Charmed (Death Escorts #2)(56)
Author: Cambria Hebert

I sent her a quick text: Just getting back into town. We’ll talk soon. And then I threw my phone back into the bottom of my bag.

I took a cab home, spending the last of my cash, and trudged up to my apartment. I dumped my bag on the floor and fell face first into the couch.

That’s when I started crying.

Whoever said “big girls don’t cry” never got their heart broken. It hurt. A lot. I wished I could just eat a box on donuts, go shopping and watch a bunch of movies where guys got the shaft and get over him, but I couldn’t do that. I was too busy wondering where he was. If he was okay and if he knew I left.

I turned my head and caught a familiar scent that made me ache all over again. I looked down. I was still wearing his T-shirt. I forgot to take it off.

I should’ve taken it off and lit it on fire. I should’ve run into the kitchen and stick it in the garbage disposal.

I pulled it closer around me.

I was pathetic.

I looked at the posters of Marilyn. She understood heartbreak. She knew how shitty men were.

There was a knock at my door.

“Go away!” I groaned.

The knocking grew louder.

“I said go away!” I yelled.

“I will not go away!” Piper yelled through the wood. “I’m not leaving until you open this door!”

I dragged my pathetic self off the couch and opened the door, then went back to the sofa and did another faceplant. I heard the door shut, but I didn’t bother to see if she took one look at me and hightailed it to safety.

“What happened to you?” she said, coming to stand beside the sofa.

I pushed myself up and swiped the hair out of my face to look at her. Her eyes widened when she looked at me. “Have you been crying?”

I sniffled.

She sighed. “You didn’t stay away from him, did you?”

I shook my head.

She sighed again.

“You fell in love with him.”

I groaned and fell sideways. “I’m so stupid!”

She sat down on the edge, where I wasn’t completely taking up all the space, and patted my back. “Not stupid. I know how easy it is to fall in love with someone like him.”

I blinked back the tears in my eyes. “I didn’t know Dex, but I do know that he wasn’t like Olly.”

“Who?”

“Charming,” I corrected and ignored her look of curiosity.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does.”

“I thought you would hate me. I was so scared to tell you about him.”

“I could never hate you. But you shouldn’t have been scared to tell me. I thought we were best friends. Friends tell each other stuff. Even the hard stuff.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said, my voice hoarse. I wanted to cry all over again. “But you told me to stay away from him. I promised.”

She half-smiled. “That was selfish of me to make you promise. I knew by the look in your eye that day it was too late.”

“What?” I said, incredulous. “I hated him back then. I never hated someone so much.”

“There’s a thin line between love and hate, Frank.”

She was right. Aside from the fact he was completely horrible, I think part of me knew he had the capability of hurting me this way. That he would hurt me this way. I hated him for that too.

“He tried to kill you. How could I fall for someone like that?”

“Dex tried to kill me more than once. I loved him anyway. I still love him.”

“We need therapy,” I said.

She laughed. “Yeah, we really do.”

“Maybe we should start a support group for women who love killers. Just think of all the women who love inmates across America…”

We both laughed.

“I’m really sorry,” I confessed after our laughter died away.

“Aww, Frank, it’s okay. I understand. But don’t ever cut me off like that again. We’re family. Even if I think you’re being an idiot, I’ll still love you.”

“So you do think I’m an idiot,” I said, trying not to get all emotional over her understanding.

“What happened?” she asked.

I got up and scooted over, making more room for her on the couch. Then I pulled the Tiffany-blue throw off the back and wrapped it around my shoulders. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know how much to say… Piper was my best friend, my family, but some of the things I shared with Charming had felt so private… so mine that I didn’t really want to share them.

She must have sensed my hesitation because she got up and went into the kitchen, and I heard her opening and shutting cabinets and filling the kettle with water. A few minutes later she came back with two mugs of steaming hot tea. It was the Ginger Twist kind she loved and I kept here for her. She handed me a mug and I wrapped my hands around it. The warmth that radiated into my hands reminded me of riding in his Porsche with the heated seats. A sob caught in the back of my throat and I took a sip of tea to push it down. The tea had honey in it. A lot of honey. Just the way I liked it. I gave Piper a watery smile.

“He drove me nuts. From the minute I first laid eyes on him, he got under my skin. And then he kidnapped you. When he walked into the DMV that day, all I could think of was calling the cops. But I couldn’t.”

Piper nodded and sipped her tea.

“Instead, I vowed that I would get in his way. Stop him from doing to anyone else what he did to you.” I took a breath and finally admitted the truth. “But that was just an excuse. An excuse to be near him.”

“You loved him even then,” Piper said and I shook my head in vehement denial.

“No. Maybe.” I sighed. “I don’t know.”

“But the more I saw him… the more I saw. You know? There are so many layers to him… so much he hides.”

“He was like a puzzle that you wanted to figure out. Pieces that you just had to align.”

“Yes,” I said, the butterflies in my stomach acting up again. She did get it. She knew exactly what I meant. “I could never make excuses for what he does, what he’s done. I hate it, but…”

“But you don’t hate him.”

“No. I don’t.”

“Maybe he is just as much a victim in all of this as everyone else,” she said quietly, shocking the crap out of me.

“How can you say that?” I asked, fortifying myself with more honey with tea.

“I don’t know why Charming became an Escort, but if he was in any kind of position like Dex was, then he probably didn’t have a choice. Sometimes people get caught up in things and then they don’t know how to get out.”