61. Violet
SIXTY-ONE
VIOLET
THREE MONTHS LATER
I flick my turn signal on, pulling into Spring Meadows. Spring is finally taking effect, the trees regrowing their leaves. The flowers in the beds around the entrance of the apartment building are beginning to blossom, too. I imagine Mom’s garden is starting to come to life as well with the warmer weather and longer days.
I make an internal note to call her sometime this week and pull into a space next to Sebastian’s Aviator. He slips out of it when I turn off my ignition, and then I see him.
Colson.
My boyfriend.
The man I don't just love but am in love with.
Putting into words how grateful I am over how well he’s doing has been hard for me. Every time I see him walking around, without that pesky sling on his arm, I think about how happy I am to have him in my life.
We took it slow those first few weeks, but our relationship has gotten increasingly better as each week passes. He wouldn’t be moving into my apartment with me if things weren’t looking up, and my trust in him wasn’t restored.
He’s done a complete one-eighty since Janie passed away. I know it still bothers him. He has times where grief grabs hold of him, and he’s quiet for the better part of the day, but so long as he’s not running away or pushing me out of his life, I’m okay with that.
I give him space on those days and pray for the ache in his heart to hurt a little less as each one passes. Sometimes I think it works. Other times I wonder if the effort is futile, if he’ll still always feel exactly what he’s meant to.
His family has been more than supportive, his aunt having been the one to take care of him post-release from the hospital. Aside from weekly physical therapy visits for his leg, he’s all healed up, the terrible bruising that painted his face also gone.
Tommy, those Russian bodyguards he sent, and Clyde haven’t come around at all. The cops never did find the vehicle that hit him that night, but I think we’re all just thankful that Colson is happy and healthy and finally letting himself live his life.
Finn even went MIA for a bit, only popping his head around again in the last two weeks or so. Colson is still getting used to having him around, but I think it was reassuring seeing Finn put himself and his own money on the line to get him out of trouble. They have a long way to go, but creating a foundation as brothers has to start somewhere.
Climbing out of the driver’s seat, I wave to Sebastian and find Colson at the other side of Sebastian’s vehicle. He wraps me in his arms when I walk up and nuzzle my face in the crook of his neck; one of my favorite places.
“Hey, baby,” he murmurs, squeezing me with all the love in his body. “Missed you.”
“How was therapy?” Sebastian took him this afternoon because my morning schedule was overridden with classes followed by an afternoon at the daycare.
“Gave them a run for their money.”
I pull back and grin. “Just what I like to hear.”
He spins me and backs me against the car door.
“Ah man, can’t you two wait until we get upstairs?” Sebastian complains.
I grin because Colson and I are very affectionate. If we’re near each other, we’re constantly touching, kissing, grazing our hands over one another.
“Tell me how much you missed me,” he says to me, and I know it’s only because of his own internal struggles; the need to hear that I want him and love him daily.
“I’d rather not tell you,” I mewl. “Showing you would be way more fun.”
He cocks a brow at me and brings his lips to my ear. “Are you wet for me, Violet?” He drops his hand down between my legs like we’re not in public. The cars on either side of us give us all the privacy we need. “If I slipped my hand in your panties, what would I find?”
“You’d find what’s yours,” I breathlessly whisper back.
“Mmm, mine . Now, that, I like the sound of.”
I suck my bottom lip into my mouth and bite down. “We can christen my room after we get your stuff moved over,” I suggest, wanting nothing more than to get wrapped up in my sheets with him.
Colson chuckles. “You mean like what we’ve done every night this past week?”
“Exactly that.”
He pulls back and gives me his handsome smile. “I tell you today how fucking beautiful you are?” he asks, tugging at my braids over my shoulders.
“You told me this morning,” I remind him. His daily compliments are almost too much for me to handle, especially when he looks at me as if he never wants to spend a day with anyone else.
“Yo!” comes a voice from the front of the car. “Fuck, are they sucking face again?”
“Yep,” Sebastian confirms, his back to us. He gives Finn a fist pound, and I can’t help but turn back to Colson to ask what’s going on.
“You invited Finn?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Needed more arm power to lift the heavy stuff.”
I smolder a laugh, giving him an amused expression. “You barely have anything to bring down to my apartment. In fact, I think the heaviest thing you own is a trash bag full of clothing.”
“Can’t lift heavy items,” Colson says to me. “Doctor’s orders, baby.”
He says that but really Colson Moore is finally warming to the idea of having Finn around. “Could it be that you’re just looking for quality brotherly bonding time?” I accuse, lifting my brow at him this time.
“I’ve told you both a million times, he’s not my brother.”
I roll my eyes. He’s been stuck on that line for months, but we all know it’s only because it’s easier to say that than admit he might actually like having another person around.
“Hi, Finn!” I shout from where we’re hidden between cars. “Colson was just telling me how excited he is to see you.”
Colson shakes his head at me and promises punishment later. “I hope you’re wearing that red thong I like because your ass is going to match it by the time I’m done with you.”
“Come on, guys!” yells Sebastian. “We got shit to do.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I slip it out as Colson rounds the front of the car and bumps Finn’s fist the same way Sebastian did. I find a missed text from Olive that I plan to answer later and a new one from Everleigh, who messages to say she won’t be able to make our pizza outing as a group later after we get Colson’s belongings moved.
Since Sylvia left and we haven’t heard a word from her, we figured it’d be best to move forward with plans to rent out her room. Colson agreed to move into mine to help with the expensive rent bill as well as our commutes back and forth from his aunt’s house. But even with him living with us, we’ll have to find a roommate to fill Sylvia’s room come September.
A worry for another day, I decide, as I lift my gaze and catch sight of Webber on an adjacent sidewalk heading in the opposite direction of Spring Meadows. He’s with a group of girls and guys, Tristan included, and raises a single finger in greeting when our eyes meet. Outside of a waved hello at Sebastian’s New Year’s Eve party and our conversation at the gym, it’s been quiet between us, and I can appreciate that. What we had is in the past, the two of us finally moving on to bigger and better things.
As for Tristan, it’s as if he’s a stranger. More so when he follows Webber’s gaze and doesn’t offer a nod in acknowledgement. Like he never even dated one of my best friends and ruined her hopes of what love could be by choosing everything besides her.
I choose to ignore his audacity and pocket my phone to join the guys, relaying how Everleigh isn’t coming. Finn pulls me under his arm when I fall in step between him and Colson. He gives me a quick side hug, ruffling my hair like a big brother would, before Colson tugs me over to him, and tucks his hand into the back pocket of my jeans.
And I just smile to myself.
Because there’s no place else I’d rather be.