by Eden Rose
"Well, I am glad you did come. What were you all talking about?" Vincent asked as he got off of me to walk towards the bags. He dumped the contents onto the bed and started to organize them for me. There were a few pairs of shorts, two bras, a couple tanks and shirts, two pajama sets and a swim suit.
"Damn! How long are you planning on keeping her here?" Bethany asked as she looked over them. "I brought her clothes too!" She jumped off the bed and grabbed a bag I have never seen before. The contents were dumped in a pile and I examined the designer clothing.
Next, Bethany dumps another bag full of clothes for Vincent.
Anne looked at me and said while giving me a wink: "We can move your stuff into your new apartment before you come back."
"Wait. New apartment?" Vincent dropped a pair of men's shorts and looked at me with a very confused smile. "I thought you would be moving back in with me?"
"Vincent, are you sure you want to talk about this now?" He nodded and ignored everyone while they shuffled around on the bed. "I got the apartment because I need to know that I will always have a place to go. Plus, you and I never discussed where we are going from here." I looked at him and he looked down. As he reached into another bag, he pulled out all of my favorite bathroom stuff. "If you excuse me, I think I am going to take a shower." As I climbed off the bed I heard exasperated noises from everyone.
One of the guys said: "That was cold."
As I started the shower, I heard the phone ring. I was half expecting it to be the lady who was coming into get the laptop or Greg. Vincent answered the phone and then called me to the room.
I took the phone from him and sat in the rolling chair that was next to the phone. "Hello?"
"Savannah, Greg Masters. We just had an inspection of your new place and it is not move in ready."
I let out a deep breath and counted to ten before I spoke to him. "Then why did you tell me that it was? What needs to be fixed?" I tried hard to not scream.
"It is infested with bats. I just went and checked." His voice was cautious and I wondered if he expected this.
"Well, I expect that apartment to be fumigated and steamed clean in three days. Why wasn't this found out before? You know, Greg, you know what my profession is and I feel as if you are fucking with me. I know for a fact that inspections cover infestation possibilities to avoid these problems. So who did you sell it to?" I had a feeling that he sold it from underneath me and I will find out eventually.
His response came in a rushed tone. "I am sorry, the owner of the building doesn't want you to live there."
My chest felt like it was going to cave in. Vincent stood behind me and rubbed my shoulders.
"Who owns the building?" I waited for about a minute and he till didn't answer me. "Seriously, Greg! Who owns it?"
"I have been told to not tell you. They said that you should know."
Those stupid Dice! "Tell him to get his hand out of your fucking pocket before you lose more business. I am taking everyone in my firm away from your broker firm." I honestly don't see what I did to deserve any of this. My divorce has been finalized and I am still being haunted. I just want to climb on top of a building and just yell: Just leave me alone! Well, if it were guaranteed to work, I would do it.
"You can't do that!" The pleas of a desperate man.
With the emotions of everything that has been happening, I would have threatened to kill him. My anxieties are so high that I am so strung. My wires are tight and they could break at any moment and whoever is around me will be collateral damage.
"Watch me!" I screamed and slammed the phone down on the receiver. "Okay, I am going to take a shower! See you guys soon." Yeah, I know I am acting a little childish, but this is getting annoying.
I walked into the bathroom and heard the phone ring again. "Don't answer it!" I ran into the room and yanked the phone out of Johnny's hand. "What?"
"Savannah, Greg. You are right. You get the apartment now."
I smiled a big smile and did a victory dance. "Good. I want twelve percent knocked off the price and fresh paint and carpet. You have three days!" I hung up the phone and everyone stared at me with shocked looks. "You guys aren't the only ones who know how to get what you want!" They all laughed and I walked into the bathroom again.
I started the shower and climbed in to it. The spray felt amazing on my skin. I haven't showered since that night... Night... I felt bad for being cold to Vincent with the living situation. However it was true that he didn't ask me what I wanted. I rinsed the soap off of my body and rubbed my hair into the water with a combination of shampoo and conditioner. As I climbed out, there was my bracelet on the counter with a note.
Please, wear this. I would feel honored if you did. I knew it was Vincent who wrote that to me. I slipped on the bracelet after coming to the conclusion that I should cut the man a break. After all, I would love to pick up where we left off. However, I worry that he won't want me like he did before after seeing my shell on the couch.
What if every time he looks at me all Vincent can see is me on that couch? That is horrible. I hope he is trying to move on because having that in his mind is horrid. I don't even want to remember it, I hope he doesn't replay the scene in his head over and over.
Oh fucking shit! What if all of this whisking me off to Chicago business is because he feels guilty? And when we had sex... oh no! What if he did that because he was trying to make himself feel better?
If any of that is right, floor, please swallow me alive!
Anne sneaks into the bathroom as I finish rubbing the lotion on my legs. Thank goodness she came in when she did. Normally, she has the keen ability to talk me off the ledge. "How are you feeling?" She asks and I smile as hard as my fake plastic smile would allow me to. "I am actually asking you. How are you feeling?" My best friend gives me her you-better-not-bullshit look and I know immediately that lying or stretching out the truth won't help me get out of this. I watch her shake her long brown hair out and see her eyes widen with anticipation.
I slip into a bra and turn around to situate myself into it. When she came in, I already put on panties, so I did not need to worry about that. My heart feels as if it has dropped into my butt as I shift through these emotions. "You really want to know?" She nods and leans against the counter while I place the shirt over my head. Lucky for me she came in when I had panties on. We are close, but I don't want to broadcast all of these bruises to the world! It was bad enough that Vincent probably took inventory of them."I don't know how to feel. What is real and what is fake. Vincent says that he loves me however he is still so secretive. I am not sure where to go from here. He sends me away to my ex-husband and then comes rescue me?" I didn't even realize that I was rambling until I sucked in some much needed air. "What do you think I should do?"
She took a deep breath and she started to twirl her hair around her finger. Anne looks at me and let's out her breath. "Vans, I knew what Vincent was going to do. Ronnie came and asked me to talk to him about a specific way that would get you out of the house and not want to be with him anymore. I was the one that told him that if Joel got involved then you would end up hating him. Never did I expect what Millstone was going to do. I begged Vincent to think of another way, but the higher ups have spoken and they wanted you to be removed before you got killed. Vincent was actually crying as he held your ring in his hands. He spun it around his finger and looked at my face and asked me if I thought you were going to hate him. The most awful idea that I had was that if you hated him you wouldn't get killed."
I looked at her face and shrugged. What she did took guts. Telling me also took guts. I wanted to yell and scream at her for being involved, but she did what she thought would keep me safe."Thank you for telling me all of that. It still hurts me that he didn't talk to me about it. Please tell me what you think I should do." My voice was covered with desperation, and I had no shame from it.
"Has he asked you to be his lady again?" I nodded and she looked away. "Then there isn't much else
you can do. I guess we wait." She slides off the counter and opens the door. "Come on! The ladies need to get out out of this room and assault the downtown."
Bethany and Annabeth were standing by the door with a pair of shoes that would fit me. "Wait... I am not sure if I am ready to be seen like this." I touched my face and looked over at the mirror.
"Yes. You are and you need put out of this room!" Bethany dropped the shoes on the ground and pushed me out the door. I shuffled into the shoes before they closed the door on me.
If my feet weren't on the ground I would be convinced that I was being carried down the hall instead of them dragging me. We walked through the hotel in a line and the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves. "Savannah, I think you look beautiful. Let's get some lunch on the veranda and people watch." Annabeth is such a sweetheart but of course I know that she is lying.
I definitely look like someone beat the shit out of me. Oh look, that's what happened.
"Mimosas all around," Anne orders as we take a seat on the veranda. "So ladies! I am so excited we are here!" Anne had a smile that could break her face.
Annabeth must have gotten a message because she was looking quizzically at her phone as if she didn't understand something. "What?" I asked her as she typed a message back and slipped the phone upside down on the table.
"Just business. So ladies, what are we eating?" Annabeth answers. We discuss what to eat and then get our food. After we are done, the girls wanted to go shopping and to a bar. The only reason I obliged is because I didn't want to make them angry and I was kind of kidnapped as well.
While shopping, we each helped pay Chicago's sales associate's paychecks. We must have shopped for a long time because now it was after eight.
We all walked into the bar but left our bags in the Bentley that was left for us to use. I know, how thoughtful. It is always a Bentley too.
Annabeth kept looking at her phone and either smiled or looked absolutely mad at it. My own curiosity has spiked. She didn't look at me as I gave her a look. That trick where you stare at a person long enough until they look up and try to figure out who is staring at them? Yeah, didn't even come close to working.
We all had three rounds of martinis and now we were feeling frisky. The music wasn't rap which was nice and the deejay is playing alternative music. I felt better about the bruises and demanded we all dance.
With an array of different music playing, I let the music take over. I moved my body along with the beat of the music and let everything go. The confusion, places to live, boyfriends, ex-husband... everything. It felt way too liberating and I had the sudden urge to just say screw it and never go back to New York.
After the third song and my fourth martini, I felt someone brush my hair off my shoulder. With a jump clear out of my skin, I spun away from the girls and became face to face with someone I never expected to see.
Chapter Five
"Please talk to me. We need to talk."
Anne turned around from dancing on Annabeth and glared at him. "You shouldn't be here, Joel. Its not a good time." Anne replies so I knew she must have thought that Vincent or someone along the like may be here.
Joel grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the middle of the floor. "Please. I need to talk to you now. I am not sure you understand what happened. I want you to know what was happening that night. Millstone approached me and asked why you were seen with Moretti. He thought that we were working on our marriage and felt as if you were cheating on me. In his fashion, he felt as if he were defending my honor by taking you to that room. Never did I think he would beat you up like that. I can't believe that he tried to take your dress off." He shivers and then continues while I give him a dirty look. "I really thought that if that were to happen, you would realize that I can love you more than he could."
"Is everything all right?" Johnny asked me as he touched my back.
With tears running quietly down my face, I answered: "Yes, everything is fine."
"Pop is looking for you. Are you sure you want to be having this conversation in here?" He looks from me towards Joel.
"Dude, this has nothing to do with you!" Joel grabbed my arm and then settled for my hand as he dragged me further down the hall. I looked back at Johnny but he was already gone. Again, I felt lonely. Vincent kept leaving me and I didn't know why. "Savannah, I didn't think it would go that far!"
"If you were honestly telling me the truth then you shouldn't have held my ankles. How can you sit there and say these thing to me? Look at my face!" I move my head closer to his so he could look at the bruises. He winced and looked away. "You lied to me. You made me think that Vincent didn't love me. And what's worse is that you tried to sleep with me. You knew that I loved Vincent!"
I felt someone brush against my back and yank my hand out of Joel's. "She doesn't need to hear anything you say. Trust me, she remembers everything," Vincent replies and puts his arm around me.
"Damn it, Savannah! I am sorry," Joel tries to touch my face but Vincent intercepted his hand and shoved it back down.
"Joel, you really should go. I would like to say thanks for the past month but they way it ended, I don't think that it is appropriate," I reply and then slip my arms around Vincent's waist to hug him. He had his arms around the top of my back and was rubbing me. It feels so comforting, probably more comfort than I deserve. Underneath everything that has happened, it is all my fault. Selfishly, I'm going to take everything that he gives me.
Joel was glaring at me. "Why did you choose him over me? You honestly think that he can put that life away and be a legit husband?" Joel spits out and dodges the line of firing from Vincent as his body tensed. "He won't be there for you. Hell, I have been watching you all day and he hasn't been with you at all."
"You should leave!" Vincent drops his hold on me and stands really close to Joel's face. "I will kill you if you keep on following her." Vincent grabs me by my waist and pulls me away from him towards the bar. "Why was he talking to you?" He whirls on me and touches my face as we take our place at the bar. "I don't like him being close to you."
I took his face into my hands and smiled at him. I knew my dimple would be showing. "He approached me. Look at you, all jealous." I was trying to joke with him but his jaw got tight and his arms flexed. "I am sorry, baby. Please know that it wasn't me who wanted to talk to him."
As I looked away from his face, he grabbed my chin to have me face him. "I just don't know what I would do if you were hurt again. Seeing you on the couch was almost as painful as the day you left. Now, you are moving into an apartment. What's going to happen to us?" His chin started to quiver and his accent got thicker. "I feel like you are leaving me all over again." I reached and grabbed his wrist to have him look at me, that is when I noticed he was wearing the watch I gave him the morning of our demise.
No matter how excited I was about giving him the present, I completely forgot about it. It is amazing that just seeing it shine in the bar lights makes me want to giggle with glee.
"I can't live in your house because it makes me sad. Its not our place its your home. I am not leaving you, I want to be with you." My voice is pleading and I am begging him to see my point.
He took my hand in his as I let go of the watch and kissed it. "I just wish things were different. We would be getting married next week and you would have been lying naked in our bed."
Our bed.
I cracked a smile as he said the last part. "How do you know that is not what I want right now? You haven't asked me anything about that. Why don't you move in with me? Let's start over."
Vincent rubbed his hands down my arms which made me tingle. "What is it that you want?" He asks me as I try to embrace him but I was only doing that so I didn't have to look at him. "Just tell me."
I didn't want to tell him that if he got me a different ring I would marry him so I looked at his face. "I want this." I motioned between him and myself to indicate what I meant. "I really want whatever this is and I want it with you."
We walked downtown and held hands like a normal couple. It is so nice to be out of New York and the hotel. Every so often, I would stop dead in my tracks and pucker my lips at him and each time he kisses me, we were both smiling after.
I think right now is as good as any to ask questions. "Why do you keep leaving me during the day time?" I asked as we continue to walk down the street.
"I had some business to talk about."
This is a battle that I am choosing to fight. "Vague much?" I tried to bump into him as we walked but he stepped away. "You tell me that you want to marry me but yet you keep secrets." My hurt and annoyance dripped in my words as I wanted him to know how upset I am.
