Shrinking Violet (Colors #2) (31 page)

It wasn’t until I’d finished my rant and pulled in a much needed breath that I realized we’d garnered a small audience of students who’d yet to leave school. From the muffled whispers and choked giggles, it was clear they’d been around long enough to hear everything I had to say. Lucky for the audience, I wasn’t quite finished.

“And you, dickless wonder,” I called out, turning my attention to Mark, who was doing a terrible impression of a deer caught in the headlights. Seriously, I was beginning to think I needed to have a talk with Navie about standards. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone, quickly scrolling to one of the pictures I’d taken of Navie after we’d gotten her all done up for a prom she missed. I shoved the phone in his face, close enough for him and Meredith to see. “
This
is what you missed out on. Word to the wise, buddy: choosing the girl who dresses like a two-dollar hooker and looks like a blind, epileptic monkey does her makeup, all because she’s a guaranteed lay, is
always
the wrong choice. Before you know it, she’ll be so used up it’ll be like throwing a goddamned hotdog down a hallway. The ones who dress like whores to get attention are typically lousy in bed anyway. But, if I had to guess just by looking at you,” I dragged my gaze up and down his scrawny frame, “I’d be willing to bet you’re a pretty shitty lay yourself.”

Turning my head and looking at Navie over my shoulder, I asked, “What do you think? Twenty, maybe thirty seconds? Personally, I’d be willing to lay money on this needle dick not lasting longer than ten. I gotta say, sweet girl, I think you dodged a bullet here.” I waved my hand, indicating where Meredith and Mark stood in complete and utter silence while the crowd of students around us all laughed.

“I’m thinking I agree with you,” Navie said with a smile that, while small, still managed to light up her eyes.

With one last warning glare to Meredith, I finished. “Mess with her again and see what happens. I dare you.”

From the way Mark’s throat convulsed and Meredith’s bottom lip trembled, I knew there was nothing left to say. Turning around, I took Navie’s hand and led her away from the group of laughing, heckling kids who were, no doubt, giving Mark and Meredith a taste of their own medicine.

The first four or five minutes of the car ride home were in total silence as I tried to give Navie the space to process everything that just happened. All I could do was pray she didn’t hate me for what I’d done.

Fortunately, my girl didn’t make me wait too long.

“That. Was.
AWESOME!
”

And just like that, the weight that had been lessening on my chest for the past month became even lighter.

“Hey!”

Navie came crashing through the door with a bright smile on her face the likes of which I hadn’t seen in far too long.

“Hey, you’re in a good mood.”

She paused where she’d dropped her backpack on the floor in the doorway, her face growing thoughtful. “Today was a good day.”

“Yeah?” I asked, standing from my place on the couch and setting my half-full beer bottle on the coffee table to follow her into the kitchen. “You have a good day at school or something?”

Navie pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and closed it before turning back to me. “No, school was as awful as always. It was what happened
after
school that was awesome.”

“Okay, I’ll bite.” I chuckled as I leaned against the counter, mimicking her relaxed stance. “What happened
after
school that was so awesome?”

In an excited manner that only a teenage girl could emulate, Navie dove into her story of how Meredith and her band of bitches had trashed her locker. My spine stiffened as she described the girl’s latest act of torment, but as she continued talking a mile a minute, my body grew stiffer for a totally different reason.

“God, Carson, you should have
seen
her. I mean, I wasn’t too sure about calling Cassidy to pick me up, but I couldn’t get a hold of you, and after what had happened, I really wasn’t in the mood to walk. The way she tore into them was just…and, ohmigod! What she said to Mark was
hilarious
!”

She ranted and raved about Cassidy ripping Meredith and Mark a new one for another fifteen minutes, practically quoting the confrontation from memory. She talked so fast I barely had a chance to wrap my head around what she was telling me.

“And there were so many kids standing around. And they heard
everything
! Carson, you should have seen her. Cassidy
annihilated
them! I don’t think Meredith will have the guts to come back to school, let alone mess with me anymore. The minute she jumped out of the car, it was just like…she went into Momma Bear mode or something. It was insane!”

“She really said all that?” I asked in complete disbelief. I knew she had a fire in her, but that shyness I’d seen from the first moment I met her had always overshadowed it. Just imagining her ripping into two teenagers all because they’d picked on ‘
her girl
’ was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe she’d do something like that for Navie. Thinking of her protecting my sister so fiercely left me stunned speechless.

“Yeah, Carson,” Navie said softly, pulling me out of my head and back into reality. “She really did.”

“That’s…” I didn’t have words to describe what I was feeling just then. The numbness that had turned into a gripping pain in my chest for the past month morphed into something altogether different right then. Something overwhelming in its strength.

“Carson,” Navie called out, but I was already on the move. “Carson. Where are you going?”

I was out the door, clearing the front porch before she had a chance to catch up with me. My sights were set on one singular thing, like tunnel vision; I was unable to see anything else as I stomped across the dried grass. My mind was set on Cassidy and getting to her as fast as I could.

Nothing else mattered.

I’d just stepped out onto the back porch with my bag of gardening tools when I heard Navie’s voice shouting across the back yard.

“Carson!”

Spinning around, my heart lodged firmly in my throat as I saw Carson’s long, muscular legs eating up the distance between him and me. The thunderous expression on his beautiful face sent a trill of fear up my spine. He was coming straight for me and looked ready to take someone’s head off. Seeing as his eyes were firmly set on me as he stormed across the back yard, I could only assume I was the one his anger was geared toward.

Oh, shit
.

“Carson,” I started, taking two steps back when his boot-clad feet hit the porch stairs. Instinct told me to run, but before I had a chance to take my next breath, the gardening bag was snatched out of my hand and tossed aside. I let out a surprised squeak as his hand grabbed hold of my waist and yanked me into the hard wall of muscle that was his chest. I’d barely had a chance to process what was happening when, suddenly, his lips crashed down on mine in a passionately brutal kiss.

The moment my lips parted on a startled gasp, his tongue snaked past them. That familiar taste I’d missed so much in the past month invaded my senses, causing me to moan as I melted into him. His strong frame took all my weight as he wrapped both arms around me tightly, like he never wanted to let me go. My fingers snaked across his chest, over his shoulders, and into his thick, silky hair. All I could do was hold on as he deepened the kiss, taking it to an entirely new level. It was an intensity I’d never experienced before.

Finally, out of the need for oxygen, we were forced to pull apart. My fingers tightened in his hair as his forehead came down and pressed against mine, his eyes squeezed shut, his face looking ravaged.

“Carson?”

“I can’t believe you did that,” he spoke in a low, reverent voice.

“Uh…what did I do?”

When he lifted to his full height, his arms came from around me, his hands coming up to cup my cheeks. “What you did for Navie. Christ, Violet…” The use of my nickname hit me like a ton of bricks, flooding my chest with a warmth I feared was long gone. “The fact that you’d go in there, guns blazing like that…I’m in awe of you, baby.”

“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect the people I love,” I whispered, feeling the familiar sting of tears burning behind my eyes.

“You still love her?”

“Of course!” I shouted, grabbing hold of his wrists as I leaned into his caress. “I’ll never stop loving her, Carson.”

His mossy green eyes darkened as he stared down at me. “What about me?”

“I don’t think I could ever stop loving you, even if I wanted to,” I admitted, letting my tears break free and slide down my cheeks.

A flicker of something akin to fear crossed over his handsome face as he asked, “Do you want to?”

“No. I don’t ever want to stop loving you,” I replied honestly. “Even when it hurts as bad as it’s been hurting. I never want to stop because meeting you, loving you has made me a better person.”

Pulling me back in for another kiss, he spoke softly against my lips. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry for causing you pain these last few weeks. I swear to God, if you forgive me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

With those words, the last little bit of weight that had been sitting on my chest for longer than I could remember disappeared completely. I was free of all the guilt, all the pain I’d lived with my entire life. That last small, fractured piece of my heart healed, leaving me feeling whole.

“You still love me?” I asked.

“I’ll never, ever stop, Cassidy. I swear to you, I’ll never stop loving you. I can’t promise I won’t screw up, or that our lives will always be perfect, but if you’ll give me a chance, I’ll make sure you wake up every day feeling happier than you’ve ever felt before. Please, just tell me you’ll give me that chance. I don’t think I can handle going through another day without you. Missing you has been the worst pain I’ve ever experienced.”

“God, Carson,” I breathed, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him further down. “I’ve missed you, too. So much.”

He buried his face in the crook of my neck, and I could feel his smile against my skin. “Does that mean you’ll forgive me, Violet?”

“Yeah,” I answered with a nod. “I forgive you, honey.”