Page 79 of Crimson Desires

Faster than I had ever seen her move before, Aster ripped her hand out of Violet’s and raced backstage. Violet lunged after Aster. She swung her leg over the metal gate with an impressive amount of athleticism and attempted to jump it. However, a security guard intercepted her.

“Let me through!” Violet demanded. Her voice was sharp and shrill. “That’s my sister! Please! I want to talk to her!”

The security guard remained firm. “Ma’am, if you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to detain you.”

My first instinct told me to chase Aster.

But I held myself back. Logic told me that the conflict between Violet and the security guard demanded more immediate intervention. Plus, Aster probably wouldn’t be interested in talking to me right now anyways. I had learned over the past several days that sometimes Aster needed a second alone to process her thoughts.

So, instead of running after Aster, I hopped down from the stage and tapped the security guard on the shoulder.

“It’s fine. She’s with me. Let her through,” I said.

The guard’s expression was dubious, but she knew better than to argue with me. With one last dirty look at Violet, the guard moved back and allowed Violet to jump the metal gate. A few opportunistic fans moved forward to jump the gate as well, but the security guard was vigilant about keeping them back.

For a moment, Violet just stared at me, wide-eyed. I didn’t know if it was because I’d rescued her from the guard, or (as Aster had said once) because she had been obsessed with me when she was a teenager.

Either way, I didn’t want her lingering around the stage in full view of the other fans.

“Let’s go backstage. It’s quieter there,” I said.

I placed my hand on Violet’s back and coaxed her backstage. Already, the production crew was hard at work, tearing down sets and packing things away into boxes. Usually, they’d stop to offer me a compliment on the show, but not tonight. I didn’t blame them. We were three hours behind schedule, and if they didn’t bust their asses, we’d have to delay our next show in Miami, too.

“So, does my sister work on your tour or something?” Violet asked.

“Something like that, yeah,” I said. I grabbed the nearest production crew guy, Tom/Tim, and asked, “Hey, you see Aster come through here?”

Tom/Tim nodded. “Yeah. You just missed her. Is everything alright? She seemed upset.”

“Everything is...” I glanced at Violet. “It’ll be fine. Eventually. Do you know where she went?”

“I think she ran off toward the crew bus. You want me to go get her?”

“Yes!” Violet said.

“No!” I stepped in front of her. Looking Tom/Tim in the eyes, I repeated firmly. “No. Let her be. Thanks, man.”

“Sure thing.”

As Tom/Tim walked off to continue teardown, Violet marched in front of me. With her arms crossed and her eyes wide with indignance, she looked almost exactly like her sister.

“What are you doing? I need to see Aster!” Violet snapped. “You don’t understand, Mr. Maverick, I-,”

“I think I understand more than you’re giving me credit for,” I said.

That quieted her. Violet’s brows furrowed. Her shoulders relaxed. “Aster’s told you about me, hasn’t she?”

I wanted to be angry at Violet. I wanted to tell her to her face that she was a shitty sister. I wanted to curse her out for abandoning Aster when they were kids. I wanted her to know that Jack Maverick, the star she’d idolized as a kid, thought that she was a terrible fucking person.

But I didn’t.

I knew that if I went off on Violet like I wanted to, I’d be wasting my one and only opportunity to meet Aster’s sister.

So, I held my tongue, and with a deep breath, I let my temper subside.

As evenly as I could, I spoke. “Would you like to get a drink with me, Violet?”

***

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