Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3) (12 page)

Annette snorted. “Look, I’ve known Violet my entire life and she doesn’t need your shit. She’s a nice girl and judging from your looks…”

Alec’s eyes narrowed dangerously. He might not look like the most wholesome guy, but he was far from a thug.

Annette held up her hand before he could respond. “And from the shit that went down this morning, you’re not the type of guy she needs in her life. She’s tough, but at the same time she’s really soft in here.” Annette tapped her hand against her chest. “She thinks everyone deserves a second, third, and sometimes fourth chance. She’s the best advocate for the downtrodden and that’s great, but it also means that she doesn’t adequately guard her heart against fucked up people with twisted motives.”

Alec ran his hand through his hair. “So is that your way of saying I’m a fuck up with twisted motives?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. In truth, I don’t know anything about you except that you upset Violet, and as her best friend I don’t like it. I hate looking at her and seeing these big-assed sad eyes that make her look broken.”

He didn’t like it, either. She trusted him and helped him and he repaid her by being the world’s biggest jerk. She was like a balm, healing all the fragmented pieces of his life and nothing turned his gut more than the thought of hurting her. That was exactly why he sent her out of his life this morning, but apparently he had fucked that up, too. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he rocked back on his heels. “Look, Annette, I know I’m not good enough for Violet. That’s why I said that shit this morning, but I certainly don’t want to hurt her. Let me make it up to her tonight. I’ll take care of her and I’ll apologize. I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this.”

Annette’s eyes swept over every detail of his body as though she was the judge, the jury, and the executioner, and at that moment she probably was. Freedom meant making this mess right with Violet and he had the feeling Annette held the key to making that happen. “You look familiar,” she finally said after few heavy moments of silent deliberation.

Alec sucked his lip ring into his mouth, keeping his face completely neutral while adjusting his arm to cover the Chasing Ruin symbol tattooed on his ribs. Except for a super fan, not many people would recognize it. Marcus had come up with the symbol when they started playing in dive bars in Southern California. It was a “R” inside of a “C” with flames erupting out of the “C.” Excited to finally be making some money from their love of music, he and Marcus tattooed the symbol on their ribs after a show one night. While Marcus had stopped after that tattoo, it was the first of many for Alec and now he had too many, but he couldn’t stop himself when the urge to add to his body art hit him. The pain and repetitive sound of the needle quieted his mind.

“I don’t think we’ve ever met,” he answered. The last thing he needed right now was a meddling, very pissed off Annette to figure out that not only had he mistreated her friend, he also hadn’t been entirely honest about his identity. His volunteer application skirted the truth, as did many of his conversations with Violet and at some point in time, he needed to confess.

“Hm,” Annette said, her eyes squinting like she could suck the truth from him by mental osmosis. She couldn’t break him. With a life and identity rooted in half-truths and outright lies, he had learned to lie, dip, weave and evade with the best of them.

“What’s the verdict?” he said when he couldn’t stand one more minute of her inspection.

Her eyes snapped back to his face. “You can stay. Violet can’t be alone and I have to wake up early, so I need some sleep tonight, which won’t happen if I stay here, but you have to promise me that I can trust her with you. I think I can, and I’m normally a fairly decent judge of character, but I need your word that you’ll be a gentleman.”

His lips twitched suddenly, finding this conversation comical. He never considered himself a gentleman. He had too many tattoos and too many questionable nights under his belt for that label. “I’ll do my best interpretation of one.”

“Against my better judgment, I believe you.”

“So we’re okay?” he said, folding his arms across his bare chest. He should probably retrieve a new shirt at some point and take a shower to wash off the lingering smell of vomit.

“That remains to be seen, but you seem somewhat sincere, so I’ll give you another chance.” She started walking backwards out of the hallway. “I’ll leave my number on the kitchen counter if you need any help.”

“Thanks.” Before she could say anything else, he turned and headed back into Violet’s room. He didn’t want Annette to change her mind.

It was going to be a long night watching Violet sleep. All day long, he couldn’t get the vivid images of Violet out of his mind. Her beautifully sculpted legs wrapped around him, with her pale hair showering the pillowcase behind her head as he moved inside of her. All of it made him clamor for another taste. What the hell was he thinking?

Chapter Sixteen

Groaning, Violet woke the next morning only to be greeted by bright light streaming into her bedroom, searing her eyeballs, and the smell of bacon and eggs curling into her nose. The need to empty her stomach and her bladder hit so fast, she nearly fell on the floor when she rolled out of bed.

Her bare feet slapped against the hardwood floor in her hallway, and echoed off the plaster walls. When she reached the end of the hall, she threw open the door, flinging herself forward, stubbing her toe on the base of the toilet. For a second, she stood utterly frozen, wondering whether she should vomit or pee first until she decided the bathroom was small enough that she could throw up in the sink while emptying her bladder if necessary.

Fifteen minutes and a quick shower later, she headed toward the smells emanating from the kitchen.

“Hungry?” Alec asked as she walked into the kitchen, his gruff voice scraping across her already vibrating nerves and grating headache.

She slid into a chair at the kitchen table. For a few drawn out moments, she stared at the red numbers on the digital clock until the edges of her vision blurred. Unable to focus for a second longer, she dropped her head against the cool wood surface. “No.” Her voice sounded like sandpaper so she cleared her throat. “I’m not putting anything in my mouth for at least a week.”

Ignoring her, he placed two heaping plates of food on the table before relaxing into the chair next her. “Try a couple bites. You never know. It might help.”

Lifting her head that felt as though it weighed a hundred pounds, she studied the yellow eggs, crisp bacon, whole-wheat toast, and grapes. On any other day, she’d be grateful for the well-rounded breakfast. Today…not so much. “Or it could make me sick again and my stomach muscles already ache something fierce.” She shook her head and even that slight movement resurrected her dizziness and made her stomach tilt obnoxiously. “No, I think I’ll just take a little nap right here. Going back to my room is too much work.”

He picked up her fork and lifted a bite of scrambled eggs to her mouth. “Just one bite of everything and then I’ll stop bothering you. It’ll settle the acid in your stomach.”

Raising one eyebrow, she examined the way the eggs jiggled in slow motion on the tip of the fork. When she opened her mouth to refuse, he took the opportunity to stuff a forkful of eggs into her mouth. As it rolled around her mouth, she was tempted to spit it out, but she resisted the urge when she saw the stern look on Alec’s face. Chewing slowly, she let the smooth texture coat her sour tongue before she swallowed. Not so bad.

“What do you think?” he asked, waving the fork in her direction.

“That I might have a couple more bites.” She grabbed the fork out of his hand.

He smirked. “I thought so.”

“Do you want coffee?”

“Please,” she said, drawing out the word. With her brain still fogged from overindulgence, she needed to be more alert before she started questioning Alec about his presence in her kitchen and taking care of her last night, but first she wanted to eat and enjoy having someone take care of her.

Alec poured two cups of coffee and sat down again. She could feel the heat of his eyes burning into her with every bite of food that ventured into her mouth. After a few minutes, she set down her fork. “Thanks for helping last night, but you can go home now. I’ll be fine.”

Shadows clouded his midnight blue eyes. “I was worried about you. I didn’t like seeing you come home in that condition.”

Violet attempted to roll her eyes, but the motion strained her dehydrated eyeballs. Okay. She wasn’t drinking like that anytime in the near future. “I’m alive. Nothing to worry about. Go on.” She waved her hand. “You don’t need to babysit me. I’ll probably sleep most of the day.”

“Can we talk for a couple minutes first?”

She didn’t reply right away. Instead, she lifted her coffee mug to her lips and swallowed a large mouthful that scorched the roof of her mouth, leaving it rough and numb to the touch. That wasn’t the best delay tactic, especially when the look on Alec’s face told her he wouldn’t leave her alone until he said what he wanted. “Go ahead. What do you want to talk about?” she asked, twirling the mug in circles on the table.

Bracing his elbows on the table, he exhaled loudly. “Can we talk about what happened between us the other night?”

“I don’t think there’s anything else to discuss,” she whispered, feeling heat flood the pale skin of her face. “You told me you didn’t want anything else. I can accept that. Last night, the drinking, wasn’t just about you,” she lied unconvincingly. “It was everything…law school, my parents, the Foundation.”

He closed his eyes tightly and sucked his lip into his mouth. His lip ring was gone this morning and she kind of missed it. He must have left at some point this morning or last night to shower and change clothes. At that thought, she remembered vomiting on him and she ducked her head. Oh shit. Here came the complete and utter mortification. She couldn’t blame him for not wanting anything to do with her. Who would when she shelled him with vomit at least two times that she recalled and who the hell knew what she did while she slept?

Tangling his hands into her hair, he tipped her head up, forcing her to look at him. “I’m sorry about the way I handled things yesterday morning. I’m not good at relationships—even short ones. I tend to wreck everything before its get too far, so I haven’t bothered in a long time.”

Oh fabulous, now he wanted to go into the convenient details of why he couldn’t be with her again. Her eyes fluttered around the room, frantically searching for something other than his face to zero in on because looking at him was hard. He distracted her. He sucked her in and twisted her into millions of tiny knots until she couldn’t think straight and she could only focus on him. “Apology accepted,” she whispered. “Now, can we move on to something else? This is too much for me this morning.”

“No, I owe you an explanation.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he covered her mouth with his hand. “Don’t interrupt me. I have more to say.” Even though his voice was curt and direct, a smile curled the corner of his lips.

She nodded and he dropped his hand from her mouth.

“My life is crazy and there are so many things about me you don’t know. I have a lot of baggage—too much for a nice girl like you from a small town with a nice, caring family and a bright future. I’m everything that you should stay away from. I’m wrong for you. You’ve got to know that, and if you don’t, then believe me when I say you don’t want to get involved with me more than you already are.”

Her eyes blinked rapidly, her lips twitched, and then she couldn’t stop herself. She laughed, a big laugh that started in her belly and exploded from her mouth. “What kind of melodramatic bullshit is that? Is that the best explanation you can come up with to push me away? You told me you needed me before sleeping with me and then kicked me out the following morning with some pathetic excuse.” She jumped out of her seat, feeling the anger she buried in too many drinks the previous day erupting out of her. “I didn’t expect anything from you. I get that you’re leaving in two weeks and I will likely never see you again after you leave Montana and go back to your fancy job in LA, but I don’t know…” She tugged at the ends of her hair, not sure what she wanted to say. It sounded stupid to say that she thought they had some sort of connection or that she thought he cared about her.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her flush against his body before he snaked his arms around her waist. At that instant, his dark blue eyes were infinite, like the depths of the Pacific Ocean and little creases marred the smooth lines of his broad forehead. “You don’t get it. I look at you and I see the perfect woman, and it kills me to say it, but I can’t have you. I’ll mess you up just like I have everyone who has ever been a part of my life and you’ll end up hating me. I don’t want that.”

“Maybe I like the way you mess me up. I’m not perfect, nobody is. Why don’t you let me in and see where this goes?” As she looked at his beautiful face—the little scar marring his eyebrow, his slightly crooked nose, his pouty lower lip, and the black tattoos peeking out of the top of his shirt—she knew she didn’t want him to walk away from her yet. She wanted to spend more time with him.

“Little Violet.” He whispered her name like a benediction as his fingertips skated down the sides of her face to her neck before resting on the tops of her shoulders. “There is nothing I want more, but—”

It was her turn to cup her hand over his lips. “No buts. Let’s have fun together and see where it goes for the next few weeks. We both know it has a definite expiration date, so there won’t be any hurt feelings or crazy expectations.”

He nipped at the palm of her hand and she snatched her hand back. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I know I’ll end up hurting you again,” he said, his eyes burning up her body like nothing she’d ever felt before from a mere look. God, this man made her weak. Where was her self-respect? If he didn’t want anything to do with her, why did she keep pushing him to give her something?

“Friends, then. Can we still be friends?”

“Friends,” he said, almost as if he were testing the sound of the idea. He leaned his forehead against hers. She wanted to kiss him, but she held back. His hands moved from her shoulders down her arms and rested on her hips. She shivered, just a slight tremor that reminded her how much her body craved him. “I don’t know. I can’t forget the taste of your lips or the feel of you sprawled out underneath me, and none of that is beneficial to a healthy friendship. No, I don’t think it will work.”

She blinked a few times. “Then just be with me…for now,” she said as she pressed her lips against his, her eyes open and pleading with him. She didn’t care if she sounded pathetic and unusually forward. The time she’d have with him was fleeting, precious even, and she didn’t want to waste one minute of it because she may never get more time with a man like Alec. “You know you want to explore this.”

His hands slipped under her shirt, his fingertips making small circles on the bare skin of her stomach and just like that her hangover disappeared. In its place, a small fever started under his fingertips, snaking out, making her skin feel too tight and her breath too fast and she wanted to drown in his deep blue eyes. “I do, but fuck, Violet, you deserve so much more. I tried to get rid of you yesterday morning, not because I don’t like you, because I do, but because you were already inching under my skin.” He released a dark, muted laugh. “I need to end this and say goodbye, but now I don’t think I can.”

“Don’t give me what you think I deserve, give me what I want. The rest will sort itself out.”

Tipping his head up toward the ceiling, he closed his eyes, his breath ragged. “You really want this, Little Violet, because there’s no going back.”

She cupped his face with her hands. “Yes,” she answered, lifting up onto the tips of her bare toes. As she brushed her lips across his, his eyes were still closed and he didn’t make any move to kiss her back. His lips remained frozen and mulish against hers.

Just when she was beginning to experience the sting of rejection hollowing out her heart, his eyes opened and he cradled her head his hands. “All right, Little Violet, let’s try this. I can’t promise I won’t hurt you or make dumb decisions, but I want to see where this goes even if it only means two weeks,” he said, tracing the peaks and valleys of her lips with his roughened fingertip.

“Two weeks for us. No strings. No promises, just us enjoying our time together.” She cocked her head to the side. “I like it. Let’s do this.”

And then he laughed. “Yes, Violet.” He brushed his warm, moist lips across hers. “Let’s do this.”