Tracy

I was pacing my apartment feeling more frustrated and irritated by the second. The phone rang and rang. Come on Jack, pick up. It went to voicemail and I wanted to throw my phone agains the wall.

Mark had stayed until his guy had replaced my front door lock with some fancy new age state of the art lock that I could unlock with my phone. I was happier with my conventional one with a key but I let Mark have his way so I could get rid of him.

Since he had left an hour ago I had been trying to get hold of Jack to no avail. That little weasel. I was so angry I could hit something and I wasn't a violent person but that asshole brought out the worst in me.

I had an appointment tomorrow and I needed my equipment. I couldn't do the photo shoot without them. The camera I still had with me wouldn't be sufficient to pull off the shots I needed. It would be too late to try and rent what I needed. My only alternative would be to reschedule it but that was a last resort.

Jack knew I needed my stuff to be able to earn a living. I still couldn't figure out what he had hoped to gain by doing something so childish.

My phone rang but I was disappointed only to see my sister's name flashing as the ID of the incoming call.

"Hi," I greeted.

"Hey," she said. "Have you got the keys back?"

I let out a heavy sigh. "No."

"Have you got hold of him yet?"

"No. He took my stuff."

The was a pause. "What stuff?"

"My camera equipment."

"I don't understand."

I told her what happened when I got back to my apartment with Mark.

"That asshole!"

So any thought that this could easily be sorted went right out the window. I still didn't understand why Jack would take my stuff. Was it a way of proving a point? Or making my life difficult because I'd been the one to end it? I chewed my lip as I contemplated what I was going to do. Going to my brother now was out of the question. An image of a disapproving Mark was enough for me to avoid that route all together besides I had just spun him a lie about my equipment being stored elsewhere.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," I said, feeling tired. I sank down into the sofa and propped my feet up on the nearby coffee table making some space by moving some stuff to the side.

"You're going to have to go and see him," my sister stated the obvious next move. "I'm not sure I want you to do that alone."

"I have to, I can't let him get away with this." If he refused to give me my stuff back I would have to report him to the cops for stealing my stuff and I wasn't sure my brother wouldn't find out. He had connections there.

"Let me come with you."

"No, I can sort this out on my own." I sat up, determined to put an end to the drama as quickly as I could on my own.

"I don't know if that's a good idea-"

"He won't hurt me." I said it with more conviction than I felt. I also never believed he would take my stuff in an underhanded move he had pulled. Maybe I didn't really know him well at all but I squashed the apprehension.

"At least call me when you get there. If I don't hear back from you I'll call Matt."

"I'll be fine," I assured her. "Please don't call Matt. I'll call you when I'm done."

"Tracy." There was the usual sisterly warning in her tone.

"Promise I'll be fine."

"Fine. Love you."

"Ditto." I ended the call and went to get my keys in the drawer by the entry table in the hallway. When I reached for the keys I noticed my address book was missing. That was strange. I must have put it somewhere else but there wasn't time to search for it now, there was more important thing I had to do.

I wasn't looking forward to seeing him again. I'd hoped that once he had moved out it would have been the last I saw of him. But at the moment he was gum stuck to my shoe no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it off.

It was dark when I left my apartment building to get into my car. I hated driving at night but I had no choice. It was either this or have to cancel my appointments for the next day which was a little unprofessional given the short notice.

At least I knew where he was staying. He had held onto his place when he had moved in together. He had intended to rent it out but we had broken up before he had been able to lease the place out. I was grateful because I don't know how I would have coped having him remain in my apartment after we had split. It would have been beyond awkward.

I drove slowly to Jack's place and parked the car. I locked the door and pocket the keys in my jeans. Straightening my shoulders I built up the courage to face my ex to get my stuff back.

When I got to his apartment door I knocked loudly and had to stop myself from yelling out his name. The anger at discovering what he'd done resurged. I waited and waited.

Finally the door opened and Jack leaned in the doorway with a smile. "I knew you would be back."

I wanted to slap him but I stopped myself. "Only because you took my stuff." I crossed my arms.

"I had to get your attention." He straightened.

Seeing him now I had no idea what had made me think he had been potential partner material.

"I want my stuff Jack." I tapped my foot against the floor, trying to control my irritation.

"Can't we just talk." He used the whiny voice that grated on my nerves.

"No." I shook my head. "There is nothing to talk about. You're going to give me my stuff back and I'm going leave. If you ever try and pull a stunt like that again I'll call the cops."

"There's no need to be like that Tracy," he reached out to touch my arm but I stepped out of his reach.

"Jack." I was annoyed and frustrated he was trying to hold on tight to something that had never really been there.

"It's him, isn't it?" His forehead creased. "I could never compete."

"What are you talking about?" I had no idea what he was talking about.

"I found the folder."

Folder. Then the penny dropped. I had a secret folder I had kept with all the pictures I had taken of Mark through the years. I closed my eyes briefly trying to come up with a way to talk it away but I came up empty.

"That was private. Is that what you did when I wasn't home? Did you snoop around my stuff?" It felt like he had invaded my privacy in some way.

It was silly to have collected pictures of Mark and kept them. How was I ever going to get over how I felt for him if I couldn't even bring myself to get rid of his pictures?

"Tell me the truth. Was he the reason why we didn't work out?" he asked outright.

"We didn't work out because you didn't trust me." I wasn't going to admit that I still had feelings for the guy in the photos, that might steer this whole situation into a direction I didn't want it to go.

"Why did you keep photos of him?" He wasn't going to leave it alone and I wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Just give me my stuff so I can leave." I tried softening my features to reach a reasonable part of him but he continued to glare at me. "It doesn't have to be like this. We can end this amicably."

"Did you guys have a thing?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. He is just a friend of the family that's it."

"You don't keep pictures of any other family friends."

Putting my hand to my hips I glared at him. "If you don't give me my equipment I'm going to call the cops right now."

"All I wanted was to figure out what went wrong. If you had just been honest with me I wouldn't have resorted to doing this."

"Give her the stuff or I'll make you regret it." The deadly voice behind me was unmistakable. I didn't need to turn around to see who it was. I knew that voice.

This couldn't be happening I prayed, wondering how long he had been there and how much he had heard.

***********

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