VALERIE

Ninety

Although it had been a few weeks since Valerie was found and taken back home, nothing felt the same.

Marco was stressing about the pressure the mafia back in California was currently pressing on him by forcing him, Nick and Jesse to become their hit-men.

All while Nick dealt with the cold shoulder Valerie kept giving him.

And Valerie dealt with her emotions on a raw day to day basis, growing angrier and weary as the days continued to fly by.

But today was different. For once the cloudy sky in Washington decided to clear up and the sun was exposed shining bright in the light blue sky.

It was today that Valerie decided to smile again after spending so much time alone in her dangerously dark mind.

Nick missed the smile that gave him both desire and happiness all at once.

It was that known Valerie smile that said, "I will ruin you without trying."

The smile he couldn't get enough of because she had already ruined him.

But today was different because for once she wasn't high or drunk but genuinely smiling again and for that Nick was thankful.

He hadn't really spoken to her since a few days ago where she warned him with a knife to stay away from her.

Now he watched her energetically crushing things in her fathers home office with a hammer.

"Wanna help?" She called out to him as she raised her hammer then quickly swung it at a Jackson Pollock original her father had hung up next to a Matisse.

Nick shook his head as he watched the canvas tear dramatically, "Won't your mom get upset?"

Valerie hysterically laughed, "Nick, Emily isn't coming back."

Furrowing his brows Nick watched as she took another swing at the painting, "How do you know?" He asked watching her smile grow again.

"She got remarried to that British guy Grace was supposed to marry." Valerie replied tossing her hammer onto the hard wood floor.

"And what about you? How are you going to maintain the lifestyle?" Nick asked walking into the office to take a seat on the leather couch.

She shrugged her shoulders before running a hand in her tangled brown hair, "Dad left me everything in the will plus the pension checks that he receives from his companies. Why do you think my mom remarried? Dad didn't leave her or Grace shit."

Nick watched as his girlfriend took a seat beside him on the double seated leather couch, she frowned with her full lips and she looked at him, she loved when he would ditch his contacts and wear his glasses, she found him so adorable.

He stared back at her, his gaze concentrated on those plump lips he missed dearly.

"Why'd you sleep with other girls?" She finally asked him, completely killing the allure betwixt the two.

"I thought we were broken up. I had to try and forget you somehow." He replied nonchalantly.

She sighed, "You should've just masturbated and cried yourself to sleep."