Shrinking Violet (Colors #2) (30 page)

“Kal,” I cautioned, but he forged ahead like he hadn’t heard me. I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want excuses for why she’d hurt people the way she did, but Kal didn’t seem to care about that and just kept talking. And what he said next froze me on the spot.

“She didn’t grow up with love either, somethin’ you two have in common, I reckon. That mother of hers…” He trailed off with a disgusted shake of his head. “I never did figure out how my Milly came from the same blood as that evil woman, but she did. It’s a miracle to this day my woman came out the way she did. But Cassidy wasn’t as lucky. Goddamned pit vipers got more love in their hearts than that woman did. And the piece of shit she married wasn’t any better. Don’t know why the hell the two of them ever had a kid in the first damn place. Those two barely had it in them to like each other, let alone a kid, no matter it was their own flesh and blood.

“Happiest day of my life was when Cass came to live with us. But she came to us broken. Eighteen years of livin’ with two people whose only goal in life is was to crush the spirit right outta you will do that to a little girl.”

“Christ,” I muttered, running my hands through my hair anxiously, my chest flayed open by what I was hearing. “She never told me any of this.”

“Doesn’t surprise me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Cuz from the moment that girl stepped foot on this ranch, she’s been doin’ nothin’ but punishin’ herself for what she did in the past. Four long years passed, and the whole time she was convinced she wasn’t worthy of anything good. Wasn’t deserving. Then Bug came along, and she gave that baby girl the world. Best damn mother I’ve ever seen,” Kal said softly, a small, wistful smile on his sun-ravaged face. “Cassidy’d go to the ends of the Earth for that girl. She’s raisin’ her to be a good woman, even though she’s convinced she’s not one herself. From the time Cassidy pushed her out, she’s done everything in her power to prove she could be a better momma than the one she was stuck with.”

I spoke with admiration. Despite everything going on, there was no way I’d ever deny Cassidy was a fantastic mother. “I’d say she succeeds in doing that every single day.”

“And I’d have to agree.” Kal began to move, coming around the front of the tractor to where I was standing. “Look, kid. I’m not tryin’ to tell you what to do. If you can’t find a way to move past what she did back then and see her for who she is now…well, it’d be a cryin’ shame, but it’s your choice. I just got one question for you, and I want you to think long and hard about it.”

“And what’s that?”

“If you grew up needing nothing more than to feel loved, to feel wanted by
anybody—
that longing so deep in your bones there’s no escaping it, it damn near cripples you—what lengths would you go to just for a chance to grab onto it and hold on with all your might?”

After laying that on me, leaving me feeling like he’d just dropped the mother of all bombs, he clapped me on the shoulder and started toward the door before stopping one last time. “I know it’s hard for you to believe, son, but people
can
change. All you need is a pure heart and a strong character. I think we can both agree our girl’s got both, in spades.”

With that last parting shot, he disappeared, leaving me questioning everything I thought I believed for all these years.

Leave it to Kal to impart wisdom in a way no one else can.

With a swift and powerful punch to the gut.

I looked down at my phone for probably the millionth time in the hopes of seeing a response to the message I sent Freya a month prior.

Nothing.

It wasn’t surprising. Just as I’d told her in my long-winded message, I wasn’t expecting a response. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t holding on to a tiny piece of hope that I’d hear something back.

Through the wonders of technology, I could see that she’d at least opened the message, so that had to be something. I just couldn’t help but check my phone for any kind of response.

Shaking my head in frustration at myself, I dropped my cellphone on the kitchen counter and went back to work, baking bread for the following day’s trip to the farmer’s market. And just as luck would have it, I was elbow-deep in dough when that stupid phone decided to ring. Looking at the screen, a trill of excitement shot through me. It wasn’t the unknown number I’d been waiting for, but it was even better.

The selfie I’d taken of Navie and me popped up on the screen, filling my chest with anticipation. Navie hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to me in weeks, so the fact she was calling just then had to mean something. I just hoped whatever that something was, it led us in a positive direction.

“Hey!” I answered excitedly, trying my best to hold the phone without dropping it while keeping it from being ruined by my doughy fingers at the same time. “Navie? You there, sweetheart?” I asked when a few seconds passed and I didn’t hear her voice.

My heart dropped, and I’d started to worry that the call had come through by mistake when her voice finally echoed through the line.

“Cassidy?” Her voice held so much apprehension that just that one word caused a pang of worry to pierce my stomach.

“Yeah, honey. I’m here. Is everything all right?”

“Would you mind…” She trailed off in an uncertain tone. “Would you come get me from school, if you’re not too busy? I missed the bus.”

“Of course!” I replied instantly, already rushing to the sink to wash my hands, keeping the phone propped between my ear and shoulder. “I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Thanks. I tried calling Carson, but he didn’t answer.”

“I bet he left his phone at the house,” I told her as I dried my hands on a dishtowel. “Are you okay? You sound upset.”

“Y-yeah, I’m okay,” she answered softly.

“You sure, sweetie?” Knots of tension coiled in the pit of my stomach as I considered the fact that the reason she sounded upset was because
I
was the person she had to reach out to for help. The thought of her dreading being in a car with me, even for just a few minutes, saddened me. “I can try and track down Carson if you’d rather he come get you.”

Her response caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end. “No, please, just come get me. Can you hurry?” There was a hint of panic in her quiet voice that had me rushing through the living room toward the front door, snatching up my keys and purse without so much as a backwards glance toward Milly, who’d just walked in.

“I’m on my way right now,” I told her, running out to my car. “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

Disconnecting the call, I shoved my phone in my back pocket and threw my purse into the passenger seat, cranked the engine and gunned it toward the high school, all the while trying not to fear the worst. Navie sounded okay, she didn’t sound like she was hurt, but I didn’t like the way her voice waivered. Instinct told me I needed to move quickly.

I somehow managed to make the usually ten-minute trip in just seven, luckily missing any speed traps along the way. As I pulled up to the front of the school, I saw Navie’s tiny form sitting on the curb, hunched over in a way that looked like she wanted to disappear into the air. Without thinking, I threw the car in park and opened my door, making my way to her before she had a chance to fully stand.

“What’s the matter?” I demanded the instant I rounded the car and saw the tears welling in her deep blue eyes.

“Let’s just go, please,” she pleaded, taking my hand and pulling me toward the car. She’d taken all of two steps when the glass doors at the front of the school opened and two kids came walking out. I recognized both of them instantly, and my blood heated to a boil within seconds.

“What did they do?” I managed to ask quietly through clenched teeth as I stared at the bitch, otherwise known as Meredith Goodson, and that pecker-head Mark who stood my girl up for prom.

“They didn’t do anything,” Navie hissed under her breath, still tugging on my arm. “Let’s just go, Cassidy.”

I turned my eyes on my girl, concern and pain battling inside of me, creating a protective instinct I hadn’t felt until the moment I brought Willow into the world. Navie was mine. I loved her with everything I had, and I’d be damned if I let one more second pass where some teenage assholes made her life a living Hell.

“Why did you miss the bus, Navie?”

Recognizing just how serious I was with that question, she pointed her eyes to the ground and released a defeated breath as she whispered, “They stuffed my locker with a bunch of unwrapped tampons that were covered in ketchup. I had to stay late and clean it out.”

“What? Why didn’t your principal make
them
clean it?”

Navie lifted one shoulder dejectedly, still refusing to look at me. “I didn’t have any proof it was Meredith and her friends.”

That was it.

That. Was.
It
!

I’d had it with those little pieces of shit. Yeah, I’d been a raving bitch when I was a teenager, but I’d spent the last nearly four and a half years working hard to keep that part of me in check. Well, I was letting that bitch out of the cage and pointing every single ounce of her fury at the people who’d been tormenting
my
girl.

Ignoring Navie’s pleas, I turned on my heels, heading out into the parking lot in the direction I’d seen those little assholes walking.

“Hey!” I shouted the moment I laid eyes on the both of them.

They both turned at the same time, and I caught panic flash in Mark’s eyes before turning my gaze to a sneering Meredith.

“What do you want?” She’d taken the typical bitchy-girl stance, one hand on her cocked hip, lip curled, face bored, but I saw the same panic in her eyes that I’d seen in Mark’s before she had a chance to hide it. Unfortunately for her, I’d perfected that stance in high school. And with that one tiny glimmer of fear I’d seen for just a second, I knew that girl had nothing on me.

Stopping only a foot away from them, I spoke. “You’re the one who’s been messing with my girl?”

“Your girl?” she asked with a huff.

“Navie…my girl. Are you the one who’s been bullying her all year long?”

Standing straight and crossing her arms over her chest in false bravado, she responded, “Yeah, so? What are you gonna do about it? Hit me? You’re an adult on school property. You’ll get arrested.” The snarky grin on her overly glossed lips made me want to knock her teeth out.

Good God. Had I been like that
?

“Oh, no, sweetheart,” I replied with a sarcastic grin that was much better than hers. “I don’t need to hit you. You see, I know something you don’t know,” I said conspiratorially.

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

“I know you think you’re the queen bitch at this school. I know you think you can mess with my girl and nothing will ever happen to you.” Taking the opportunity to lean in threateningly, I continued. “Unfortunately for you, I’m better at it. People probably think you act the way you do because you’re a spoiled little girl whose mommy and daddy give her everything she wants. But I’d be willing to guess it’s just the opposite. Odds are, you aren’t worth their time, a waste of space and energy they just can’t be bothered with. Am I right?”

I knew by the way her eyes flared that I’d hit the nail on the head, but this girl had said some of the worst, most deplorable things to Navie. Telling someone they needed to kill themselves was beyond the realm of typical bullying and treading toward something far worse. For that reason, I shoved on. I’d learned from experience that the only way to stop a person who constantly pushed people around was to push back.

“I mean, if you were spoiled, you wouldn’t be wearing an outfit from Wal-Mart’s clearance rack from last year. And just a little tip, I think it’s time to move up a size or two. Muffin-top isn’t a good look for any girl.”

Meredith sputtered several times before finally stuttering, “You…y-you bitch!”

“That’s right, honey. I
am
a bitch. I’m a bitch who will take down anyone who hurts someone I love. You think you’re special because you can pick on someone more defenseless than you? It doesn’t make you stronger or popular. It makes you pathetic. What you’ve done to her,” I said, throwing my hand out behind me to point at Navie, who was standing frozen just feet away, “is
nothing
compared to what I’m capable of. You understand me? If I find out you so much as
breathe
in that girl’s direction, I will ruin you. I will rain so much hell down on you and your family, that you’ll wish you’d never set eyes on her. I’ll make sure every single person in this town knows what you’ve done and who you’ve done it to, and the pain you’ve caused her will be a drop in the bucket compared to what living in a town where every single person hates you will feel like. Popularity will be a word your own children won’t even understand because I’ll make
damn
sure to dirty your name up so bad, even your grandchildren will pay for the shit you’ve done. Don’t test me, little girl. I am
not
the person you want to fuck with. I will destroy you.”