Violet Chain (19 page)

“Fuck, Violet, fuck!” he screamed. His legs stiffened as he found his release, a low groan slipping from his throat. I was mush in his arms, my head fell to his shoulder and with him still inside of me, he walked back into the house and straight to the bedroom. As he laid me on the bed, he pulled out of me, then lay beside me.

He looped his arms around me, pulling my back into his chest. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

***

My twirling stomach woke me from a sound sleep. As I jumped out of the bed, I was unaware at first where I was, then I turned and saw Chain, his naked legs peeking through the covers that were draped across him on the bed. My stomach began to swirl again. I rushed to the bathroom and began heaving up my dinner from the night before.

I leaned against the wall, holding my stomach, trying to calm that queasy feeling that was still pulsing through me.

After about fifteen minutes, I walked into the bedroom.
I stood by the bed and contemplated whether I should stay or not, when my stomach began to ache again. It was obvious I was coming down with something. I leaned over Chain and pressed a kiss on his forehead. I dressed, then grabbed my purse and left.

I woke in the morning and my arms were empty. I opened my eyes to see that Violet was not there. I hopped out of bed and walked to the bathroom. No Violet. So I ventured out to the living room. Not there either. I realized she had left and I was a little disconcerted. It was normal for her to leave, but for some reason I expected her to be there when I woke. She did admit to me that she was mine, only mine last night, did that not give good reason for her to stay?

Well, I had to admit, I did use sex as a levy to get her to say it, but she still could have said no. Seriously, when was this woman just going to admit how she felt about me?  I knew she loved me. I saw it in her eyes at the hospital, I felt it last night, in her kiss, in her arms. Stubborn, exasperating, beautiful, smart, sexy—Christ, this woman was literally driving me to the brink of insanity. Before you knew it I would be asking and answering my own questions!

Before I got myself all worked up I picked up my cell and FaceTimed Violet.

The first thing I saw when she answered was her nose and lips; her eyes were covered by something white.

“Hello,” she said in such a whisper I had to lean my ear closer to my cell to hear her.

I lifted the cell to my face. “Violet, are you alright?” She pulled the white thing from her face and as she lay on it, I realized it was a pillow.

“No, Chain, I’m not. I’m sick. I woke up this morning and started throwing up, and by the time I got home, I was running a fever.”

This shocked me. “Why didn’t you wake me up, Violet?”

“You needed your sleep. I know since David has been in the hospital you haven’t been sleeping that much.”

Her comment touched me and this to me was just more proof that she loved me. “I am moved that you care so much about me, but still if you were sick this morning you should have woken me up.”

She smiled. “Sorry.”

“I’m going to shower then go by the drugstore and pick you up some medicine, then I will be by.”

“Chain, you have the bachelor party tonight, I really don’t want to put you out.”

I lay on the bed and held the cell up. “You’re my girl, right?”

“I didn’t say that,” she retorted. Stubborn woman.

“You’re my girl, right?” I repeated a bit sterner and louder.

She smirked. “Yeah, I guess.” Exactly. I was beginning to figure her out, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to be with me or admit that she was with me, she just needed to be coaxed into saying it.

“I take care of my girl, okay. Besides, we are not beginning to set up for the party till after four. It’s only eleven in the morning, so I have plenty of time to run to the drugstore, get medicine and come over and make sure you’re alright.”

“Well, if you really want to.”

“I want to. Give me about a half hour and I’ll be over.”

“Okay, thank you.”

I smacked my lips in a kiss. “Love you, see you soon.”

***

What did I know about medicine? I walked down the aisle at least a dozen times staring at all the cold and flu medicine—there had to be hundreds of different kinds. Some for fevers, some for sore throats, some for coughs.

“Chain,” a voice called out. I turned and walking up was Violet’s brother Vince.

“Hey, Vince,” I responded as I stared down at the cold medicine.

“Are you sick?” he asked me. I was about to answer and tell him Violet was sick, but I refrained; I was still not sure how her family felt about Violet and me.

“No, a friend.”

He grinned. “Oh, a friend.” He reached over me and grabbed a blue box and placed it in my palm. “Your friend is allergic to aspirin; this is the medicine she normally takes for a cold,” he said with a light chuckle.

I felt my face redden, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Can you do me a favor?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“Say her name from now on.” He patted me on the shoulder then turned and walked away.

***

I knocked on Violet’s front door and waited for a few minutes before the door opened. Wrapped in a blanket with a tissue in her hand, she gave me a light smile.

“Hi, Chain,” she said through her stuffy nose.

“You need to be in bed,” I told her as I draped my arm around her and walked her through the living room and back to the bedroom, laying her down on the bed. I glanced around her room and it was a complete wreck. Clothes were strewn across her dresser, on the floor, even across a window sill. Who puts clothes across a window sill?

I sat on the bed and took two tablets out of the cold medicine pack and handed them to her, along with a half-filled water bottle on her nightstand.

She sat up. “This doesn’t have aspirin in it, does it? I’m allergic to aspirin.”

“Yes, I know, I ran into your brother Vince at the drugstore.”

She took the pills and washed them down with the water, then placed the bottle on the nightstand. “You told him I was sick?” she asked as she lay back down on her pillow.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Not really. He saw me looking at the cold medicine and asked if I was sick and I told him no, a friend, so he picked up the pills, handed them to me and told me my
friend
was allergic to aspirin.”

“So he knew you were getting them for me.”

“Yes.”

“Well it’s kind of good that he didn’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Yes, very good.”

She turned sideways, hugging her pillow. I felt her forehead then brushed my hand against her cheek. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, I think I just need sleep. Thank you for bringing me the medicine.”

“No need to thank me, Violet, I like taking care of you, I would like to do it more often.”

I slid next to her, stretching my legs out.

She smiled before closing her eyes. “I’m tired.”

“Sleep, sweetheart,” I responded as I stroked her head softly.

I heard a grumble from her throat and then a light whistle crept out of her lips. I smiled as I stared down at my sleeping beauty.

Kissing her on the cheek, I rose from the bed and walked out to the living room.

I had been in her home once before, but never really took the time to glance around. My first impression, the home screamed female! The walls were painted in pale pink. The couch was Euro-style, square white leather with polished nickel legs. The lamps that sat on the two round glass tables were of a woman’s leg with black fishnet stockings topped off with white fringed lampshades.

Pictures of 50s sex symbols covered the walls. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, Betty Page to name a few.

I walked into the dining room and stopped, gazing over at the wine cabinet. Sitting on top was a picture of Violet and Harrison. I picked it up and could tell by the way they were posing it was an engagement picture. Why did she still have this picture? I exhaled and placed the picture back on the cabinet face down. I probably shouldn’t have done that but the last thing I wanted to do was stare at her with another man, especially a man that had hurt her so badly.

I noticed a piece of paper folded in half, and for some odd reason, I was interested in knowing what was on that paper. I didn’t know if it was because it was lying next to the picture of her and Harrison, or if it was just because I was being nosey.

I wanted to know what was on that paper. But that would be wrong, prying into her private stuff, right? I fought back and forth with myself, till I finally just snatched the paper up.

It read:

I heard about the jail thing, Violet, and I am mortified. I should have driven you home from the club that night. I would have loved to spend more time talking with you. I would love to get together for dinner this week, and talk more. Call me.

Love always,

Harrison.

I counted the word ‘love’ in the letter three times and this bothered me. Club? He was at the club with Violet? Did they meet there? Was it planned? And they talked, what the hell did they have to talk about? Were they talking about reconciling? Was this the reason she ignored me at the courthouse?

The reality hit me hard.

It swallowed me up whole.

I had to use the wall as support as my head suddenly felt light and dizzy, my knees shaking and weakening by the second.

I was such a fool, why didn’t I see it? It was right in front of my eyes the whole time. She was still in love with Harrison, her heart still trapped with his. I was just her rebound man, someone to take the loneliness away.

But I felt it, I swear I felt it. And I saw it, I saw it in her eyes. She loved me, I knew it. But what if it was an illusion created by my mind, a façade concocted to hide the real truth?

I wanted to die, to disappear. How was I going to live my life without Violet? How would I exist? What did Richard Bach say in his poem? If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.

I had to set her free, as much as I didn’t want to, I had to, and hope like Mr. Bach’s poem stated that she would come back. I didn’t want to hold her back from her true heart, her true love.

I took a last glance around her townhome then walked to the door, leaving.

“Violet,” a voice whispered.

“What?” I mumbled with my eyes still closed.

“Are you feeling better?” I sat up, rubbing my eyes, then opened them to see my brother Vince sitting on the side of my bed.

“What time is it?” I asked him.

“Eleven.”

“At night?”

“No, in the morning.” I couldn’t believe I had slept almost 24 hours!

“Where’s Chain?” I asked him.

He glanced around. “He’s not here.” I frowned. Where was he? I thought he was coming to stay the night after he was done with the bachelor party.

I shrugged it off. He was probably too drunk to drive; I’d heard those bachelor parties could really get out of control.

I stretched. “Why are you here?”

“I saw Chain at the drugstore and he said you were sick, so I wanted to check up on you.”

I stilled him with a look. “He didn’t tell you that, he told you he was getting medicine for a friend, you just figured it was for me.”

He laughed. “It wasn’t hard. No man would go to a drugstore for a friend… So are you feeling better?”

“Yes, a lot. I think I slept the virus away.” I smiled.

“Good. So, tell me about Chain. How are things going?”

I slid out from under the covers and stood up. “They’re going.”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“Nope, it’s personal.”

“So are you two an item now?”

“What did I just say, Vince? It’s personal, now let it go,” I growled.

He held his hands up. “Okay, okay, I was just asking.”

I stood up. “I need to shower.”

“Are you kicking me out?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” He walked over to me, kissing me on the top of my head. “I’ll see ya later.” I gave him a quick wave, then walked to the shower.

After I showered, I sat down on my bed and texted Chain.

Hey, how did things go last night?
 I texted. I waited for a few minutes and when he didn’t text back, I decided to get ready for the day.

Twenty minutes later, I grabbed my cell and still no text from Chain. Maybe he was still sleeping?

After a few minutes of staring at my cell, I decided to call him. His cell rang once, then the voicemail picked up. I decided to leave a message.

“Hey, Chain, it’s Violet. Where were you, I thought you were coming over last night? Anyways, call me.” I hung up the cell. That was strange, he never turned his cell off. Maybe he didn’t charge it? It was the only possible answer I could fathom; he was probably too tired after the party and forgot to put it on a charger. I was sure he would call me when he could.

Bored, I decided to run up to the hospital to visit David.

***

David was sitting up in bed when I walked in, Callie spooning pudding from a cup into his mouth.

“Violet,” Callie said as she placed the cup and spoon down and walked up to me, giving me a side hug.

“Hey, Callie.” I walked over to the side of the bed. “How are you feeling, David?” I asked as I messed up his hair.

He scowled at me, before he lightly pushed my hand away. I forgot David didn’t like people other than Callie touching him, because of germs of course.

“Good, Violet. The doctor said if I continue to improve like I have, he will be sending me home in a few days,” he said jubilantly.

I smiled. “That’s wonderful, David.”

He nodded. “I know.”

David’s eyes looked past me and lit up. “Chain.” He grinned.

Chain walked over to the bed, completely ignoring me standing there.

“How you feeling, buddy?” he asked David as he gave him an arm hug.

“I’m good. The doctor said I’ll be going home in a few days,” he said softly.

“That’s great, David,” Chain responded.

I grinned widely as I placed my hand on Chain’s arm. “Hi, Chain.”

Without even looking at me, he pulled his arm from my hold. “Violet,” he said curtly. What was his problem? What did I do? I grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer to me.

“Where were you last night? I thought you were coming over.”

He looked away from me before saying, “Yeah, I was pretty tired after the party.” Before I could comment he turned away from me and sparked up a conversation with David.

Why was he being so rude to me? A sudden wave of doubt washed through me. Had something happened at the bachelor party last night? Had he met another woman? I tried to shake the thought off, but he had never acted like this before.

I really didn’t want to deal with this now. I strapped my purse across my shoulder and with a quick stomp of my foot, I turned around and began walking out of the room.

“Violet,” Callie called out to me.

I threw a wave at her as I continued to walk out. “I’ll call you later, Callie,” I mumbled, never looking back.

I pressed the button on the elevator as I waited.

“So are you going to see Harrison?” I turned and standing behind me was Chain.

“Oh you’re talking to me now?” I said sarcastically as I folded my arms.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so rude in there, I just thought it would be better if you and I kept our greeting to a minimum,” he said straight-faced.

“And why is that?” He stood mute. I didn’t need this crap, these games. One minute the man was confessing his love to me, the next he was acting like I was a bad rash.

The elevator door opened and I stepped in. As the doors began to close, Chain placed his hand in between them, then stepped into the elevator. I rolled my eyes.

He cleared his throat. “So are you?”

I was still so mad. “Am I what, Chain?”

“Are you going to see Harrison?” What the hell was he talking about?

“Why would I go see Harrison?”

“Because you love him.”

Was I hearing things? “Excuse me, can you repeat what you said?”

“Harrison, you’re in love with him, right?”

“What the hell gave you that idea?”

“I read the letter, the one he wrote you.”

“You read a personal letter addressed to me?”

He swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“How dare you, Chain, you had no right to go through my personal things,” I shouted.

“I know, Violet, I apologize. But it helped me, it helped me to see the truth.” The elevator doors opened but neither one of us moved, we stood glaring at each other.

“What truth?”

“That you are still in love with Harrison.”

What? I shook my head.

“Whatever.” I pushed past him and left the elevator. Harrison, how could he even think I would get back with a man like Harrison? I had proven to him many times that I had no interest in Harrison, what else could I do? It was obvious he had his mind made up and there was nothing I could do to change it. If he wanted to believe that I loved Harrison, so be it.

“Violet,” he called out. The last person I wanted to be around right now was him. I began walking faster. I pushed the hospital’s front doors open and made my way to the parking lot.

His hand curled around my elbow. “Please talk to me.”

I pulled away as I faced him. “Why? You seem to have it all figured out. What do you want me to say?”

“Tell me the truth, tell me you love Harrison.” This man was out of his blasted mind.

“You want me to tell you the truth? Or do you want me to tell you I love Harrison? Please be more specific.”

“Tell me the truth.”

“The truth is, I don’t love Harrison, okay, feel better? Bye!” I turned on my heel and continued to my car.

“Violet, can you please stop walking away from me.” I stopped and my emotions suddenly got the best of me. How could he think for one second that I loved Harrison?

“What do you want from me, Chain?” I asked tearfully.

His hand slid across my chin as he tilted my eyes up to his. “Hey, don’t cry,” he said quietly as he used his thumb to wipe away a stray tear.

“I feel like you want me to love Harrison or something, maybe it will free you, I don’t know.”

“What? That’s crazy talk. I don’t want you to love Harrison, not at all.”

“Then why are you pushing me to him?”

“Am I? I didn’t realize I was. Violet, I love you, the last thing I want to do is push you to another man.”

“Then stop. Stop second guessing what I’m doing. Harrison and I are over. Even if he sent me a thousand letters, it still wouldn’t change the way I feel. I don’t love Harrison, Chain, I love you.” I couldn’t believe those words slipped out of my mouth.

A slow smile spread across his face. “Say it again?”

“I don’t love Harrison.”

“No, the second part of that.”

I moved closer to him, placing my hands on his arms. “I love you, Chain Alexander, only you.”

He took me into his arms. “Oh, Violet. You have no idea how long I have been waiting for you to say that. I love you, I love you so much.”

I snuggled close to his chest. “I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner.”

“Don’t be sorry, it was definitely worth the wait.” He kissed my forehead. “I love your forehead. And your cheeks.” He pressed a kiss against each one. “Your jaw.” He placed gentle kisses up one side of my jaw and down the other. “Your neck, I love your neck,” he mumbled against my skin as he kissed his way from the back of my ear to my shoulder. He stroked the side of my head. “But mostly it’s your lips.” He placed a slow lingering kiss on my lips. “I love you, Violet Townsend, all of you,” he murmured as he squeezed me tightly.

He kissed my cheek as he released me. “Do you want to go back in and visit with David?”

“Actually, I have to go see my parents. I missed dinner last night because I was sick and I sort of feel bad.” My parents held monthly dinners, it was their way of getting the whole family together, they looked forward to them. So I felt compelled to at least visit them today.

His brow rose before he said, “So does this mean we are official?”

I shrugged. “What do you mean?”

He cleared his throat. “I mean like exclusive, you know, a couple.”

He kicked the ground and looked down shyly and it brought a smile to my face. “A couple of what?”

He curled his arm around my waist and pulled me to him. “Stop playing games, you know what I mean,” he responded, giving me a tight squeeze before releasing me.

“Yes, I know what you mean. Yes, Chain, we’re a couple.”

“And are you going to tell your parents about us? You don’t have to tell Victor if you don’t want to,” he said, crinkling his brows together.

I grinned. “Are you afraid of Victor?”

“No, just the guy is so uptight he looks at me like he wants to eat me for dinner!” he exclaimed.

I laughed. “Victor can be sort of a beast at times, but he is a really nice guy once you get to know him.”

He grunted before saying, “So are you going to tell your parents about us?”

“Do you want me to?” I asked with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes. “For Christ’s sake, woman, can you please stop messing with me,” he muttered with annoyance.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a quick peck. “Yes, I’ll tell them today.” I glanced down at my watch as I pulled my arms away. “I really should get going, I told them I would be there by lunchtime.”

He looped his fingers in mine. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

When we reached my car, Chain took my keys from me, pressed the unlock button, then opened my door.

“I’m going to visit with David for a few hours, do you want to meet back at my place later?” he queried as he handed me my keys.

“Sure,” I responded. He bent, placing a small kiss on my lips. “I love you, Violet.”

I brushed his cheek gently with my hand. “I love you, Chain.” I stepped into my car and Chain closed the door. I rolled down the window and he leaned his head inside, giving me another kiss.

“Drive careful.”

“I will.” I started my car and with a quick wave to Chain, I left the parking lot.

I decided at the last minute to stop home. I wanted to pack a bag to go to Chain’s after seeing my parents. I scurried in and out of my house fast. As I walked to my car, I felt my body being dragged backwards as an arm curled around my neck, taking my breath away. I threw my backpack to the ground as I delivered a hard elbow to the intruder’s stomach.

I heard him grunt in pain, before he said, “You stupid bitch.”

I tried to run, but was pulled back again, this time by my hair. He cupped my shoulders and turned me to face him.

“Phillip,” I said breathlessly.

“Hello, Violet,” he said as he held my arms tightly.

I tried to wriggle out of his hold but he pulled me against his body, one arm around my neck, the other around my stomach.