Authors: Marquita Valentine
“
I didn’t
know.”
I rub the bridge of my
nose. “God save me from whiny, don’t-know-shit-about-shit
virgins.”
This time Bliss runs out of
the bus, feet flying down the stairs, and my dumbass starts after
her, throwing the pillow across the room as I stand. “She can’t see
worth a damn at night,” I say to Violet.
One of Violet’s bodyguards
follows, and the panic that had begun to rise settles down. She’s
safe.
“
You’re so stupid,” Violet
says and I round on her.
“
Excuse me?”
“
Two girls, two chances to
do the right thing, and you mess up both times.”
Violet’s right but there’s
only one girl I’m concerned about—Bliss. I mean, Violet.
Damn it.
I hold up my hands, palms
out. “Listen, what you saw earlier… that was a lack of judgment and
it won’t happen again,
if
you agree to my conditions.”
“
Are you threatening me or
her, because I don’t care, but Bliss shouldn’t be anywhere in this
game of yours. She’s a sweet person with feelings that shouldn’t be
trampled on.”
Like I did to Violet.
“Fine.”
“
Fine?” Her brows scrunch
together. “Just like that? You’re not going to mess around with
anyone while you’re
scheming
to win me back?” She makes a noise of
disbelief.
“
As long as you agree to
give me a chance after Cole doesn’t show up.”
“
You mean
if
he doesn’t show up,”
she says, and then blinks. “But he’s going to show up. I know he
will.”
I shrug. “Whatever makes
you feel better, doll baby.”
“
Ugh. I hate it when you
call me that.” Violet crosses her arms over her chest. “I guess it
will be worth it, to see a horn dog like you all salivating and
unable to do anything on the very teeny-tiny slim chance that my
Cole won’t show up.”
Lucky bastard. He has her
love, even after sending her away. What I wouldn’t give for that
kind of love. “Your agreement, or I’ll start sweet talking Bliss
again.”
Violet rolls her eyes. “Do
you really think you could talk Bliss into—?”
I raise a brow.
“
What
am
I thinking?” She spies the mess
in the floor and on the seats of the booth but doesn’t say
anything. “You got a deal.”
“
Kiss on it?”
“
Dream on, lover boy,” she
says, brushing past me. “What we had is over and done.”
Her breast skims my arm,
and I wait for that familiar feeling to wash over me, to make me
want to breathe her in and take her in my arms. But it doesn’t
happen.
And I don’t wait around for
it to happen. Instead, I set out into the night, hauling ass to the
tractor-trailer where I know Bliss will be.
I find her sitting on the
floor, a makeshift light set up for her as she sews a button on one
of my shirts. Music plays softly in the background, some kind of
alternative music that I’d only listen to if I were drunk or
high.
Since I’m neither right
now, I clear my throat and wait for her to acknowledge my
presence.
“
Go away, Jackson.” She
says the
ck
portion of my name softly, unlike the hard x of my stage
name. I blame my ears for picking up on the nuance.
I’m not sure what to make
of her using my given name. She’s never done it before.
“Bliss—”
“
I said go away.” She
bites off the thread and stands, hanging up the shirt before
smoothing it out. Then she packs up her supplies.
“
Just wanted to make sure
you’re all right.”
She turns to walk past me,
head down, like she’s all defeated. “I’m fine. Thank
you.”
Thank you? My temper snaps.
“Grow a damn backbone, Bliss, and tell me off.”
Her head snaps up, full
lips mutinous. It’s the first hint of anger I’ve ever seen on her
face. “I’m not about to give you a reason to feel
better.”
“
What?”
“
Most people think that
turning into some screaming banshee somehow proves you’re this
strong woman who doesn’t take crap from a man, but from what I
know, it only gives the other person the right to feel
better.”
In some weird, twisted way,
her logic makes sense. I had wanted her to yell at me, to cuss me
out, or even throw something at me, because I know how to deal with
that. It would make me feel better if she got back at
me.
But this way… I feel worse
than ever.
Maybe I underestimated
her.
“
Or hit them,” she adds
softly.
That stops me cold, colder
than when Violet caught us. “Hit them?”
She nods, holding the
small, plastic container in her hands out in front of her, like a
barrier. Or a shield.
“
I scared you, didn’t I?”
The last thing I’d ever want to do is scare her, even if I’d
already done it. I’ll never do it again. I’ll find another way to
express my anger and frustration.
She shakes her head,
sending dark, curly hair swaying. “Not really.”
I don’t want to ask, but I
do it anyway. “Why is that?”
“
Because I’ve lived
through worse.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Violet
Looking back, I know the
night I found that video on the Internet was the beginning of the
end for Cole and me. If I could have changed what happened
afterwards, I would have. If I could have protected him better, I
would have.
If, if, if.
My life is full of
those.
Tonight we’re in
Wilmington, and it’s a couple of hours before show time. Jaxon’s
been brooding in his bus while I’ve been keeping Bliss close by,
trying to get to protect her from that dumbtail.
I don’t care about Jaxon’s
stupid plan when it comes to me. He’ll never have me again, not
even if he took a vow of chastity. It hadn’t bothered me at all to
see them together. No thoughts of
get off
my man
or he’s betrayed
me—again
—came to mind, just pure worry for
Bliss.
Honestly, I’m really
concerned about her. That girl’s locked up tighter than my Nana’s
recipe for her famous blueberry cobbler.
And I’ve been missing
Lacey. She doesn’t have a cell, so I can’t text her, and she’s
always working, helping homeschool her little brothers and sisters,
or is in class, so phone calls to her house are hit or
miss.
Mostly they’ve been
missing.
Feeling lonely, I glance
down at my phone, at the picture of Cole that is always in the
background. His name is at the top, and soon my thumbs are sweeping
over the keyboard.
I miss you.
Can’t we talk about
this?
You can come to the
concert in Charlotte, my treat, since it’s on your
birthday.
Kelly can come to, b/c
it’s kid friendly.
Until the end, that is.
Then I do a striptease for one lucky member of the audience. That
would be you, birthday boy.
Like some desperate
thirteen-year-old, I send every last one of those texts to him,
hoping that one gets a response.
Suddenly the … appears in
the text bubble on my phone. Excitement grows, faster than a kudzu
vine wrapping itself around a pine tree. Cole’s not ignoring me
anymore.
Giddy, I wiggle in my seat,
fluff my hair, and take a deep breath.
I don’t know who this is,
but send me a selfie. Quick.
My heart plummets to my
stomach, where acid eats it and all the hope that had
bloomed.
Me: Not funny.
Wasn’t trying to be.
Seriously, though, who is this?
I look away from the
screen, vision blurred by tears that start falling down my cheeks.
Bliss sits down beside me, her arm coming around my
shoulders.
“
It’ll be okay,” she
whispers, but her tone isn’t that convincing and I know it won’t
be.
Biting my lip, I give in to
the inevitable and text the person on the other end.
Me: Nobody.
*** *** ***
Jaxon
We’ve made a pit stop in
Burgaw, after spending the night in Wilmington. There are plenty of
places for us to roam in this small town, without the locals
bothering us. They’re too used to celebrities, ones bigger than we
are, shooting movies here.
Hell, I’ll be on location
here next year, unless Everett’s already pulled the plug on
it.
“
Have dinner with me,” I
say to Violet.
She’s sitting on a bench in
front of a store that sells homemade candles and soap, drinking
Cheerwine while eating a Moon Pie. That girl always did have
strange taste in food.
“
This is my dinner.” She
takes a huge bit on the Moon Pie and smiles, lips
closed.
“
Guess I’ll have to ask
Bliss to join me, and who knows what will happen
afterwards…”
Violet makes a face, drinks
down a big gulp of her Cheerwine, and throws everything away in a
nearby trashcan. “I’d be happy to join you for dinner.”
A hollow victory if there
ever was one, but I’ll take it.
We head down Main, stopping
at a mom-and-pop joint. Inside it’s dark and cozy, with lots of
booths and plenty of privacy.
The waitress takes our
drinks order and Violet orders an appetizer. I know she’ll order a
main course too. The girl always did like to eat.
“
What did you need to talk
about?”
I want to tell her. I
really do, but I’m afraid she won’t believe me. “I want to explain
about all the females you thought I cheated on you
with.”
She reaches for the glass
of water, but I grab her hand before she touches it. “I didn’t
think anything. I did see it, with you and Callie, but honestly,
Jackson, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“
It does to
me.”
She pulls her hand out of
my grasp and I clench my jaw. “Then spill, if it will make you feel
better.”
The thing is—it won’t make
me feel better. It’s humiliating as hell, but it will clear away
the toxic air that killed our relationship. However, I know that
any chance of a relationship has been over for a long time. Maybe
if I’d stood up to my parents and been there for Violet, instead of
pretending to be engaged to Callie and distancing myself from the
girl I loved, then this would be an entirely different
conversation.
“
I was covering for
someone.”
Rolling her eyes, she
snorts in disbelief. “Are you really going to go with
that?”
“
I was covering for
Everett, so that my mom wouldn’t find out and do things to herself,
or those girls, like the scar on Callie’s face. Kathy did that to
her, when she found Everett screwing Callie in his office. Two
women fall out fighting and, of course, my dad sits back and
watches it all, until it gets bloody.” I want to tell her about
Tara, about what my dad’s done, but I can’t. I’ve revealed too much
as it is.
That look of disbelief
starts to fade away, replaced with a growing horror. Violet has
seen the scars on my mom’s arms, on her wrists and thighs. Scars
that Kathy tells everyone is from time she spent hiking in the
mountains.
“
So I’ve been biding my
time until they decided an engagement no longer suited anyone’s
purpose,” I say, instead of revealing the entire truth.
“
I don’t know what to
say,” she finally whispers.
“
Everett had to put her
away, where she can’t hurt anyone, including herself.” Including
me. There’s a scar on my thigh where she burnt me with a curling
iron once. She’d found me playing in her makeup. I’d been three at
the time. My dad had caught her before she could hit me again. He’d
sent her away for almost a year that time.
“
When’s someone going to
put him away?”
I stare at a point on a
wall, not seeing anything really. “Damned if I know.”
What I do know? I’m not
good for anyone, least of all Violet.
And sure as hell not
Bliss.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Cole
I’m sitting in The Double
Deuce, before the bar opens, playing an impromptu game of Texas
Hold ‘Em with Parker, Wyatt, and Beau. Our usual pile of currency
sits the in the middle, but this time it’s the Junior Mints that
hold the most value.
Rae hates those things and
I do, too. But Parker and Beau can’t get enough of them. In fact, I
suspect they’re both skimming off their take pile.