Page 38 of Saviors

The Fairview Community Center was always looking for more volunteers. There were too many forgotten kids and not enough people who cared. We were hardly the right ones to be teaching them, but all our donations weren’t enough.

Shock stopped me in the doorway. Violet sat on the piano bench. Her black hair fell over her shoulder as she swayed to the music. Shadows cut across her face, making her pale skin seem luminous. Her fingers glided over the keys.

She made it look easy, but I knew it wasn’t. She played like the piano was a part of her. As if her soul was connected to it instead of her hands.

I couldn’t move. I was captivated by her. The soft expression on her features. The first gleam of happiness in her eyes. The flush of joy on her cheeks. I felt her emotions in my chest. They wrapped around my heart and squeezed.

My fists clenched, holding myself back as the song ended. I wanted to grab her, pull her close to me so I could feel a little of that emotion. That love that poured from her.

The last notes rang out in the room. When it was done, she placed her palms into her lap. Her eyes fixed on the instrument like she was in a trance.

“You play beautifully.” Her shoulders tensed, but she didn’t turn towards me. “Did you take lessons when you were younger?”

“How often do you come here?”

I leaned against the door, choosing to let her change the subject. “A couple of times a month. We do what we can. Tutor for school or give money to fund the programs. Not everyone can afford them and we make enough.”

“Why?” I barely heard her from this distance. It was like she was still lost in the music.

“Because we can. Because we should.”

With the life we lived, we didn’t always put good into the world. This was our absolution. Our way of not sliding into the darkness.

But I couldn’t tell her that. Violet didn’t know who we were. To her, we were still nice guys. The ones who had saved her.

We weren’t the ruthless men who profited off of greed and chaos.

There were other reasons, too. Sadness slid through my gut. “Because we know what it feels like.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Her words were lost to the dark room. But the pain in them hit hard.

My footsteps sounded loud as I closed the distance between us. I ghosted my fingertips over her shoulder, but she still didn’t pull her gaze from the piano. “We could use another volunteer.”

Giving back was the only thing that made me feel human. That made what I did okay. Maybe she needed that. A reason. A purpose to hold on to.

She grasped the lid and snapped it shut. The noise was like a gunshot in the quiet. “No.”

Violet stood and walked out before I could say anything else. Helplessness sunk under my skin as I watched her leave. I wished I knew what to do. How to make it better for her.

Maybe the doc was right, and we weren’t the people to help.

I followed after her. Mav caught up to me as we headed towards the front door. Violet stood in the vestibule, waiting for us. Unable to go outside alone.

“Our belladonna seems like she’s getting stronger.” I shrugged at his statement. She hadn’t hurt herself since the incident in the shower a month ago, but we also never left her by herself,

By the time we reached her, Reid was there too. He addressed Violet. “We’re headed to work.”

“We’ll drop you at home.” I put my hand to the small of her back, wishing it was more than this simple touch. But she didn’t shy away, and that was something. “Charlie will be there.”

I knew I was a monster wanting her when she was still healing. For being that last one who’d touched her when she’d been captive. I wondered if she remembered. Part of me hoped she didn’t, while the other wished she did.

Dreamed that maybe she’d want us to. But that was the problem. We were an us and she would never be ready for that.

She looked up at me with those soft green eyes and I would’ve given her anything she requested. “Can I come?”

Except that.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Maverick asked, but it was my gaze she held.

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