Fate (26 page)

Rose already felt drained
,
but somehow Romero’s tone sent even more waves of panic through her body. They should talk? So there was more?

Grace’s sympathetic expression furthered her worry. “What is it?”

“
He’s probably been doing this the whole time, Rose. He told his dad he wanted the money to get a car.” Rose didn’t think her heart could break any further.
Easy money
. “But i
t was more than just dealing, Rosie. He was in
the girl’s
bedroom when her father walked in
,
and Vince was facing possible statutory rape charges. The girl was underage.”

Rose stared at Grace for a moment
,
unable to move before she began shaking her head. “No.”

“It’s true. The girl admitted to her father that she’d been holding the drugs for her…boyfriend.” Rose could almost feel the pain it caused Grace to whisper that last word. She listened to the rest of story completely numb. “He admitted it was true
,
and when her father grabbed her arm in anger
,
things got violent. Vincent attacked him. So he was also facing assault charges. The attorney Sal spoke with last night told him this was
bad
. Anything they could do to get her dad to refrain from pressing charges would be better than having to go to trial. Between offering him money—lots of it and then convincing the man that boot camp would be something tough enough to put Vince through
,
not to mention the girl begging in tears that he not press charges
,
he finally agreed.”

Grace took the few steps closer to Rose and reached over to wipe the tears that now fell freely without any attempt from Rose to stop them. “I know it’s an impossible thought, Rosie, but it might actually be a good thing that this happened now and that he leaves. Before
,
you know
,
” Grace soothed Rose’s hair
,
“
t
hings got any more serious between you and him.”

Any more?
Rose had never been more
serious about anything in her life. They’d talked about moving in together for Christ
’s
sake! She had no words to respond to that, nor could she find enough air in her lungs to say anything.

“Rosie, I know right now you’re probably wondering how you’re going to get through the next few years without him, but I really think that you should consider the possibility of letting him go for good.”

Rose’s mouth dropped open. She was going to hyperventilate.
How could Grace even be suggesting this?

“Honey, Sal had to go with Vince back to that man’s apartment to get the drugs he’d left there. He explained to Sal why he needed to. The people—the drug dealers he dealt with
,
would come after him or his family if he didn’t. It’s so dangerous to involve yourself with someone like him. I’d be worried for you.”

Before Rose could even attempt to put a coherent string of words together
,
Sal walked back in just as his phone rang again.

Frowning he looked at the
caller
ID. “My uncle.”

He began walking away with the phone to his ear when it hit Rose.
Vince’s dad?
She rushed out
of
the kitchen behind Sal
,
listening to his every word.

“Yeah, Romero said they’d say minimum two weeks to get him in
,
but he knows some people that can put a rush on that. The attorney said it was best to get him gone ASAP before that asshole changes his mind or starts asking for more money.” Rose stared at the back of Sal’s head, her lip quivering uncontrollably now. This was really happening. Vince had really done this to them. “Don’t worry about that. I’m just glad he’s not going to jail. Everything else will work itself out.”

“Can I?” The words squeaked out
,
and Rose stopped to clear her voice—take a deep shuddering breath. Sal turned around
,
only then realizing that she’d been standing behind him that whole time. “Is Vince there? Can you ask him if I can speak to him?”

Sal said nothing for a moment then spoke into the phone. “Is Vince around?” he glanced up at Rose again
,
his lips firmly pressed together. “Yeah, let me talk to him.”

In the next second Sal’s expression went hard
,
and she knew Vince was on the line with him. “Rose wants to talk to you
,
but listen to me, Vince. We talked about this last night. This is already hard enough for her. Don’t bullshit your way out of this. She knows everything. I didn’t sugar coat any of it for her. What’s done is done.”

He handed the phone over to Rose who reached out a shaky hand and spoke into the receiver. “Vincent?”

“Rosie, I’m so sorry.”

The moment she heard his voice
,
the knot in her throat exploded. “So it’s true?” She could barely breathe now. “All of it? The drugs? The girl?”

“Yes, but it’s not all like what it seems.”

Squeezing her eyes shut
,
she felt her insides ripping apart. “Then
how
is it?” Rose held her hand against her chest in a futile effort to hold her heart together. She literally felt it tearing apart.

“I fucked up with the drugs
,
but Anita
…
it’s not at all what it looks like. I promise you that. She’s just my friend.”

Feeling a sudden wave of anger
,
she raised her voice. “Anita? She’s the one that called you her boyfriend?”

“Yes, but it’s not…I swear if I c
ould explain
,
you’d understand.”

“Well explain it, Vincent!”
s
he was yelling now and Grace walked into the room holding the baby in one arm, her free hand over her mouth, her own eyes teary now
,
“
b
ecause if there is an explanation for this,
now
is the time to do it. They wanna send you away!”

“I can’t,” he whispered
,
defeated.

Rose blinked
,
the reality really hitting her now. “Really?” The voice had turned into a squeak again. “You’re not even gonna try to fix this? You’re just leaving?”

“I wish I could fix this but…Anita.”

“What about her?” Grace’s words came to her suddenly,
the girl begged in tears
.
Rose
gasped. “Are you in love with her?”

“No!” his voice was loud and deliberate. “I love you and
only
you, Rosie. There’s no one else—never will be. Remember that always.”

As much as she wanted to believe him
,
there was still one thing piercing in her mind. Something she just couldn’t understand. “But you won’t even try to fix this because of her?
Why
?” She could hear his dad asking him for the phone back. “Call me on your phone. We still need to talk.”

“I can’t, babe. I don’t have a phone anymore.”

Romero walked in the room
,
and he and Sal talked in hush voices as Grace walked out of the room again wiping her own tears away. Just like it had killed Rose to see Grace so miserable
,
she knew this was killing Grace. Rose tried to calm herself for Grace
’
s sake
,
but it was impossible
.

“Rose
,
can I talk to him for a minute please?” Sal asked.

She handed Sal the phone without so much as a goodbye. Just as she numbly walked out of the room
,
she heard the words that
hammered the
last excruciating nail
in
to her already dead heart’s coffin.

“If you get your shit together
,
you’re out of here in
few
days. Don’t ask. I told you Romero had connections. I’ll call you again when I get more details.”
And then
,
just as she
dragged herself like a
zombie into her room
,
she heard
,
“Nah, she’s done talking to you, dude. You blew it bad.”

Vince

Vince should’ve known Sal wouldn’t mess around.
The days following
that nightmarish night had been mind
-
spinning. Everything the recruiter
had
said would take weeks to
happen
was
done in record time. Vince had barely had a moment to think
,
let alone dwell on how
badly
everything had gone down.

His heart ached every day just knowing how much he’d hurt Rose. After that only phone call he had with her
,
he hadn’t spoken to her again. He’d hardly been home enough to have time to even send her an email. Besides that Sal had made it clear Rose wanted nothing to do with Vince anymore and made Vince promise to let her be. So
he
had. At that point there was nothing he could say to her that would make her understand anyway.

As much as Vince reasoned that he could live without Rose if he had to
,
it felt
impossible
. He had to face the fact now that it
was
an all too real possibility. Just before Vince left
,
Sal told him about how miserable Rose had been those first few days after it all went down. Then Sal warned him that Grace was hurting for Rose as well
,
and
that
really pissed
Sal
off. “Grace doesn’t want you messing with her sister anymore. I warned you a long time ago, Vin, not to hurt her. After everything I’ve done for you
,
I think this is the least you can do for me. Respect my wife’s wishes. You’ve done enough already. Stay away from Rose now.”

Though Vince promised he would, he’d heard the hope in her voice the day he spoke with her. A love like theirs didn’t fade that easily. And if he had to be honest with himself
,
there was no way in hell he’d be able to stay away from her. He had every intention of begging for forgiveness as soon as he got the chance. For now
,
all he could do was continue to tell her how sorry he was and that he loved her as madly as he always had.

The first chance he got—two weeks into boot camp—he wrote to her. But he had to be sneaky. He sent it to Lorenzo and asked him to mail it using a girl’s name with a fake La Jolla return address. His brother
,
who was thankfully staying out of trouble now
,
was more than happy to oblige. He even offered to draw happy faces and “little
,
stupid hearts” on the envelope
that
he said the girls did at school to make it seem more real.

Vince told him to keep it simple but secretly liked the idea of Rose getting a letter with hearts on it from him. He’d kept it simple himself. As stupid as it sounded
,
he told her he’d only enlisted for four years. Of course he hadn’t had the gall to ask her to wait for him
,
but he prayed that somehow she’d want to.
He
was more than willing to wait and couldn’t even think about getting involved with anyone else even if it did mean for the entire four years.

That was almost a year ago. She’d never responded to even one of his letters
,
and Lorenzo assured him he was sending them to the right address.
Then m
onths ago he sent word to Rose
,
this time mailing directly to her himself
explaining it all
—assuring
her his love for her was just as strong and he’d do anything to make it up to her—still he hadn’t heard a thing from her.

Even then he held out hope that once he was able to go home even if it was just to visit
,
he could convince her to hear him out. Just a few weeks ago he’d mentioned in a letter to Lorenzo his plans of using a weekend pass he earned to fly back home to see Rose. He’d have to get past Sal and Grace
,
but it was worth the fight. Then he got a letter from Lorenzo that shattered any shred of hope he had left.

Lorenzo had only been around Rose a handful of times since the night everything went down anyhow. He’d never had much to update Vince on until now. Vince had already read Lorenzo’s letter a couple of times
,
but he kept going back to that same part that crushed his heart the first time.