Page 74 of Heartless Boss
“Did Nova file a police report on Ryan?” I ask Logan as he drives down the street.
“The DA charged him with rape and domestic violence in his state. He’s facing twenty years since he has a history of it,” Logan answers. “I wrote her a check for forty grand because she wanted to go to Hollywood. She told me to tell you thank you.”
“Motherfucker, always saving everyone else while he should have been saving his own ass,” Darien says, leaning forward in the back seat.
“Shut the fuck up,” I say.
“Have you talked to Rainbow?” Matt asks.
We pull up to the highway next to a Publix eighteen-wheeler, and a taxi driver gives us the middle finger for cutting him off.
“No. She won’t pick up any of my phone calls.” I didn’t go to the condo, and I don’t know where she’s living now. Where did she move to? Did she move to a nice neighborhood? Does she feel like someone’s stabbing her heart as well? Or am I the only one sulking?
“She moved to Brooklyn,” Darien answers my unspoken thoughts. “Alana went to go check out her apartment a few days ago. She’s rooming with Izzy. Gia agreed to babysit Cora on Tuesday and Thursday because those days are date nights for me and Alana.” The black leather squeaks as I twist my body to look at him while he glances at his phone. “Alana just texted me that Gia is picking up Cora.”
“You talked to Gia?” I cock my eyebrow.
“Yeah. I offered her a drink when she came by yesterday. Instead, she told me to stop making Cora eat all that healthy food. I’m ruining sweet treats Saturdays for them.” He chuckles, rubbing his beard. “I told her this isn’t Burger King; she can’t have everything her way.”
Matt glances at Darien in the rearview mirror. “No way Rainbow spoke to you. When I speak to her she looks at me like I’m crazy and doesn’t respond.”
“She doesn’t speak to people she doesn’t know or like. And you scare the shit out of her. She told me a few times,” I say. I miss my Rainbow. I feel like I died a million deaths.
We ride for another hour, and the car fills with laughter and how we all met. Logan and Matt were friends before I met them. They laugh at how I met Matt our freshman year. How I was fucking one of his girlfriends, Sue, and at the time she lied and told me that she was single. He dumped her ass, and I invited him to one of my parties. Later that year, he introduced me to Logan. Logan and Matt want me to go to a strip club after I get out of rehab, but I don’t have any desire to dabble in new pussy. I just want my Rainbow back.
We pull up to a red brick building that resembles a house with red roofing, hiding behind black metal gates. This is going to be my home for the next three months. Matt kills the engine. Their gazes cling to me as I glance at the building. I’m about to do what I should have done all those months ago when I started to see Hannah. Get the help I needed for my PTSD and lay off the booze that almost destroyed my life. Rainbow once told me that you have to break to be whole again, and she was right. I’ve broken myself time and time again. It isn’t my fault I had traumatic events happen to me, but it’s my fault if I don’t take responsibility for my healing.
They all wish me well as I get out of the car and grab my duffle bag and head up the brick stairway. This is my first step to recovery.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gia
Three months later ...
The heart suffers from different sicknesses when it breaks.
When I was treated like garbage, being passed around in foster care, it was sick with abandonment.
When I gave my heart to Ryan, and he shattered it into a million pieces, it was sick with betrayal and loneliness.
When I had to let Gunner go after he made my heart sing like a canary, it was sick with disloyalty.
People never talk about the condition of your heart after it gets broken or ways to fix it.
The last three months have been painful, hollow, and empty. When Alana told me that Gunner was in rehab, a part of me smiled because he took my advice and realized he has a problem.
On some level I’m even grateful he beat the crap out of Ryan because, let’s face it, Ryan deserved it. According to Darien, he’s in prison for beating up another woman, which serves him right.
Some days, it’s hard not to be reminded of Wolf because when I look at Cora all I see is him.
Ever since I moved in with Izzy, she’s been trying to cheer me up by taking me out every weekend. Last Thursday, we went to the Rockefeller rink ice-skating. I fell a few times on the ice, but it was the first time since I’ve been apart from him I laughed so hard my belly ached.
At this time of year, New York City is breathtaking. Holiday lights line some of the streets, the department store windows are decorated, and the Rockefeller Center has their famous Christmas tree up. Joy, happiness, and passion—the total opposite of what I’m feeling on the inside.
My phone dances with excitement on the counter, I turn it over and hit the text message icon. It’s a message from Alana.
Alana: Gunner is here.
