I said nothing as she looked around at the packed suitcases and then her eyes were drawn to me, still absentmindedly folding her clothes.

She burst into a fresh set of tears, looking terribly ashamed of herself. And then she walked right over to me, bawling and wrapping her arms around my shoulders as she clutched me tightly.

Instinctively, I cringed at her touch. Her skin was pretty dirty and there was something about her smell that was a little off.

She sensed my hesitation and pulling back she saw my nose wrinkle up.

She blinked several times, then stood back and in a quiet voice said,

“Now you have your excuse to Leave me." They were her first words since she'd arrived.

"What?" I asked. And then she just waited silently while I tried to figure it out.

Glancing over her, an image came to mind. I took another sniff and with a start, recognized the smell. She smelled like sex. And with her disheveled appearance, Brianna looked for all the world like a hooker who had just been used.

My eyes went wide open, and Brianna just nodded as understanding came into my eyes. Her jaw quivered as she said, "I have another man's cum running down my thighs right now. I picked up a stranger at a club and went home with him. Then I fucked... his... brains... out." She made sure to enunciate every word. And then with a determined glare on her face she stated flatly, “You have your reason to break up with me."

My mind raced. What had been going through her mind that she felt she had to resort to this? She'd gone out and gotten someone to fuck her.

As pretty as she was, it would not have been difficult. And yet, for all her masochistic tendencies, Brianna clearly did NOT look like she had enjoyed it. What was she thinking?

“Why?

“You weren't going to break up with me on your own. You knew I loved you and you didn't feel the same way. But you still kept trying. You stayed with me." She gestured at my hands.

“You started fucking folding my Laundry."

Brianna was tearing up again. She choked on that last sentence, raising a hand to cover her mouth and then turning to sit on the bed beside me without facing me. She stared at the floor and stated firmly, “It would have only gotten worse. The longer you stayed with me, the more I started to believe that someday you'd really love me; that someday you'd look at me the way you used to look at Amber."

She choked up again. And through her tears she bit out, "It was never going to happen.”

In my current emotional void, I still couldn't even feel anything. ALL

I had was rational thought and my rational thought wondered, what state was Brianna's psyche in to make her think this was the only way? I reached a hand out and stroked her back.

“Bree, why didn‘t you just say something?"

She closed her eyes and hung her head down. I didn't want to say anything, but as I looked at her pitiful body, her broken spirit, something stirred inside me. It had been an emotional roller coaster over the past 24-hours, and apparently the ride wasn't over yet.

Out of the void came my sympathy and care for Brianna. It wasn't love.

It never was and it never would be, but I had great affection for this beautiful young woman who had shared my life for close to two years.

And I hated to see her sad.

She felt my arms wrap around her and she started sobbing even harder.

Even now, she looked so much like my dear sister Danielle that the sight of her unhappy hit me like a stake through my heart. I pressed my chest against her back and held her tightly, rocking us back and forth.