“Uh, Hunter. Ain’t that your girl out there?” Casey asks, looking out the window with his pool stick in his hand.
I snap my weight forward, so I don’t fall, and I go over to the window.
I squint and spot Vi running. What the fuck is she doing?
She’s running down the empty sidewalk. It’s hard to make her out in between the lamp posts.
All the stores are closed except for the bar and a few restaurants down the street. But as soon as she passes under the bright light, I know it’s her. Her blouse is pulled out of her waist, and her hair looks disheveled. What the fuck?
My heart pounds in my chest.
Adrenaline pumps in my blood as I take off out of the bar. I push the door open so hard it smacks into the brick building with a loud crack. I don’t care though.
“Vi!” I call out for her as I take off in her direction.
She sees me, and it spurs her onward, toward me. Tears are streaming down her face.
She’s breathing heavy. She doesn’t stop for one second to come right into my open arms.
She takes in a ragged breath and buries her head in my chest. I wish I could enjoy the fact that she’s finding comfort in my embrace, that I happened to be here at the right time and place, but something’s wrong. Something upset her and made her afraid.
I hear Jared come up behind me. “Is she alright?” he asks.
A few other guys are behind him, wondering what the hell is going on. They’re all looking at her, and she’s just trying to hide in my arms.
“Vi, what’s wrong?” I ask her softly, my lips brushing against her hair.
She doesn’t answer me, but she looks up. She goes stiff in my arms as she sees the guys staring at her.
Jared comes a little closer and takes a look at her.
“You alright?” he asks.
A few other people have gathered across the street from the pizza shop. My anxiety spikes, seeing how everyone’s coming out to see what’s going on.
“Talk to me,” I tell her.
Vi seems more settled and she pulls away, realizing that I’m holding her. She takes a few steps back and hugs herself.
She looks around, and her face shows the pain she’s in. She doesn’t want people seeing her like this, and I get that. But she needs to tell me what the hell happened.
She looks a bit cold so I take my jacket off and try to give it to her, but she doesn’t take it. She shakes her head and sniffles a bit, wiping under her eyes.
“I’m fine,” she says weakly.
She’s not fine, she’s anything but fine. I open my mouth to tell her that, but then I see that fucker Slade jogging up the street.
He stops when he sees us, but I can make out enough. His disheveled appearance and pissed off expression tell me what I need to know.
I know he hurt her. And that’s all I need to know. I’m about to make this asshole pay for what he did.
I wrap my coat around Vi, ignoring her protests. I look back at Jared as I take a step around her and head to Slade.
“Watch her,” I tell him.
I take a final look at Violet as she turns and sees what’s about to happen.
“Hunter, no!” she yells out weakly and reaches for me, but that’s not gonna work.
No one’s gonna hurt my girl and get away with it.
CHAPTER 17
VIOLET
Hunter throws his jacket around my shoulders, and it’s only then that I realize I’m trembling. I don’t know if it’s because it’s so cold, or if it's because I’m so emotionally taxed. I try to tell him I don’t need it, even though the warmth of his jacket feels soothing on my shoulders, but then I look at Hunter, and his eyes aren’t on me at all and the words stall in my throat.
He’s looking past me. I turn and see Slade, slowing his steps and looking pissed as hell. My heart hammers faster and I grip onto Hunter’s arm, but he pulls away from me and refuses to listen.
“Hunter, don’t,” I say, taking a few steps to keep up with him.
“Watch her,” Hunter orders someone behind me and I try grabbing him again, but it’s too late.
I get a flash of intuition when I see Hunter look at Slade, and I know that they’re going to fight. There’s no stopping this. I take in a ragged breath as Jared stops me from running after Hunter. His arms wrap around me, and I slap him away. I can’t tear my eyes away from Hunter. I can hardly breathe. I don’t want this. I don’t want him to fight over me.
Slade’s stopped walking, and he yells something at Hunter that I can’t quite make out.
“Hunter, no!” I scream, but he doesn’t listen.
Jared’s holding me loosely and I shove him once, and that’s all it takes. He releases me but as soon as I take a step closer, intent on keeping the two of them apart, Jared grabs my hand.
“Violet, don’t get yourself in the middle.” His voice is low and apologetic.
Hunter charges at Slade, a roar escaping his throat. I stare after Hunter, and witness Slade square off in preparation. This isn’t good.
“Hunter!” I yell, but Hunter keeps going, barreling into Slade.
Hunter and Slade are already throwing punches at each other, frenzied.
I look around at the people who are starting to gather. I realize that most of the watchers are oscillating between watching the fight and looking to see my reaction.
It reminds me of four years ago; the gossip then was about what I had done wrong, why I hadn’t gotten Hunter to propose to me, how I had to live in shame after he left.
It’s unfair, how it’s always the woman’s fault.
If he would just listen to me. I pull away from Jared, but make no move to go to Hunter.
I feel myself turning red, feel my neck growing hot. This is so embarrassing.
Damn them all. They’re soaking up gossip, material they'll use to talk down to me. I bite my lip, moving toward Hunter and Slade. I just want them to stop fighting, but no one’s stepping in to break it up.
“Jared,” I say and catch his eyes. “Do something,” I plead with him.
He looks at the two of them. Hunter’s on top of Slade now, beating the shit out of him. His hands clench into fists, but he just shakes his head at me.
I grit my teeth. I realize I'll have to be the one to break up the fight.
The next minute goes so fast, I’m barely aware of its passing.
I dart forward in the second that they pull apart, wiping their bloodied faces. I try to get between them, to push them apart.
Instead, Hunter goes for Slade’s throat, elbowing me in the side of the head. One second I’m moving toward Hunter, the next I’m spinning away. Fuck!
I hit the pavement hard, scraping my arm and feeling a pain radiating in my temple. Damn, that hurt. It takes a second before I’m able to breathe and reach my hand up to the side of my head. I wince when my fingers touch where Hunter landed the blow.
I prop myself up slightly and ignore the pain, looking up at the two men who are fighting over me. Or were fighting — now that they’ve knocked me down, they’re concerned about me again.
“Vi—”
“Violet!”
I wipe at my lip and glance at the crowd. The reaction seems to be somewhere between horror and shock, and I feel crushed beneath their curious gazes.
Hunter grabs my arm and hauls me to my feet.
“I’m sorry,” he says, looking at me like a piece of fragile china. “I didn’t mean to, I swear. Are you okay?”
Slade is on my other side, shoving Hunter off.
“Don’t you touch her,” Slade says loud enough for everyone to hear and trying to wrap his arm around my shoulders. He’s got a busted lip and he wipes away the blood with the back of his shirt sleeve.
I can’t stop looking at the gathered audience, whispering. I’m completely overwhelmed.
Once again, it’s me that will be the subject of rampant gossip, me that will bear the burden of what happened today.
Enough.<
br />
“Get off,” I say to Hunter, my pitch sharp. I look at Slade. “And you, too. Both of you just get off of me.”
I shake them both off, and start running toward my apartment above the bakery. I’m so ashamed, miserable with it. Tears stream down my face, though I didn’t notice them until now.
Both Hunter and Slade are adding to my burden, to the gossip about me, and I won’t have it. Can’t deal with it.
“Vi! Violet—” Hunter calls, but I ignore him.
I keep running, hoping that I can outrun my past, outrun all the damage done.
Maybe if I keep going, it will work this time.
CHAPTER 18
HUNTER
It’s silent in the empty police station. Just me and the sheriff. I can feel his eyes on me, but I don’t look up. I wrap the gauze around my knuckles and do my best to calm the fuck down. The adrenaline is still racing in my blood.
I wasn’t done with Slade when Vi got in the middle. She shouldn’t have done that. I wish she hadn’t. Even worse, I struck her. I pulled back and slammed my elbow into her. I know it hurt. My poor Vi. I don’t know what the hell she was thinking.
I stood there, watching her run from me. Literally running. My heart’s never hurt so damn much. I don’t wanna cause her pain. Ever. And I keep fucking doing it.
I could hear the sirens and the blood rushing in my ears as I watched her leave me.
I stretch my jaw. My lip’s split, and I’m sure I’ll have a bruise on my cheek by the way it feels. He hit me back once, maybe twice. But as soon as I got on top of him and started laying into him, all he did was try to block my punches.
I still don’t know what he did to her. If the cops hadn’t shown up the second I lost her in my vision, I would’ve beat the piss out of him until he told me.
Vi didn’t say a damn thing to anyone, as far as I know. She didn’t tell me or anyone else what he did, but that bastard said enough for me to figure out he hurt her.
I can still hear him screaming how she’s a liar and she wanted it when I started walking toward him. That was what sent me over the edge. That’s what pushed me to charge at that fucker. My fist clenches, and the blood soaks through the bandages.
I look down at my hand and slowly pull the ruined bandages away. I can still feel his bones crunching beneath my heavy blows to his face.
Black eyes and a broken nose aren’t enough. But at least I put some damage on him before Sheriff Caswell showed up.
“Mr. White wants to press charges,” the sheriff says from where he’s standing a few feet away.
I hear the sheriff talking, but I don’t look up. I huff a humorless laugh and ball up the gauze, tossing it into the small trash bin in the corner of the police station.
We’re in the front room, by the desk. It’s a narrow hall really. The cells are in the back. At least he didn’t put me back there... yet.
“What about the charges Violet’s gonna press against him?”
I see his boots shift on the ground, and he hesitates to answer. I look up at the old man with a hard expression.
She better get justice. More than what I can give her.
“He says he didn’t do anything to her,” he replies, and his soft blue eyes stare down at me with sadness. His voice is low, but even.
“And what’d she say?” I ask.
My voice cracks a bit, making me sound weak. But that’s how I feel. I don’t like the way Sheriff Caswell’s looking at me. I get a sense that nothing’s gonna come from this.
They’ve gotta believe her. Caswell’s a good man. This town is full of good people. They’ll stand by her, I know they will.
“Nothing,” he answers me. His eyes are pleading with me for something. But I don’t know what.
Nothing? I don’t understand.
I sit back on the bench and run my hand through my hair. I can’t look at him. I stare at the anti-drug posters on the back wall.
Finally I look at him, as my body heats with anxiety and my heart slows.
“What do you mean, nothing?”
“She didn’t want to talk. She answered questions about the fight, but she didn’t want to talk about anything else.”
I lean forward with my head in my hands; my gut twists and my heart clenches. My Vi. My poor Vi.
My eyes feel glassy with tears, but I shove that down and look up at him. “She’s just hurting.”
“I know. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s not pressing charges, but Slade’s pressing them on you.”
My body goes tense, and I grit my teeth.
“Slade got what he had coming to him.”
My voice is low as I push out the words. My muscles flex, and I resist the urge to get up and do something stupid, like rip this place apart.
The anger is good though. I know how to handle my anger. It’s the pain I feel for Vi that I don’t know what to do with.
“I don’t disagree. I do have some questions to ask you though.”
I nod my head once and wait for it. I’m mostly waiting for him to cuff me and throw me in a cell.
“We have several conflicting testimonies. Some say you hit him first, others say he hit you first.” My brows raise, and I stay still as a wave of shock hits me. “Now, obviously if you were to admit that you hit him first, he’d have reasonable cause and I’d be forced to arrest you, son.”
He pauses, and I wait for him to continue. I did hit him first, and I’m not gonna lie about that.
“But if you didn’t, then... I don’t see a reason that he could file charges.”
I stare at my hands, not wanting to lie. But I sure as fuck don’t wanna sit behind bars while Vi is God knows where. She needs me.
“What if I don’t say anything?” I ask him.
“Then I think I’d tell you to get your ass home and stay outta trouble.”
I nod my head and stand up. He doesn’t need to tell me twice, and I don’t need to give him time to change his mind.
As I walk to the front door, he says, “Just keep your head down and your mouth shut about it.”
I nod my head and mutter that I will. Slade better stay away though.
“I won’t be able to help you again,” Sheriff Caswell warns.
“I hear ya.” As long as Slade stays away from Vi, we won’t have any problems. And after the ass whooping I gave him, I can’t imagine he’ll be coming back for seconds.
“And about Violet,” the sheriff says as I open the door. I turn to look at him over my shoulder. “I’ll be here when she wants to talk.”
I maintain eye contact with him and nod. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
The cold breeze of the early morning whips across my face. It’s fucking cold. I’m tired, feeling like shit, and hating everything that just happened. I start walking to the bar's parking lot and then realize I don’t have the keys to my truck. They’re in my coat pocket, the coat I gave Vi last night.
At least I have a legitimate reason to see her then. Even if she doesn’t wanna talk, even if she doesn’t want to see me.
I just wanna know she’s alright. That’s the only thing that matters right now.
CHAPTER 19
VIOLET
I walk up the driveway of my parents’ house with a heavy heart, knowing I have to tell my mama I’m leaving. I let myself into the house, feeling like a quitter. I came here instead of going home. It’s closer, but that’s not why I came here. I need my mama.
“Hello?” I call out from the foyer.
“In here!” Mama calls out.
I follow her voice and head into the living room, where she’s propped up in her favorite recliner under a ton of blankets. She hits mute on the TV remote and turns to me with the ghost of a smile.
My first thought is that she doesn’t look good. She looks pinched and grey.
“Hey Mama,” I say, walking over to drop a kiss on her cheek. “Whatcha watching?”
“Oh, some antiques show,” she says, waving her hand. “It’s not important.”
“Ah,” I say, taking the chair beside hers. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s at the Elks Lodge, drinking dollar beers and hustling fellow members at pool.”
I try to relax into the seat, but I’m tense. I’ve got a bit of blood on the sleeve of my shirt from where Hunter grabbed me, but other than that I look normal. I think. I’m nervous and anxious to tell her what happened.
Especially since it seems like she’s having a bad day today, healthwise. I hate the idea that my leaving will have an effect on her, though I know it will. At least no one called to tell her first. Or if they called, she didn’t answer. I have to tell her before they do. I can’t let her find out about things that way.
When I finally work up the will to tell her, I look over at her. She’s looking back at me with compassion, the kind of feeling that can’t be invented or faked.
Despite all my best intentions, I burst into tears.
“Ohhh, my girl,” she says, reaching out to pat my hand. “It’s not so bad, my darling.”
Her words only make me cry harder, because I know that she’s wrong. It is bad. It’s unlivable.
“The bakery—” I start, then stop to get my tears under control. “The bakery is going to go under, Mama. And I can’t get a loan to fix the oven because Slade and his father run the bank. Even before, when Slade wasn’t mad at me, I don’t think I could’ve gotten the loan. And then Slade tried to force me to…”
I stop, and take in air in big gulps. I’m panicking, telling my mama too much, but I have to tell someone. It all just keeps spilling out.
“What did Slade do?” Mama asks, her voice going hard.
“Slade tried to force himself on me, and so I ran. And of course I ran right into Hunter, and Hunter attacked Slade. I got in between them, and got knocked to the ground. And there were all these people there who were watching…” I trail off and sob.
“Honey,” my mama says, moving so I’m closer. I lean my head against her chair, anguished. “I know you’re struggling right now. Your father and I can pay for the oven…”
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