“Or—” We were catching up with them. “—he’s going to eat her alive and ruin her life, but sure, let’s be optimistic about this.”
Rolling her eyes, she pushed open the door to the garage. “She’s tougher than she looks.”
Junior was already starting the car.
I got in the front while Serena sat in back with Ash and Annie. Even with Serena’s constant advice—I mean, if explaining how slutty she had to act was actual advice—it was tense, really tense.
The closer we got to Ash’s house, the more I felt his rising temper and my own panic that I wouldn’t make it, that I wouldn’t be able to touch her.
Violet.
Mine.
Junior pulled up to the gate and, after waving at one of the security guards, was let in. They’d just assume we were all going to hang out, only I wouldn’t be leaving, I would stay.
“Showtime.” Serena rubbed her hands together in excitement, and Annie, well Annie looked seconds away from throwing up.
The things we do for family.
The things we do for love.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
My love was still drowning with him in that car—my heart was in pieces—and yet there he stood demanding I hand them over. —Violet Petrov
Ash
I couldn’t look away from her khaki skirt. I mean, khaki? Really? Serena’s tight leather leggings and crop top looked absolutely scandalous next to her.
God, even her fingernails were bare.
I shuddered. The last thing I wanted was her blunt nails digging into my skin while she straddled me with a khaki skirt and white Keds on.
Her hair was nice, though.
If you liked naturally bouncy, thick, luscious jet black hair that shined like a conditioner commercial.
We’d been waiting for Serena to “fix” Annie for the last hour; Valerian wouldn’t stop pacing a hole in the hardwood. He was different in so many ways that it really did seem like Breaker had died.
Everyone leaves.
My chest ached at the thought. He was still my best friend, but his hair was different, and I don’t know why the hell it bothered me; it just did. He stood taller, looked more mature. It was like he shed his easy-going party boy attitude and came back a man.
And it shamed me to admit that he’d done the right thing and was still fighting when I was constantly contemplating running my own car off a cliff.
My fight had gone.
I looked away toward the house.
Violet was on the second level in the far east bedroom. Getting by the suits was one thing, getting into her actual room without my dad seeing something else entirely.
But as long as Annie was a willing participant, I could make it work. I had a plan that would most definitely make my dad come stomping outside.
Finally, the stairs creaked as Serena and Annie descended.
I saw the khaki skirt first and shook my head then did a double-take when I realized that Serena was the one wearing it. In fact, she was wearing all of Annie’s clothes.
Even her hair was in a tight bun.
“Fuck me. I think every single hot librarian fantasy just came to life.” Junior shoved me out of the way, reached for Serena, then jerked her into his arms, lifting her by the ass, literally grinding all over her in front of us all before Serena pulled back and bit down on his neck then waved over at Annie as if to say my job here is done, and now my just reward.
Junior smacked her on the ass then called over his shoulder, “Be right back, bro.”
Valerian smirked over at me. “He’s totally going to have sex either in your bed or against one of your walls.” Serena let out a little scream. “If they make it that far.”
I sighed as jealousy flared to life, not of my own cousin but of all the sex, all the love, the fact that they would get married soon. “I’ll bleach the house.”
Annie finally appeared.
Her hair was hanging past her shoulders in soft waves that made my hands clench; the white crop top fit her perfectly. I nearly swallowed too much air and choked when I saw how nice Annie’s tits looked in it. I always had her pegged as a B cup—not that I often looked or tried to figure it out—but she was all D, and I had a sudden vision of pressing my face between the valley of them.
The rest of her, unbelievable. She was small but packed a punch in a way that had my eyes burning.
“So?” She gave us a shy smile.
Valerian sighed and walked over to her. “You’re going to have to let him touch you without flinching, you know that, right?”
She literally flinched as he said it.
He sighed and went over to my kitchen, grabbed a bottle of Jack that I’d been saving for later that night, handed it to her, and said. “Chug your bravery.”