Page 105 of Corrupt Obsession

Eyes awash with regret moved over Violet’s face as if he were trying to memorize it.

“Thank you,” he said gruffly, and tried to ease away from her, but her arms locked around him. “Violet?”

She was struck with sudden terror over a future without him in it. He had been the only constant in her life for almost five years. He was her tormentor, but also her protector. A part of her knew he would always have her back, and now she would have no one. She was going to be alone again.

“Vi, I have to go.”

“Jesse.”

She heard the inadvertent plea in her voice. Pain ripped across his features as he closed his eyes, shedding a tear that he transferred to her when he gave her a hard kiss.

“I’ll come back,” he said fiercely, before he ripped himself away from her.

She took a step after him, hand outstretched to grab hold of him, but he was too quick. He didn’t look back as he strode out of her bedroom. She listened to his swift, heavy footfalls go down the hall.

“Is Violet okay?” Mom asked.

“No,” Jesse said curtly. “She isn’t going to see me off. We have to get going.”

There was a flurry of movement and then the sound of the front door closing, the rev of an engine, and then silence.

Violet dropped to the carpet and finally let loose the scream that had been bottled up inside of her. Now that she was alone, everything she had crammed down for over nine months spilled out. She raged, pounding the carpet with her fists until they were numb. She cried until she retched and, when she collapsed on the bathroom floor, wondered why she felt like she’d just lost her best friend.

Violet tossed and turned.She moved around so much, her fitted sheet came undone, forcing her to remake her bed.

By the time Mom and Dad had returned home, she was semi-presentable, though her eyes that were nearly swollen shut let them know what she’d done in the interim. Strangely, her volatile emotional state seemed to have cured Lynne of hers.Mom spent the rest of the day treating her like she was sick—swaddling her with blankets even though it was hot as hell outside, making her soup, and coddling her.

Violet pummeled her pillow before she flopped on her side and stared at the bathroom door that she’d closed out of habit. Now, she could leave it open if she wanted to. She had to remember to ask Dad to fix the lock. She was so tired, she felt ill, but she couldn’t sleep. She should be dead to the world, getting the best sleep of her life. Instead, she was staring at the door, willing it to open.

With a low growl, she rolled out of bed, yanked the door open and marched into Jesse’s bedroom. She surveyed his tidy, empty room, illuminated by streetlights, with bitter, glistening eyes.

She ruined the taut sheets when she crawled over it. She breathed deep. The scent of his musk imbedded in the sheets comforted, even as it infuriated her.

She rolled onto her back and, under the gaze of his favorite football player, sank her hand into her pajama bottoms. She was soaking wet. Depraved memories played through her mind, making her writhe and pant and when she came, she hated that she moaned his name.

She stared at the ceiling as she came down from her high. She thought she was reclaiming her sexuality by masturbating in his room, the place where he initiated and corrupted her. She should have felt victorious, but as always, she felt empty. She couldn’t believe he was really gone.

She turned onto her belly and, in the darkness, sobbed her heart out.

“Violet?”

She opened her eyes and was confused by the orientation of the room until she realized she was in Jesse’s. Mom stood in the doorway with bleary eyes and messy hair.

She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, the tears started again. Mom’s expression softened as she came forward. Violet held up a hand, not wanting to be touched, but Mom ignored that and hauled her into her arms.

“I know, honey. I miss him too,” Mom murmured.

Violet fisted her hand in Mom’s robe. Her body still yearned for him and her emotions were still entangled, despite her best efforts to block him out. It would take time to break the ties between them, but once she did, she would never let him back in.

Chapter 21

VIOLET

2 MONTHS LATER

“Happy birthday to you.Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Violet,” Mom and Dad sang. “Happy birthday to you!”

Violet couldn’t help but laugh as Lynne clapped, hopped, and sang at the top of her voice. The kindergarten teacher in her had never been more evident than at this moment.

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