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Violet stood up and turned to me, smiling the biggest smile ever.
“Oh my God. I think I love you, Sebastian,” she said, gasping for air.
Her hair was a mess, frizzy and knotted, and she was sweaty and bright red. She looked happy and satisfied. She was the most beautiful woman in the entire world.
“And I think I might love you too, Violet,” I said, surprising even myself. “I really do.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - VIOLET
My phone lit up within minutes.
We need to talk, Violet. Now.
It was a text message from my mom. Sebastian and I were curled up in bed, and when I looked down at my phone, it only took me a minute to realize what was going on.
“Oh, I think Jessica got to her,” I said, groaning, but also laughing. I looked over at Sebastian. “What should I say?”
“Maybe tell her we'll talk when we get back from the trip?” he said. “It might be easier to break it to her in person.”
“Break what to her?” I said. “That I'm in love with my deceased father's best friend and my current boss. Yeah, she's not going to take it well no matter when I tell her.”
“I'm sorry,” Sebastian said, reaching out and stroking my cheek. “I didn't want to do this to you, Violet. Maybe I shouldn't have.”
“No,” I said. “No, don't say that. I'm glad you came over here, and I'm happy we're able to be together like this. I'm going to deal with the consequences, Sebastian, whatever those may be. But this is my life and I'm going to choose the path that makes me the happiest. A little bit of blowback is worth it, for you. Trust me, it is.”
He pulled me down so I was resting my head on his chest.
“I sure hope so, Violet,” he said softly. “I don't want to ruin the relationship between you and your mother.”
My mother didn't want me to date anyone, truth be told. She'd kept a tight leash on me throughout high school and even college. She had always been so worried her daughter could end up pregnant or give up on her dreams for a man. I’d repeatedly told her that was never going to happen, but she'd never trusted me. She didn't know what made me tick, and even worse, had never really tried to find out. My relationship with my mother wasn't bad, I had just always been closer to my dad.
And now, in her mind, she probably thought she had every reason to not trust me because I was a little whore.
“Who knows what Jessica told her,” I said. “I doubt it was anything close to the truth.”
“My biggest concern is that she showed her the photos she took,” he said. “That's the last thing I want your mother to see. Ever.”
I sat up and looked at Sebastian. “I guess I hadn't really thought about that,” I said. “I guess with everything going on, I somehow managed to forget she took incriminating pictures of us.”
Sebastian sighed. “Yeah,” I said. “And no doubt, Jessica's friends in the tabloid world have them too.”
“You didn't tell me she was going to go to the tabloids with them,” I said, looking worriedly at him. Any of those pictures could slander his good name and potentially cause trouble for his business.
“I wasn't sure if I believed she'd actually do it. But given that she got to your mother, I guess nothing is out of bounds for her,” he said, sitting up and looking worried. “But does that make a difference?”
I was quiet, but only to think about what my mother might have seen, and what sort of hit piece they'd run on Sebastian in the tabloids. I realized that my initial estimation was wrong, there was going to be more than just a little bit of blowback. I hated that Sebastian and I were getting caught up in Jessica's insanity, because we had done nothing wrong.
“No, not at all. It's just going to make things more awkward at home,” I said, trying to laugh. “Because who wants their parents seeing them having sex, you know?”
“Yeah, I'm sorry about that,” he said.
He looked physically pained over it all, and I couldn't blame him. But I also didn't blame him for anything that was happening. I knew this wasn't going to be easy on him either.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I said. “Your ex-girlfriend is just batshit crazy. You can't help that. I'm just sorry that you're going to be tabloid fodder for a while.”
He shrugged. “It'll blow over soon enough,” he said. “No big deal.”
I could tell he was uncomfortable with the spotlight getting ready to shift onto him. He was a well-known, well connected, wealthy man, and an eligible bachelor. An eligible bachelor free to do what – and who – he wanted. That was basically the extent of the material the tabloids had on him. My worry was what they were going to make up.
