by Noelle Adams
Liz’s stomach twisted painfully. “With who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know he had a date?” Liz had no reason not to believe the news. Charlie had been out late last night when she’d snuck into Vince’s room.
“Em just texted to tell me. She’s getting more information.”
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Jane.” She reached out to squeeze Jane’s knee. She would have given her a hug, but her sister wasn’t much of a hugger and Liz had always respected that.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. Charlie never really asked me out. We weren’t going out or together or anything. He has every right to date who he wants. I was silly for hoping for anything with him.”
“You were not silly. He gave you every sign he was crazy about you. I’m sure he was. We all thought he was waiting until he was ready for another serious relationship, and I’m convinced that’s what was happening. I just don’t understand what went wrong. Why didn’t he ever make a move on you and get serious? He so obviously wanted to, and I just can’t believe he’s the kind of guy who’d play around with a girl’s feelings that way.”
“Maybe he decided I wasn’t his type after all. It doesn’t matter. It’s over now, and he didn’t do anything wrong.”
Liz scowled. “We’ll have to disagree on that.” She picked up her phone and texted out a message to Em, asking if she’d found out anything.
Jane might want to let the whole thing drop, but Liz wasn’t ready to do that yet.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
She knew it.
Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down to see that Em had replied. On way.
“Em is coming over. Maybe she has some news.”
Jane gave her a sad smile and didn’t respond.
“If anyone can get to the bottom of it, Em can.” Liz waited, phone in hand, until she heard a knock on the door. She ran over to let Em inside.
Em was wearing red silky pajama pants, a thick velvety bathrobe, and matching fuzzy slippers. Her hair was clipped up on her head. She ran over to sit down next to Jane, taking the seat Liz had been in earlier.
Liz pulled up a leather ottoman and sat on that. “So what did you find out?”
“I’ve made six calls this morning to get information, and I’ve got some news. None of it good.”
Jane took a shaky breath. “Well, tell us what it is. I’m ready.”
“It’s not just bad news for you.” Em slanted a look over at Liz. “Anyway, I’ll start from the beginning. Charlie’s date was with another teacher in his school. They went to a big banquet together.”
“Oh,” Liz said, blinking in surprise. “That doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe it was just a friendly work thing.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But from what I’ve heard he has moved on from Jane, and evidently it’s Vince’s fault.”
This was so far from what Liz could have expected that she jerked visibly. “What?”
“All I can say is that I’m glad you didn’t decide you were interested in Vince and that kiss stopped when it did because he’s evidently a bigger asshole than we knew. He talked Charlie into dating this new girl and dropping Jane.”
“What? No. I don’t believe he’d do that.” Liz could barely breathe over the sudden ache in her throat. Her vision was blurry, and she was clenching her hands at her side.
“I’m surprised you’re defending him since you’re the one who knew he was a jerk from the beginning. But, yes, he did. I got it from three different people who are friends of Charlie. It’s got to be true. It was Vince. And what’s worse is that he somehow convinced Charlie that Jane was only spending time with him because of his family’s money. Like Jane was some sort of fortune hunter.”
Jane met Liz’s eyes, and Liz fought a wave of nausea at the surprise and grief in her sister’s eyes.
How could Vince do something like that?
Why would he do it?
Surely he wasn’t some kind of cartoon villain who hurt people just to hurt them, but she couldn’t think of a single reasonable explanation for Vince telling Charlie something so manifestly absurd.
“All I can say is that Charlie needs to grow a backbone if he lets his buddy talk him out of dating the girl he wants,” Em said, her expression tightening angrily. “But Vince had no business interfering in something that wasn’t his business at all. He’s way more of an asshole than we realized. This isn’t all he’s done.”
Liz felt sick. She’d just been in bed with Vince not twenty minutes ago, tangled up in his body, as close as two people could get. She covered her stomach with one hand and rasped, “What else has he done?”
“This part is what I meant when I said it’s not just bad news for Jane. While I was talking to Melissa Turner about Charlie, she mentioned something else about Vince. You know she works for old Mr. Edwards.”
“Howard Edwards?” Liz said. “Yes, I knew Melissa was one of his sitters.” She was seriously about to be sick.
Howard Edwards was the old man who owned the beloved wooden tabletop chest she wanted so much. She’d told Vince all about it a couple of weeks ago and how she wanted it more than anything.
The conversation had meant so much to her.
It had been intimate. Special.
“Well, evidently Mr. Edwards sold a bunch of stuff to the Darcys.”
For a moment Liz was slammed with heat, and she was absolutely convinced she was going to throw up. “Not my chest.”
Em nodded, looking both outraged and sympathetic. “Yes. The chest. The chest and several of his other best antiques. He sold them to the Darcys. I checked with two other people to make sure I got the whole story, and it’s definitely what happened. Vince came with a couple of their guys to pick them up yesterday afternoon. I don’t understand how he even knew about Mr. Edwards’s antiques or how he swooped in like that and talked him out of them, but he did.”
Liz opened her mouth and tried to speak. Couldn’t.
Vince knew because she’d told him about them. She’d stupidly, naively spilled all her feelings about them to him.
And evidently he’d taken advantage of her sappy stupidity.
She couldn’t believe it.
She simply couldn’t believe it.
But Em had confirmed it with multiple people. It had to be true. And, if Vince had been there to pick them up, he had to have known.
At the very least, he could have given her a heads-up in bed last night instead of taking sex from her after betraying her the way he had.
Any decent human being would have at least mentioned it to her.
Despite everything she’d just heard, she had a sudden flicker of hope. Maybe he’d bought the tabletop chest for her, as some sort of romantic gift. Because he knew she loved it so much.
But it couldn’t be.
He would have given it to her when he saw her last night, or at least told her about it.
And he wouldn’t have ruined Jane’s happiness if he’d cared about Liz in any way. He wouldn’t have assumed Jane was a fortune hunter.
No. There was no good explanation for this.
Vince was nothing but an asshole after all.
“Are you okay?” Jane asked, real concern in her voice.
“Yes,” Liz managed to answer.
Em’s eyes were worried. “You look like you’re going to pass out. I know you really loved that chest. I’m so sorry to bring bad news, but I thought you should know right away.”
With a massive effort, Liz managed to stuff her grief and rage down into a little ball at the back of her mind. “You were right. I needed to know. I am upset about it. I’d actually been thinking Vince wasn’t so bad. But this leaves no doubt.” She blew out a deep breath. “Okay. Nothing to do about it. At least not about the chest. But maybe we can still talk to Charlie. If this was Vince’s doing, maybe—”
“No!” Jane interrupted sharply. “If he could be
talked out of being interested in me so easily, then I don’t want him. Don’t do anything.”
“Okay. I won’t.” Liz felt like a volcano on the verge of eruption. Like there was too much inside her to hold on to and soon it would all just burst out.
She couldn’t let that happen around her friends. “I’m going to run take a shower, if you’re all right. We can hang out together today and cheer each other up.”
“Sounds good,” Jane said with a little smile.
“I’ll hang out with y’all too. And if I catch a glimpse of Vince, I’m really going to let him have it.” Em snarled viciously. “Bastard.”
Liz left before she burst into tears.
SHE CRIED IN THE SHOWER for a few minutes, but it didn’t help to relieve her feelings.
She wasn’t the kind of person who suffered in silence. Who could hold back this kind of wave of resentment. She had some things to say. A lot of things to say.
She had to say them.
She wasn’t going to let Vince beat her.
She wasn’t going to let him win.
So, when she got out of the shower, she pulled her wet hair into a long braid, yanked on leggings and a clean top, and then stuffed her feet into slippers.
She looked terrible, but she didn’t care.
She was going to tell Vince exactly what she thought of him.
Before she could get scared or talk herself out of it, she ran for the front door, calling out, “I’ll be right back!”
She made a beeline for Vince’s front door, but before she had even reached it, the door flew open and Vince stood in front of her, dressed in nothing but his sleep pants.
She blinked in surprise, momentarily distracted from the tirade that had been building up.
“Oh,” Vince said, his face softening when he saw her. “I was just about to look for you.”
“You were?” Her voice cracked. She needed a moment to recover her momentum.
“Yes. I had some things to tell you, and I was too scared to tell you before. But I need to do it. I need to do it right now.”
He had some things to tell her. Things he was scared to admit. She could well imagine what they would be.
She opened her mouth to snap out a reply that anything he needed to say was unnecessary, but he beat her to it, words spilling out from him in an urgent rush. “I have to tell you that I’m crazy about you. Just... just crazy about you. I know we were supposed to just be casual. I know we weren’t interested in anything serious. But I couldn’t do it. I can’t do it. I feel so much more for you than a casual fling.”
She stared, swaying slightly on her feet from the shock of what she was hearing.
Vince looked utterly earnest. Just a little shy. He rambled on, “I wasn’t supposed to feel this way. I’ve always been good at keeping things on the surface, and I thought I could with this too. I thought it was just a lust thing I’d get over quickly. I didn’t want a relationship. Definitely not with you. It was all too hard and complicated. And the thing with your sister makes things awkward, but I just don’t care. I have to tell you that I’m falling in love with you. I never wanted to, but I am.”
Her shock was transforming as he spoke, mingling with her betrayal from before.
This was all too unbelievable.
What the hell did Vince think was going to happen right now? Just how stupid and clueless did he believe her to be?
Was he still trying to win this ridiculous game?
Her voice was sharp with irony when she finally had a chance to say something. “I’m so sorry to hear you fell for me when it’s obviously the last thing you wanted.”
He gave a little jerk back, like she’d hit him. “Wh-what?”
Despite herself, a pang of guilt slashed through her chest. He looked so hurt by what she’d said. Then she pushed through it because he didn’t deserve her sympathy. “You’ve made it clear that there’s nothing about me you should want, so I’m sorry that you’re forced to suffer through a few feelings.”
He took a physical step backward this time. They were both still in the hall in front of his open door. “This is what you’re saying to me, after I—”
“After you what?” she snapped. “After you purposefully broke up Charlie and Jane, hurting both of them in the process? She had real feelings for him, and you acted like she was a heartless fortune hunter! And then you ruthlessly went and took what I wanted more than anything and didn’t even have the decency to tell me!”
His face was pale in emotional reaction, but at that his dark eyebrows furrowed. “What are you—”
“Don’t you dare act all innocent with me! I know what you did. And you can’t possibly think I’d ever return your feelings when you treat me and the people I love the way you have. From the very first day I met you, I knew you were cold and selfish and weren’t even a man I could like, much less a man I could love. Yes, we had some fun together, but it was always only physical. We agreed to that from the beginning.”
“I know what we agreed to.” His voice was as cool now as hers was, although there was an edge of hoarseness that didn’t match his hard expression. “But isn’t it possible that things might change after two months?”
“If things changed, you needed to tell me that they were changing. But you didn’t tell me anything. You didn’t open up at all. You’ve lived your life making sure that nothing goes deeper than the surface, so don’t you dare act aggrieved that I took you at your word.”
He glanced away abruptly, taking a few ragged breaths before he spoke. “I’m sorry. I’m... sorry. This was my mistake. I thought we were getting closer.”
“Well, you thought wrong. And just for future reference, if you’re really getting closer to people, you don’t treat them like garbage.”
He flinched. She saw it before he composed his expression. “Garbage? That’s really what you think of me?”
“Yes, it’s what I think of you. I’m not sure how I could think anything else.”
“Okay then.” He stiffened his shoulders, his jaw tensely set. “If that’s what you think.”
“That’s what I think.”
“Okay then.” He cleared his throat. “I won’t bother you again.”
He stared at her for just a moment, an ache in his eyes that almost did her in completely. Then he turned around and stepped into his condo, closing the door behind him and leaving her alone in the hall.
Nine
TWO DAYS LATER, VINCE was staring blindly at the computer screen in the office and wondering if he was ever going to get rid of the aching knot in his stomach.
He’d had it ever since his confrontation with Liz, and it only got worse as the days, hours, minutes, and seconds passed.
He hadn’t realized it was possible for his heart to hurt worse than it had when Liz was telling him exactly what she thought of him, but he’d been wrong.
His heart hurt even worse now.
He’d thought he’d done the right thing since that terrible conversation. He hadn’t been pushy or needy—forcing Liz into talking to him or pressuring her to change her mind. Even though part of him wanted to plead with her to see him as he really was and not the monster she’d turned him into in her mind. And he hadn’t hidden in his bedroom, moping and avoiding the world and drowning his pain in alcohol, although that was his other instinct.
He’d gone about his usual business. He’d been working hard. He’d acted normal and not let anyone know how much he was hurting.
Maybe it was to protect his pride—so Liz wouldn’t know how crushed he was—but it was more to prove to himself that he could handle this.
His sister had died eight years ago. His father had died five months ago. He’d made it through both of those heartaches without falling apart.
This wasn’t nearly as bad as those losses had been.
He could pull through this one without losing it.
He’d start to feel better soon. Liz wouldn’t always matter to him as much as she did right now.<
br />
She couldn’t.
He wouldn’t be able to live the rest of his life this way.
“Vince!” The voice was loud and coming from right behind him. It surprised him so much he jumped and whirled around.
His mother. Frowning down at him. “What? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing’s the matter with me. I said your name four times before you heard me.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He blinked a few times, trying to focus. “I was out of it, I guess.”
“Is that what you call it?”
“Is that what I call what?” He had no idea what was happening here, and he wasn’t in an emotional state to deal with regular human interaction. He’d thought his mother was out working the register in the store, so he wasn’t mentally prepared to have a lucid conversation at the moment.
She sighed and sank into the side chair next to the desk. “Vince, it might make you feel better if you talked about it.”
He adjusted in his chair, trying to compose his expression. “Talk about what?”
“You know what. Why are you trying to hide it from me?”
Her gentle question was like a stab in his heart, and his heart was already too damaged to sustain it. To his embarrassment, his face twisted briefly with emotion he just couldn’t control.
“Oh no, sweetie,” she murmured, leaning over to touch his arm, her face reflecting deep empathy. “Is it that bad? Is there no hope at all?”
He cleared his throat and then had to clear it again. There was no point in trying to hide from his mother. She could obviously see right through him. “No. There’s no hope. But I’ll be fine.”
“What happened? You seemed so happy, so I thought things were going well.”
“The... the situation wasn’t what I thought it was.” There was no way in hell he was going to try to explain a no-strings-attached sexual relationship to his mother, but she’d obviously put enough pieces together to follow vague references. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It obviously is a big deal since you’ve got a broken heart.”