“Nope. Figured my self-defense coach wasn’t someone I needed to worry about.” Her warm, welcoming expression falters. “Shit. Was that wrong? Should I be on guard here too?”
“No.” I hold up my hands, trying to show there’s nothing she needs to worry about from me. “I don’t want to train you to distrust everyone in your life.” Even though that’s kind of par for the course with me. “You’ll become paranoid if you live like that.”
Violet’s tension drains away, relief suffusing her face. “Okay. Yeah. He lives just across the hall though. If I need him.”
“Really?”
Violet nods as she pulls open her fridge. “My brother bought the apartment. He’s the one who hired Manuel. Do you want something to drink?”
She rattles off a list of beverages, and because I’m trying to get comfortable in this whole Violet-is-my-friend thing, I accept a beer.
That earns me a beaming expression.
“If you’re drinking a beer, then that means I can! Hell yeah!”
My mouth creeps up in a smile when she passes a cold bottle to me. But what she said just before the drink offer sticks in my mind.
“Your brother really bought a place for your security guard in your building?”
Violet takes a deep draw of her drink before answering, “He’s overprotective. Not without cause. But I already told you about that.”
She did. When Violet and I first met, she described an incident with a delusional fan that almost ended in her losing her life.
“I guess I’m not surprised by what he did. More that your brother is the one doing it.”
Shit. Put a woman in front of me who’s offering to be my friend, and I suddenly start picking at inner scabs that should be left alone.
Violet hops up onto a padded stool and then pats the one beside her. Hesitantly, I join.
“You got some brother problems too?”
I shrug, then take a long pull from my beer. The fizz and subtle hint of alcohol put me at ease, and more truth leaks out of me.
“Yeah, but not like you. I guess I’m always the one trying to be the protector.”
Violet smirks. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
I snort. “Right? But they’re not like you. I mean, something happened to you. You had no control over it. But my brothers … hell, for a while there, I felt like they wanted to fuck up their lives. Like that was their goal. And I tried to keep it from happening, but everything went south anyway.”
When I found out Dash and Leo had gotten caught in a hot car, that they were in jail and waiting for trial, something in my chest crumpled. I’d failed them, and I couldn’t help.
Now they’re out, and Dash has cleaned up his life.
But I’m back to trying to save Leo.
“Well, I can’t say I know what that feels like since I’ve only ever been the kid sister. But”—Violet taps the neck of her bottle to mine—“even when my brother goes overboard with hisprotective shit, I can never get too mad. ’Cause I get that he’s doing it all because he loves me. Which is why I may give Manuel a hard time, but I don’t try to duck him or anything. Which I bet I could do now that I’m taking your lessons.” She winks at me, and we share a laugh. “Anyway, I’m just saying, if your brothers are any kind of smart, they realize what you do for them and appreciate your love.”
Suddenly, my cheeks grow very warm. No one has ever complimented me on my loving ability before. Normally, I get called a bitch, and I embrace that moniker.
“Maybe,” I mutter before sipping my beer.
“And now you have Charlie!” She holds her beer up, as if in a toast. “He seems like a capable guy. You’re not protecting him too, are you?”
My mouth pops open, then slowly closes as I consider her words.
In the beginning, I thought I would be. Providing him a place to live and paying him part of my inheritance. Being his sugar mama. But this past week together, I haven’t felt like his caretaker. Maybe we’ve fashioned together a different kind of relationship.
“He’s more like my partner,” I admit.
