Page 9 of Valentine Mine

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Monroe sit forward.“What can we do?”

A lump filled my throat.“Thank you for wanting to help, but honestly, I don’t know how to get past this.Maybe I need to start seeing my therapist again.Or get a mommy makeover.I’m sure I can find a good plastic surgeon.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Shaw growled.Jumping to her feet, she stomped away without another word.

None of the others watched her go, but I sank a little deeper into my hoodie.She was going to go tell Luca.I knew she was.And then I’d have to spill all of my insecurities all over again.

“Vi.”Mila spoke up.“Having one baby is hard enough on a woman’s body.But having twins is a nightmare when it’s all over.”

Monroe nodded in agreement.She’d had a set of twins at the same time—the same freaking day—that Mila had birthed her sons.But her girls were the only kids Monroe had.

“You and I, we had two sets,” Mila continued.“And then with breastfeeding and work and just life in general, our bodies have been through the equivalent of war.”

Biting my lip, I had to admit that she was right.

“It took me a good six months after the boys were born before I felt sexy again,” Mila confessed.“But after the girls, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror without crying.My stomach is all… And I’m not even going to talk about my ass.God, I used to love my ass.”

Despite the emotions churning inside me, I smiled at that.

“I’ve been on so many diets, I’ve lost count.I joined the gym, started exercise plans.But every time, Lyric gets all grumpy about it.He loves the extra everything.He keeps telling me he did this.It’s his.And he doesn’t want it to change.”Her gray eyes turned dreamy.“God, I love that man.”

“I-I know Luca would be the same way,” I explained.So would Jagger, but I couldn’t tell them that.Our guys were both too territorial of Shaw and me.

“You need to talk to him,” Mila advised.

“I know,” I agreed.“And I have a feeling he won’t let me stay quiet any longer.”

None of them would.

CHAPTEREIGHT

shaw

Stompingthrough a house I’d never been to, I had to curb the urge to grab something and throw it against the wall.I didn’t live there.None of this shit was mine.If I had to take a guess, this place belonged to Lyric’s wife’s twin.Sweet chick.A little prissy, but not in a bad way—mostly.I preferred Mila, but they were two sides of the same coin.It was a challenge, but I didn’t break her expensive and slightly ostentatious stuff.

My best friend was in pain, and I didn’t have a clue how to help her.Her own mind was causing trouble.Again.Turning on her.Again.Making her think stupid shit that was so far from the truth, it would have been hilarious if it weren’t so damn scary.

I, more than anyone, knew how dark Violet could get.From the haunted look in her purple eyes, I could sense that she would go back there all too easily.

But no one had known she’d been suffering.Not Luca or me or Jagger.She had hidden this from all of us, and I was pissed at her.But also at myself.And Luca.We should have seen it, fixed it before it got this bad.

Fuck!

It was so bad, she was considering altering her body with plastic surgery.A little nip here, a tuck there, and what—good as new?Somewhere in the last few weeks, she’d lost sight of the fact that she was perfect exactly as she was.Her body, her heart, her goddamn soul.She was mine.Ours, I had to amend.Luca’s, Jagger’s, and mine.Whatever.She wasn’t going to change a fucking inch of what was ours.

Vi and I had been close since she was born.She was my best friend.We were connected.More than if we were sisters.It went beyond that.Sisters didn’t love each other the way we did.She was one-third of my soul.I couldn’t live without her any more than I could without Jagger.

He knew it.He understood it.He even felt it.The pull that had always been there.If she was hurting or scared or lonely, she knew we would always be there for her.Just as she was always there for us.

I’d make the pencil-dicked imbeciles who’d messed with my girl pay for trashing her self-esteem.Curbing my anger, I lifted my phone, making a single call.My mother-in-law was out with my mom and godmother, having a girls’ day with all the granddaughters.But they would pause for a moment to take care of this.

An evil grin tilted my lips after talking to Emmie.I didn’t go into detail about Violet’s mental health.Unless we couldn’t get her sorted this weekend, they didn’t need to know about anything else, other than that our precious Vi was not handling things well.

“I’ll take care of this.You take care of Vi,” Emmie said coolly before our call ended.

Did those sports talk show hosts know what was coming for them?All those influencers who had been generating a firestorm that had gotten into my Vi’s head, were they aware how different their world was going to be tomorrow?

I would savor the demise of their careers, their very existence, later.For now, I had far more important things to do.

---