Page 22 of For Dear Life

He pauses and looks back. “And if you push me away and refuse my help, you’re an even bigger idiot.”

“Are you threatening me?” I ask coldly. “All because I won’t kiss you?”

“You think this is all about kissing, Violet?”

“Kissing and nakedness and, in our case, blood too, yes.” I tighten my mouth. “That’s what you want.”

He stares but with a harder, definitely ‘don’t want to kiss you’, look. “You really believe that? Don’t you think I could go elsewhere for kissing, nakedness, and blood?”

I huff. “I don’t understand anything about guys apart from what Holly tells me and the shows she watches. So, I’m perfectly aware what happens when a guy and a girl become pressed together in tight spaces.”

“And what is that, Violet?”

“Kissing and touching.”

“Yet we didn’t. That’s reserved for Rowan, right?” He arches a brow.

“No.”

“You’re blind to a lot, Violet, and not only the ‘friend’ who’s hiding things from you.” He lifts his head. “I hope you haven’t discussed your investigations with Holly.”

Pissed, I march out of the closet to face him. “Well, I won’t tell her you killed someone.”

“Killed because the witch hurt you, Violet,” he says through clenched teeth. “I’m not repeating myself. I’ll stay away if you want, but I guarantee you won’t stay away from me.”

I watch Grayson walk away, telling myself the heat coursing through my body comes from anger and not how his scent still covers me despite not touching, or how I can almost taste him on my tongue.

At how I almost was one of those stupid girls in Holly’s TV shows making out in the closet with the boy.

Ugh. Well. I know where that leads.

I glance back to the hidden runes and that knot inside my stomach tightens. Has Holly betrayed me? But how can she ‘betray’ someone who was never really a friend? I’m merely Violet Blackwood, the rude roommate who’s fooled by Holly’s niceness as easily as if a witch had used a spell on me.

One thing I am sure about—Holly’s scared of my father. If I find out she’s part of this, I’ll deliver Holly to him myself.

Which means I need to do everything I can to prove that Holly isn’t involved in the murders.

8

ROWAN

I respected Violet’s wishes last night and left, even though every ounce of me wanted to stay in her room. Does Violet honestly not care what danger she’s in and realize that staying alone might be a bad idea? Fine, she’s immortal, but she can be incapacitated. Did a tiny part of me worry how Violet’s hybrid might react if she woke up confused by someone sitting in the dark beside her? Yeah, probably. That’s definitely the entire reason I didn’t climb onto the bed and hug her to me.

The way to keep breaking through the solid rock around Violet is slowly chipping into the wall; hitting against her barriers won’t do anything. Violet wants me to stay away? I’ll stay away until there’s time to talk about us.

Violet’s never sociable but is more subdued than usual today. She’s late to class—odd that she comes at all—and sits at the back of the room. Not with Holly. Or me, or Grayson. Alone. And not that she pays attention to what’s taught in Physics class for humans and Transmutation class for us. Only high-performing elemental witches successfully change the matter from solid to liquid or air, most other witches practice moving objects a short distance. Violet created ice from water and back again into various shapes, an air of boredom hovering around her. Understandable as that’s simple magic for us. Me? I decided to be a smartass and created a tiny topaz from playing with the rock the professor handed out.

Physics seems a pretty pointless class for vamps, unless they’ve modern-thinking parents who want their kids to pass human subjects. Or vamps who’ve heard about human college life and fancy trying the lifestyle.

Leif’s absent, also weird, as he normally does attend everything. I checked on him earlier and he messaged back saying he’s tired today and decided to skip class. At least he’s safe, but there’s something not quite right with him.

Did Dorian speak to Violet again and he told her to keep away from us? I’m expecting Dorian to visit today as a follow up on yesterday, a prospect that scares me. Although not as much as it would frighten Grayson, I’ll bet.

If Dorian doesn’t get to us first, I expect Sawyer will. Or the police. I swallow hard. No reports of anything yet when I checked online, but once people investigate the half-burned lodge, they’ll easily see signs of elemental magic. And if Kai remembers a single thing…

Morning lessons over, I meet Violet in the library where she’s standing between two bookshelves, dragging out book after book, her consternation growing as she flicks through the pages before dropping them onto the nearby table.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I dump my bag and approach her.

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