AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lean in and she moves closer to me.
Our eyes locked, we hunch together. “I know the camera loves you. I spent way too much time on your social media accounts last night looking at you. You are dazzling and I can feel your energy through the screen. You have beautiful eyes that I would like to lose myself in. I love their color. I learned you are one of life’s gems and have a heart of gold. You invest your time and money toward a kids’ fostering charity that was almost closed down a couple of years ago, but you kept it afloat and you’ve helped to rehome several hundred children since. You only have two close friends, Hannah and Ruby, whom you trust with your life and you go out with them on the first Friday night of every month to a nightclub called Xenon. Harvard University gave you a first-class degree with honors.” Her nostrils are flaring and I can’t work out if she's mad at me because I know so much or if she’s mad at herself as her social profiles are set to public. “One last thing. Your sister sounds like a narcissist, but I think if you dig a little deeper, you would find that she’s jealous of you because you’re an incredible woman. You’re sassy, confident, and sexy. You’re the whole package, Violet West. She’s intimidated by you. Hell, I’m intimidated by you, but it doesn’t deter me from wanting to ask you out on a date. I would like to do that.” It’s not a question; I’m stating facts.
The whole time I’ve been speaking, Violet’s face has softened. Her golden eyes dance back and forth between mine as we stare at each other. This appears to be what we do now.
“What about your no women rule?”
“I’m in charge of the rules and I just ripped them up. But only for you.” She’s looking at me like she can’t actually believe what I am saying.
Breaking our tranced stares, Violet flinches as Andrew bellows, “Time to switch. It’s your partner's turn now. Fifteen minutes, everyone.”
I sit back. “You okay?”
Violet blinks several times and then leans back in her chair too. “Thank you for all those kind things you just said.” Her voice is quiet, and I struggle to hear her over the faint hum of chatter in the meeting room.
“You’re welcome.” I take a deep breath in. “Three lies, two truths?”
“Yeah.” She slowly blinks. She’s too stunned by my truthful words to function properly.
“I can speak four languages.” That’s my first lie. I can only speak two, English and Greek. “My mother left my father when I was only a few months old and he brought me up by himself, and therefore I have never met my mother in person. I have never been in love. I’m a twin. I am color-blind.”
She instantly pounces on my lie. “You said you loved the color of my eyes. You’re not color-blind.”
“Well done.”
“You can’t be a twin or you would have said your father brought us up, not me.”
“Detective West.” I nod.
“That’s also why I don’t think your mother left you when you were a baby. Your two truths are you speak four languages and you’ve never been in love.”
“Nope.”
She inhales, then gasps in shock, “Did your mom leave you?”
“Don’t look at me like that.” When people find that out, I can’t abide the look of pity in their eyes. The head tilt and the strike of pain across people’s faces. It seems to hurt them more than me. My father was an incredible man. He still is. He gave me everything I ever needed and more. I never felt like I missed out on anything.
Although that’s a partial lie. I’ve always wondered what a comforting cuddle would feel like from my mom.
“What am I looking at you like?” The words leap off her lips.
“Pity. Your sad eyes, the head tilt. I’m good. My father, my yaya, and my grandfather brought me up and I think I turned out okay.”
She sits bold upright, correcting her sympathetic body language. Her brows knit together. “Your yaya?”
“Grandmother, she’s Greek. My grandfather is Scottish.”
“You only speak a couple of languages? Greek and English?”
“Well done.”
Violet remains quiet as she looks at me. She’s trying to figure out if I’m damaged and I can see her doing mental gymnastics.
“I’m not broken, Violet. There is nothing wrong with me. Or my father. My mom…” I shrug my shoulders. “She decided after she had me, she didn’t want to be tied down. She was seventeen. I was a whoopsie and she wanted to travel. I wasn’t part of her life plan and so she left us.” Although, as I say that casually, it stings a little.
I do have some abandonment insecurities, but it’s not something I like to talk about. Being the happy-go-lucky guy all the time for everyone is a much easier part to play. Sometimes that sad guy who has rejection issues still wonders what it would be like to have had a mom in his life.
“She left you?” I can tell Violet is struggling with that information.
