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As if she was beginning to realize what I said was true, she rolled so her face was pressed into my stomach and finally just let go.
We stayed like that for hours. With Violet crying out all the pain she’d let build up for months, and me simply letting her. I didn’t tell her it was going to be okay, because I didn’t know if it ever would be again. I just let her know I was there for her and combed my fingers through her hair the way my mom always did when I needed comforting.
Eventually, Violet fell asleep, but I didn’t dare move. She was exhausted, and I didn’t want to disturb her.
I heard footsteps in the bedroom, followed by a brisk knock. “Girls?” Uncle Shane called out softly. “Are you two okay in there?”
I yawned and stretched the kinks out of my shoulders. Glancing down, I saw Violet’s eyes had fluttered open, and I gave her a tiny smile. “We’re good,” I assured him. “Um, just an FYI, you might need to get someone to check your roof.”
“What?” he practically squawked, and I grimaced.
“It’s a long story. One I’m not sure I have time to tell right now.” If I got in trouble, I got in trouble. But Violet needed me more at the moment, so he would have to wait. I stroked my fingertips over Violet’s forehead, and my heart melted when her eyelids fluttered closed. “Just know that Violet is okay.”
He sighed heavily. “That’s all that matters. I’ll save you girls some dessert,” he promised before I heard his footsteps retreating.
While Violet fell back to sleep, I leaned my head back against the door and closed my eyes but continued to trace my fingertips across her brow.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I heard another knock on the door. My eyes snapped open, and I realized I must have dozed off.
“Shaw?” Jagger’s voice was low and caused my heart to jump. “Baby, are you okay?”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and blinked back the sting of tears. “Yeah,” I murmured softly. “I’m all right.”
“How’s Vi?”
I glanced down at her and saw the tear tracks on her pale cheeks. “I honestly don’t know,” I told him.
As I spoke, I realized my ass was numb and so were my legs. Groaning quietly, I carefully lifted Vi’s head and tried to stand. Once I was on my feet, I opened the door. “Could you carry her to the bed for me?” I asked, without looking at his face.
But he caught my chin and forced me to lift my gaze to meet his. “Don’t lie to me, Dimples. You’re not okay. Baby, please tell me what I can do to—”
“Nothing,” I cut him off, my jaw clenching. “You can’t do anything. Except help me get Vi to bed so she doesn’t wake up sore tomorrow.”
Chapter 14
Jagger
I finally knew why Shaw was so reluctant to be with me.
She’d always said that she wanted what Luca and Violet had. That soul mate, forever kind of love that would complete her like her best friend had. Often, she’d rolled her eyes when Vi would talk about her plans for her and Luca’s future, but the longing had been deep in Shaw’s baby blues every time.
Now, everything she’d always been secretly envious of was nothing more than the shattered pieces of Vi’s broken heart dropped at Shaw’s feet. It was to be expected that Shaw’s sudden disillusionment in that forever kind of love would make her scared of going through the same thing.
Given the stunt I’d pulled that had caused all this shit to begin with, I couldn’t really blame her.
I’d set out to push her away, but when I got just that, all I could think about was fighting to get her back.
I just had to be patient and show her I would never let what happened to Violet happen to her heart.
After trying to call her all of Friday morning and afternoon with no answer, I followed her to some huge-ass house in Santa Monica.
The place was probably the biggest mansion in the county, with not just one, but two gates with multiple guards on duty that I had to get through. The party was for Remington Sawyer, and I wasn’t on the list. I had to get the Uber driver to park off to the side, and I called Ma, knowing she was the only one who could help me out.
“Why do you want to go to this boy’s party?” she asked, distracted. She’d been busy all day getting Luca’s ass out of trouble with his coach. She’d told them he was sick and couldn’t make it to the Iron Bowl that weekend, and considering the game was against Alabama’s most hated rival, I figured the entire coaching staff was beyond pissed to have one of their star defensive players miss the game.
I’d heard her arguing with someone on the phone only an hour or so before I’d left the house, and I knew she was about fed up with people in general for the day. She’d spent so much time dealing with Luca’s problem that she hadn’t spent any time at all with her father, and I felt bad about asking her to do this for me on top of everything else she had to take care of.
But I needed to get in there and make sure Shaw was safe.
