Page 28 of Corrupt Obsession

“Next time you don’t feel good, you tell me. You don’t tell your friends to take care of you. That’s my job, remember?”

“But…”

“Next time I’m sick, you can baby me.”

She peered up at him. “But you’re never sick.”

“I’ll pretend so you can pay me back.”

She snickered. It was impossible to stay angry at him. He was so ridiculously caring and protective. Before she realized she needed something, he provided. That had to be why he said what he had to Tobias. He’d misinterpreted her texts with Georgia and thought Tobias was bothering her. She would seek out Tobias and apologize for what Jesse said and reassure him that she hadn’t been uncomfortable.

As Jesse’s fingers tunneled into her hair, the confusion and turmoil she carried throughout the day slipped away. This was the Jesse she knew. The Jesse she loved. The brother she’d come to depend on. For three years, they’d been deliriously happy. For the first time in her life, she felt safe and stable. She needed everything to stay the way it was.

Last night was an aberration. Whatever had possessed Jesse to enter her room and do what he had, wasn’t him. Everyone made mistakes. She couldn’t let one action ruin their relationship. She wouldn’t. She chose to forgive and forget and erase it from her memory.

Decision made, she relaxed completely and allowed herself to enjoy Jesse’s comforting touch. She needed everything to go back to normal. She couldn’t accept the alternative.

Chapter 6

VIOLET

3 MONTHS LATER

“So,honey, have any boys caught your eye?”

Violet whipped her head around to make sure Dad wasn’t within earshot. She spotted him in the backyard, tossing a football with Jesse as they kept an eye on the grill.

“Mom!”

Lynne threw back her head and laughed. “Your father knows you’re going to date someday.”

“He literally told me a week ago, I can’t date until I’m thirty.”

“He’s kidding.”

“He isn’t,” Violet said flatly.

Lynne flicked a hand covered in flour. “I’ll take care of that for you.” She bobbed her brows. “So? Is there anyone you want to tell me about?”

“Not really.”

Lynne looked disappointed. “Really? When I was your age, I had a crush on a dozen boys.”

“I…” She carefully measured out the ingredients for one of three buttermilk pies they were making. “I’m just focused on school.”

“Huh.”

“What?” Violet said defensively.

“Not that I want this to happen,” Lynne drawled as she arranged her dough in the dish and began to pinch the edges. “But I was your age once. I keep expecting you and Jesse to rebel at some point, but you two are the most well-adjusted, strait-laced, responsible teenagers I’ve ever met. My friends are convinced we’ve either drugged you two or we’re hiding some dark family secret.” Lynne shrugged. “I tell them we’re just blessed to have such levelheaded kids.”

Violet fixed a smile on her face that she hoped concealed the way her stomach curdled. “We still have time to disappoint you. I have two more years of high school and Jesse… he might go nuts his senior year.”

Lynne glanced into the backyard with a proud smile on her face. “I doubt that.”

Violet turned on the mixer to stop any further conversation on the topic.

They’d just put their pies in the oven when Jesse and Dad came in with the meat they cooked on the grill. As she set the table, Dad spun Lynne and gave her a loud kiss. Once they were seated, she took Jesse’s hand on her left and Lynne’s on her right as they bowed their heads to pray. She tried to ignore the distracting brush of Jesse’s thumb stroking her skin as Dad blessed the meal.

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