Page 19 of Outplayed

Laying my phone on the coffee table, I stood and made my way into the kitchen. Being in Violet’s house felt strange, and yet, not. While I’d never been there before, the house smelled of Violet. Her scent had stayed locked in my mind since university. It brought up the memory of first seeing Violet in the cafeteria ready to kick some guy’s arse because he brushed up against her the wrong way.

Even back then she’d been feisty. It wouldn’t be until we’d started dating that I realised how sweet she could be behind closed doors.

I’d missed her.

I was wrong to leave her. I should have begged her to come with me.

Regret over leaving, even though we’d parted ways amicably, would always live inside of me because I had been the one to leave. In time, with her around me, I hoped that regret would heal.

Then again, when she found out what my line of work was, it was likely she’d run in the opposite direction.

Unless she already knew.

If she did, I would have thought she’d be up in my face about it by now. Admittedly, we hadn’t had much time together, which would change. That was if she did accept me as I was, with my business and all.

It worried me she wouldn’t. Then what would I do?

Fuck. I couldn’t class what I felt as worry.

It was fear, deep in my gut, and it slowly burrowed into my chest.

Violet was above the law.

I was below.

Could our connection, once she accepted me in her life again, be enough for her?

Fucking hell, I had no clue, and not knowing was the worst.

I poured the coffee into the mug I found, which read, “Have I had my coffee? Then do not talk to me.” It was Violet all over. She hated talking until she’d had at least two cups of coffee. Then it was as if her brain had woken and was ready for the day.

Smiling, I sipped my black coffee and glanced around the place. Nothing matched and yet it looked good. I saw the newspaper sitting on her bench. Picking it up, I leaned into the counter and flicked through the pages.

Nothing new, but it would keep me busy for a while and hopefully keep me from going through Violet’s things like I wanted to.

I knew I’d have to come clean about having her phones tapped.

She’d call me a stalker, a pervert, which I was both… but I did it when I first moved back because I wanted reassurance she wasn’t connected to anyone she shouldn’t have been, that she was safe within her work and the clients she took on. I hadn’t been ready to face her. I needed all the information first to have in my back pocket to make sure I had a good fight before she shut the door in my face. There was also the fact I had to get rid of Pam.

I had to make sure Violet stayed safe while I did my dirty work. I didn’t like she was a private investigator. Like she’d said, in her line of business, she’d met some bastards, and it concerned me to a point I had to make sure she didn’t bite off more than she could chew.

Tapping her private phone was another excuse. It was so I could learn about her private life. What I learnt was that other than her employees, she didn’t really have anyone she spoke with. She deserved more in life.

She deserved—

With my mug halfway to my mouth, I froze when a door slammed open. Quickly, I put my coffee down, pulled out my gun, and hid just behind the kitchen doorway.

Violet stomped in. She looked ready to take on anything and anyone.

“You,” she snarled at me.

“Me?” I asked, putting my gun away, which she eyed. “I don’t think an hour of sleep was enough for you, Violet.”

“Don’t get all smart on me, dickhead. You have some explaining to do.”

I walked back to my coffee. Her eyes darkened when I lifted the cup to my lips and sipped. There was zero sexual intensity in her gaze though; instead, it seemed murder was her only intent. “Explaining? About what?”

When her gaze shifted to her knife block and back, I knew it would be bad if she was already thinking of harming me.

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