Wrong for You (Before You #3)(37)
“And who are you?” she asked, her eyes narrowed into slits.
“Alec, her neighbor.”
Annette’s eyes swept over him contemptuously. “No, thank you. You’ve helped enough for one day.”
Shit. Violet spilled the story and he came out looking like a complete jerk. Not that he was surprised. He was a jerk. “Let me carry her inside and then I’ll leave,” he said, his voice urgent but soft. He tugged her back toward him ever so slightly. He didn’t know why he was fighting to take care of her. It seemed ridiculous when she had a very protective friend offering to do it. He needed to pull his head out of his ass and mind his own business. After the way he treated Violet this morning, he was lucky Violet hadn’t hit him or worse.
“Ugh,” Violet moaned. “I don’t feel so good. Stop playing tug of war with me.”
“You’ll be okay,” Annette cooed in her ear, a sympathetic smile on her lips, but when she focused all of her disdain on him, her eyes hardened and her lips thinned. “Just tell this * to back off and I’ll take you inside.”
Violet lifted her head and opened her mouth, but no words of dismissal exited. Instead, she lurched forward, violently hurling all over his shoes, and it didn’t stop with one eruption. Before he could move away, her body jerked toward him again and vomit hit him squarely on the front of his shirt.
Paralyzed, he didn’t say anything for a few prolonged beats of silence and then Annette started laughing, and it wasn’t a small chuckle. Her entire body shook and she dropped her hands from Violet, bending at the waist. “That was f*cking awesome,” she said between gasping breaths. “In fact, it was the best thing I’ve seen in…oh…years.”
“Oh my God,” Violet said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, her eyes wide and unblinking. “I’m so sorry, Alec. I didn’t do that on purpose. I promise.”
“Vi, don’t be sorry,” Annette said, reprimanding her, between bursts of laughter that kept rolling one after another. “I haven’t laughed this hard in so long.”
Finally dropping his hands from Violet’s shoulders, Alec looked down at his shirt, and not wanting to be drenched in vomit for one more minute, he tugged it over his head and tossed it next to Violet’s front steps. “Where are your keys?”
“Huh?” Violet said, swaying back and forth, staring blankly.
“The keys to your house.”
“Oh.” She started fumbling with the pockets of her skirt, but never quite making it inside either one and he realized she was still wearing her clothes from last night. She hadn’t even bothered to change before she ran away this morning. He didn’t like that he made her so uncomfortable she didn’t feel like she could take refuge in her own home. “I thought I put them in my pocket, but I don’t know.” Her hands dropped limply to her sides.
“Let me look.” His hand dipped into one pocket and then the other. “Here they are.” He held them up for her to see.
“Oh thank you,” she mumbled, holding her hand out, her nails brushing against the skin of his bare stomach, making him hyperaware of her and partially aroused, which was f*cked up on so many levels. She stilled and tipped her head up to him. “Oops,” she giggled as her fingers caressed the line of his tattoo along his side.
Alec looked at Annette, who stared at him opened-mouthed. He gave her his best ‘don’t f*ck with me’ smile. “Open the door and I’ll carry her inside.”
“Fine.” She opened her hand and he tossed her the keys.
Alec wrapped one arm around Violet’s shoulder and the other beneath her knees, lifting her and carrying her into the house.
“You smell so good,” she said, closing her eyes and burying her nose into his neck.
He chuckled. “Even with your vomit on me?”
Her eyes popped open and she moaned. “Did that really happen? Please tell me it didn’t.”
“Shh…don’t worry about it,” he answered, pushing the hair from her face and kissing the top of her head. “I was in the line of fire. I should have moved.”
She groaned. “How would you know that I was going to do that? I’d like to think I have better control when I drink, but I don’t do this much or ever.”
“Unfortunately, I have plenty of experience with people who’ve had too much to drink.”
“Mostly women, I bet.” She closed her eyes again, shaking her head. “Ignore I said that. I don’t care. I don’t want to know.”
He smiled, brushing his lips across her feather soft hair. “Not always. You’d be surprised what I’ve seen.”
“Crazy clients,” she said, referring to the job he told her he had.
“Something like that.” Lying to her on top of everything else didn’t sit well with him, but confessing the depth of his deception while she was intoxicated and sick didn’t seem very productive. It could wait until she felt better. He had so much to explain to her and only two weeks remained until he left. Hopefully he’d never have to return. Even as the thought flashed through his mind, the idea of never seeing Violet again tugged uncomfortably at his heart.
Following Annette down the short hallway, he stepped into a room that had to be Violet’s. Soft blue walls, lavender bedding covered with a sea of gray, cream, and blue pillows greeted him. It suited her.