The Destiny of Violet and Luke(76)

Violet stares up at me without so much as blinking and her lips are set together in a firm line. I can hear the soft intakes of each uneven breath as she fights to breathe soundlessly.

“Get out of my way,” she says evenly.

“Why?” I ask. “Are you going to go after Seth or try to leave?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

She blinks, speechless, but then shakes her head. “I’m going to leave.”

I shake my head and keep my feet planted. “Then I’m not moving.”

“Okay, then I’m going after Seth,” she says with a mocking attitude as she shuffles to the side. “Now please move out of my way.”

I mimic her move and she glowers at me through her thick eyelashes. “Luke…”

I lean in, lowering my voice. “I’m not going to let you out of here when you’re obviously upset and irrational.”

“I’m not irrational,” she argues and then swallows hard. “And what does it matter if I am?”

“Hitchhiking.” I count down my fingers the many reckless things I’ve seen her do over the few weeks I’ve known her. “Stepping into a bar fight, dealing drugs, jumping out of windows, letting some dude get rough with you.”

“I do those things when I’m rational,” she mutters.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

She glances over my shoulder at Seth and Greyson. “Yes it does… now let me go.”

“Were you having a bad dream?” I whisper. “Is that why you woke up panicked?”

“I’m fine,” she hisses back, sucking in a slow breath. Her eyes water over and I get lost in her emotion, my hand drifting to her cheekbone to stroke her skin. She flinches against the contact as I spread my fingers over her cheek. “Please, just let me leave.” She begs. “Please, I just need a moment.”

Fuck. I want to kiss her so badly right now, pull her against me and just hold her. I could try and blame it on the fact that she looks so vulnerable and I just want to seize the opportunity to touch her when her guard is down, but it’s not like that. I know it the moment I step back and let her go by simply because she said it was what she needed at the moment. Nothing else.

She doesn’t thank me as she hurries by me and I don’t turn around to watch her go. I just did something solely for someone else, tossing all of my own needs aside, and I have no idea what to do with it.

Once I hear the door shut, I pull myself together before I turn around, pretending like nothing happened.

Seth immediately shakes his head at me, flabbergasted. “What the hell was that about?”

“Nothing.” I head over to my desk to clear it out. With each item I put in the box, the lighter I feel because soon I’ll have some place to live and it’s not back home. “She just needed a place to crash for the night.”

He strolls up and leans over to catch my eye. “Not that. That weird little moment you two just shared.”

“I don’t share moments with anyone.” I glance out the window, keeping an eye on the yard in front of the building for her to step outside.

“So you say,” Seth says. “And I’ve never seen you do anything that would contradict that, until just now.”

“Seth, maybe we should just let him be,” Greyson says, leaning against the door.

I gather my pens and notebook out of the desk, along with the leather case that carries my insulin and needles and place it into a box. I relax when I spot a girl with dark hair and red streaks hiking across the grass down below. “Yeah, please drop it. I don’t have enough alcohol in my system just yet.” I back away from the desk toward the mini fridge. “Speaking of which.” I bend down and open the fridge, taking out a bottle of vodka, hoping it’ll drown out what I just did.

Greyson sits down on the bed and shakes his head disapprovingly as I tip back my head and down a much-needed shot. Seth snatches the bottle from my hand and takes a large gulp himself.

“You two are such alcoholics,” Greyson says. “Seriously, this isn’t normal.”

“Normal is overrated,” Seth jokes, handing me the bottle.

I put it back in the fridge and shut the door. “So not that I’m not super thrilled you guys randomly showed up way too early in the morning, but why are you here? I thought you were headed to your house,” I say to Seth.