Page 101 of Unleashed By Eden

James just chuckles and spreads a hand over her bump, his thumb rubbing slow circles, like that alone can keep the baby and her stomach calm.

Down the table, Dameon keeps stealing roasted peppers off Hailee’s plate, testing how badly he wants to die. She glares every time his fork lands, but she still lets him get away with it.

Hailee eventually shifts her gaze to Vi and grins around the rim of her wine glass. “Violet,” she says, drawing out her name, winding up for trouble. “You never told me how you ended up at Eden.”

I aim a look at Hailee that says, Are you fucking kidding me right now? My shoulders are already tight because, no matter how you spin it, I’m the reason she ever walked through those doors.

Vi shrugs, easy, swirling her wine. “Well, when I was seventeen, this dickhead pushed me off his cock and told me to never touch him again.”

The table slams into silence.

Zac coughs on a laugh. “Whoa. Going straight for the jugular. Respect.”

Cora stares at me. “Carter?”

I scrub a hand over my face. “It wasn’t like that.”

Dameon leans in, eyebrows halfway up his forehead. “What was it like, then?”

I glare at Vi, who’s way too pleased with herself. “You giving them the clickbait headline or the full story, Storm?”

“Fine.” She taps her fingernail against her glass. “He wakes up from a dirty dream, realizes I’m recreating it on his dick in real time, panics, and tells me to never touch him again.”

James actually chokes on his wine. “Jesus.”

Chloe’s fanning herself, overheated from the alcohol, or the conversation. “This is the most chaotic origin story I’ve ever heard.”

“Hang on,” I cut in, grasping for dignity. “She was underage. And my best friend’s little sister. I completely freaked out.”

Vi lifts a shoulder again. “It fucked me up,” she says, matter-of-factly. “Shattered my confidence. Not that I had much. But, hey, I wouldn’t be where I am now without having gone through it.”

I groan. “I apologized.”

“You did,” she says. “And I did too. I learned a lot at Eden about boundaries and consent. It helped me realize that I shouldn’t have crossed that line, but the rejection . . . The rejection really hurt.”

“Vi.”

She finally looks at me properly, and there’s enough softness in her eyes to keep me from swan-diving off the terrace into the lake. “We were kids,” she says, aiming the words at me. “Emotionally stunted idiots with shit childhoods.”

“A shit start,” I mutter. “Doesn’t mean we get a shit middle or end.”

Chloe bites her lip, grinning. “So, Eden was . . . what? Your revenge arc?”

Vi thinks on it. “More like therapy that paid well.”

Hailee lifts her glass. “Queen.”

Dameon jabs his chin at me. “You do realize she built an empire of men lusting after her because you freaked out over a teenage boner, right?”

“Can we not phrase it like that?” I grit out.

Zac leans back, smug. “Vi comes out of this looking like a total badass. You . . . not so much, brother.”

Cora reaches across and covers Vi’s hand. “And now look at you two,” she says. “All grown up and disgustingly in love.”

Vi laughs softly.

I shake my head, trying not to smile. “You know I’m never living this down.”