stomach dropped as Lorenzo's voice echoed through the small cafe. He stormed towards the table where Cory and I sat and glared at him.

"Scram, brat!" He snapped.

"Excuse me! You can't barge in here and demand my date get out!" I scowled at him.

"You have three seconds to leave here right now or else?" Lorenzo threatened.

"I don't know who the f*ck you are, but you can't tell me what to do?" Cory hissed and glared back at him.

Though it wasn’t as intimidating, but kudos to him for even having the balls to talk back when Lorenzo looked like he was trying not to crush his skull.

"You're on a scholarship, aren't you? Funded by Raimondo Corps. It would be a pity that you suddenly lost it." Lorenzo said coldly, and his eyes widened.

"You can't do that." He paled as all the confidence deflated.

"One phone call and it will be gone. You have three seconds, or I won't stop there. I'll make sure you never get a job in this country."

"You can't do that!" I snarled at Lorenzo, but he didn't bat an eye at me.

"Three."

"Lo—"

"Two."

"I-I'm s-sorry, Gwen, but I have to go." Cory stuttered as he grabbed his bag and dashed out of the cafe.

"Cory!" I called out to him and tried to run after him.

"If you go after him, I'll do everything I threatened." Lorenzo growled, stopping me right in my tracks.

"Are you f*cking kidding me? Why the hell did you do that? Threatening him! Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you?" I shouted at him.

I didn't care if he was a mafia boss of the biggest syndicate in the world or the devil himself, but he had no right to yell at my date like that.

Poor Cory was humiliated in front of everyone.

"That was me being nice. Would you have preferred I did what I said rather than warning him because that was my original plan?" He asked, and my hands itched to strangle him.

"You're an a**hole! A f*cking a**hole!" I hissed as I slammed some cash on the table and stormed out of the cafe.

"Where the hell are you going?" He yelled as he followed me.

"I don't know. Anywhere away from you before I try to strangle you. Do you know how happy I was to go on my first ever date?!" I growled, and he grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me!"

"What do you mean your first date? What about the party we went to?" He frowned as he forced me to face him.

"Oh please, you know that wasn't a date. You never even agreed that it was." I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Let's be honest: if it wasn't for the punishment, you wouldn't have taken me, so it doesn't count because you didn't mean it."

"If it's a date you want, then fine, let's go on a f*cking date!" He said.

"Eh?" I froze for a few seconds before my scowl returned. "You're kidding me, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not. You want to go on a date, so let's go."

"Oh, so you're only doing so because I want to, not because you want to? Oh, Gwen is acting b*tchy because she has gone on a date, so let me take her out so she will know what it feels like and stop being a pain in my ass. Aren't you so compassionate?" I scoffed and yanked my arm out of his grip.

"For f*ck's sake, that isn't what I meant." He groaned and ran his hand through his hair.

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere with you. I want to go on a date where the other person actually wants it too."

"Do I look like the type of man that would give a sh*t if a girl has gone on a date or not? I don't have the time or the heart to be that stupid. I'm asking you out because I f*cking want to. Go out with me." He hissed.

"Oh," I mumbled and pressed my lips together.

He kind of made sense, but I would rather believe that than that he genuinely wanted to go out on a date with me because why would he? We had already f*cked and he had been cold to me since then, but now he's suddenly asking me out!

Liar! And I was going to prove it.

"Well, there is this movie that just came out, and I've been dying to see it." I said, and he relaxed.

"Let's go. I know the best cinema in town." He replied with a small smile and tried to grab my hand, but I dodged.

"It's three hours long, though. Are you sure you want to do this? Don't you have a business meeting to attend to or something else that involves your other job?" I asked as a small smirk crept on my lips.

There was no way he would agree to spend three hours on a pity party date. He would either try to bail out or insist we did something that took less time, proving he doesn't really care about spending time with me.

That hurt, but at least I would know the truth.

"Three hours is quite long." Lorenzo mumbled under his breath, and I grinned.

I was right as always. He—

"We could get dinner after that, don't you think?"

"What?" I blurted as my smile dropped.

"It's about three-thirty now." He said as he checked his watch. "Meaning we won't be done till eight or so. We could have dinner instead of going straight home. I'll make a reservation at a restaurant while we're on our way."

The hell?

"You can't do that! What time will I have to go to the club if we went to dinner?" I exclaimed.

"Do you really think I would let you work after going on a date with me? This evening is for you to be relaxed and forget about the world." Lorenzo grinned as he slid his arm around my waist.

I gawked at him as he called his secretary to clear his schedule as we got into his car.

Oh my— he wasn't f*cking kidding! He really wanted to go on a date with me.

"Close your mouth; you'll catch flies." He teased, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

"You don't have to do this. I'm sure you're busy with work and whatnot. We could go to the restaurant instead so we won't waste much time, and you can get back to what you're doing." I rambled, and he placed his finger across my lips.

"Do you want to watch the movie? Don't lie to me." He said before I could lie, and I nodded.

The movie had been out for almost a month, but I was too broke to afford a ticket even though I desperately wanted to.

"Then we'll watch it." He smiled at me and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Um... thank you. But don't blame me if your work piles up or something." I huffed as I turned my gaze to the window to hide my red face.

A funny fuzzy feeling bubbled in my stomach as my lips curled to a large grin.

I was going on a date with Lorenzo! An actual f*cking date!