Page 55 of Virtue & Vengeance

The night in his bed when he started out hard and fast but ended soft and sweet as if he loved me.

It never happened.

It had been a dream, one I was sure I would replay in my mind every day for the rest of my life.

As we drove to Kennedy’s condo, my mind was a whirl of questions with no answers. But the biggest unanswered question was, how would Zander and I co-exist now?

Working with him.

Being around him.

Seeing him every day was going to kill me.

I was in love with him, and he didn’t know how to love.

The fact was, it wasn’t something I could continue. It would hurt too much.

When we reached the condo, I took a deep breath and turned toward him without allowing my eyes to land on his face.

“Please don’t follow me, Zander. I finally hear you. So don’t make this any harder than it has to be. I’ll stay away from you, and you’ll stay away from me. No more stopping in and checking on me. I’m no longer your responsibility.”

“Kennedy’s not back yet.” His response was tight.

“And if you want to keep it that way, you’ll stay away.”

He turned toward me, and I could feel his gaze on my face. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means if you don’t stay away, I’ll tell Kennedy everything.”

“I doubt that.”

“If it’s the only way to keep you away from me, I promise you I’ll do it. When I get out of this car, it’s goodbye for good.”

He chuckled, the sound unfriendly and cold.

“Whatever you say, angel.”

“No!” I snapped, my head turning toward him. I glared at him, feeling ice seep into my veins. “No more calling me angel. I’m done with you. I thought you were different, but I was wrong. I may have been stupid enough to fall in love with a man like you, but I’m smart enough to know when to walk away. Goodbye, Zander.”

I got out of his car, shutting the door behind me, and I walked away. I didn’t look back because I probably would have done something foolish.

Like, beg him to love me, too.

THE NEXT WEEK was pure hell. I worked my ass off to keep myself from thinking about Zander, but seeing as how he owned the Casino, I couldn’t completely put him out of my head.

I had to forcefully stop myself from thinking about him. It was hard when my heart ached for him—when my soul begged for things he would never feel for me. If I let myself think about him, I let the pain in. I couldn’t do that.

I wanted to spend my time moping around, but when Aunt Kennedy called, I tried to sound as chipper as I could. Even then, she could still sense something was wrong.

She finally got a weekend with free time and bought me tickets to New York. I was relieved to get out of Vegas soon. To get away from Zander. Even if it was only for two days. I couldn’t wait until the weekend finally came, but until then, I would stay busy. It was all I could do.

On my next day off, I stayed in bed all day. And then the following day, instead of going to work, I did something I rarely ever did.

I called out.

I needed to recoup from my day off since I spent most of the day crying.

I made myself get out of bed, even if it was just to plant myself in front of the TV, and I ordered in. An hour later, I was lying on the couch with empty Chinese takeout containers all around me.

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