Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3) (10 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Violet didn’t bother going back into her house after Alec dismissed her from his bed and his life. She needed to be miles away from Alec and fast. Spending the afternoon riding her horse at her parents’ ranch with the wind whipping through her hair and stinging her cheeks sounded perfect, but her parents would insist she stayed for dinner, and dinner entailed listening to another one of her mother’s lectures. Nope, not happening. She had enough doubts and regrets biting at her heels without having her mother shovel another pile on her today. With her brother still out of town, that left her with one option: Annette.

Annette had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. Growing up, Annette’s family had owned the neighboring ranch, and while they had nothing in common when they met at the age of five, they forged a deep friendship that had weathered high school drama, college boyfriends, and different career goals and aspirations.

Opening her car door, she pulled down the visor to study her reflection. Not too bad. Her hair looked a little crazy and her clothes were hopelessly wrinkled, but other than that she looked fine…on the outside. On the inside, she was bleeding a little from her encounter with Alec and she still felt the ghost of his hands and lips tattooed all over her body, but she’d be fine in a couple days. She didn’t fall into Alec’s bed hoping for some long-term, lasting relationship. Last night, he said he needed her and it was as though he had muttered the magic words. Admittedly, she was a sucker for people who needed her. She’d never been able to turn people away. Her career at the Foundation testified to that fact. Even when she could barely feed herself, she still worried more about the kids at the Foundation who may not be able to eat if she didn’t keep the doors open.

Ten minutes later, she knocked on Annette’s door.

“No way,” Annette said, flinging her door open. Annette’s mother was Irish and her dad was Native American. Together they created the most beautiful woman Violet had ever seen. She had high cheekbones, long shiny dark hair, and almond shaped hazel eyes.

“What?” Violet lifted her shoulders and hands and then dropped them, all the while trying not to smile, because smiling, at that moment, kind of hurt her determined frown.

“Am I seeing things? Is that Violet Emerson on my front doorstep or just a mirage created by withdrawal from my best friend?” Annette pushed her long dark hair over her shoulder as she leaned forward, pretending to get a better look.

Violet rolled her eyes. Annette always teased her about making more time for them, not because she was mad, but because they had known each other long enough to understand that hurt feelings didn’t have a place in their friendship, only total honesty. “It’s only been a couple weeks.”

“More like four weeks and two days.”

“Have you been counting?” A faint smile skimmed across Violet’s lips. Only Annette and her mathematical mind would actually bother to count the days so she could give her a hard time. Numbers were Annette’s thing even though she pretended to be flighty and unconcerned; she loved everything to do with slicing and dicing numbers. Thus, her chosen profession as an accountant.

“Of course. I take note of every slight and make a mental note to unload them on you later when I need a favor.”

Violet snorted. “I wouldn’t doubt it. Can I come in now?”

“What’s your excuse?” Annette folded her arms across her chest, blocking the entrance to her house, her eyes dancing mischievously.

“Excuse for what?”

“Neglecting me.”

“The same reason as always.” Violet stuffed her hands into the pockets of her cotton skirt.

“The Foundation,” Annette said, practically spitting the words from her mouth. “You can’t let that place take over your life. You need to make time for Violet, too.”

“I’m trying, but it’s really just me there now. The last two employees quit. I think they saw the writing on the wall.”

“Ah, so more slave labor for you. What do you make now? A dollar an hour?”

“If I’m lucky.”

Annette opened the door wider and waved for her to come in. “I was hoping you finally met a guy that could keep your attention for more than a few weeks and you were so madly in lust that you forgot my number.”

Violet rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of men, how is Eric these days?”

Violet waved her hand dismissively. “Eric’s long gone. He didn’t like my commitment to the Foundation.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not. I’ve barely noticed his departure from my life.”

“Ah…another one of those.”

“There is a guy, though…a new guy.” Violet cocked her head to the side. “Well, maybe not anymore. That’s kind of why I’m here.”

Violet walked into Annette’s house and sat on the sofa in the living room. Annette’s home was a mixture of antiques and hundreds of random little trinkets from her travels. After college Annette had traveled for a year, but not the standard European backpacking tour most college kids did. She traveled from Peru through the Amazon, all the way to Patagonia with her boyfriend. They were no longer together, but Annette still talked about living out of a backpack exploring different cultures. “So what’s the story?”

Violet covered her face into her hands. “I did something really stupid.”

“You?” Annette’s eyebrows jumped up her forehead as she sat down in a chair across from her. “I doubt it. You’re the queen of good decisions. If I didn’t love you so much, I’d make fun of you for being such a pansified goody-goody.”

Violet looked up as she chewed on the inside of her lower lip. “Apparently not anymore.”

“That bad, huh?” Annette rubbed her hands back and forth along the top of her finely worn jeans. Only Annette could look good in thrift store jeans.

“Not my finest moment, that’s for sure.”

“Do you want something to drink?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? From the look on your face, I think you could use a margarita. I still have some mix and tequila left over from our girls’ night out a couple months ago.”

“It’s ten in the morning. I think I’ll pass.” She gnawed on her lower lip and then she shook her head. “Well, not until twelve. My conscience won’t let me have a drink earlier than that. Ask me again then. I might change my mind.”

“Deal. So tell me what happened?”

Violet released a deep breath and pushed her hair away from her face. “There’s a new volunteer at the Foundation. He took over fundraising for me. I didn’t think he’d do much of anything because I have knocked on every door of every person living in this city asking for money and I couldn’t raise more than a few dollars and I needed a break. He couldn’t do any worse than me, right?”

“Probably not. How’d it go?”

Violet nodded. “He raised a lot of money, and when I say a lot, I mean enough to sustain the Foundation for a year.”

“That’s great.” Annette shook her head. “But I’m confused. What does that have to do with you having bad judgment?”

“Last night, he cooked me a celebratory dinner and we hooked up, but I stopped it before it went too far because I don’t know much about him except for what he wrote on his volunteer application, and he’s only in town for a couple more weeks before he goes back to California.”

Annette leaned back in her chair and crossed her ankles. “That doesn’t sound like an epic judgment failure to me.”

“That’s not the bad part. As he left, his mom stopped by and things got pretty heated between the two of them.”

“Wait.” Annette held up her hand. “I don’t get it. Why did his mom go to your house?”

“Because I rented the basement apartment to him for a month.”

“Oh. Hm. That’s interesting. I thought you were done renting that place. Never again, I believe were the words you muttered after you evicted the last renter.”

Violet sucked her lower lip into her mouth, contemplating what she did last night or really since the first moment her eyes met Alec’s. Now that she reflected on the way she practically chased him into his apartment and fell into his bed five minutes later, she was having difficulty understanding why she forgot who she was around him. “I was, but with the financial situation at the Foundation, I needed the money and he was planning to stay in a hotel for a month. It seemed like a good alternative for both of us.”

Annette’s eyes narrowed. “What’s this guy’s name and what does he look like?”

“Why?”

“Because he must be something special to twist you into knots and cause you to bend your rules. Once you make a decision, you never change your mind.”

“Alec.” Violet tapped her fingers on her knee. “Tall, dark hair, tattoos, very attractive in a dark, dangerous ‘I wouldn’t want my mom to know anything about him’ type of way.” She shrugged and stared absently at Annette’s mossy rock fireplace. “Basically, he’s nothing like the normal guys I date or even associate with, but there’s something about him that draws me in, and even though I know I should walk away from him, I seem to be drawn closer and closer to him.”

Laughter exploded from Annette’s mouth. “Holy shit, Vi, I wish you could see your face right now.”

Violet’s eyebrows drew together, leaving two little indentions between her eyes. “What’s wrong with my face?”

“It’s doing this dreamy, glazed over, ‘I need you’ thing.”

Her heart lurched against her ribs. “No!” She shook her head feverishly, like someone just accused her of a crime, and getting a dreamy look on her face after what Alec did to her this morning was a crime against self-respecting women everywhere. “You’re out of your mind.” 

Annette’s lips twisted as she slanted them to the side. “Sure, go ahead and believe that, but you’re right, your mom would die if she knew you ever touched him. I can practically hear her lecturing you about bad boys with bad tattoos and bad intentions.”

“Ah…yeah, and that’s not even the worst part. After his mom left, I went down to the basement apartment, and when he didn’t answer, I opened the door and went in.”

“Why?”

“Because it sounded like a real shit show down there. Loud music, profanity, banging…I don’t know.” She tried to mind her own business, but every fiber in her being pleaded with her brain to check on him and in the end, her brain lost. She was dangerously and hopelessly attracted to him.

“Hm,” Annette said, raising one of her perfectly arched eyebrows.

“Basically, one thing led to another and we…” Violet’s eyes darted around the room as heat flooded her face. She lowered her voice to a faint whisper, “…had sex.”

Annette’s foot tapped against the floor, and Violet thought she’d die if she waited one more second for Annette’s judgment.

“So. What’s the problem? This isn’t high school. You’re twenty-five years old. You can date and do what you want with whoever, whenever. You act like one questionable decision is a stain on your life. Get over it.”

“He kicked me out in the morning with the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line.”

“Oh crap, that’s the worst,” she said, moving her head slowly from side to side. “It’s better when the guy just comes out and tells you he’s not interested in anything else.”

“Are you speaking from experience, because I always get the ‘it’s not you’ line, which makes me think it is me. Before I never cared, but when Alec said it, it stung.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not, but really you shouldn’t let it get to you. You’re beautiful, smart, and caring to a fault. If he’s stupid enough to use the ‘it’s not you’ line, then fuck him. He’s an unoriginal idiot.”

“You’re probably right, but you know me. I don’t have one-night stands—ever—and I feel really dumb for misinterpreting the situation. For some reason, I thought we had a connection and his behavior this morning took me off guard. It’s like a switch flipped in his brain and he couldn’t stand being around me any longer. It was a real mind fuck.”

Annette stood up. “Have you eaten breakfast?”

“No. When he kicked me out, I couldn’t stick around knowing he was wandering around in the basement of my house probably contemplating how to avoid me for the next two weeks until his lease ends. I took off in my car and showed up on your doorstep.”

“Then it’s settled. We’re going to breakfast and it’s going to include bottomless mimosas, so put your party hat on. You won’t even remember his name by the time you polish off one of those egg white omelets that taste like cardboard.”

Violet grinned, pushing her body out of her chair. She could do this. So what. She made a mistake. Big fucking deal. Annette was right. She didn’t have to be perfect all the time. Nobody else seemed to hold themselves to such high standards and she didn’t have to either, at least not today. She had her entire life to demand moral perfection. “That sounds perfect.”

“Let’s go.” Annette grabbed her purse off the entry table. “But I’m driving.”

“I’m not that bad of a driver.”

“Oh please,” Annette said. “You can’t even talk while you’re driving. You’re the quintessential distracted driver.”