Without a word or motion of acknowledgement, Jamie stomps toward me. With each step he takes, his face becomes stonier and far more pinched than I've ever seen it.
"What happened? Violet, what the—" he cuts off, eyes snapping to my ankle wrapped in a supportive bandage. "What the fuck happened?!"
Total panic has replaced his previous confident smirk. His fingers grab my chin in a fierce grip that makes me suck in a breath, but he's so gentle as he twists my face side to side to check my cuts. Tears blur my vision.
Gosh, I've missed him.
"Answer me, my love.Please?" he begs, startling me with his sincerity. His chest rises and falls faster with each new wound he catalogues.
"I—" Clearing my throat, I try to gather my wits. I went from feeling super depressed to horribly angry. Now I feel like I could fall apart if Jamie weren't mere inches from me, ready to catch me. "I fell."
Hopefully, Roman isn't around to correct my grossly inaccurate explanation of how I sprained my ankle and bruised my ribs. As if in response to my thoughts, my ribs twinge. Without thinking it through, I wrap an arm around the ache like I've done so many times in the past few days.
Everything hurts.
Jamie, of course, catches onto my pain immediately. "Your ribs?" he rumbles, bending at the waist and gently extracting my hold. With my breath caught in my throat and my body frozen in his hands, I allow him to lift my sweatshirt.
The fire does a good job of battling the chill trying to give me goosebumps, but Jamie's colorful cursing and fingertips against the mottled area of bruises make me shiver anyway.
"Violet,fuck! Sweets, what happened?!" He doesn't look up at me, just continues pulling at my clothes to check for more evidence of my...fall.
I can no longer hold back my tears. My throat closes over, and I lose the ability to speak. This is what I love about Jamie. How fiercely he loves me.
"Jamie," I whimper so quietly I doubt he can hear it over his animalistic growling. I've forgotten how angry I am that he read my journals and wrote a letter taunting them. Instead, I'm so...so...sad.
How could my life change so drastically multiple times in the past two months?I went from my usual detached, sex-driven self to someone who strived to grow and makemeaningful connections. Then, just when I've fallen in love and am ready to accept happiness, I lose my footing.
Not only literally, but they ripped the rug right out from under me. My mental state would have been fine had I only fallen down a fucking cliff. Instead, I crawled my tired, sore butt up that hill only for my heart to get ripped out of my fucking chest.
"V,shit," Jamie curses and scoops me into his arms. I'm struck by a wave of warmth as he barrels us through the back door of Mom's house.
I'm not panicking or out of it, but everyone around me acts like I am. First, Jared snaps at Jamie for making me cry, then Roman comes barreling into the living room, shouting for my mom. Felix threatens bodily harm, of course, and Declan swats him upside the head.
"What's going on?!" Mom shouts, running down the stairs, only for all four of her men to rush to her and scold her for running like that.
My confusion is shaken out of me when Jamie sits on the couch and frantically pushes my hair out of my face. "I'm crying, not dying!" I huff, slightly embarrassed that Jamie made us cause a scene.
"I fucking hate it when you cry," Jamie murmurs as he continues to wipe my tears and cradle me to his chest.
It feels nice, and I would normally melt into his embrace, but the paper digging into the palm of my left hand reminds me that things have changed. Nudging his hands away first, I try to wiggle out of his arms, only for Blue freaking Bennett to halt my movements.
"Stay right where you are." Mom narrows her eyes at me as she offers me my water bottle. I do as she says because I spent too many years pushing back against her authority when I was a teenager. Snuggling back into Jamie's embrace has nothing todo with the fact that I missed him. That I may be in my mom's home, but in Jamie's arms is where I feel the most comforted.
"What happened?" Felix growls, coming around the coffee table to stand behind Mom with his arms crossed.
"Why are you all awake?" I deflect.
Jamie doesn't get the memo, though. "She's hurt. I didn't know." His voice is tight with emotion, drawing my attention. His jaw is tight, but his eyes are watery and pleading. Like he can't believe he didn't know I was in physical pain. "Someone tell me what happened."
Felix opens his mouth, probably to tattle on me, but Mom raises a hand at her men to stop their words. She raises an eyebrow at me. I'm notlovingthe swap to tough love, but I get it. I knew as soon as I landed in the puddle at the bottom of that cliff that I would be in trouble.
With a heavy sigh, I face my fate and stare at Jamie's Adam's apple. Because I'm anxious like that. "I fell down a pretty big hill. Sprained my ankle, bruised a couple of ribs." With each word, Jamie stiffens beneath me, but I rush to finish my crappy storytelling. "Crawled up, hiked a few miles back to my car, and—and?—"
I can't get the words out. Not when they're the worst part of the story. "I drove to my mom," I say instead with a soft whimper. With my eyes squeezed shut like I can block out the memory, I recall the scary detachment that overcame me once I listened to that voicemail.
A few hands touch me, one on the top of my head, one grabs my hand, another grabs my foot, then a weight falls over me. When the touches fade, I open my eyes to find the lights have been dimmed, and it's just me and Jamie.
Right as we lock eyes, he says, "I'm so sorry, my love.Sofucking sorry. I should have been there. You've been hurt so much in such a short amount of time."
