“Stop treating me like I killed your fucking cat!” I yelled back.

It was Mitch’s turn to take a step towards me. I remained rooted to the spot. Mitch stood so close I had to crane my neck to look up at him. He was furious. Well he wasn’t the only one.

“No, you just fucking broke my heart, Gracie!” he growled, leaning down so that we were almost nose-to-nose. “You broke me!”

I snorted, “You don’t look very broken. It seems you’ve had lots of help being put back together,” I derided.

I was getting angry. Dangerously angry. The thing was Mitch and I had never really fought. But that was before that night.

I didn’t quite know how to do this with him. The getting angry and bitter thing. But I did know that he was being a dick and unnecessarily cruel and I was so done with taking that.

Mitch’s eyes flashed and even when enraged he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Damn him.

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You’re pissed that I found someone who actually wants to be with me? Are you serious? I mean, I know you can be selfish and completely clueless—”

“ Excuse me?” I seethed.

“But this is low, even for you, Gracie. Are you going to stand there and have the audacity to give me shit for being with Sophie when you made it clear we were never going to be together?” He raked his hands through his hair and looked ready to pull it out. “ You made that choice! Not me! You!” He was looking decidedly unhinged and he wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise. It seemed I wasn’t the only one that had been bottling things up.

“Mitch, just let me speak, damn it!” I shrieked, ready to lose my shit all over him. A crowd of people were milling around, watching us like we were the best thing since Jerry Springer. I should have been embarrassed, but all I could focus on was Mitch and trying to get him to listen. But he wasn’t having it. And we were quickly escalating to a point of no return.

“No! Fucking hell, Gracie! Are you just mad that I didn’t spend the rest of my life alone and miserable because you had rejected me? You lost your little fucking puppy dog and that bothers you, doesn’t it? I’m no longer there to kick around. To play with. And you can’t handle it!”

“You were never my damn puppy dog! Jesus, Mitch! I’m sorry!” My face was wet but I didn’t bother to wipe away the tears that were dripping down my cheeks.

“Me too! I’m fucking sorry I fell in love with you in the first place!” Mitch’s eyes flashed.

We stood, facing off in the middle of the darkened hallway with a group of strangers watching us, crying and pissed and ready to rip each other’s heads off.

But in some weird way I was glad. Because this was the most we had said to each other in over a year.

“Mitch! What’s going on?” Sophie pushed through the crowd to stand between us. I had to back up to make room for her and my anger surged all over again.

Mitch wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand and rubbed at his temples as though he had a headache. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” He gave her a strained smile. “Are you ready to get out of here? I think I’ve had enough of this place.”

He wouldn’t look at me. It was like I had disappeared.

Sophie glanced at me, her face unreadable. How much had she heard? Did I really give a shit?

“Gracie! There you are! I heard all this yelling, but I couldn’t get through these asshats!” Riley called out, pushing through the group that was now beginning to disperse.

My friend looked at me. Then looked at Mitch. Then at Sophie. “What’d I miss?”

Mitch grabbed Sophie’s hand and I could see the fine tremors in his arm. “We’re leaving,” he barked and all but dragged his girlfriend down the hallway and out into the club.

“Gracie! What in the hell?” Vivian and Maysie hurried towards me and I felt suddenly very, very tired.

“I just want to go back to the hotel. I’m not feeling so well,” I told them weakly.

“What were you and Mitch yelling about?” Riley demanded, not letting me walk around her.

I rolled my eyes. “It was nothing. It doesn’t matter. I just want to leave,” I replied flippantly.

It doesn’t matter.

Vivian put her arm around my shoulder. “It’ll be okay, G,” she murmured, kissing my cheek. I leaned into her, barely able to hold myself up.

“Will it, Viv?” I asked her, hating the feel of new tears on my skin. God, why was I still crying over him? When would I stop feeling like this? Shattered.

Vivian gave me a squeeze and rested her head on top of mine as we started to make our way back to the club. “Absolutely,” she said with confidence.

I hoped she could believe it enough for both of us.

I wanted to hit something. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run back into the club and finish the argument Gracie had started. Or had I started it? Did it really matter? Damn her for making me feel, once again, so completely out of control.

“What was that all about?” Sophie demanded once we were in the back of the cab and headed towards the hotel.

“It was nothing. Seriously,” I said through clenched teeth.

“It didn’t look like nothing,” Sophie prodded. She wasn’t going to let this drop. Not that I blamed her. I can only imagine how the whole thing looked. I felt like a complete dumbass for getting pulled into Gracie’s drama. Again.

“Gracie just said some stuff that got under my skin,” I remarked dismissively.