Down to Business (Business Series) (30 page)

I recognized only a few names including my own on his contact list. Tyler, Suz, and Vivian among others were familiar. Afterwards, I searched through his texts to Vivian. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when a photo of her naked breasts assaulted my eyes, I gasped out loud. My face reddened and my stomach clenched. I read the date and time it had been sent and my head began to swim. It was from Saturday night…the night when we were together at Malones. There was a message attached that read:

HERE’S A LITTLE SOMETHING TO KEEP YOU COMPANY WHILE YOU’RE AWAY SO YOU DON’T GET LONELY. MISS YOU BABY. XOXO. 

His reply was:

       ;]

He winked at her. That dick!

I felt nauseous. I closed my eyes and tears prickled at the back of my eyelids. Maybe my father was right. Maybe Vinny wasn’t what I thought after all.

I
blinked away my tears and glared at his phone in my hand, wanting to chuck it at the wall. Instead, I scrolled through the previous messages that were sent from Vivian. There was one of her bitching about him just leaving town with me, and her questioning why he cared about me so much. He didn’t reply to those. There was one later in the day of her saying:

MISS YOU *SMOOCH*

He responded back to that one with:

MISS YOU TOO VIVI.

What! He missed her?!

I sneered and swiped away my fresh tears, my hand trembling as I scrolled through previous texts to her. There was another one from the night of the disaster party. She told him:

TONIGHT BROUGHT SO MANY MEMORIES BACK VINNY, I WISH I COULD START ALL OVER. SOMETIMES IT ALL FEELS LIKE A BAD DREAM WE SHOULD WAKE UP FROM…

He responded with:

LET’S NOT GO THERE TONIGHT VIV. SLEEP TIGHT.

I came across another from a week earlier and my eyes were assaulted with not just another picture of her boobs, but one her sitting in front of a mirror completely naked, blowing him a kiss and another one of her ass, with her looking over her shoulder making a sexy face. The message attached read:

I WANT YOU MORE THAN EVER RIGHT NOW.

He replied with:

FUCK VIV, YOU ARE SO SEXY.

I choked back the disgust I felt and wiped the tears from my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I heard the shower turn off and a second later, a jolt of shock stung my veins as the door of his room opened and his roommate Kyle stepped in soaked from the rain. I yanked the covers up over my naked chest with a squeal.

Kyle’s eyes went wide as he noticed me. “Oh shit!” He stumbled back a step. “Sorry! I didn’t know you guys were…I’ll leave.”

“No!” I said, my cheeks burning. “No, I was just leaving.  Can you just—” I shook my head and took a deep breath, trying to get ahold of myself. “Can you just give me a minute to get dressed?”

“Yeah, sure. Sorry.” He backed out the door, closing it behind him.

The moment he was gone, I threw the covers off myself and scavenged the room for my panties. I found them, slipped them on and before I could find my shirt, the door opened again.

I gasped and turned away, covering myself. “What the fuck?!”

“Sorry I thought you were done ….” Kyle backed out again, closing the door behind him.

Yeah right.

I sobbed in frustration and shoved on my damp sweater and jeans. I stomped my feet into my cold boots and grabbed my backpack just as I heard Vinny finishing up in the bathroom. I threw open the door and slammed it closed to let him know I left. Kyle was sitting in the hall next to the door, looking like a lost puppy.

“Sorry about that…” he murmured, getting to his feet.

I ignored the comment and walked down the hall. I trembled out of anger and wiped my damp cheeks on my sleeves. I could hear the rain still pounding the building as I made my way toward the doors that would lead into the storm. I didn’t care what kind of weather I was about to face, it couldn’t compare to the hurricane I was feeling inside.

Cold rain struck my face like tiny needles as I stepped outside. I bowed my head and stomped through the puddles, toward the parking lot, wondering if I should go to the library to wait it out. My next thought was to call Lindy, so I found the closest overhang and removed my phone to find it had no service.

Cursing, I looked out over the flooded campus and more tears of frustration began to pour from my eyes as I realized I would have to walk home. I tucked my phone back into my backpack and headed in the direction of the apartment. I barely noticed the rain as I walked, lost in my own angry thoughts.

I wasn’t far from campus when a horn blaring shook me from my thoughts. I looked up to see Vinny’s black Nissan GT-R rolling to a near stop beside me. His window came down and he glared at me.

“Autumn!” he shouted. “What the hell are you doing? What happened?”

“Why don’t you tell me? You lying piece of shit!” I snapped, wanting to punch the confused look off his face.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

I stopped walking and turned to him. “I saw the texts on your phone between you and Vivian. I’m so glad you were with me this weekend but you still missed her and her tits!”

Realization loosened the hard edges of his expression. “Autumn, please get in the car so we can talk about this.”

“No! I’m not going anywhere with you. Go away.” I continued to trudge in the rain, stubbornly stomping through any puddle in my wake.

“Would you stop! I feel like an asshole driving next to you!”

“Good, because you are an asshole!” I shouted, shivering as rain drops pelted my face and stung my eyes. I could barely hear myself think over the rushing sound of water hitting the ground.

He slammed his hand on the wheel and sped off, suddenly coming to a squealing stop at the curb ahead. He put his hazard lights on and climbed out wearing a black hoodie and jeans. He slammed his car door and headed towards me with a look of determination.

I backed up a step, my heart pounding. “Don’t touch me!”

“Autumn, get in the car.”

“No. Stay the fuck away or I swear I’ll kick you right in your lying balls.”

Regardless of my threat, he called my bluff and marched up to me. I didn’t stand a chance when he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. I turned away and tried to squirm loose but his embrace tightened.

“Just fucking stop! We can stand out in this fucking rain or we can do this in the car! Either way we are gonna talk.”

I went limp in his grasp and sobbed into my palms, the heaviness in my heart enough to cripple me.

“Come on...” he said turning me to him and pulling me against his warm body. I buried my face into his warm shoulder and sobbed harder.

“You’re freezing, Autumn,” he said against my ear. “Please get in the car.”

I was too cold and worn to fight him. I let him lead me to the passenger side of the car and I dropped into the seat, my soaked clothes squeaking against the leather. He hopped into the driver’s seat a moment later and slammed the door. He glared over at me and ran his hand over his drenched hair.

“What the fuck were you thinking, walking home in the rain like this? You could have waited until I got out of the shower to talk to me.”

I stared out the passenger window, wiping the mix of rain and tears from my cheeks. “Can you just take me home please?” I asked, my trembling fingers numb from the cold.

He sighed and pulled away from the curb, shifting gears. He drove me down the almost abandoned roads to my apartment building. Once he parked, I reached for the door handle, but he hit the child safety feature and locked me in.

I glared at him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You’re not leaving angry.”

“Fuck you, Vinny. I have every right to be pissed off!”

“I never said you didn’t. But I have a right to give you my side of the story,” he answered and swallowed hard.

“Explain what? That you have lied to me for the last two weeks?”

“What do you want me to say? She sent me a picture of her tits! I can’t control what she sends me!”

“You could have told her to fuck off, not cheer her on, and tell her she’s fucking sexy!”

He sighed and looked ahead. “We talked about this, Autumn. You know why I put up with this shit.”

I shook my head and put my hands over my eyes, fighting the swell of emotion that was making my heart pound with fury. “You didn’t have to tell her you missed her, especially the night we were together.”

“I sent those texts before we even hooked up that night!”

“Oh so now I’m just a random hook up?” I asked, glaring at him.

“Jesus Christ, Autumn. You really think I’m just fucking with you?!”

“After what I just saw, yes I do. I read your texts. I saw all the pictures of her naked. How do I know you’re not jerking off to that shit. I’m so disgusted right now I can’t even look at you—”

“Why the fuck would you go through my phone in the first place!” he snapped, his voice accusing. “That’s fucking private, Autumn.”

“Because it was on the nightstand in clear sight, Vinny!”

“Oh okay,” he answered in disgust. “So that gives you the right to just look through all my shit?”

“I’m glad I did, at least I know the truth now!”

“You don’t know shit.” He snapped back.

I shook my head and feeling like I was about to vomit. “Just let me out of the car.”

“No. You think I keep those pictures because I care about her? Is that what you think?”

“I don’t give a shit anymore. I’m cold, I have to throw up, and I just want to go home.”

“Here,” he said ripping his phone out of his pocket. “Just to prove I don’t give a fuck, I’ll delete every fucking one of her texts, everyone one of her pictures, I’ll even delete her fucking number if it proves you mean more to me than all of this.” I watched his thumb stab at the keys, deleting one photo after another, her face pixelating into oblivion before my very eyes. I looked away and gagged after watching a particularly provocative one I hadn’t seen before disappear.

A few moments passed before he threw the phone down in his cup holder and leaned forward putting his forehead on the steering wheel, his hands clenching it so hard his knuckles were white. “This is why I didn’t want to get involved with you Auti, I just fucking knew this would happen. I knew it. You can’t trust me.”

The truth of his words drove the knife deeper. I took a pained breath. “Then why did you lead me on?”

He looked over at me, his brown eyes expressing the sadness he felt. “I didn’t lead you on. I mean that. Everything I’ve said and everything that has happened between us is genuine. I want you….I care about you so much. I don’t want to lose you over this…I’m so sorry.”

I wiped some fresh tears out of my eyes. “I don’t know if I can get over this, I don’t know anything anymore. All I know is that I’ve never felt this fucked up over anything. This sucks so bad.”

“Autumn…I’m sorry. Please…” He leaned over, pulling me towards him.

I rested my head against his shoulder, letting him hold me while I released more fresh tears.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this,” he said, rocking me gently, side to side. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You can’t fix it, Vinny. There’s no way to. She will never go away.”

“Yes, she will. I’ll find a way. I’ll stop talking to her if I have to, I’ll do whatever it takes.”

I leaned back and looked into his eyes, giving him a skeptical glare. “You know that won’t happen. She will try harder. Even if you did stop talking to her she will find a way to stay in your life. She will ruin everything, I just know it.”

“She can’t ruin it for us if we don’t let her.”

More like if he didn’t let her.

I sighed and pulled away, too emotionally drained to argue about it anymore. “You better get to class.”

“Are you coming to work tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah I guess.” I said.

“Need a ride?”

“Just home. I don’t start until seven tonight.”

“Okay. So I’ll see you there?”

I nodded in resignation and he leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss against my cheek. “I’m sorry, Autumn.”

“I gotta go,” I let myself out of the car into the drizzling cold rain.

“I’ll see you tonight…” he called as I swung the car door closed and hurried upstairs to the apartment. I walked through the door to hear the muted sound of music coming from Lindy’s bedroom. I walked down the hall, and prepared to knock until I heard the distinct sound of her bed creaking and Tyler saying her name.

I grimaced and backed away. I went into the bathroom, tore off my wet clothes, and took a hot shower to wash away the chill from my bones and the ache from my heart.

Afterwards, I put on some fleece pajamas and made a quick phone call to my mother to make sure Grandma was doing good. By the time I was done, Lindy had noticed I was home early and came to see me.

She sat on my bed and watched me fight with my hair as I straightened it, and told her about my dramatic afternoon. Once I was done, she was as disgusted as I was.

“If Tyler pulled some shit like this on me, I’d kill him.”

“Were not in a relationship though, I don’t even know what we are.”