Page 92 of Corrupt Obsession

He glanced at Isaac and got a curt, approving nod. Isaac was satisfied with his explanation and wouldn’t push Violet any further, for which he was grateful. He used his body to shield Violet from their scrutiny and ushered her down the hallway. He entered his bedroom since it was closer and directed her into the bathroom. Intending to get her in the shower, he started to lift her shirt without registering the fire in her eyes until it was too late. Her slap snapped his head to the side.

“You got what you wanted from me,” she seethed. “Now, get out.”

He ignored his throbbing face and reached for her. “It’s not like that. I wanted...”

She wrenched away, grabbed her hairbrush, and held it like a knife. “I know what you wanted! It’s the only thing you care about!”

“Vi.”

“I swear to God,” she choked. “If you touch me one more time, I’m going to lose it.”

He held up his hands. “Okay, I’m going.”

He backed into his bedroom. She closed the bathroom door and a second later, locked it. He stood there, face smarting, and heard the shower switch on to drown out the sound of her sobbing.

He leaned back against the door and closed his eyes. Those feelings he thought he bested came back with a vengeance, clobbering him over the head, drowning him in self-loathing. His chest swelled with the need to roar, but he swallowed it and staggered to his bed.

Even though he regretted the pain he caused, he knew that wouldn’t stop him from partaking in the future. If he had a shred of decency, he would put Violet out of her misery and turn himself in, but he wasn’t the self-sacrificing hero. Thanks to her, he’d finally embraced what he was. He wasn’t the knight in shining armor. He was the villain. What self-respecting monster willingly walked into a cage? If Violet wanted him out of her life, she had to declare what he was to the world. Until then, he was going to take his fill.

At some point, she would find the strength to turn him in. He wasn’t sure if that would be this evening over dinner or a month from now, but she would. If he wanted a chance at a future that wasn’t behind bars, he had to get the hell away from her. Having the military dictate his life was the best thing for him since he had no control where she was concerned. It was best that he leave before they destroyed one another.

Chapter 18

VIOLET

1 MONTH LATER

“How was work, honey?”Mom asked as she set a pile of steaming bread rolls in the middle of the table.

“Funny you should ask,” Dad drawled with a lopsided grin as he reached for one and broke it in half. “It was an eventful day.”

Mom held up a hand. “You didn’t deal with any dead bodies, did you?”

“Not today,” Dad said as he bit into his roll.

Mom relaxed. “Okay. So, what happened?”

“The first call we got was from a woman who got her toe stuck in a faucet.”

Violet came out of her reverie and frowned at her father. “What kind of faucet?”

“A tub faucet.”

Violet’s brows bunched together. “Why would she do that?”

“I stopped asking questions like that my first year on the job,” Dad said as he forked up chicken and green beans.

“You didn’t have to amputate anything, did you?” Mom asked.

“Ew, Mom!” Violet waved her hand to dissipate the images in her mind.

“No amputation necessary. Just some lubricant.” Dad snickered. “She seemed thrilled to have an audience and carried on drinking her wine and eating chocolates long after the bubbles were gone.” Dad bobbed his eyebrows at Mom, who gasped and smacked his arm. “I covered her in a bath towel, which she kept trying to take off while asking if any of us were single. She was entertaining, to say the least.”

“Was she?” Mom said testily.

Violet’s lips quirked. Automatically, her gaze flicked to Jesse to see his reaction to their parents’ playful bickering. Her amusement faded. Jesse stared pensively down at his food, oblivious to their conversation. She noticed he’d been preoccupied lately. She could hear him pacing in his room in the wee hours of the morning. He’d also been coming home late from school, even when he didn’t have practice.

Whatever was bothering him hadn’t affected his sex drive, however. He was more ravenous than ever. Ever since they had sex at church, it was like hewantedto get caught. He was becoming alarmingly brazen. She didn’t know who he was anymore. When he looked at her, she didn’t see her brother at all, but a stranger.

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