Fracture (F-BOMB: Curvy Vigilantes #8)

Chapter 21

21

Vinnie walked into work with a chip on his shoulder and a fire in his gut. He needed to beat the shit out of something. Forget about Lorelei and the shooting the day before and everything except wearing himself out until he couldn’t lift his arms.

“Yo, Morgan! Wanna go a round?” Arthur shouted as soon as Vinnie stepped foot in the gym.

Vinnie stopped his path toward the body bag and looked at Arthur, leaning against the ropes in the ring, a confident smirk on his shit-eating face.

Vinnie changed course, heading for Arthur.

“It’s a good day to kick your ass,” Arthur taunted. “Always is, but today feels especially fun.”

Vinnie glared at Arthur as he tossed his bag to the side. He grabbed his boxing gloves and strapped them on, tapping them together before climbing into the ring.

Arthur smirked. “Need to warm up?”

Vinnie shook his head. “I’m always ready to beat your ass.”

“Bring it,” Arthur said.

Vinnie held his hands up and watched Arthur’s movements. Arthur liked to dance around on his toes and avoid shit more than he liked to throw punches. Vinnie was more than happy to land a few blows and get out the anger he was full of.

Arthur jumped forward, and Vinnie swung, landing a jab to his side.

Arthur jumped back, chuckling, but his face told the truth. It hurt.

Vinnie was light on his feet and ready for the next time Arthur made a move, landing another jab to Arthur’s chest. Arthur didn’t move away fast enough, and Vinnie knocked him off his feet with an uppercut to the jaw.

“Whoa, Arthur. I thought you were going to kick his ass,” another guy on his team said. “You realize you’re the one on the ground, right?”

“I kicked your ass, Hector.”

“True. You got lucky. Won’t happen next time. I’ll be ready for your dirty moves.”

“I’m not dirty,” Arthur shouted. He scrambled to his feet, facing off with Hector. “You gonna come up here and say that to my face?”

Hector chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll let Vinnie say it for me.”

Arthur turned back to Vinnie, as if he forgot they were in the middle of a fight.

Vinnie wasn’t going to fight dirty and catch him off-guard, but he wasn’t going to give him extra time to get ready either.

Arthur came at Vinnie, unfocused and wild. He swung, leaving himself wide open for Vinnie to return a punch.

Jab to the chest, uppercut to the jaw.

Arthur backed up, hands up to protect himself.

It was on.

Vinnie landed jabs to his ribs, alternating sides. Arthur hit the ropes, and Vinnie kept going. Ribs, arms, kidney, uppercut. Over and over as the blood rushed through his ears and all sound beyond his gloves hitting flesh a muffled hum.

“Vinnie!” someone shouted, yanking him off Arthur.

Vinnie fought them, shrugging them off before he heard his name again.

“Morgan!”

Shit. Vinnie dropped his hands, all the fight gone as he realized he fucked up. Bad.

“My office. Now,” Damien snarled at him.

Vinnie glanced back at Arthur, who was fighting off his teammates. They were trying to help him up. Blood poured from Arthur’s nose. The way he twisted to the side said his ribs were injured.

Fuck.

Vinnie ducked between the ropes and followed Damien down the hallway to his office. As soon as they were both inside, Damien closed the door. Hard.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You do know Arthur is a member of this team, right?”

“He’s not on our team,” Vinnie spat.

“He’s a fucking SWAT member,” Damien growled, getting in Vinnie’s face. “You don’t do that. You don’t lose your shit and wail on anyone until they can’t fight back. What the hell is wrong with you?”

Vinnie opened his mouth to defend his actions and shook his head. It was better if he kept quiet.

“You don’t want to tell me, fine. You can work patrol for the day.”

“What? But I?—”

“You beat the shit out of a teammate. You were ruthless and violent. You killed a man yesterday, and today you looked like you wanted to do it again, but this time with your bare hands. So unless you can tell me what the fuck is going on with you, you’re on patrol.”

Vinnie glared at his boss. He hated patrol. Not because it wasn’t valuable work, but because Vinnie fit in SWAT. He liked kicking in doors and taking down assholes like the fucker who killed seven people the day before.

“I’ll get my head on right, boss. I won’t fuck up again.”

“You’re right. You won’t. Or you’ll be on patrol for good.”

“You’re really going to send me down to patrol?”

“Get the hell out of here, Morgan. I don’t have time to babysit. You want to act like that, they can deal with you.”

Vinnie slammed his fist against the wall and yanked the door open. He stomped to the locker room before he remembered his bag was still in the gym.

Vinnie retreated and stomped his way to the gym, the halls clearing ahead of him whenever someone saw the look on his face.

Vinnie grabbed his bag and turned to head back to the locker room. He was almost there when Molly caught up to him.

“You’re going to patrol today? What the hell happened?”

“Nothing,” Vinnie barked. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. At least on patrol he could ride alone or ignore whoever he got sidelined with.

“That’s bullshit. You hate patrol. You beat the shit out of Arthur for a reason.”

Vinnie spun on Molly and got in her face. “Do I need a reason? He’s a cocky son-of-a-bitch who doesn’t deserve to be here. He threw down a challenge and couldn’t live up to it, and I’m the one who’s the asshole?”

Molly raised one eyebrow. “Back the fuck up. Right. Now.”

Vinnie froze and realized he was towering over her. If he saw someone in his position over another person, he would have thrown them against the wall. Vinnie took a step back and shook his head. “I apologize. I was not trying to get in your face like that.”

“I know, which is why I didn’t kick your ass for it. What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” Vinnie pushed past her and went into the locker room.

Molly followed. “Is this about the shooting yesterday? Are you still messed up about that?”

“No. I’d do the same thing again if I were in that situation. I know I did what needed to be done. Not that I liked it, but there’s no telling what he would have done if I hadn’t put him down.”

“I agree. So what’s up your ass? Did something happen with Agent Sloane?”

“It has nothing to do with her,” Vinnie growled through clenched teeth.

Molly was silent while Vinnie shoved his SWAT uniform to the side and reached for the patrol uniform in the back of his locker. He tugged it on with jerky moves, fighting each item the whole way.

When he was done, he looked up at Molly.

“What happened with her?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying.”

Vinnie snorted. “No, I’m not. Nothing happened. She wasn’t at my place when I got home last night. Went out with her friends and stayed out all night. Didn’t come back to my place at all.”

“Okay. And?”

“And what?” he barked. “She leaned on me for two months. Needed me to help her with everything. And the day her cast comes off, she’s gone? I’m just discarded trash that was only useful when she needed me.”

“Are you really that dumb?” Molly asked.

Vinnie did not like being called dumb. Almost as much as he didn’t like being told he deserved more than he knew he did.

Molly shook her head. “You came in here with a stick up your ass yesterday. She probably didn’t want to deal with you when you got home. And you’re pissed.”

“She was talking about an ex. Some guy who helped her last time she broke something.”

“And?”

“And apparently it’s her pattern. Pair up with a guy who’s around until she’s healed, then skip out.”

“How do you know that? Do you really think that’s who she is?”

“You don’t know her.”

Molly laughed. “You’re right. I don’t. I’ve never had a conversation with her. But you have. For two months, you’ve been caring for this woman. For two months. You dropped everything here to go find her. From the way you told it, she jumped at the chance to stay with you. You were the only one she trusted. She had family and her partner and other friends who were all willing to let her stay. All kinds of people who would have taken care of her. Do you really think she was just using you until she was better? That it was worth it to her to stay in your fourth-floor walk-up one-bedroom apartment when she could have stayed with a billionaire who has more bedrooms in her house than your entire building?”

“She didn’t know them,” Vinnie defended.

“She didn’t know you! You were a stranger, too. There’s no reason she wanted to be with you except she wanted to be. She didn’t know any of you, but she chose you. She didn’t do it because it’s a pattern. Are you really this oblivious?”

“What are you talking about?”

Molly tilted her head to the side. She looked at Vinnie long enough that he shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

“Why are you looking at him like that?” Hannah asked.

“Because he has no idea that Agent Sloane is in love with him,” Molly said.

“Really?” Hannah asked, her lips lifting into a grin.

“See? She thinks you’re crazy, too,” Vinnie said.

Hannah snorted and turned to him. “Oh, no, sweetie, that wasn’t because I agree with you. It was a surprise that you hadn’t figured it out by now.”

“She’s not in love with me,” Vinnie argued.

“Really? She’s just been living with you for two months. Sleeping with you. Making a home with you. Her memories are coming back, and she never went to stay with anyone else. She’s suffered through stairs and one-bedroom and a tub that could not have been easy to get into on crutches. And the real kicker? She’s put up with you.”

Vinnie growled at Molly.

“She’s right,” Hannah said. “There’s no way in the world that woman is not in love with you. Now, if you don’t feel the same, that’s a problem for you to solve, but she’s gone.”

She’s gone. Shit. She was gone. Or she would be when she got back to his place and found he’d packed all her stuff.

“What’s that face for?” Hannah asked, circling her hand around Vinnie’s head.

“I packed all her stuff last night.”

“Oh, shit,” Molly said.

“What does that mean?” Hannah asked.

“Agent Sloane stayed with a friend last night. Didn’t come home before he left this morning. And while she was gone, he packed her shit,” Molly explained while Vinnie pulled out his phone.

“And I left her a note.”

“What did the note say?” Hannah asked.

Vinnie shook his head. “Nothing good. Fuck. I need to tell her I was wrong.”

“So you love her?” Molly asked.

Vinnie sighed. He glared at his friends while they grinned like fools at him.

“Yeah, he loves her,” Hannah said.

Vinnie let out a laugh and shook his head. “Yeah, but I messed up, and she’s going to hate me.”

“Then change her mind.”

“How the hell do I do that?”

“You tell her you were wrong and that you love her and that you’ll never, ever, be so stupid again as to think you know what’s going on in her mind,” Molly said.

Vinnie snorted. “Will that work?”

“No,” Hannah said. “But lots of orgasms usually do the trick.”

Molly nodded. “She’s right.”

Vinnie shook his head and scrolled his phone to find Lorelei’s number. He tapped it and listened to it ring. And ring. And ring. Then her voicemail picked up.

“Call her again.”

“Morgan!” a man called from down the hall.

“Shit. I gotta go,” Vinnie hissed.

“Keep calling her. And when you get her, tell her not to read the note and that you’re sorry.”

“Always say you’re sorry,” Molly agreed.

Vinnie nodded. “Thanks. I love you guys.”

“We love you,” they said together. “Fix things so you can come back to SWAT next shift.”

“I will. Thanks!” Vinnie took off, calling Lorelei again. Still no answer.

He would talk to her. He had to. He had to make everything okay.

Vinnie was twitchy the entire shift. He never got in touch with Lorelei, so as soon as he was off, he went to Karli’s house.

Where no one answered the door.

“Dammit!” Vinnie shouted as he went back to his SUV. The house looked dark, so he guessed they really weren’t home and not that they were all hiding from him.

He fucked up. In a big way. He pushed Lorelei away because he was afraid of loving her. Of wanting her and her rejecting him.

And he probably lost her because of it. A self-fulfilling prophecy.

What an idiot.

He could go to Adam’s or Dawn’s or maybe find one of the others, but would any of them want to help him get her back?

Probably not.

Vinnie drove by Adam’s, but it was dark, too. Even though Molly pointed out that Lorelei could have stayed with Dawn, he doubted she’d be there. Lorelei would choose Karli or Adam. And both offered so there was no reason to think she would have gone somewhere else.

Like she chose to do when she moved in with him. She chose.

He was so blind.

Vinnie went home, making a plan to track Lorelei down on his first day off. He had two more days on shift, then he was going to find her. No matter where she ended up. Even if she went back to Boston.

He let himself into his apartment and stopped short when he realized the lights were on. The TV was on. Someone was in the kitchen.

“Lorelei,” he breathed. “You’re here.”

She turned on him, a hand on her hip. “Yeah, I’m here. You don’t get to kick me out. I’m not done with you, Vinnie Morgan.”

“You’re not?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m not. But I am mad at you. How dare you pack my shit? How dare you assume you know what I want?”

“I was an idiot.”

“You’re damn right you were. My ex did that. Mark? Who you freaked out about? He dumped me because when I got my cast off my arm, I didn’t need him anymore. He thought I was going to stay home and require his help forever. That I was going to turn into some alternate reality version of myself. He told me I was too independent for him. You know what I did?”

Vinnie shook his head.

“I tried to prove to myself that being independent was good. That I didn’t need anyone else. I was so set on being independent, I stopped sharing things with my partner. I stopped reaching out to friends and family. And I made the worst decision of my life and met with an informant alone and almost got myself killed.”

Vinnie sighed and took a step toward her.

“And then I met you. And you didn’t need me. I needed you, but you knew who I was. More than I did. You were here for me, in every possible way. And then you decided it was too much. But you don’t get to decide that, Vinnie Morgan, because I’m in love with you. And if you don’t feel the same, that’s fine. I will go if you really want me to, but you don’t get to throw me out without telling me to my face that you don’t love me.”

Vinnie took a step forward, then another, and another. He didn’t stop until he cupped her jaw and lifted her face so he could see only her. “I am the biggest idiot on the planet. I convinced myself you didn’t need me. You didn’t want me. I have never had anyone who wanted me because of who I am. It was always what I could do for them. My grandmother got extra money from the government for taking care of me. My dad got to leave and have a better life without me. All my exes wanted the cop or the man who took care of things, but it wasn’t about me. No one ever wanted me.”

“I did. I do,” she whispered.

Vinnie nodded. “I want you, too. I am so sorry I packed your stuff and left you that note. I never should have done either. I?—”

“I ripped the note up and never read it,” she confessed. “And I moved all my stuff back in.”

Vinnie breathed a laugh. “Good. On both.”

“Are you sure?”

“More than I’ve ever been about anything. I love you, Lorelei Sloane.”

“Thank God. It took you long enough to say it. I thought I was going to have to re-pack all my stuff and ask Karli if I could move in with her.”

“Please stay, Lorelei.” He cupped her jaw and tilted her face up to meet his gaze. “Let me prove I’m worthy of you.”

“You honestly think you’re not?”

He shook his head. “No one is worthy of you. You’re… amazing. And I’m the lucky one you chose to be with. I want you to know you will always be the one I choose. I will always want a place in your life. I will always want to take care of you.”

“I have a lot of needs.”

“I promise to fulfill all of them.”

“Can we start now? Because it was really lonely sleeping without you last night. I missed you a lot.”

He slid his hands down to her ass and squeezed both cheeks. “How much is a lot?”

“So much that I don’t think it’ll take any work at all to get me to come.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Make love to me, Vinnie.”

He growled at her words and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him while he carried her to the bedroom. He set her down inside the bedroom door and they worked together to yank clothes off, leaving them in a puddle for later.

He rolled a condom on as she laid on the bed, then he positioned himself between her wet thighs. In two strokes, he was fully seated in her.

“Fuck, you’re wet.”

“I’ve been hoping we would end up here. I’ve been thinking about all the ways I was going to convince you to love me.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry I was such an idiot. That I tried to push you away.”

“You’re not going to do that again,” she said, reaching up to cup his jaw.

“Never.” He kissed her palm, then her wrist. He withdrew his hips and slammed hard into her.

“Yes,” she breathed.

He reached between them and pressed down on her clit, already there and needing to feel her come on his cock.

“Vinnie,” she moaned. “Oh, yes.”

She came softly, her eyes locked on his and her body pulling him over the edge with her.

He rolled to the side and pulled her with him, holding her tight and knowing he was never going to let her go.