Hidden Truths (Violet Chain Book 2) (2 page)

Her body was trembling so fiercely, I could feel the rapid beat of her heart. Seeing her in this state only deepened the insecurity I had felt since finding out what happened. I needed to know if Phillip had completed what he set out to do—if he had raped her.

My heart was racing, my throat suddenly parched as nervousness overwhelmed me. The wretched questions plagued my mind. Did Phillip succeed? Did he rape her? A part of me wanted to know, but another part of me was afraid of the answer. What if he did succeed? To know that he had violated Violet against her will would rip me apart forever.

I gently cleared my throat. “Phillip didn’t hurt you, Violet, he didn’t—?” I stopped, finding it difficult to say the words.

She stroked my cheek gently before saying, “No, Chain, he didn’t.” I exhaled, not even realizing I was holding my breath.

Relieved, I pulled her back into my chest. “I am going to make sure that bastard pays for what he did to you.” And I intended on keeping my word, come hell or high water. I would make sure Phillip paid for what he had done to my girl.

Callie frowned as she approached us. I released Violet and Callie hugged her tightly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Callie,” Violet responded.

Callie’s eyes darkened and her face twisted into an angry scowl. “That son of a bitch, how dare he! You should have ripped his dick off!”

The mere thought of having a woman emasculate me with her bare hands made me shudder. Just a bump or a too-hard touch made it ache. But I had to agree with Callie, Violet should have castrated Phillip for what he attempted to do. I strongly believed that any man who raped or attempted to hurt a woman in a sexual manner should lose his manhood, violently and permanently.

“Hey, Chain,” a voice said from behind. I turned to see a noticeably shaken up Vince walking up to me.

I smiled as I shook his hand. “How are you holding up?”

He raked his fingers through his hair frantically, tears welling up in his eyes. “Shit, Chain, you should have seen her. She was so out of it. When I came to the house, it was so silent; you could hear the smallest of pins drop. I called out to her as I stood by the door and there was no answer. I saw her car in the parking lot so I knew she was home. I thought maybe she was in the shower or something, so I walked into the living room and what I saw will haunt me forever. She was so still, like a statue, frozen in place. Her hand held a shovel above her head as she stared down at the man lying on the ground. It was so disturbing. As I moved closer to her, she didn’t even flinch; it was like she didn’t even know I was there, like she was in a trance. When I was finally able to snap her out of it, all she kept saying was how horrible of a person she was for hurting him. She was blaming herself for everything that happened—herself…” He broke off, his emotions overwhelming him. I found myself choking up a bit at his reaction and words. He loved her almost as much as I did and I could tell he was torturing himself inside of his head for what Phillip had done. I couldn’t blame him; I was doing the same thing, self-condemning myself for letting her leave the hospital. If I hadn’t let her leave, none of this would have happened. Phillip would never have gotten his grimy hands on her. Phillip. Even in my head, his fucking name sent a scathing chill through my bones.

Vince sniffed back his tears. “I should have protected her; I should have been here for her.” I patted his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

“How were you supposed to know that some crazed maniac was going to do this to her? It’s not your fault, Vince, and you have to stop thinking that way. It happened and we will all get through it. She’s safe, Vince, that’s all that matters now.” He nodded his head and looked down, my words giving him that little comfort he needed.

“Excuse me, Ms. Townsend, but I have a few more questions to ask you.” I turned to the side and saw a police officer standing in front of Violet. I hurried over to them.

Violet turned to face him. “Okay.”

He flipped his small notebook and readied his pen. “This is a question that may make you feel uncomfortable but I need to ask it. Was Phillip Raser clothed or unclothed?”

She shrugged. “Clothed.”

The officer paused for a moment, writing in his notebook, and then continued. “Can you please explain to me exactly what he did to make you believe he was going to rape you?”

She glanced up at me nervously, before looking back at the officer. “As he was touching and rubbing against me, he said, ‘Your skin is so fucking soft, I bet you’re even softer inside.’”  I could feel the anger welling up inside of me. Hearing the beginning of the gory details of what Phillip had done made me realize I didn’t want to hear anymore. In fact, I wanted to run as far away as I could from it. But she needed me. And I needed to suck it up and be there for her, no matter how much it bothered me.

The officer tapped his pen on his notebook. “Rubbing? Can you please elaborate? Precisely what was he rubbing against you? Was it a foreign object, or a part of his body, like his leg or arm?”

Was this officer a fucking idiot? Obviously if it was his arm or leg she would have stated it.

Although I knew what she was going to say, I still wasn’t prepared for her to say it out loud.

She cleared her throat before saying, “His penis. He was rubbing his penis against me.” I knew it! That fucking bastard! The anger was like nothing I had ever felt before. It was almost painful, tearing me apart inside and out. I tried to conceal the fury that was rising within me, but I was obviously doing a horrible job, because Violet’s hand brushed against my shoulder, her eyes filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

I flashed her a half-assed smile and lied, “Yeah.” But I wasn’t alright. In fact I was mad as hell, enraged, beyond insanity.

Phillip, that fucking lowlife piece of shit. I should have snatched him out of the police car and smashed his head all over the concrete. It may not have made the situation better, but it sure would have given me some relief, some satisfaction.

The officer cleared his throat. “So, Ms. Townsend, what else did he do?” he said with a bored roll of his eyes.

He was really starting to piss me the fuck off. Sorry, Mr. Officer, that you have to do your job!

Violet blew out a long breath, then replied, “He had his hands in my panties and was kissing my neck.” Dear God, how much more was I supposed to take? To hear that Phillip had invaded her personal space, touched her most intimate area, which belonged only to me, angered me so furiously I could feel the heat scorching across my face, the muscles in my body blistering beneath my skin as blind fury seared through me. I wanted to smash something, rip it to shreds, annihilate it to extinction, but I didn’t want to upset Violet, she had been through enough, so I clenched my fists tightly, digging my nails so deeply into my palms I could feel them throbbing.

The officer nodded. “So tell me, what happened next?”

“I think I hit him with the shovel from the fireplace,” she murmured.

The officer tilted his eyes up at her. “You think? Do you remember exactly where you hit him?”

“No, I blanked out…I mean I saw the gash on the side of his head, but I don’t remember hitting him. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you more.”

“Understandable, given your situation,” the officer mumbled as he wrote on his paper. He studied his notes then looked up at Violet, confused. “You never hit his face?”

“I don’t think so,” Violet answered with a light shake of her head.

The officer lifted his hat and itched his forehead. “Well that doesn’t make any sense. He has injuries to his eyes, nose and mouth.”

Victor walked up. “Yeah, that was kind of my fault. When I picked him up, he kind of fell out of my hands and slammed face first into the fireplace.” He chuckled. “He is one slippery sucker.”

The officer’s eyes thinned as he glared at Victor and wrote on his pad. He closed his notebook. “That is all the questions I have for now.”

“Thank you, Officer,” Violet responded. With a tilt of his head he turned and walked away.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Phillip and his bloody face. The injuries I saw were definitely not from a fall into a fireplace. Victor had to have thrown him around quite a bit before the police arrived and honestly I was surprised, as protective as Victor was of Violet, that he didn’t choke the life out of him.

My thoughts were interrupted as Violet wrapped her arms around me, snuggling into my chest. Now this was a very welcome interruption. I pulled her into my chest, placing a chaste kiss on her forehead.

I heard Victor growl. “Okay, so is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on? Why has Vi been cuddling up to Chain Alexander the whole time he has been here?” Victor walked till he was standing next to me and I released Violet, placing her behind me protectively. “Are you sleeping with my sister?” Victor demanded as he pressed his finger into my chest hard.

Before I could answer, Violet came from behind and moved so she was standing in between Victor and me. She pressed her hand to his chest, pushing him back. “Back up, Victor, I mean it!” She was protecting me. Not that I needed it, for Violet I would definitely take a punch or two, but I was extremely grateful that she intervened. I wanted Victor and myself to have a friendly relationship. I was after all planning on spending the rest of my life with his sister and the last thing I wanted was something to complicate it, like a fist fight between him and me. I smiled as my words streamed through my mind again:
the rest of my life
. I most definitely saw myself spending forever with Violet.

Victor placed his hands on his hips before he choked out, “I thought you were seeing some douche named Corey. When the hell did you have time to take up with Chain Alexander?” He shook his head frantically. “Oh God, please don’t tell me you were shacking up with two guys at once! Did Harrison fuck you up that bad?” She clenched her fist by her side. I could see the fierce flare of anger storming through her eyes and I knew the shit was about to hit the fan!

“You arrogant bastard! How dare you bring Harrison into this! If you had one ounce of a brain in that empty head of yours you would realize Corey is Chain!”

Victor was not pleased by her comment. “So you lied to me? What the fuck, Vi, why the hell would you lie to me?”

“Because you’re an overbearing asshole, that’s why!” she exclaimed.

He folded his arms. “Okay, tell me the truth now, are you or are you not sleeping with Chain Alexander?”

She flashed him a dirty look before saying, “What I do with my personal life is no concern of yours. So stick your nose out of my business!”

“I told you before, you’re my little sister, you are my business!” he retorted.

The argument elevated as they stood nose to nose, screaming back and forth at each other. I couldn’t help but smile watching Violet take him on full throttle; she really knew how to handle herself with her brother. I liked it, I liked it a lot. She looked sexy throwing her hand around, screaming and putting him in his place.

I would definitely never want to be on the other end of her rage; I took a mental note to never piss her off.

“Stop!” Vince shouted. Violet and Victor halted as their heads simultaneously whipped around to face Vince. “Violet is old enough to decide who she wants to date. You need to back off, Victor. Christ, she was nearly raped and you’re yelling at her about her new boyfriend?”

From the disappointed expression that stretched across Victor’s face, it was obvious that Vince’s words had affected him and that he truly felt bad. He grumbled something under his breath as he backed up, his head low. “I’m sorry, Vi.”

Violet smiled. “It’s okay, Victor, I know you’re just worried about me.”

He grinned. “I love you, you’re my little sister, I will always worry about you.”

“I love you too and I appreciate that you worry about me, just give me a little space, okay. I promise I can take care of myself.”

He took her into a bear hug. “I’ll try,” he murmured as he kissed her on the cheek before releasing her.

Violet was lucky in many ways, to have brothers who would move the world to make her happy, who would protect her no matter what it took. It made me feel a little envious, not of her brothers, but that she had a tight bond with her siblings, something I never had a chance to have with my sister Carena.

Vince approached us. “So, Chain, is Violet going back to your place, because I don’t really want her staying here after what has happened.”

I looked at Violet. “I agree with Vince, you shouldn’t stay here. You’re welcome to stay with me, if you would like.”

She waved her hand. “I really don’t want to impose.”

“You can always stay with me and Vince,” Victor offered. A look of horror splashed across Violet’s face. She leaned up to my ear. “Please don’t make me go with them.” I chuckled.  “Of course not, you will stay with me,” I responded as I strung my fingers through hers.

She exhaled and a relaxed smile plastered her face. “Thank you.”

“Why don’t you two get out of here,” Vince said to Violet and me.

“I can’t, the police are still here,” Violet responded as she released Victor and walked over to me.

“Victor and I will stay, I’m sure they are just getting evidence and stuff.”