Let her go.
I could have chanted the plea a thousand times and I doubted it would have made a dent in the urge that screamed at me not to let her out of my sight.
To love and to cherish and to protect.
She blew out the hotel doors in a riot of color.
Violet and magenta and teal.
Hair a striking black.
A moonflower in distress.
My guts knotted with the chaos she incited. I might have been the one who’d had her backed against a wall, but she was the one who had me chained.
A motherfucking prisoner.
Possession rose like a storm, a roar that intensified. My hands curled into fists like it might keep me rooted to the spot.
No chance I could ignore the call. Not after I’d been sure some scumbag had come riffling around like a predator cloaked in the night.
I edged out the door, gaze instantly peering to the right where she quickened down the sidewalk, her heels clacking on the pebbled stones.
She ducked into the same old truck she’d driven since I’d met her that she had parked at the curb. Not a second passed before the loud engine rumbled to life like a low roll of thunder in the dense, thick night.
She whipped out of the spot and accelerated down the road.
I jogged to my truck parked on the opposite side, climbed in, pushed the button to the ignition, and pulled out behind her.
My headlights cut through the night, and her taillights were nothing but a haze of red dots up in the distance.
I forced myself not to tail her too close. To give her some semblance of space and respect when the only thing I wanted to do was toss her over my shoulder and carry her away where I could keep her safe.
Was pretty sure she wouldn’t be too keen on the idea.
I followed her through town, keeping back a block, slowing even more as she took the two-lane road that led out into the rolling hills outside of Dalton.
Farms on every side.
My pulse skittered in a stagnant beat of loss as I drove the deserted road that was so familiar. A million memories rushing and gathering and screaming their truth.
“I love you. Forever.”
“Not ever gonna let you go.” My voice a growl as I held her close. As I touched her and adored her.
My fairy girl.
My magic.
My reason.
My insides panged in a want and a loyalty that I’d twisted and mangled so fuckin’ bad they were no longer recognizable.
I eased around the sweeping curve that I knew would bring the modest farmhouse into view.
Still, it struck me like it was the first time I was seeing it. Like I was going to meet her parents and confess what their daughter had done to me.
Slayed me with a look.
It was off to the right, perched high on the hill.
Tonight, it was lit in a dreary moonlight.
Quaint and peaceful and safe.
It overlooked the rolling planes that went on forever behind it.
Rows and rows of flowers, shrubs, and blossoming trees grew over the acres.
Rolling Wallflowers.
The flower farm that was the heart and soul of who Violet was.
My spirit ached and throbbed like it was looking for its rightful place. So near. So far out of reach.
“You are the light hung in my night sky.”
“You are the sun breaking with morning’s day,” she whispered back.
Like some kind of stalker, I pulled off to the side of the road.
Watched.
Watched her truck jostle up the dirt road and come to a stop in front of the wraparound porch. The lights cut off, and a couple seconds later, a shadow of her shape climbed to the porch, wrapped in the glow of the lights hanging on either side of the door.
She disappeared inside, and my stomach clutched when I saw the light flicker on through the window upstairs a moment later.
Sorrow smacked me across the face.
Every dream that we had wished.
But that’s what happened when you cast lots.
When you made bad bets.
When you thought for even a second something else might be more important than this.
You lost.
Fifteen minutes later, I was driving up the narrow one-lane road that led to my childhood home. No chance could I show face back at Emily and Royce’s party tonight.
No doubt, Emily was itching to string me up by the balls.
Would deserve it, but still, I wasn’t looking for a fight. She and I had had it out enough as of late. The lies I’d been telling, the dark space I’d been keeping her in, making her question my motives.
Her trust.
When I’d been pushing her to sign with Mylton Records when she didn’t understand my reason—my desperation behind it—coming off like a complete prick, like someone who hadn’t given a shit about her hopes and dreams and wants when it was the farthest from the truth.
It’d fuckin’ sucked.
But I’d tell lies until my mouth rotted off if that’s what it took.
My fucking head throbbed. Body aching and spirit moaning. Missing and missing and missing.
The road came to a fork at the top of the hill. Rhys’ childhood home was on the left, ours was on the right.
Taking the right, I eased up to park in front of the darkened house. The unassuming two-story was done in natural stained woods, quaint and peaceful and close to plain, the home surrounded by trees.
The stalls and barns were out back, and our younger brother, Lincoln, had a house he’d built out on the farthest section of the property.
I physically cringed when I saw Royce’s rental car parked at the side of the house.
“Shit,” I mumbled as I put the truck in park and killed the engine.
Wary, I climbed out.
Instantly, I felt the stir in the air. The hostility and anger and confusion.
She had every right to them.
She was sitting on the top step, and Royce was leaning on the railing off to the side.
Two of them waiting.
Royce cut me a glance of apology.
He was doing this for his fiancée.
I pushed out a sigh and roughed a hand through my hair. “Fuck…I messed up your party.”
Emily pushed to her feet.
“No. The evenin’ was over, anyway. We stayed until everyone left.”
“And weren’t you supposed to be staying at the hotel tonight?”
I hiked a brow.
Royce chuckled. “Don’t worry…we’re heading back. Doubt very much your parents want to hear what I have planned for Emily tonight.”
Emily huffed at him, but it was in pure affection. “Royce.”
He shrugged. “What?”
“Do you have to be so crass all the time?”
“Uh…yes?”
A light chuckle fell from my tongue. Two of them this perfect contradiction.
She turned back to focus on me. Even through the lapping darkness, I could see the concern on her face. “I don’t understand, Richard. What did I see back there? Why would you treat her that way? She was my guest.”
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip to keep from shouting a thousand curses. To stop myself from giving her information she couldn’t have. “What happens between Violet and me is between Violet and me. I told you that before.”
“Yeah, and what happens between she and I should be my own business, too, shouldn’t it? I invited her—one of my best friends—someone I care about deeply.” She touched her chest in a plea. “And you made her feel like an outcast. Like some kind of reject.”