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That sent a wave of heat hotter than the sun through my body. I grabbed a few things and rushed to the grand staircase. “Do you guys talk a lot to your other maid service? You don’t need to feel obligated to talk to me if you didn’t…”
I heard Fisher grunt, like Vaughn had punched him again, and then watched Vaughn stomp up the stairs ahead of me. I glanced back at Booth and Fisher, saw they were both watching me, and rushed upstairs after Vaughn.
He stomped down the right hallway to the last door on the left and walked in. He dropped my things on the king-sized bed and turned to me with his hands on his waist. “Stay away from them, Ella Rae.”
I dropped everything but Connie on the floor and rolled my eyes at him. “Vaughn, I just broke up with the guy I’ve been dating for three years. I loved him. I loved him and I walked in on him going down on another woman today. The only guy I want to be close to right now is a Scrub Daddy. You have Scrub Daddys, right?”
He let out a deep sigh and walked over to me. Taking Connie in his hands, he turned him over and shook his head. “I can’t believe you still have this thing. It’s old enough to vote now.”
I stared down at the stuffed cow that had gotten me through a lot of shitty years and suddenly I felt everything hitting me all at once. Tears filled my eyes and I could tell there was no stopping them. “I’m going to cry now, Vaughn, and neither of us wants you here for that. Just leave my stuff outside, please. I’ll get it later.”
His grip on Connie tightened before he let out a heavy sigh. Pushing Connie into my chest, he moved past me. “We’ll bring it up. Just cry in the bathroom or something.”
I almost laughed. “Thanks. That’s smart planning.”
Just before he left, Vaughn hesitated again. “Billy who, Ella? What’s his last name?”
That time I did laugh. Tears came with it, though, and I hurried into the attached bathroom to keep them to myself. I shut the bathroom door and leaned against it, my body suddenly so heavy I didn’t think I could keep it upright.
6
***Vaughn***
My teeth were turning to dust from all the grinding I was doing as I listened to Ella crying through the bathroom door. We’d brought her stuff up in two loads and each time we entered her room, her sobs were painful and seemed to be never-ending. I paced in front of her new bed and ran through a list of Billys in my head. I couldn’t imagine her with any of them. She was…her, and they were…losers.
Booth leaned against her doorway and winced with each sob. “Should we…do something?”
I shrugged. “What the fuck are we supposed to do? What does she need? Ice cream or some shit like that? Chocolate?”
Fisher stuck his head in from the hallway. “Diamonds? I’m willing to throw a lot of cash at this problem.”
The sobs stopped for a second and I felt a ray of hope that maybe she was okay finally but they started back right after. I ran my hands through my hair and pulled at it. “Jesus. How much can she cry? She can’t have that much liquid in her. She’s only one woman.”
“Can she, like, pass out from dehydration? I mean, she’s been crying for a long time. Should we get her a sports drink?” Fisher pushed past Booth and moved towards the bathroom door. I grabbed his shoulder to stop him but he shrugged me off. “Hey, Ella? When’s the last time you had anything to drink?”
Booth rolled his eyes. “It’s like watching an ape try to learn empathy.”
I snorted. “That’s good.”
The bathroom door cracked open and Ella’s shaky voice filled the room. “I’m okay. Really. Just leave me here for now.”
I growled and pushed Fisher out of the way. Pushing the door open, I felt like I’d been punched when I saw Ella sitting behind the door, eyes swollen and red from crying. She tried wiping her eyes to hide her tears, like we hadn’t been listening to her sobbing. I held my arms out to her. “Up. If you dehydrate and die, you won’t be much use to me. What do you need? Water? Ice cream? Chocolate?”
“Diamonds?” Fisher stuck his head around the door and swallowed audibly when he saw her. “Big diamonds?”
Ella pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face against them. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
I rubbed at my chest and looked at Fisher. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t go around comforting women all over the place. I just wanted her to stop crying because it made me feel like shit. I’d never seen her cry before and I didn’t fucking like it. Ella pissed? Great. Ella vengeful? Even better. Ella full of anger and snark and raging against me as a kid? Loved it. Ella crying? I wanted to break shit.
“Will you guys leave me alone if I say yes to water?” She looked up at us and the expression on her face was so pitiful that I actually growled and leaned down to pick her up. She batted my hands away, though. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know! Just stop crying, Ella Rae. What do you need to make it stop?” I tried to grab her again and frowned when she just batted me away again. “Ella!”
“Vaughn!” She pulled herself to her feet and walked to the other side of the bathroom, putting space between us. “I’m sad, okay! I loved Billy and I left my dream school like an idiot to come here with him and that’s all ruined now. I’m stuck here, in Florida, and I’m just…sad! I’m going to cry and that’s okay. The best thing you can do for me right now is-”
“Diamonds?”
“-leave me to it.” Ella looked at Fisher and smiled. Even though it was a sad, watery smile, I still didn’t like it. “And thank you for the offer of diamonds, Fisher, but the only thing I’d want with a diamond right now is to punch Billy with it so it left a big diamond shaped knot.”
