Owning Violet (The Fowler Sisters #1)(20)

She shouldn’t.

“You believe Pilar and Zachary are …” She screwed up her mouth, those pouty, delectable lips covered in scarlet-red lipstick. “Involved?”

“There’s a flirtation there. There has been for a while.” I step closer to her, our shoulders brushing. She’s still shorter than me, but the heels she has on tonight are incredibly high and incredibly hot. All that restrained elegance she wears as some sort of costume hides a very sexy woman just lingering beneath. “Did you see the way she clings to him?”

Violet averts her head, a little sound escaping her that reminds me of a wounded animal. I’ve pushed her too far. She’ll probably cry and fall apart, and then what am I supposed to do? Cry along with her? I’m supposedly as wronged as she is in this situation.

“This isn’t the first time,” she says, her voice cold yet steady.

Shock races through me. Well, there’s a twist. I’ve heard murmurings of Lawrence’s indiscretions in the past, but I’ve had no real confirmation.

I decide to play dumb. “Are you referring to Lawrence and Pilar?”

“Please.” She waves a hand, dismissing my suggestion. “Well, maybe they have; I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past him. But I do know for a fact that Zachary has been—unfaithful to me in the past.”

So she is aware. The revelation blows my mind. “Yet you stay with him.”

She stares at me with that pretty red mouth turned down. “We’ve been together a long time. We make a good team.” Her voice is flat. She sounds like a robot. Like someone fed her that information and she’s just regurgitating it.

“I’m sure he agrees,” I say dryly. “He does whatever he wants and you put up with him. It’s a great deal.”

Violet narrows her eyes. Anger flashes in their depths, brief but intense. I touched a nerve. “You have no room to judge, considering your very—what did you call it? Your unusual relationship with Pilar? No one has any clue what to call you two. Are you together? Are you just friends? Is she your boss and your lover? Or just your boss?” She glances around guiltily. I’m sure she realized her voice rose with all of those interesting questions. It went to show that she thought about me. Wondered about Pilar and me, and what we mean to each other. I can’t deny that pleases me.

“Forget my questions,” she says hurriedly. “What you do during your private time is none of my business.”

“For one thing, Pilar isn’t my boss any longer and she hasn’t been for a while,” I say. The blush on Violet’s cheeks is unmistakable. “And two, yes, we have been … involved. Sexually.” We tease each other still. But she’s been feeding her needs elsewhere and I’m not sure with whom. Not that I really care, since I’ve sought others to satisfy my needs as well.

“Please. I don’t need any more details.” Violet shakes her head, holding up a hand, but I don’t want to stop. I may as well stem her curiosity.

“It is what it is. There’s no clear definition. We’re both fairly open about it.” I shrug. I can never explain my relationship with Pilar properly because I barely understand it myself. “I don’t want to defend it and I’m guessing you don’t want to defend yours, either, so we’ll just leave our relationship statuses alone.”

She stares at me for a long, quiet moment, her eyes focused solely on me. I take the opportunity to drink her in, study her every feature. The delicately pointed nose, the high cheekbones, those big, dark brown eyes. Her skin is flawless. Her lips the perfect red pout. So f*cking beautiful it hurts.

“Thank you,” she finally murmurs, ever polite, always proper. “I can’t begin to explain to people why I put up with certain things, especially to my sisters and particularly Rose. They can’t understand if they’ve never been in my position, you know?”

I do know. More than she might realize. If I could, I would have shed Pilar long ago. But I owe her my success. At least, she tells me that constantly. Still, I figure that by now I’ve finally proved my worth, but according to Pilar, I’m moving up at Fleur because of her influence. Not because I’ve done a good job.

You hear that enough from a person who’s taken care of you better than anyone else in your life and you start to believe it.

My cell buzzes and I pull it out of my pocket, checking as discreetly as possible to see who the text is from.

Pilar.

You should stop by the bathrooms with your new little friend and see what’s happening. It’s rather …

jaw dropping.

Christ. The woman moves way too fast for me. I can only guess by her reference that she’s already got Lawrence’s dick in her mouth. I’m f*cking impressed.

And disgusted, though I have no room to judge. I’m afraid this won’t be easy, dealing with Violet. She’s a delicate little flower. Discovering Pilar and her fiancé—or boyfriend, or whatever he wants to call himself—together has the power to destroy her. She could crumble into tiny pieces, fall into a fit of rage, cry buckets of tears. I have no idea.

I don’t like that. I’ve dealt with enough unknowns in my life. When it comes to this scheme, I want to be in control. I need to. Pilar is trying to take that control away from me.

Deleting the message, I turn to look at Violet and find her staring at the city spread out before us, the wind blowing through her lustrous dark hair, her red, red lips pursed into a delectable pout. She appears contemplative. But I see the wrinkle in her brows, the tightness in her jaw. She’s upset.