Fracture (F-BOMB: Curvy Vigilantes #8)

Chapter 4

4

Vinnie knew he would have to tell her about the nightmares eventually. And about holding her. But he hoped he would be able to tell her in a way that didn’t create more panic.

From the look on her face, he missed the mark.

“I’ve been having nightmares?”

Vinnie nodded. He eased away from her, releasing her slowly. He didn’t want to, knowing letting her go immediately after a panic attack could send her right back into the spiral, but she was angry, and he knew better than to hold on tight to a woman who wanted to hit him.

“And you…” She swallowed roughly. “You just crawl into bed with me and hold me?”

“I shouldn’t have touched you without your approval. I apologize. I won’t do it again.”

“That’s not… Okay. Thank you.” Lorelei looked conflicted.

She wasn’t the only one. Vinnie hated himself for ever touching her. For thinking it was okay, even though he knew it helped her. He never should have done it. He didn’t have the right, and he was an asshole for putting his hands on a woman without her consent.

It didn’t matter that there was nothing sexual about it, or that he only did it to calm and soothe her, he violated her trust and her body. He was wrong to do it.

A knock on the door stopped him from saying anything else. An orderly pushed a wheelchair into the room and asked if Lorelei was ready to go, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

Lorelei smiled at the man and let him help her into the wheelchair.

Vinnie grabbed her duffle bag and crutches, then his own bag, and followed them out into the hallway.

A nurse met Vinnie outside the door and pulled him aside. “Her paperwork. So she has a copy in case she needs it.”

“Thank you,” Vinnie said.

“You’re welcome. I hope she feels better.”

“Me, too.”

Vinnie forced his lips into a smile for the nurse, then followed Lorelei and the orderly to the elevator. The two of them chatted the entire ride down, talking about life in Boston and their favorite places to eat.

Vinnie hadn’t left the hospital since Lorelei was admitted and had nothing to add to the conversation, so he kept his mouth shut.

Cade and Karli were at the door when Lorelei was wheeled out. Karli helped get her into the backseat of an SUV, then thanked the orderly for his help. Cade went around to the driver’s side and got in.

“Are you coming with us?” Karli asked.

“I have my SUV here. I drove it to Boston when I came to find her.”

Karli shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I never even thought about how you got here. Lorelei said something about driving back. Is she planning to ride with you?”

Vinnie shrugged. “We haven’t spoken about anything. I’m not sure of her plans.”

“Would you be willing to let Cade and I ride with you? Or maybe just me? The six of us came out here together, but Jessica and Braden took Dawn’s plane home when he had to get back to work. Dawn offered to send it back for us, but I don’t think Lorelei can fly with her injuries. I’d really like to stay with her.”

“Whatever is best for everyone,” Vinnie said. He wasn’t there to ruffle feathers. He’d already inserted himself in their world enough.

“Are you going to the apartment with us?”

Vinnie nodded. “I’d planned to. Unless you think I shouldn’t.”

Karli was shaking her head before he finished speaking. “No, I think it would be better if you’re there. I don’t know how she’s going to do.”

“She panicked after you walked out.”

Karli looked at the car, then the hospital. “Just now?”

Vinnie nodded.

Karli took a step toward him and crossed her arms. She chewed her lip. “I didn’t realize. Should we not go?”

“She needs to face it. She needs to feel safe in her home again.”

Karli thought for a second, then nodded. “You’re right. I agree. We’ll wait for you before we go in, though.”

“I’ll be right behind you.” He started to walk away, then realized he had Lorelei’s things. “Do you want to take these?”

Karli reached for the crutches. “She’ll need these, but we’ll figure the rest out when we get there. Maybe bring her bag up so she can decide what to take to Niagara Falls and what to leave here?”

Vinnie nodded, then jogged toward his SUV. Cade pulled away, but when Vinnie made it to the street, Cade was waiting for Vinnie to follow him to Lorelei’s apartment.

Vinnie turned up the radio and tried to push away his guilt. What he did was unforgivable. Lorelei deserved better. He would ask if she wanted to stay with Karli with the knowledge he’d been inappropriate with her. She probably would. He’d accept it, even though he’d hate it.

Vinnie parked next to Cade in the parking lot outside Lorelei’s apartment. It was hard to believe it’d been less than a week since he first set eyes on the building. Old brick, a dozen stories tall, and full of dark secrets he never imagined.

Vinnie met the others on the sidewalk with Lorelei’s bag slung over his shoulder. Karli was talking to Lorelei, so he nodded at Cade, and the four of them moved toward the building.

At the door, Adam and Raina were waiting for them. Hugs were exchanged between the women, then their group of six went inside.

The three women led the way down the hallway. Cade and Adam talked, following right behind the women. Vinnie walked along at the end, separate from the rest of them. He wasn’t a part of their group before, and he wouldn’t be for long. Especially after what he confessed. Lorelei would get her memory back and not need him. Not want him in her life. There was no reason to get deeper in with the others.

Karli unlocked Lorelei’s door and let everyone in. The chatter quieted as soon as they were inside the apartment.

Once Vinnie made it in, he understood why.

The couch where he found Lorelei was still covered in blood. The discarded bandages and supplies the paramedics used littered the floor. It was obvious something bad happened in that space.

“Lore,” Karli breathed.

Lorelei looked at her cousin. She drew a breath, one that everyone else in the room echoed, and closed her eyes. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Karli and Raina led Lorelei to the bedroom. Cade and Adam looked at the blood and the rest of the apartment, then turned to Vinnie.

“Thank you, again, for finding her. Looking at this, and knowing the condition you found her in, we were close to losing her,” Adam said.

“I’m glad it didn’t come to that.” Vinnie wasn’t a hero. He was just lucky he got to her in time.

“So are we,” Cade agreed.

The three men started picking up the trash in the living room. Adam seemed to know his way around the apartment, retrieving a trash can and bags without having to search for anything.

“What should we do about the couch?” Cade asked, looking between Adam and Vinnie for an answer.

Vinnie shrugged.

“The Lorelei I know would probably say clean it. Keep it as a reminder of what she survived. You can’t stop her,” Adam said, chuckling.

“She’s not like her cousin,” Cade said. “Karli would demand it was gone. She wouldn’t want the smallest reminder.”

“Like living in the apartment where Tonya was killed?” Adam asked.

Cade nodded.

Vinnie didn’t know the details of the story, but he knew enough to understand Tonya was the woman murdered because she was mistaken for Karli.

“I can’t even imagine. Raina’s the same. She’d say burn it,” Adam said.

Cade laughed. “That sounds like a good plan to me. But I guess we need to ask her.”

Adam nodded, and the three of them kept cleaning up the rest of the apartment.

The three women returned with two suitcases and one duffle bag. Vinnie looked at the volume of stuff and wondered how she didn’t have more.

“It’s too much, isn’t it? I shouldn’t have packed that second suitcase,” Lorelei said, glaring at one of the bags.

“I figured you’d have more,” Vinnie said without thinking.

Everyone froze.

Lorelei snorted. “I guess I don’t have a lot of stuff. At least, not a lot that feels like me right now. Maybe if I knew who I was or felt comfortable in what I have, but I just don’t know.”

“Do you have your guns?” Adam asked.

Lorelei patted her hip, then pointed to a suitcase. “I have a safe with one in it, and I’m carrying.”

“You’re carrying now?” Cade asked.

Lorelei shrugged. “I might not remember it, but it felt natural. Like I was?—”

A noise at the door had all of them turning. Before anyone could say anything, the door swung open and revealed a short, gray-haired woman.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Lorelei barked, gun drawn and trained on the trembling woman’s chest. “I asked what you’re doing here! Why are you here?”

The woman’s eyes were huge. She dropped her handbag and the tote she carried, hands flying up.

“Lorelei!” Adam barked, moving toward her. He took a step between Lorelei and the woman, breaking Lorelei’s focused attention. “Lorelei! Look at me. Listen to me. That’s Anabelle. She’s your housekeeper. She’s supposed to be here.”

Lorelei stared at Adam, trying to piece together what Adam was telling her.

“Ms. Sloane?” Anabelle whispered from the door. She hadn’t moved since the door opened and she had a gun pointed at her.

Adam reached for Lorelei, and she realized he was reaching for the gun.

Lorelei handed it over to him, leaning back against the wall behind her. She pulled a gun on an innocent woman. A woman who had no right to be treated like she was wrong.

Adam handed the gun to Vinnie, then faced Anabelle. “Lorelei was attacked last week. She has no memory of who she is or who anyone else is. I know if she knew what she was doing, she never would have done what she did.”

“Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Is she okay?”

Adam nodded and moved to the side so Lorelei could see Anabelle.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I…” Lorelei couldn’t say anything else. She turned and thunked her way to the bathroom as quickly as her crutches would carry her.

Voices raised behind her, but Lorelei couldn’t go back. She couldn’t believe she thought carrying a gun was a smart move. That she would know who was a threat and who wasn’t.

That wasn’t why she wanted it. As soon as she picked it up, she felt better. Safer. Like she wouldn’t end up beaten and half-dead and unable to stop whoever stole her memory.

She felt stronger. But it was a false strength because if Adam hadn’t been there and Lorelei had pulled the trigger, she would have hurt a woman who was no more guilty than Lorelei was herself.

She couldn’t be trusted.

Someone knocked on the bathroom door, and Lorelei hoped it was Vinnie before she heard Karli’s voice.

“Are you okay?”

Lorelei laughed mirthlessly. “No. I can’t believe I just did that.”

“Anabelle is okay. And she understands. She’s only worried about you and if you’re going to be okay. She’s very sweet.”

Lorelei let out a breath. “I wish I could say I know, or that’s why I hired her, but fuck, I don’t know a damn thing.” Lorelei pounded the countertop.

“Open up, cuz.”

Lorelei hesitated, but unlocked the door to let Karli in.

“You can’t be blamed for this. I know it sucks and you want to be yourself again, but you’re not there yet.”

“What if I never get there?” Lorelei whispered, meeting Karli’s gaze in the mirror. The question had been on her mind since she was told she had amnesia. She desperately wanted to know who she was, to remember her past, but what if she never did? What if everything before Vinnie woke her up was gone forever?

“Then you become whoever you want to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you start over. You choose who you want to be. You get to create your reality, your life, however you want.”

“Is that what you would do? You would reinvent yourself?”

Karli shrugged. “I don’t know. The idea has some appeal. We get tied down in the choices we made years ago. Careers, friends, home. We get to a point in life where we look around and say how did I get here? But you have a choice to go somewhere else. No one would blame you if you never came back to this apartment. If you left the FBI. If you made all different choices with your life. But only you can decide what’s right for you. And what’s right now might be different than what would have been right before.”

Lorelei drew a breath and nodded. She didn’t know what was right for her. Then or now. She was confused and overwhelmed. The only thing she did know was she did not need to be carrying a weapon.

“Will you and Cade take my guns?”

“Of course. Or Adam can. He’s probably more comfortable with guns.”

Lorelei nodded. “Okay. I just know I can’t risk shooting someone innocent because I don’t know who they are. Shit. I need to apologize to a woman I have no memory of and tell her I’m an asshole.”

Karli chuckled. “She won’t think that. She cleaned Adam’s apartment for years, too, from what he said. It sounds like she’s a very nice woman.”

“That’s good. Makes me happy I didn’t shoot her.”

“I bet she agrees.”

Lorelei snorted and shook her head. “Okay, let’s get the hell out of here. I can’t be in this apartment any longer.”

“Let’s go.”

Lorelei followed Karli out of the bathroom. All conversation stopped in the living room when they walked in.

“Ms. Sloane, I am so sorry I scared you. Are you okay?” Anabelle asked, rushing to Lorelei but stopping before she reached her.

“It’s my fault. I’m sorry I don’t know you. I wish I did, but I guess they all filled you in.”

“Yes, yes, and I am so sorry. If I’d known, I never would have just walked in.”

“If I’d known you existed, I would have called you, but, hell, I could have someone else who’s about to walk in and I wouldn’t know it. Not knowing who I am or who anyone else is sucks.”

“You will get your memory back, Ms. Sloane. You will be yourself again.”

“I hope so. Thank you for being so sweet, Anabelle. I am so sorry I panicked.”

Anabelle shook her head, then stopped when Lorelei moved forward and hugged her. Anabelle patted Lorelei on the back.

“I’ve never hugged you, have I?” Lorelei asked as she pulled back.

“No, Ms. Sloane. You aren’t very…” Anabelle looked around the room as though judging if she could say what she was thinking.

“Affectionate,” Adam provided.

Anabelle nodded. “Yes, that’s a good word. You’re always very nice, and I never have to ask you to pay me. You’re very generous, which I appreciate. But you’re not warm and fuzzy.”

Lorelei saw Karli raise her eyebrows and smiled. “Maybe I should change that.”

Anabelle and Adam hid a chuckle with a cough, and Lorelei glared at her partner.

“Stop laughing.”

Adam held his hands up in defense.

“I don’t want to be someone who holds back their emotions. That doesn’t feel like me.” Lorelei looked around the room at the people who all knew the old her. The woman she couldn’t remember.

Except Vinnie. He said they hadn’t spoken before. Which version of her would Vinnie like?

No. Lorelei wasn’t going to change who she was for a man. She was going to be the version of her she wanted to be. Like Karli suggested.

“I think it’s time we get out of here,” Lorelei said.

“I will clean the couch, Ms. Sloane. It’ll be like nothing happened.”

“Don’t worry about it, Anabelle. I’ll have someone get rid of it. I don’t want it here. I don’t want to ever see that couch again.”

“Are you sure, Ms. Sloane?”

“Yes. And I think you should call me Lorelei.”

“Lorelei?”

“Yes. If I call you Anabelle, you should be calling me Lorelei.”

“Yes, Ms. Sloane.”

Lorelei smiled at Anabelle.

Anabelle chuckled. “I will try. Is there anything else?”

Lorelei looked around at the apartment she didn’t remember. At the place she came to and only felt safe because Vinnie was there. She didn’t want to be there. She couldn’t imagine going back there, living in that apartment knowing someone dumped her body there to let her die.

“One more thing. I’m moving.”

The others in the room gasped, but Lorelei ignored them.

“I don’t know if I’m going to find another apartment in Boston or move somewhere else, but I can’t be here. I would appreciate it if you would keep this place in the same excellent shape you’ve kept it in so far, and I will make sure you know well in advance when it’s sold, but I can’t be here.”

“I don’t blame you, Ms… Lorelei. I wouldn’t want to be here either if I were you.”

“Do you feel safe being here, Anabelle? Are you okay being here?” Adam asked her.

Anabelle nodded. “It’s a safe building. I know it’s okay. And my husband knows where I am at all times. If he doesn’t hear from me, he will send a search party.”

“Are you sure?” Lorelei asked.

Anabelle moved to Lorelei and grabbed her hand. “I am fine. I am happy to take care of this place for you. I’m just happy you are safe. You are alive. I will get rid of the couch. Don’t worry about that. It will be good.”

“I can’t?—”

“You focus on getting healthy. I will take care of this. I will let you know how much it costs, and I will be here to let someone in. You need to be well so you can get back to kicking ass and protecting the world.”

Lorelei snorted. It didn’t sound like who she was now, but she couldn’t deny she liked the idea of it. “I’ll try.”

“Good. Keep in touch.”

“You, too. Please.”

“Yes. I will. Be careful. Take care of her, Adam.”

Adam nodded. “I will. We all will.”

Anabelle hugged Adam, then gushed over Raina for a minute before they all filed out of the apartment and left Anabelle to her work.

They made it down to the parking lot before Lorelei realized each of the men was carrying one of her bags. “I’m sorry you’re all taking care of me.”

“That’s why we brought them,” Karli teased. “But we do need to figure out how you’re getting back. Vinnie said he has a vehicle and some of us could maybe ride back with you in that.”

Lorelei’s gaze snapped to his.

He nodded once, not giving anything away.

She wanted to talk to him about what he confessed before they left the hospital, but they hadn’t had a moment alone. “I?—”

“If you’d feel more comfortable with Karli and Cade, I understand,” Vinnie said.

Lorelei shook her head. “No, but I need to keep my leg propped up on the seat. Do you have a backseat?”

“Ooh, I forgot about that,” Karli said. “Maybe I should go with you two, and Cade, you drive home with Adam and Raina.”

“I really don’t want to be stuck with the newlyweds,” Cade teased.

Adam kissed Raina soundly, dipping her back before bringing her upright and smirking at Cade.

“Exactly,” Cade said. “You don’t think you can sit in the back with Lorelei?”

“Let’s go see. Vinnie, where did you park?”

Twenty minutes later, they had a plan. Adam and Raina were going to take a few days for a mini-honeymoon on Cape Cod. Karli, Cade, Vinnie, and Lorelei were going to drive Vinnie’s SUV back to Niagara Falls.

Together.

Yay.