Violet couldn’t quite gather her thoughts. Instead she concentrated on the beat of his heart beneath hers and the fact that they were separated by only two thin T-shirts. “Is there somewhere we can go?”
She knew he wanted it too, but he just shook his head. “I wish, Vi.” He turned, just enough so his lips could leave the promise of a kiss on her cheek before he drew away completely . . . unsteadily. “It is a school night, you know?” he mocked, but he didn’t fool her with his forced smile. He was as shaken as she was.
Violet sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. “I saw Grady,” she blurted out unexpectedly.
Jay paused, looking down at her. “You did? When?”
“Today. I went by his house.” She tried to decipher what she saw in Jay’s face. She knew how he felt about Grady after what he’d tried to do to her at the party last year. But she also knew that he and Jay had once been friends—there was no way Jay wanted the accusations to be true. “He didn’t do it, Jay. He didn’t have an imprint.”
Jay studied her, as if he could uncover the answers to all his questions hidden in her expression, buried in her features. And then he asked, “What’d your uncle say? When you told him?” Violet was silent for too long, and Jay squeezed his eyes shut before sighing. “You did tell him, didn’t you?”
She chewed on her lower lip as she dropped her eyes. “Not exactly,” she ground out. But before Jay could interject, telling her it was foolish to keep things from her uncle, she tried to explain. “I know it was the chicken’s way out, but you weren’t here last night. You didn’t see the way Uncle Stephen looked. He’s not gonna be happy when he finds out I went to see Grady by myself.”
“When will you start trusting other people?” His words were harsh but his tone was so tender that Violet turned to watch his face. His eyes told her all the things his words didn’t—that he was worried for her, and fearful of losing her. That he loved her.
“I trust you,” she tried, but even she knew that wasn’t what he meant.
Wrapping his arms around her, his muscles tensed, consuming her in his silent oath. “I do my best, Vi,” he said against the top of her head. “But I can only do so much to keep you out of trouble.”
She laughed, but she knew he was being at least semi-serious. He wanted to protect her, like some sort of knight in shining armor. The thing was, she wasn’t a damsel, at least not the kind who needed saving from dragons and whatnot. Her worst enemy, as it turns out, was herself.
“Oh, and now you’re laughing at me. Great.” He groaned as he released her. “You’re not a walk in the park, you know?” His head was tilted to the side as he considered her thoughtfully. “You know what I think? I think you don’t even deserve the present I got you.”
“Present?” Violet exclaimed. “For me?” She pulled away, a tiny thrill shivering through her as she stared into his flecked eyes. “You’re wrong, I totally deserve it,” she exclaimed. She playfully walked her fingers up his chest, puckering her lips and batting her eyes at him.
“You’re ridiculous,” he scoffed, but he was laughing at her.
Giggling, Violet glanced down at his empty hands, her brows arching. “Well . . . you know I hate surprises.”
Without turning, Jay reached one hand behind his back, through the open window of his car to the seat below. When it came back he was holding a small, gold-colored bag with gold tissue sticking up from inside of it.
Violet recognized the name on the bag, even though she’d never gone into the shop. It was a store in the mall, the kind of place that sold jewelry and picture frames and collectibles. Not exactly a store where she imagined Jay would shop.
“Jay,” she breathed, not sure how to feel about this. First her parents, and now Jay. “What’s it for?”
“Just because.” He shrugged. “I saw it and it reminded me of you. I hope it’s not too weird.”
Weird? Violet thought, wondering what kind of “weird” thing could possibly be contained in this beautiful bag.
He waited while she reached inside, excavating the diaphanous paper, and took it when she handed it to him. When she peeked inside, she looked back up at him, confusion painting her expression. “A turtle?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “Okay, maybe it’s a little weird.”
“Not the turtle . . .” He pushed the bag toward her again, prodding her to keep going. “Take it out.”
Violet reached inside and lifted out the heavy silver turtle. She looked dubiously from it to Jay and back again. “It’s . . . cute . . . ?” She didn’t mean for it to sound like a question, but it totally had. She tried to rack her brain for reasons that Jay might think she wanted a turtle, or to think of something she’d done to make it remind him of her.
“Yes, Violet, it’s cute,” Jay sighed. “But that’s not why I got it for you. Open it.”
Violet looked again, and realized he was right, there was a tiny silver clasp she hadn’t noticed before, just beneath the edge of the embellished shell. Pushing it, the shell popped open, and Violet’s breath caught.
The inside was lined with black velvet, and Violet ran her finger over its soft silken surface.
She picked it up and turned it over. Engraved on the bottom were the words: Moonlight Sonata.
That was it, just Moonlight Sonata.