Chapter Seventeen Violet #3
My stomach drops through the bed and onto the floor.
I hate this story already. First, the sharp, petty jealousy that she’s been with someone else, even though I never expected her to be untouched.
And second, the deeper, colder dread that she showed someone real emotion and was punished for it.
I’m not just listening now; I’m braced for the ending.
“I almost lost my position on the hockey team because she went after my career. The press was all over it when they got an anonymous letter from someone who was 'attacked by Skye Callahan.' When, in reality, she never took me seriously when I said I wanted her to sign a contract.”
“Why did she go after you if she had signed the contract?”
I’m not looking up at her because I feel like she’s being vulnerable enough in this moment that I don’t want to make her feel worse. I don’t want to make her feel like she’s standing on stage in front of an audience who is judging her true colors.
I understand wanting to hide yourself.
Skye mumbles. “She signed it without reading it.” Then, she grabs my shoulders and shifts me so I’m facing her, gripping me hard so I won’t look away.
Her eyes are glossy, but she doesn’t look like she’s going to cry.
She looks angry. Like someone got to her in a way nobody else ever could, and she wasn’t going to let it happen again.
“I didn’t hurt her, Vi,” she assures me. “I didn’t hurt her.” I grab her hand and squeeze it, silently telling her she doesn’t have to explain that. I already know she didn’t. “I asked her if she had signed it, and she said yes.”
“Not that it matters, but what exactly happened that led her to accuse you of assault?”
Skye picks up the paddle and shows it to me. I back away from it like it has cooties, and she laughs. “I didn’t use this exact one,” she tells me. “Hell, I even had that paddle in my other hand when I spanked her.”
“She didn’t like it?” My eyes are wide, and I feel like I shouldn’t be shocked at the fact that not everyone enjoys being smacked raw.
Am I crazy?
Skye smiles at me and pulls my lips to hers for a quick kiss. “She didn’t. And when I went to swat her a second time, she rolled, and I caught her arm.”
It’s all making sense now. The way she’s careful with me and constantly reminds me that we have a safe word. The way she takes care of me before, during, and after anything we do in the bedroom. The way she makes me rank the pain, but slowly goes harder until I reach my limit.
She waits. She makes sure I’m okay. She cares about me.
Maybe it’s time I open myself up and tell her the truth about me. Maybe it’s time I throw away my security and put the mask aside to see if my big secret is just as safe with her as hers is with me.
But as she continues to tell me what happened between her and this monster of a woman, I put my need to open up aside and comfort her.
“Everyone looked at me differently.” Her voice drops, and I’ve never seen her like this.
So raw and open, with everything out on the table.
I want to pull her in, hold her, and comfort her, but I feel like that’s the last thing she needs until she gets it all out.
All the things I’m sure she’s held inside for fear of being judged.
“I told everyone she was just crazy. I told my lawyer the truth, but she’s sworn to secrecy. Plus, she’s a shark. I couldn’t thank her enough for everything she’s done for me.”
My body rumbles against her as she clears her throat. She starts toying with my hair as she dives back into her explanation.
“By the end of the chaos, my ex-girlfriend hadn’t been seen locally, and I was worried my lawyer had her killed.” She huffs a laugh, but something tells me she’s serious. “My aunt was starting to go downhill with her dementia, and my hockey career started escalating from all the publicity.”
I remember her mentioning her aunt at dinner. It sounds like she’d do anything to protect her, and that makes my heart swell even more for Skye.
“Alisha met my aunt.”
My stomach drops at the admission, almost as much as hearing the monster’s name.
“And my aunt’s dementia hit hard shortly after that.”
She doesn’t need to say anything else for me to understand, but she says it anyway. My chest is heavy as she spills the weight of what she’s been carrying all this time, as she lets me help to hold her upright.
“Now, whenever I call or FaceTime with her…” she sighs. “Alisha is the one she asks about. She’s the last thing she remembers of my love life, and that’s what her shitty disease is letting her hold on to.”
My heart shatters for her as her voice fades. She’s said what she needs to say, and now her story is out for me to judge. She is willing to make herself small so I can see inside her life.
I’m going to tell Skye who I really am. That’s decided. Not now, though. Not when she’s in this state of mind. But soon.
I move closer and wrap her in my arms, hugging her like I’m never going to let go.
And she lets me. She sinks into me, and we lie like this, holding and feeling and breathing.
We don’t speak. We don’t judge.
We simply exist.