26. Vincent
26
VINCENT
O n top of all the drama I was currently facing, I could now add a missing-in-action Paul to the list.
He wasn’t at my place when I’d arrived home from work, so I texted him for a status update. He was usually glued to his phone, so I was shocked when he didn’t reply. I texted him again as I got ready for work the next morning and once again got zero response. When he didn’t pick up my call, I determined that something was up, and it wasn’t good. I didn’t want to reach out to Chloe, just in case he was keeping her out of the loop as well, so once lunch time rolled around, I headed over to his apartment. I’d opted to take my chauffeur today instead of driving myself, since being in the parking garage never failed to make me think of Piper.
And thinking about her made my heart hurt in a way I’d never experienced before.
I called Paul once again as I walked into the lobby of his apartment building even though I had a feeling he wouldn’t pick up. I was starting to get worried since the radio silence was so unlike him. The guy loved talking.
I walked over to the doorman at his desk. “Hey, Sam. Is Paul in?”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Forde,” Sam said cheerfully. “Looks like he’s actually—” The man’s smile dropped into an expression of confusion as his eyes caught on something over my shoulder. “I mean, he’s…um…” I turned to see what had snagged his attention and saw Paul behind me making throat-cutting gestures only to sigh in defeat when our eyes met.
“Fine, yes, I’m here,” Paul said, irritated. “Why are you here? Isn’t it enough that you’ve been calling and texting me nonstop?”
“We need to talk,” I insisted. “Can I come up?”
“I’m not sure you want to hear what I have to say to you,” he fumed. “But fine. Come up. I’ll give you five minutes.”
His radio silence had clued me in that he might be avoiding me, but I never imagined it was my fault. We rode up to his apartment in an ominous silence.
Whatever was coming was going to be bad. Paul never got this upset. Aiden was the fighter out of all of us, with a temper that was quick to flare up. Trent was more of a silent simmer kind of guy. When he went quiet, we knew things were about to go to hell. But Paul? He was the golden retriever of the bunch, always managing to find a reason to be cheerful no matter how dark things got.
I braced myself for what was to come. Maybe he and Chloe were separating already? Given how rough things had been for them, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Nearly all relationships were doomed to fail, and they were just facing the inevitable quicker than usual.
He unlocked his door and strode in. I’d half expected to find the place a mess given his near-bachelor state, but it was as perfect as ever, with fresh flowers in vases scattered around the place and the throw pillows on his couch perfectly karate-chopped. My nose was so keen that I could tell which bouquets of roses were nearly ready for the trash bin even though they all looked gorgeous from a distance.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“I’m sorry, what ?” I asked, incredulous.
“Do you know how much you hurt Piper?”
I sighed. “Okay, that’s what this is about. I get it.”
“Do you though?” he asked, a note of frustration in his voice. “Because it sure doesn’t seem like it.”
Well, damn. Paul was pissed .
“I’m sorry, but it’s for the best. Piper is better off without?—"
“You broke her heart,” he cut me off. “If I’d had any clue that’s what you were capable of, I would’ve warned her to stay the hell away from you. I mean, I had my doubts. Look at your track record.” Paul’s voice was full of venom. “But I thought this relationship could be different, because Piper’s real . She’s not one of your social-climbing supermodels, she’s a decent, kindhearted, loving person. I thought maybe if you got involved with her, you’d understand what an actual, loving relationship could be like. And maybe she could melt that cold heart of yours.”
Every word cut into me, but I didn’t respond. There was no need to fight back because he was right. Piper was all of that and more.
“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” he demanded.
“Can we sit at least?”
“No. I don’t want you to get comfortable,” he fumed.
I couldn’t even make it past the front hall? This was bad. But was it decades-old-friendship-ending bad?
“Paul,” I sighed. “Okay, I admit it, I fucked up. But it’s over now, and the truth is, I’m not cut out to be what she needs. I’m not good at all that stuff. I’m better solo.”
He made a face at me. “Yeah, right, says the guy with a giant group of friends you’ve maintained since college. You being here now proves my point; you took time out of your busy work day to figure out what was going on with me. You told Piper that business is all that matters to you, but that’s obviously not true. You know how to step up and put people first when it’s a relationship that is important to you, so why didn’t Piper make the cut?”
I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by the front door opening. Chloe walked in loaded down with bags and froze when she saw me.
“What’s he doing here?”
“Hi Chloe, nice to see you too,” I deadpanned.
“Vincent stopped by to see where I was,” Paul explained. “And now I’m trying to make sense of how he could be so goddamn stupid as to break Piper’s heart.”
“Well, at least invite him all the way in,” she said as she bustled by. “Because explaining that much stupidity is probably going to take a while.”
We stared at each other in silence, neither one wanting to break first.
“Fine,” Paul sighed. “Come in.”
At this point, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to continue the conversation. Paul had clearly picked sides, and now an angry Chloe was also going to confront me.
I followed Paul to the sitting area outside the open concept kitchen where she was bustling around.
“Can I get you a drink?” Chloe called from the kitchen. “Beer? Whiskey? Shots of tequila?”
“No thanks, I need to get back to the office after this.”
I eased into a chair.
“Because work is more important to him than anything,” Paul added snidely as he sat down across from me.
Tough crowd. But I knew I deserved it.
I was surprised when Chloe came out of the kitchen and plopped down next to Paul. Here I’d thought things were rocky between them, but they looked like a united front.
United in glaring at me.
“You know, Piper is the reason Chloe and I are back to normal,” Paul said. He reached over and took her hand in his, giving me the tiniest twinge of envy.
“It’s true,” she added, a small smile tugging at her lips as she placed her hand over Paul’s. “She gave him a little push and…well, the rest fell into place.”
“I thought I was keeping our relationship simple and easy by not pushing Chloe to say any more than she wanted to. What I didn’t realize was that she was bottling up a lot of heartache, and she needed that push to be open and honest with me.”
“At the same time, I didn’t make it easy for him. I was doing way too good of a job hiding my real problems from him.” She bumped against Paul and gave him an embarrassed smile. “Did you hear about my missing earring?”
“A little…” I said, unsure of how much I could let on that I knew. “It was your grandmother’s, right? And it got lost in the hotel suite.”
“It led to a giant fight,” Chloe added, looking a little sheepish. “Which is why Paul ended up staying at your place.”
“I met Piper for lunch, and she suggested that we go to Veritique to have a replica made. Perfect solution. Obviously, it’s not the same as having both original earrings, but they can be worn as a set again, and every time she wears them, she’ll know that both earrings were given to her by people who love her more than anything. They’re a symbol of family, love, and our commitment to work through our problems no matter what.”
“You could learn something from our challenges, Vincent,” Chloe added. “Life will always throw problems at you, which means you need someone in your corner to help you weather them. Having someone you can rely on, who’s there for you no matter what, helps even out the ups and downs.”
“Yeah, and you won’t always be able to lean on the Lost Boys to fill in the empty parts of your life. Eventually, hopefully , every one of them is going to get as lucky as I am, and they’re going to find their special someones.” He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of Chloe’s. “Have you thought about that? We’ll be off writing the story of our lives, and you’ll be…”
“Alone,” Chloe said.
The word echoed around the apartment. I wanted to fight back, to speak up for myself, but every word they were saying rang true.
“Well,” I finally said. “It’s too late now. Piper wants nothing to do with me.”
“Do you blame her?” Chloe asked pointedly.
“Ouch, tough crowd,” I joked.
“Dude, you chose your business over her. She was handing you her heart, and you drop kicked it,” Paul said.
“If you want to make things right, you’re going to have to pull out all the stops to convince Piper you mean it,” Chloe added. “But…”
“But?”
“Don’t even bother unless you can commit to working at your relationship,” Paul finished for her.
I fell back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. Being with Paul always brought me back to who I used to be, before I turned into the mess I was now. He could call me out like no one else.
No one but Piper. I snorted softly at the thought. Yeah, she was one-of-a-kind when it came to speaking her mind, and man, I missed it.
“I bet she likes jewelry,” Paul suggested. “Veritique has quite a selection.”
Chloe immediately shook her head, cutting him off. “Jewelry’s nice, but I don’t think that’s what’ll get through to Piper. If you want to win her back, you need to do something with heart .”
“Like what?” I asked.
She shrugged as she sat down beside Paul again. “That’s up to you. Think about special times you shared. Things that remind you of each other. Inside jokes. Something that shows she’s more than just the woman of the moment.”
There were so many things that reminded me of Piper, from a crushed bumper to sunset in Hawaii.
“Yeah, make her believe what you feel is real,” Paul added.
The problem was that I didn’t know what I was feeling. Nothing I’d ever experienced before had ever come close to it. For now, it was easier to move past it and focus on what I could control.
“Hold on,” I threw my hands up in front of me. “Look, I’m not sure what I need to do. You don’t have to convince me that Piper is amazing, I already know that. And it’s clear I was a total dick to her at the party—you don’t need to prove that to me, either. The truth is, I’m just not sure I can be who she needs me to be.”
“Well, you need to figure that out, and soon,” Paul said.
“Agreed,” Chloe said. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. “It’s lunch, and you need to fatten up. We have takeout, more than the two of us can eat, so join us. You’re the boss, so you can take a long lunch if you want.”
I laughed. “Fine, okay. I’ll join you.”
As the two of them bustled around the kitchen, joking and sniping at each other, a sense of loss washed over me.
I’d shared that sort of playfulness with Piper. And I missed it so much.
I couldn’t stop seeing her wounded expression every time I closed my eyes. I’d fucked up, and now I was paying the price.
But then again, I should be used to it by now. It was my legacy.