Page 100 of Avenged

I wiped at my eyes and sat down in the chair by the bed, pulling her hand into mine and squeezing it. “I’m here, Vi.” I tried to sound firm, but it just came out garbled and choked with waves of emotions and more tears.

Violet stirred, and her eyes struggled to open. After she battled her lids for a few seconds, she finally met my gaze. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Don’t,” I choked on more tears. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“It was stupid. I know better,” she said.

“We’ve all done stupid things for boys,” I told her, trying to smile through the tears. Trying to let her know I didn’t care about any of that. That I just cared she was alive.

“Everybody was already so mad at each other. Now I’ve just added to it,” she said, eyes closing.

“Sleeping with Dawson isn’t your fault. It’s his. He knows how old you are.” I couldn’t help the anger that was in my voice.

Her eyes flew open. “What? No way. I didn’t sleep with him.”

Confusion flew through me.

She glared at me. “I can’t believe you think that low of him. Or me. I promised you I wouldn’t go there. You’re married to his brother for fuck’s sake.”

“Don’t swear,” I whispered, and she just frowned.

She pulled her hand from mine, and I regretted saying anything about Dawson. Teenage love always had blinders on. Blinders that had to be pulled away painfully. I only hoped this was enough. That nothing worse would happen to her because of it.

“What happened?” I asked.

“A deer,” Violet said. “Everything would have been fine, and you wouldn’t have even known I’d taken the car if that deer hadn’t jumped out in front of us.”

My car. She’d crashed my car? I hadn’t thought to look for it in Jada’s driveway when I’d jumped into Truck’s pickup. I’d just been focused on getting to the hospital.

Behind us, the curtain rod stirred, and I turned to find Truck and a Dawson I’d never seen before. A Dawson who looked like the world had ended. A Dawson who had eyes only for my sister in the bed, and relief took over his face when he saw she was awake.

He took one huge step toward the bed and then stopped. He looked from Violet to Truck, then to me, and back to Violet. He took a deep breath, wincing. “I’m sorry I crashed your car, Jersey. I’ll buy you a new one.”

“What?!” Violet stormed now at him versus me, and I stepped between them, protecting my sister.

“I just couldn’t take you grinding those damn gears anymore. But maybe I shouldn’t have been driving. If I hadn’t been, maybe we would have been going a lot slower and the deer would have been gone by the time we got to that corner.”

“Dawson!” Violet was throwing a fit, and I wasn’t sure why. He was apologizing, and while I didn’t want to, I was glad to see the regret on his face. The regret I’d never seen on my father’s. Dawson was full of it, and it made me soften just a little toward him.

Truck shifted behind me, and I turned to him, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes either. Something was going unsaid in the room, and I wasn’t able to catch the words. It was as if they all had agreed not to tell me something, and that pissed me off.

“Violet, what’s going on?”

“That’s exactly what I want to know,” she demanded of Dawson.

“Like I told Truck and the police, if I’d let you drive instead of making you pull over, maybe the whole thing would have ended differently.”

Dawson was standing with his arms crossed, staring my sister down, and it was upsetting her. I was done with both of the men in the room. I was tired of us always feeling hurt and anger and regret. I was just tired. I wanted to hug my sister and let the relief wash over me that she was going to be okay, and I didn’t want that moment to be full of the tension and heartache floating around the room like we could see it.

“Out!” I said. Everyone looked at me. “Get out. Both of you.” I waved my hand to both men.

“Jersey,” Truck said, stepping toward me, and I put my hand up.

“I’m serious. I want you both to leave.”

Dawson had the graciousness to nod, turn on his heel, and do just that, but Truck stood there longer. I wouldn’t meet his gaze. I couldn’t. What I really wanted was to let him wrap me in his arms while I cried in anger and relief. Just as he’d held me outside the jail. But I couldn’t. Not now. Not ever again. We needed to cut ties with the Dayton and Langley brothers. For our own good. So we didn’t end up broken in ways that couldn’t be put back together again.

Truck still hesitated.

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