Bash loses his patience with me and snaps, "Just fucking get here!"
He hangs up on me when I'm about a minute away from the apartment. As if on autopilot, I call Nate. He picks up almost immediately, and his steely tone booms through my speaker. "What's going on?"
"Vi—Someone I care about is hurt outside of myapartment. She needs help. I have to help her. I should have?—"
Nate cuts me off, maybe sensing my impending rise of guilt. "We are right behind you. We'll help in any way we can. It's not your fault, Jamie."
I shake my head even though he can't see me. It's absolutely my fault. Being available for her if she needs me is all I ever want to be. Yet I was at dinner with two men, fantasizing about how good they must be in bed, when she was...what? Attacked? Assaulted? Mugged?
Swallowing, I slam on the brakes in the parking garage. "Follow me," I say, finishing the phone call.
Aches and sharp pains pierce the heels of my feet as they slam against the ground in a frantic need to get to my woman. My sweet Violet.
Ellis and Nate fall into step behind me, each running just as fast. They don’t know what's going on or who Violet is, yet here they are, determined to help me and an unknown woman.
I watch, pissed off, as the elevator closes and rises. Stairs it is. The burn in my thighs is well deserved and the least of what I should be punished with right now.
After what feels like an eternity, I'm bursting through the stairwell door and sprinting down the hallway. Then I see her in the arms of Bash. Her blonde and purple hair tumbles over his arm making my lip curl up in a possessiveness I didn't realize I contained until now.
"Violet!" I gasp, already reaching for her and punching the code into my door. Bash gives her to mewillingly, but he's no longer my concern once I hold her small frame against my heaving chest.
"Sweets," I cry, my throat thick with horror. She's so pale and still.
After depositing her on my couch, I start piling blankets on her because I have no clue what else I can do.Shit, what do I do?!
"Jamie," Bash rumbles from his spot against my kitchen island. His face is serious and beckoning me forward.
Nate and Ellis look worried and like they bit into a lemon, but I can't blame them. I probably look like someone just killed my fucking dog and threatened my mom at the same time.
"Please sit with her?" I croak out. "I need to talk to Bash."
"Of course," Nate agrees thickly, glancing at me for just a second before his eyes go back to Violet.
“I’ll check her pulse,” Ellis whispers, moving closer.
Good, he'll watch over her for the few minutes I need to figure out just what the actualfuckhappened to the love of my life.
Eighteen
VIOLET
The first thing I notice is the scent of Jamie's aftershave. Next comes the total warmth of what can only be from a fire and a whole pile of blankets.
"Sweets?"
I hum in response to Jamie's gentle tone.How did I get here? And why is my head pounding?
"A friend of mine brought you here when he found you unconscious down the block."
I must have said my thoughts out loud.Wait. Gasping, my eyes fly open, and I force my heavy frame into a sitting position.
"Woah, hey," Jamie coos, reaching for me. "You're okay. You're safe."
Looking down in panic, I realize the weight on top of me literally was a pile of blankets. Jamie must feel the heat radiating off of me, because he starts removing the top layers.
"You were cold," he murmurs, explaining the mountain I woke up under.
"Wh—" I cough, feeling all out of sorts. "What happened?"
