Page 21 of Corrupt Idol

She was looking forward to it. She needed some alone time to get her head straight and come to terms with everything.

“Jesse should go with you,” Lynne said.

She jerked. “No! I got this.”

“Violet,” Lynne said, sounding much more like the mother she remembered. “I don’t want you doing this all by yourself.”

“I’m twenty-three!”

“So?”

As she scrambled to come up with more excuses she heard, “When do you want to leave?”

She turned to see Jesse leaning against the doorjamb. He looked like he had been there for some time.

“I’m fine,” she said in a flat tone and told him with her eyes to butt out.

“Did you book your flight already?” he asked, nowhere near intimidated by her.

“No, I—”

“I’ll do it.”

When he disappeared down the hallway, she shot up from the bed. “Hey!”

Lynne chuckled. “You two,” she said fondly. “Always bickering.”

She would have taken exception to that, but there were more urgent matters to see to. She charged into Jesse’s room and found him sitting on the edge of the bed with his phone in hand. He looked up as she came in.

“Do you want to leave first thing in the morning?” he asked.

She was lightheaded with rage. “You’re not coming with me.”

“Mom doesn’t want you driving all that way by yourself. Dad won’t let you either.”

“I’m grown!”

“I want to sleep in a bit. What about a ten o’clock flight?”

“You are not coming with me,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Stop,” he said mildly as he scrolled. “I think we should leave mid-morning.”

“Jesse!”

He looked up. The predatory gleam in his eye made her scalp prickle.

“The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we’re home with Mom. She wants to go to Florida and the only thing stopping her is you. We’ll get your shit and drive back. We’ll be gone three days max.”

“You don’t know what I need to do there!” He was taking over and ruining her plans, as usual.

“We’ll deal with it when we get there.”

She snatched his phone and hid it behind her back. “There’s nowe. I’m doing this by myself.”

He rose. “You aren’t. Give me the phone.”

She felt a modicum of safety since her parents were present. She took a step toward the door as she said, “Mom needs you here.”

---