“I’m fine. I don’t need to fucking talk to anyone,” I grunt back.
“The girl in the guest room?” Gio questions. “The one you’ve been sneaking in and out of here. Who is she?”
“Cammi. Don’t worry about her. She’s not coming back after tonight,” I tell him.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Santo says. “That girl is your ride or die, Vin.”
“I know, which is exactly why she won’t be back.” I swallow down the contents of the glass and walk out of the office.
I’ve done what I had to do, so Marcel won’t have to take the fall for me. Now, I need to make myself scarce. I can’t be here when Cammi wakes up and starts looking for me.
Chapter Twenty
Iknow I’m alone even before I pry my lashes apart and look around the room. He’s gone. I’ve really lost him, and I don’t think I can get him back.
My eyes burn with unshed tears. I’m not going to fall apart right now. I’m going to drag myself out of this bed, try to find Vin, and see if by some miracle he’s had a change of heart aboutthisbreak upthing. He calls me a saint, but if I truly were one, I’d perform that miracle myself.
I glance around the room again, the room he put me in. The fact he didn’t want me in his own bed speaks volumes. Maybe I should just save face and leave. I shouldn’t have to beg my boyfriend not to break up with me. Then again, if I thought it’d work, I’d get down on my hands and knees and beg him. I’d do whatever it took to get him back. I can’t fathom not being with him. I also can’t force him to do something he really doesn’t want to do.
I’m so confused. Again, I need arelationship for dummiesbook or at the very least some kind of guide. I can’t even talk to my friends about this, because I can’t tell them anything about Vin. The only person I can talk to is the one person who doesn’t want to talk to me right now.
Maybe we can still hang out as friends. Over the last couple of weeks, Vin’s become my best friend. I can’t talk to my girlfriends the way I can talk to him. And I get the feeling he doesn’t talk to his friends about anything deep and personal either.
He’ll agree to being friends, right? He has to.
With renewed faith and determination, I open the door and walk out of the bedroom. I raise my hand to knock on Vin’s door before I decide to reach for the knob and let myself in.
I know right away that he’s not in here. But I peek into his closet and bathroom anyway. He’s not on the balcony either. I do notice that the clothes I left on the bathroom floor last night are gone. So is his little silver tin. I’m not going to lie. I felt good when I smoked that joint. Right up until Vin came in and stomped all over my heart.
I can feel the tears starting to form again. I take a huge breath and straighten my shoulders. I will not crumble. He needs me. He might not want to acknowledge it, or want me aroundfull stop, but he needs me.
And I need him.
I find my way downstairs and start walking through the house. No one says anything to me. I step past a few of those bulky men in suits, who all give me curious glances but don’t say a single word. It’s not until I walk into the kitchen that I’m stopped.
“Are you lost?” This comes from Vin’s oldest brother. Gio. I haven’t officially met him yet. But I know who he is. And, honestly, he’s outright scary as hell.
“Ah, I was looking for Vin,” I say.
“He’s not here.”
“What do you mean he’s not here? He was here. Where is he?” My questions come out before I can think better of them.
Gio raises a single brow at me. “If Vin wants you to know where he is, you’d know,” he says, bringing his cup of coffee to his lips.
“Don’t be an ass,” a female voice cuts in. I turn to see a beautiful brunette. Eloise, Gio’s wife. Vin showed me pictures from their wedding. “He just left. But I’m sure if you call him, you can catch up with him later. You want anything to eat? Coffee?”
“Ellie, we are not turning this kitchen into a morning-after diner for all of Vin’s sleepovers,” Gio grunts.
My eyes close. I know Vin said he hasn’t brought any girls home before. But now that he has, will he?
I can’t think about that right now, or the tears really will fall.
“Ignore my brother. He lost his manners somewhere between puberty and adulthood. I’ll give you a ride home,” Santo says, walking in behind me.
I want to tell him that I don’t need a ride home. That what I need is to find Vin. Bring up my idea of being friends. I can’t fully lose him. I don’t do that though. Instead, I find myself nodding. “Thank you, but I should get home,” I tell Eloise.
“Anytime. Despite what my husband says, Vin doesn’t have sleepovers. You’re the only girl I’ve ever seen him bring home,” she stresses to me while sending an icy glare in her husband’s direction.