Violet is Blue (Hothouse series) (9 page)

“It’s a car Violet. A piece of metal. It has little value compared to a life.”

I looked into my cup. I felt ashamed for having thought he could do something like that. But I had to ask. Just as I had to ask even more.

“I can’t believe you’d actually think I could do that.”

“Have you been sending me gifts?”

He gaped at my change in questions.  “You lost me again.”

“My secret admirer? Are you him?”

He rubbed a thumb over his lips. “However much I like you, I assure you that it’s not me. When I like a girl I take the direct approach.”

I sighed.

“This is about more than Jordan, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about it. Maybe I can help. You can trust me.” He reached across the table and covered my hand with his.

I looked at our joined hands. I wanted to trust him. I really did. But my gut told me he too was hiding something. He wasn’t who he pretended to be. It might’ve been something as simple as he was a bad boy underneath his suit and tie, but I couldn’t take that chance.

I pulled my hand out from his. “Thanks. But I need to take care of this myself.”

“You’re not having trouble at home are you?”

I frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Just making sure everything is okay with Hannah and Mark.”

I stood. “Everything’s fine.”

He put his hand up. “Okay, I’m just asking.”

“I’m sorry. I’m going to go”

He stood as well. “Okay, but if you need to come back, do. I am here for you if you need me, Violet.”

I just nodded, and then he led me toward the front door, instead of the back so I didn’t run into his dog again.

Back in my car, I felt a little better. At least I knew Patrick didn’t beat Jordan up and that he wasn’t my stalker.  Maybe Jordan’s accident had nothing to do with me and everything to do with him being drunk and belligerent that night. Maybe he had mouthed off to the wrong guys. He was on his own that night, without his usual boy crew, his backup, so it was possible.

I started my car and was ready to drive away when my cell phone rang. Without thinking I answered it.

“Hello?”

“Breaking your promise?”  It was
him
.

“No.”

“C’mon fess up, you lying bitch.”

“Stop it. Stop calling me.”

“I told you before you’re mine.”

“Leave me alone!” I screamed into the phone, then pushed end.

I put the car in drive and tore away from the curb.  Another car blared its horn at me, since I nearly sideswiped it. Tears rushed down my face. I was shaking so bad I could barely steer properly.

After driving a couple of blocks, I pulled over onto the curb. I was in no shape to drive. I could barely see through the veil of tears. I gripped the steering wheel in both hands and squeezed so tight my knuckles turned white. And then I sobbed.

I let it all go. Every emotion I’d been holding in, holding back, came rushing out like a geyser.

I don’t know how long I sat there on the side of the road, crying, but it was long enough that my butt was numb, my throat was sore, and my eyes stung.  When I was finally spent, I checked my face in the mirror, smeared on the hemorrhoid cream Ivy had given me to reduce the redness and swelling, and then drove home.  Thankfully my parents were gone, so I could slink back into my bedroom, and pretend that everything was right as rain. When in fact, I could feel a storm coming, and it was going to be a disaster.

––––––––

I
t was a beautiful day out. The sun was bright and shining. There was a gentle breeze that brought the scent of freesia and lilac. But I wasn’t enjoying it. I was too preoccupied with my disaster of a life to notice it much.

Dahlia, Ivy and I were out on the grassy quad for lunch period. Ivy had ear buds in her ears, and she was lying on the grass with her eyes closed.  I’d barely eaten my pizza slice, but I had managed to drain an entire can of Coke, which was not normal for me, as I usually never drank soda. Dahlia had definitely noticed as she studied my face.

“You haven’t told your parents have you?”

“I can’t. My mom would lose it.”

“So, you're just going to let this guy control your life?”

“He doesn’t control me.”

“V, you don’t answer the phone, and you looked over your shoulder at least ten times today.”

“I’m dealing.”

“Not very well.” She gestured to my face. “You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

I looked away from her. I didn’t like that she could see that about me. I didn’t want to talk about it. “How’s Jordan? Have you seen him?”

She frowned. “No change. It doesn’t look good. You’re sure it wasn’t Pat?”

I nodded.

“Then who?”

“I don't know.  Jordan was really drunk that night, and you know his mouth.  He could have just pissed off the wrong people.”

“Or your secret admirer’s got a sick way of showing he loves you.”

“Yeah.”

Dahlia slid on her sunglasses and laid back beside Ivy. “Do something girl, before it gets really bad.”

I hugged my knees to my chest and watched my peers go by. Everyone looked so happy. It was probably because school was almost over. I should’ve been happy too, but instead I sat here trembling, fear clenching my chest tight.  And I wondered if I would ever feel safe again.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and I turned my head to see Devon striding across the quad toward me. I held my breath as he stared right at me, right through me. The anticipation of his arrival held me in thrall, but then he stopped dead in his tracks, took out a cigarette and lit it. While holding my gaze, he took in a drag, and blew the smoke out slowly.  His gaze darted over to Dahlia and Ivy next to me, then he turned and went the other way.

Had I been alone, would he have approached me? Did I want him to?

Yes.

Our last encounter in the library still gave me the shivers, and not because he frightened me. It was the exact opposite. He made me burn hard inside.

I watched him walk away and still wondered if he was my mystery guy. He definitely had it in him to be cryptic, and manipulative, and commanding. But after our last couple of meetings I discovered he was a guy who wasn’t shy about his feelings. If he wanted me, I didn’t’ think he would hide in the shadows to get it. He would take it face to face.

And that made me shiver all over again.

The rest of the school day inched by. I kept watching the clock and didn’t pay attention in any class. All my teachers noticed and called me out on it. I wanted to scream at them that I had more important things to worry about than pentameter rhythm and algebraic equations.

Once the final bell sounded, I shuffled to my locker like a zombie, put my books away and grabbed my purse.  Ivy caught up with me and we walked out of the school together to the parking lot. Dahlia usually waited for us at my car.

The closer we got to my car, the more worried I got. I could see Dahlia biting her nails, and there were other students milling about, talking excitedly. When one of them spotted me, she grabbed her friend by the arm and they winced.

Dahlia came up to me before I could reach my car, and grabbed my hand.

“What’s going on?”  I looked past her toward my car.

On the side in big letters, the words LYING BITCH, were scratched across the doors.

I reeled in horror. My knees gave out, and I nearly fell to the ground. If Dahlia and Ivy hadn’t grabbed me to hold me up, I would’ve.

“Oh God, V.” Dahlia rubbed her hand over my back. “Do you want me to call your mom?”

I nodded. I couldn’t deny it any longer. I was in way over my head. It was time to tell someone. I couldn’t handle it on my own anymore.

As Dahlia dialed my mom’s number and Ivy put her arm around me, I glanced around at the others still milling about, getting their thrill for the day. I hated them. I wanted to yell and scream at them to go away.  Couldn’t they see the distress I was in? Didn’t they care? They were more concerned with the gossip this would provide for them, then with the impact it had on me.  I couldn’t contain my anger at it all any longer.

“What are you looking at?” I yelled at the crowd.

This brought some snickers.

I pulled away from Ivy, and whirled on two girls who I didn’t know gawking at me, and whispering behind their hands.

“Why don’t you fuck off!”

They backed away, but didn’t immediately leave the area. I wanted to chase after them and punch them both in the face.

Ivy grabbed hold of me again. “It’s okay, Vi. It’s going to be okay.” She hugged me close.

Then my gaze landed on one particular person standing off to the side, watching it all with interest.

Devon.

His gaze locked with mine, and I swore he smiled.

A couple hours later, I was sitting on the sofa in the living room with my mom beside me holding my hand and two police officers standing in front of me asking me questions. Mark was pacing the room, a drink in his hand, looking like a caged animal.

“I’m not sure there’s anything we can do for you at this time,” the male officer said, as he tucked his notebook into his pocket.

After I had spilled my guts to my mom, she didn’t lecture me or look at me differently; she hugged me close then said she was calling the police. My mom had insisted on a female officer being present, but they’d assured her that all their officers had had sensitivity training for this kind of thing. I didn’t believe them considering both officers after I had told them everything that had happened had looked at me like I had made this shit up.

“What do you mean, nothing you can do?  My daughter is scared to death,” my mom said.

“I'm sorry Mrs. Brooks.  I'm aware of that but there's nothing we can do.  We have no idea who this guy is, even if it's the same person sending your daughter love notes.  It could be a vindictive girl at school who's jealous of her.  I don't know.  Your guess is as good as mine.”

“So that's it then?  You're just going to let this guy terrorize my daughter until he does something illegal like say assault her, or God forbid worse?”

The cop had the decency to look admonished under my mom’s bold stare.

“Change your home number and your cell number.  If he still calls, tell him you've called the police.  If he still persists, give me a call and we'll put a trace on your line.” He handed my mom his card, then they both left.

“I can't believe this,” my mom said.

“Don’t get upset, Hannah,” Mark said, “We have to be reasonable about this.”

“Reasonable?  How can you say that?  Violet's being stalked, plain and simple.  This guy is dangerous.”

“We don't know that for sure.  Even Violet's not positive.  She thought at one time Jordan was the guy.”

“And now Jordan's lying comatose in a hospital,” she said. “So he couldn’t have been the one to scratch up her car.”

Mark sighed, and took a drink of scotch from his glass.  “Are we so sure these two incidents are connected?”

I bolted to my feet. I couldn’t stand it anymore. They were talking about me as if I wasn’t even there.

“Stop it! I knew this was going to happen. This is the reason I never said anything.”

My mom reached for my hand, but I pulled away. I didn’t want to be treated like a child.

“Calm down, honey.”

“I won't calm down!  My life has been turned upside down by a psychopath, and no one believes me!”

Mark set his drink down on the table.  “I didn't say I didn't believe you, Violet.  I'm just going over all the possibilities.”

“There's only one possibility,” I said between clenched teeth.

“Is there anyone else you've been having problems with?  Someone you didn't mention to the officer?”

“You're not fucking listening to me!”

My mom gasped and put a hand to her throat. “Violet!”

“There's no need to yell at me, Violet.  I am listening.” Mark frowned at her.

“You only hear what you want to hear.  I'll deal with this myself.” I left the living room and ran up the stairs to my bedroom, but before I could shut my door, I heard my mom’s raised voice.

“I can’t believe you’re taking this so lightly.”

“I’m not. I can see how scared she is, but we have to look at all the facts.”

“And what would those be?”

“This mystery guy sounds love sick, not psychopathic. He’s sent some flowers, and a poem, and...”

“Sexy lingerie. That’s not love sick, that’s exploitive.”

“I buy you lingerie all the time. Am I exploitive?”

“Mark, this isn’t about us. We are adults in a loving marriage.”

“Violet is technically an adult.”

I could hear her angry intake of air even from up the stairs. “Are you saying that because of that, all of this is okay?”

“No. No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“Maybe she’s just blowing this out of proportion. I’d hate to see some poor guy get hauled in for questioning because he has a hard-on for Violet and she’s suddenly put the brakes on.”

I heard the slap across his face. It must’ve been hard, because the echo of it gave me the shivers.

Yeah Mom! Thank you
.

“Not once in the four years we've been married, have I ever been disappointed in the man that you are, and the father that you've become, until now.  I'm going up to my room.  I'd advise you, not to bother sleeping there tonight.”

I ducked into my room, before my mom could catch me eavesdropping.  I sat on the bed, just as she knocked on my door.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

She opened the door and came in, shutting it behind her. She sat next to me on the bed and ran a hand over my head.  “I’m sorry sweetie.”

“For what?”

“I should’ve seen this. I knew there was something wrong.”

I turned to her. “You couldn’t have known, Mom. I should’ve told you right when I thought something was wrong.”

She hugged me. “We’ll get through this, okay? I am behind you one hundred percent.”

“What about Mark?”

She cupped my face. “He’s just being an asshole. As men often are.”

I smiled. I’d never heard my mom say anything remotely disparaging about Mark. But I loved that she did now.  I knew she had my back, and that she wouldn’t let anything or anyone get in her way of protecting me.