Rinsing my mouth, I pulled my towel from my waist and wiped my face. I walked beside her and into my bedroom. She followed. Pulling a pair of boxer briefs from the top drawer, I covered my ass and started toward my closet.
“What’s going on with us, Sebastian? We used to be so close. It’s like you don’t even talk to me anymore. It’s bullshit, and you know it.”
I’d had enough. I turned on her quickly, getting close to her and making her take a step back. I would never hurt a woman, but this shit had to stop.
“Victoria, get off my sac already. For years I’ve covered your ass—turned the other cheek to some really fucked up shit, and this is how you repay me? I’m about this close,” I held two fingers up, “to dropping your ass right where I found you. Now leave me the fuck alone!”
I watched as it happened, but I couldn’t believe it. Her stoic face crumbled, and the dreaded expression I’d spent a good bit of time running from, spread across her face. Her eyes watered and her lip trembled… and it was then I knew—I just fucking knew. Vick stayed around to help me, out of loyalty and money, but there was something else I hadn’t noticed. How had something so big slip past my radar? It was something I thought Vick incapable of. She showed emotion, and it was for me.
I looked at Vick like a sister, and now I could see she’d been harboring forbidden feelings for a man who, until recently, didn’t know he was capable of feeling anything.
“No. Not you. This can’t be happening,” I begged under my breath.
“Sebastian…”
“Leave,” I demanded.
“Sebastian, please listen…” she started.
“I said, get the fuck out of my apartment, now!”
She stared at me as if I was going to change my mind, and then turned and left without another word.
Instead of sticking around the club and socializing, I stayed in my office the rest of the night. I put myself so deep into paperwork, I tuned out the outside world.
That morning, I went to bed with thoughts of Jessica walking the streets alone. Suddenly the thought of something terrible happening to her consumed me. I thought about her fear of guns and wondered what could have happened to her to give her that fear. There were so many things I wanted to know, so many things I could’ve already known if I hadn’t been such a selfish prick.
Instead of my usual nightmare, I dreamed of Jessica and her soft lips and trusting eyes. The dream turned into a nightmare and I found myself looking down at her as she died in my arms.
The next afternoon, I found myself somewhere I hadn’t been in a while. Grady, the man behind the counter, nodded at me when I walked in. He was an older Italian with a thick Jersey accent.
His thick, black hair was dyed and oiled into a perfect wave, and his hairy arms and chest were visible through his button down shirt. The entire look was topped off with a collection of gold chains. He was old Italy.
Dabbling in a little bit everything, he was the man to see when you needed anything. I only used his services for one thing and one thing only. The rest of the illegal shit was in my past, where I meant it to stay.
“Long time no see, Black. What can I do for you?”
He lit the end of his cigar, filling the room with its thick pungent odor.
“I’m looking for something feminine, but still powerful enough to take a man down.”
Eyeing me for a few brief seconds, he took another puff from his cigar and nodded. “I think I have just what you’re looking for.”
Turning around, he opened a cabinet and pulled out a pretty piece. It was small and tinted pink. I knew Jessica would definitely hate it, but a girl like her needed to know how to protect herself in case she was right and I didn’t stick around. Which, let’s face it, was bound to happen at some point.
I left Grady’s with exactly what I came in for. Jessica might not like it, but I’d feel better about her being alone if she was packing. She’d have a lot to learn about how to use it. I’d be sure she understood what pulling the trigger meant, before she actually pulled it.
Twenty-One
Rosslyn
When I woke the next morning, Sebastian was gone. I wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t the kind of guy who spent the night. Rolling over, I pressed my face into the pillow beside me and breathed him in.
There was a hole in my chest and my body ached sweetly. I stretched to wake it. Closing my eyes, I thought about how the last few days had gone. It was bad to be so caught up in a man like him, and I knew from the beginning he was going to crush my heart, but I hadn’t cared at the time. I just didn’t understand how bad it could hurt.
My cell on the bedside table chirped and I reached out to check it. The screen lit up with my touch, showing me a text notification. Since Kyle and Sebastian were the only two people who knew my number, I knew it was from Sebastian. I pressed my finger against the tiny pink envelope on the screen.