My brows dip together as I get up and open the door, wondering if I’m getting kicked out. Seth comes strutting in, with Greyson at his heels, then does a double take when he sees Violet, who does nothing more than stare at him, looking bored.
“Okay, I’m so confused.” He stares at Violet like she’s some strange endangered species. “What is she doing here? And why does it look like you both got your asses kicked?”
Violet lowers her hands to her side and turns to me. “I’m going to leave… catch up with you later, maybe.”
I stick out my arm as she tries to walk forward. “We have to get down to the apartments. We’ll be lucky if we can still get one already.”
“Wait a minute,” Seth says, elevating his hands in front of him as he gapes at me. “You’re living with her?” Seth is a very blunt person and I usually don’t care because I can be that way, too, but aiming his bluntness at Violet right now doesn’t seem like such a good idea.
“Yeah and it’s not a big deal.” I glance at Greyson, the more levelheaded of the two, for help.
Greyson steps forward and puts his arm around Seth’s shoulder. He’s a little taller than Seth and a little more casual when it comes to clothes, wearing darker colors like grays and blacks while Seth wears brighter ones because I think he likes to stand out.
“Relax,” Greyson says to Seth. “We’re all friends here.”
“Not really.” Seth eyes Violet up and down. “The only thing I know about her is that she can be a bitch sometimes to Callie, always making her stay out of the room when she ties that damn red scarf around the doorknob so she can have her way with helpless men.”
“ ‘Helpless men’?” Violet asks, crossing her arms over her chest, an amused twinkle in her eye. “Are you insulting your gender?”
“No, I’m saying you’re a vixen, who bosses people around,” he retorts and Greyson notably cringes.
Violet moves forward, tilting her head to the side. “So what if I’m a slut? It doesn’t make me a vixen.” She gives me a fleetingly glance that carries caution for me to keep my mouth shut about her virginity secret. A secret I tried not to think about all night, yet it was impossible.
“Yes, it does,” Seth snaps. “You’re mean and bossy and you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”
“Hey Seth, lay off her,” I tell him, shooting him a warning look.
Violet targets a death glare at me. “I don’t need you to stick up for me.”
“Yes, you do,” I assure her, which is clearly the wrong thing to say. Her eyes darken and Greyson gets a little worried, leaning back like Violet’s about to attack us all.
Seth unfortunately doesn’t pick up on the vibe, though, walking out from under Greyson’s arm and crowding Violet. “Yep, you don’t need anyone, right? You’re perfectly fine bossing people around.”
She unfolds her arms and steps forward, decreasing the space between them even more. I want to believe that she won’t do anything, but I’ve seen her do too many crazy things to make any assumptions about Violet Hayes. I decided to step forward and again I mentally curse myself for being so drawn to her.
“Hey.” I position myself between the two of them and look at Violet. “Let’s go get some coffee and get down to the apartment.”
“You’re f**king crazy if you’re going to live with her,” Seth says loudly and seconds later I hear a slap, probably from Greyson slapping him on the arm or something.
Violet stares up at me without so much as blinking and her lips are set together in a firm line. I can hear the soft intakes of each uneven breath as she fights to breathe soundlessly.
“Get out of my way,” she says evenly.
“Why?” I ask. “Are you going to go after Seth or try to leave?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
She blinks, speechless, but then shakes her head. “I’m going to leave.”
I shake my head and keep my feet planted. “Then I’m not moving.”
“Okay, then I’m going after Seth,” she says with a mocking attitude as she shuffles to the side. “Now please move out of my way.”
I mimic her move and she glowers at me through her thick eyelashes. “Luke…”
I lean in, lowering my voice. “I’m not going to let you out of here when you’re obviously upset and irrational.”
“I’m not irrational,” she argues and then swallows hard. “And what does it matter if I am?”
“Hitchhiking.” I count down my fingers the many reckless things I’ve seen her do over the few weeks I’ve known her. “Stepping into a bar fight, dealing drugs, jumping out of windows, letting some dude get rough with you.”
“I do those things when I’m rational,” she mutters.
“What? That doesn’t make any sense.”
She glances over my shoulder at Seth and Greyson. “Yes it does… now let me go.”
“Were you having a bad dream?” I whisper. “Is that why you woke up panicked?”
“I’m fine,” she hisses back, sucking in a slow breath. Her eyes water over and I get lost in her emotion, my hand drifting to her cheekbone to stroke her skin. She flinches against the contact as I spread my fingers over her cheek. “Please, just let me leave.” She begs. “Please, I just need a moment.”
Fuck. I want to kiss her so badly right now, pull her against me and just hold her. I could try and blame it on the fact that she looks so vulnerable and I just want to seize the opportunity to touch her when her guard is down, but it’s not like that. I know it the moment I step back and let her go by simply because she said it was what she needed at the moment. Nothing else.
She doesn’t thank me as she hurries by me and I don’t turn around to watch her go. I just did something solely for someone else, tossing all of my own needs aside, and I have no idea what to do with it.
Once I hear the door shut, I pull myself together before I turn around, pretending like nothing happened.
Seth immediately shakes his head at me, flabbergasted. “What the hell was that about?”
“Nothing.” I head over to my desk to clear it out. With each item I put in the box, the lighter I feel because soon I’ll have some place to live and it’s not back home. “She just needed a place to crash for the night.”