Page 44 of Redeeming Violet

“I wanted to come and talk with you anyway. I haven’t had a chance to thank you, yet.”

“Thank me?”

“For Africa. Jasmin told me what happened.”

“No need.”

I didn’t want to think about Africa. Africa made me think about why I was there in the first place, and all that had led to it.

“Bullshit. You took a bullet for her. That doesn’t go unnoticed.”

“It was just a graze. Really, nothing to thank me for.”

“Christ, you sound like Jax.”

My heartrate spiked thinking of him. “You said he left me a note?” I asked around another bite.

“That’s what he said. It should be in the room.”

I excused myself to go in search of the note and Linc went back to looking at the laptop in front of him. Sure enough, on the makeshift night stand by the bed there was a sheet of paper. I picked it up and studied Jaxon’s neat block letters. His penmanship matched his personality, bold, sure, and concise.

Vi,

As I write this I am watching you sleep. I debated waking you to say goodbye, but you look so peaceful I couldn’t bring myself to disturb you. Before I left I wanted to make sure you knew the score. I didn’t want there to be any wondering on your part or misunderstandings.

I paused for a moment, not sure if I wanted to continue reading his note. Was this where he let me down easy? Told me it’d been great but no thanks. After a mental pep talk I brought the paper back into focus and continued.

Last night was amazing. At least for me it was. I hope it was for you as well. We have a lot to work through when I get back; the point is, I want to work through them. I’m not sure where this can go but I’d like to find out. There is no denying there is something between us. I’d like to find out what that something is. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and I will check in when I can. Please understand I may not be able to contact you directly but I will make sure someone keeps you in the loop.

Take care of yourself while I’m gone.

-J

P.S. Don’t freak out when you go in the other room, Linc is out there.

Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!

He wasn’t giving me the brush off, he wanted to see where a relationship between us could go. At least that’s what I thought his note meant. I reread the letter again and again to see if I was missing something, but each time I read it hope grew. Could we date? It would be hard. I lived in Virginia and he lived in Maryland. It wasn’t like it was that far, an hour drive with no traffic. People did that all the time. Hope grew some more. We could totally date.

With a spring in my step and what felt like a new lease on life, I carefully folded his letter. Not wanting to be too girly, but never wanting to discard the first letter Jaxon wrote me, I placed the folded paper in my backpack. It wasn’t like he’d professed his undying love for me, but the letter was special nonetheless. The alarm beeped in the other room, reminding me I was still locked in the basement and my current predicament was far from over. However, the thought of having to stay down here for weeks no longer bothered me, as long as Jaxon was here with me.

We could lock ourselves away from the world and live in a bubble where no one was out to blackmail or kidnap me. Maybe the universe couldn’t take away my hopes and fantasies down here.

The knock on the door startled me. I turned around as Jasmin was poking her head in.

“Hey, I brought you fresh coffee,” she said.

She still didn’t look well. Her face was pale, and I hated to think it, but her normal bitchiness seemed to have faded away.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”

She grunted and the hard mask she wore slipped back into place. There was the Jasmin I knew. “It’s nothing. Come drink it before it gets cold.”

With a nod I followed her to the other room and noticed Linc was gone.

“He had shit to do,” she told me when she noticed me looking around. “Here, I brought you some movies in case you get bored and a kindle so you can read or whatever.”

I fought back the urge to smile. Jasmin may’ve been hard as nails in the field, but I had her number. She wasn’t as mean and bitchy as she wanted everyone to believe. Under all her gruff badassery, she was thoughtful and kind. Man, I never saw that coming.