“Six months,” she said sheepishly, looking down at the table to avoid looking me in the eyes.“Six months that felt like forever to me.I thought I knew him, so I took that leap with him.”
“Please don’t do that,” I said, getting her attention as she looked up nervously at me.
“Do what?”
“Don’t look away from me like you’re embarrassed.There is absolutely no one here who is going to judge you for anything you’ve done, Violet.This is and will always be a safe space for you.Jared was an idiot, but now we’re benefiting from his mistake.”
“How so?”she asked, a look of uncertainty still sitting on her face.
“Because nowweget to enjoy having you here.His loss is our gain.”
I left the rest of what I wanted to say unsaid because, even though she was feeling more comfortable with the idea of staying with us, that didn’t mean I wanted to scare her off right away.
Four
Asher
After lunch, I offeredto take Violet to the store to pick up the things she needed while Enzo got some work done.We had gone over with her to grab the stuff she wanted before Jared threw it all out, and we were lucky that he had gone back to work, so he wasn’t there while we were.Violet grabbed a handful of things, but was reluctant to take anything else because she hadn’t paid for it.I hated that he had manipulated her into not getting a job once they moved to Beaumont Creek, so he could hold it over her head with all the stuff he bought and provided for her.Fucking asshole.
It was a fight to get her to agree to go since she didn’t have access to any funds, but we compromised, and I agreed to let her pay me back once she found a job and brought in a few paychecks.It wasn’t what I wanted, but I wasn’t willing to fight with her and make her feel worse about staying with us than she already did.She could go the rest of her life never paying me back, and I wouldn’t care, but I knew it would bother her, so I let it go.
Things would change quickly for us with having her there, but neither Enzo nor I were too stressed about it.Sure, it would be hard to go about things the way we usually did now that we had someone staying with us, but it just meant we would have to get creative about when and where we recorded the content we shared on our Fan Cam pages.
I pushed the shopping cart beside her as she looked through a stack of t-shirts, picking each one up, examining it, then putting it back.Her attention lingered on a sexy black lace crop top, and I frowned when she set it back and picked up a full-length plain black t-shirt instead.
“What’s wrong with that one?”I asked, nodding to the one she put back.
She stopped for a minute and looked in the direction I nodded.
“Oh.Nothing.It’s cute, but I shouldn’t really be wearing stuff like that,” she replied and then looked down, as if she were ashamed to have considered it in the first place.
I pushed away from the shopping cart and stood in front of her, blocking her path as I folded my arms over my chest.I fought a grin as I noticed the way her gaze immediately went to my arms and shoulders, taking in the pure definition I busted my ass to achieve.
“Why shouldn’t you wear stuff like that?”I asked.
She looked around, trying not to meet my eyes as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.Her long, dark hair was pulled into a loose bun on top of her head, minus the few short pieces that kept escaping.
