Page 94 of Fracture

The apartment looked as though she’d just walked out.

He went through the rest of it, finding her things where they’d been that morning.

“Where is she?”

He pulled out his phone and debated texting or calling her and decided on a text.

Are you okay?

He tapped the side of his phone while he waited for her to reply. He started dinner, since he was hungry and it was late, and tried not to panic that she was gone.

Visiting with Adam and Raina. Karli, Cade, and Jessica came over. I’m going to stay here tonight. We’ve all been drinking.

Vinnie breathed an angry laugh. She went out drinking. With her friends. And didn’t even bother to tell him.

She was done. She didn’t need him. She didn’t even want him. She didn’t invite him to join her, or suggest he pick her up. She just left.

Vinnie finished cooking his dinner, then forced himself to eat it. He turned his phone off and fought against all the things he’d always told himself he was.

Not smart enough.

Not desirable enough.

Not interesting enough.

Unworthy.

He’d been telling himself for weeks she didn’t need him. He didn’t want her to need him. Not really. A relationship like that wouldn’t last. None of his others had. As soon as the women realized he wasn’t going to be there for every little thing, they left, thinking it would wake him up and send him chasing after them.

Been there, done that. And it only prolonged the pain. The anger. The frustration.

He wasn’t going to do it again.

Lorelei never needed him, but she said she wanted him. Marcus said the same. But it was all fuzzy. As soon as the cast was off, Lorelei was gone.

Vinnie couldn’t remember feeling the way he did. Stupid for how wrong he was. Angry for how he let himself fall for her. And yeah, sad because she wasn’t ever going to be his. Not the way he was hers.

He went to bed, hoping sleep would grace him and he could ignore all the shit rolling inside him. After three hours of tossing and turning, he decided he couldn’t just ignore it. He had to do something.

He threw the covers off the bed and got up. He stripped the sheets and carried all of it to the washing machine. He shoved everything in and started the machine, washing her scent off his sheets.

Then Vinnie went to the bathroom. He turned on the light and saw all her products. Skin care, hair care, medications. He gathered all of it onto the coffee table in the living room.

The bedroom was next. Clothes from the floor, drawers, and hamper. He put the dirty clothes in the washing machine when he moved the bed linens to the dryer, then grabbed her suitcases and bag.

One item at a time, he removed her from his apartment until all that was left were three pieces of luggage full of the possessions of the woman he loved and would never be worthy of.

He carried himself back to bed and fought for sleep until his alarm went off far too soon. He took a cold shower that did nothing, then made a pot of coffee.

Vinnie glared at the luggage by the door as he drank his fourth cup of coffee. He scribbled a note and left it on top, then grabbed his keys and hoped like hell she was gone by the time he got home.

Jessica offered to drive Lorelei home when they all got up. Being the two without a significant other in the room, Lorelei took her up on the offer.

“How is it not having the cast on?” Jessica asked as she drove away from Adam’s house.

“I think good. So far. I was a little sore yesterday after Adam and I went to the Falls, but it was okay after a little rest.”

“I’ve never broken anything, but I imagine you figure out in a hurry what you can do.”