Page 40 of Knot Your Business

"You can use this for the flowers." The woman's voice is softer this time.

I drop my hand and turn toward the roommate, keeping from flinching by the skin of my teeth. She holds out a small decorative vase. It's navy with a gold floral design painted around it. I swallow again, trying to wet my suddenly dry mouth, and take the small object from her.

There's an unassuming kitchenette tucked beside the front door, and I set the flowers on the counter so I can fill the vase. The woman doesn't say anything, and I'm not quite sure how to broach the silence, my mind still caught up on the four photographs.

"I'm Faedra," she says once I've gotten the flowers into the vase and out of my hands.

I turn toward her and grab the counter to keep my hands from trembling.

"I'm Jasper," I say, though it's obvious she knows who I am. Shit, I should probably know who she is, too.

She settles onto the couch, grabbing a small pile of fabric and a needle. "Feel free to sit."

I drop into the lounge chair and close my eyes, messing with the chain of the necklace to keep from fidgeting.

"You're different than I expected," she says after a while.

I can't even manage a quirk of my lips. "I'm sorry?" It comes out as a question.

"You're much more... I don't know, really. Not as shrewd, I suppose."

I glance over at her and raise an eyebrow. I’m not sure anyone has ever described me as shrewd. That’s more Dominic’s specialty.

"Shrewd?" I ask.

She nods, tilting her head as she keeps sewing the small pieces of fabric together.

"I suppose I should have realized that her viewpoint was probably pretty biased. But I'm her best friend. It's kind of my job to take offense for her, you know?"

I grunt, and she looks up at me, her cheeks pink.

"I just expected you to be a lot more cold and domineering. Something that would match a guy that just left her with no warning." She purses her lips. "Well, aside from a nasty letter left with her mother of all people."

Warning bells go off in my mind. Was this what Rylan had meant this morning? Had she mentioned something about the breakup from her perspective, and he noticed the story didn’t match?

I lean forward, a knot of unease sitting heavy in my stomach.

"Hold on, she thinks I left her? That I broke up with her using a noteleft with Sienna?"

Faedra frowns and drops her hands to her lap as she straightens. "Well, yeah. She still had the letter when we moved in together as freshmen."

I stand up and cross the room, messing with the flowers to keep myself busy.

How was that possible when I’d burned a letter from Violet the day I moved into my little shoebox apartment here?

"I..." I trail off.

Should I really be saying any of this to Faedra instead of Violet? Doesn't she deserve to hear it first? Except...

Except I've tried to have this conversation with her once already, and she ran from the room the moment she could. I shake my head and try again, closing my eyes.

"I burned the letter I received from Sienna stating that she was breaking up with me. But I bet there’s still a picture saved in my drive somewhere on my phone.”

“She gave you a letter?” Violet asks. “From me?”

I turn around fast enough that my vision blurs, the sound of her voice nearly bringing me to my knees. She stands in the threshold of a different door set into the far side of the wall opposite where Faedra had gone to find a vase for the flowers. Her hair is down, falling around her face, and she's in the same shirt as the picture, though her shorts and fishnets have been traded for a set of leggings that hug her hips and make heat burn in my gut.

So much for not being here.

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