“She’s a handful,” she continued softly. “Couldn’t believe she got herself all the way up in that tree. That’s a wild one for sure. Ain’t it funny how instincts kicked right in when she fell? You were right there in a flash.”
My head shook.
She was back to cupping my chin, forcing me to look at her. “Bet that sweet little thing has got a big ol’ hole cut out in the middle of her and she’s just searchin’ for a way to fill it. Not quite sure what is missin’ yet. Thing is, when a child grows up with a vacancy that big, they start lookin’ in places they shouldn’t.”
Guilt lashed.
Constricting.
Suffocating.
I couldn’t breathe.
I squeezed my eyes closed like it could block it out.
“Ma.” I was about to start begging her to stop. “Violet is enough for her.”
She had to be.
“And what if Violet’s got a hole just as big? She lost two of the people who meant the most to her and she’s about to lose another.”
Lash. Lash. Lash.
I felt her words like the strike of a thin leather strap to my back. A scourge. Splitting skin and bleeding out.
“Please.” The word cracked.
Because I knew every fucking thing she said was true.
She sighed and moved to fumble around in the medicine cabinet. She dabbed some ointment on the wound and butterflied it. Nothing was said between us, but the air was so thick it said plenty.
Disappointment radiated from her, ricocheting from the walls.
While I choked on my treachery.
“There,” she said, searching my eyes for more than just a concussion. “You should put some ice on it. You’re goin’ to be hurting good come morning.”
I nodded.
She started for the door then paused to look back. “I’m not putting undue pressure on you, Richard. Not asking you to step up and be a man. I’m asking you to find your heart because you and I both know where you left it.”
Then she stepped out and left me sitting there stewing in the disaster I had made.
Finally, I forced myself onto my feet, and I was struck with another rush of dizziness. Dickhead had gotten me good. I looked at myself in the mirror. At the gash that was held by the makeshift stitch. Let it feed the fire.
The reality that this was not a game.
Violet’s face flashed through my mind. Protectiveness gathered like a darkened storm.
Menace sinking all the way to the marrow.
The thought of someone being in the same town as her made me insane.
I moved out of the bathroom and down the hall to my bedroom. I let myself into the darkness and went for my phone I’d left on the nightstand.
Dialed the number.
It took four rings for Kade to finally answer, which considering it was in the middle of the night, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but still, I was on edge, eating up the floor as I paced.
“Richard.”
“They know.”
Disquiet dragged through the line on a clot of silence.
“What do you mean, they know?” he demanded low.
“Someone was here. On my property. Barely caught sight of him. I took off after him, and the asshole smashed my head with a rock before I could get him. Dropped me straight to my knees. He threatened me, right before I passed the fuck out—called me a thief. Implied I had something that belonged to him. Said he was comin’ after me and my friends.”
“What’d you say?”
“Didn’t say a fuckin’ thing,” I hissed, voice held but filled with the rage that ripped me to shreds. “Fucker took off when my brother’s dog went nuts and he came out to check what was happening. Don’t know what would’ve happened if he hadn’t gotten there when he did.”
“Did he see him?”
“No. Scum was a ghost.”
“Shit.”
“Need to find him,” I gritted.
“No,” Kade shot out. “What you need to do is stay course. Act like you don’t know a fuckin’ thing. They’re speculating. Manipulating the way they do. They had you once. Don’t let them get you again.”
“Someone threatens my family? Gonna end them, man. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.”
I’d played off the dreamer.
Dude who only cared about his band and their success for so many years.
Couldn’t sit around and do it anymore.
He heaved a breath of pure anxiety. “We’re so close. String them along. Play it safe. You need to lay low? Lay low. You need to get lost? Get lost. But don’t fuck this up. They are counting on us. We’re all they have.”
“Know that.”
“Good.”
“Okay.” Wasn’t even sure what that meant any longer. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Ending the call, I tossed my phone to the mattress, grabbed my guitar, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
The sensations that had hit me earlier were overwhelming.
The girl was right there.
On my tongue and on my fingers and writhing in my memories.