Nothing to Lose (BWWM)

Twenty Five

2 weeks later...

Lily-Ann Pellegrino always stressed two things to her only son.

One of them was to never judge a book by its cover.

The other was to never underestimate how quickly you could become attached to someone.

Both of these were learnt from her experience with Giovanni and now Vincent was experiencing the latter. He was becoming attached. Very quickly.

He now knew why Imani would always smile at the mention of LJ: the little boy had a heart of gold and he could do no wrong. Everything he did was endearing and harmless. Vincent was growing closer and closer to him, finding that LJ reminded him of himself as a young boy.

Curious, creative and extremely fond of his mother.

And Vincent could see why. Imani placed LJ above anything and everything and he admired that greatly. 

He also admired her confidence.

Her ability to always be able to speak her mind no matter the situation.

Her humour.

Her modesty.

Her moments when she would open up to him and let him into her world. A world that he was finding himself getting deeper and deeper into and loving every aspect of it. Everything about her was slowly becoming apart of him and as much as he didn't want to admit, he was falling for her. 

Fast.

Vincent was fond of her to the point where he was actually talking to her about his early life and past experiences.

She wasn't judgemental, she didn't chastise him - she simply listened intently and shared details on her own life.

Although her mother was still warrming up to him, Lily Ann was completely in love with her. When the pair would go and see her at the hospital, they would end up staying longer than usual because Imani and his mom couldn't end their conversation. 

He didnt mind too much as he found himself spending time with the two most important women in his life.

He loved spending time with Imani. It was the first time he had someone who could make him laugh, get him slightly agitated and set his body on fire all in the space of five minutes. 

She was a remarkable woman and that's why he was happy when she told him that she wasn't going to move out. It wasn't as if he was going to let her. He had concluded that he was willing to do whatever it took to keep her and LJ under his roof and with him.

So she came up with an offer; they would stay as long as she had some sort of input towards the bills.

 He didn't hesitate in accepting the deal.

"It is so damn cold." Although Vincent's black leather jacket swallowed her petite frame, she tightened it around her body as they walked into the hospital and straight to the elevators. He pushed the down button and when the steel doors opened, he limped inside after her. "I can't believe you spent that much money on a cane!" She mentioned, throwing her head back and roaring with laughter. "Ridiculous."

"I think it looks good." 

"It looks ridiculous, Vincent." 

He lifted the gold headed cane and lightly trailed it down her front. Imani swatted it away but he only did it again. "You love it."

"I don't." Swat. Tapping her butt with it, he smirked when she yelped and moved forward. "We're in public, stop hitting me with that ridiculous cane."