Chapter 12 Violet
Chapter Twelve
VIOLET
A week later, I’ve come to terms with being caught by Jack.
There have been one too many times I’ve reached for my cell to call only to snatch my hand back.
“What’s wrong?” Cade’s gaze skims me as I fix my shirt, making my heart flutter.
Last night, he chased me through the streets, only to corner me in a bar, where he felt me up where anyone would have seen if they’d paid us the slightest bit of attention.
I came so hard I basically mauled him on the steps up to his floor, and there, three steps from his landing, he made me suck him off.
This morning was slow, languid sex, and I’m still shaking from all of it.
From everything we’ve done when he hasn’t been at work, all the places we’ve fucked and played. And still, at times when it’s quiet or I’m alone, I’ve thought of Jack. The pain and the anger in his eyes.
I just don’t know who the pain was for. Me?
There hasn’t been anything that felt like love between us for a long time, not since that wild and bubbly magic of first love, of a boy who looked at me like I was special.
A boy who grew into a man-boy and took me for granted.
So, yeah, I’ve reached for the phone but never called.
And we, Cade and I, haven’t talked about it.
Don’t get me wrong, he asked if I was okay that night. It’s Cade, he’s like that. But what am I meant to say? Other than what Cade already knew. Jack and I were over.
“Wrong?”
“Yeah, wrong.” He folds his glasses after plucking them from his head and slips them into a worn case in his hoodie pocket. His backpack is on the bed, which means he’s heading to Enzo’s place.
“Nothing. I’m okay. I’m happy, nervous over this new internship that starts today.”
“We haven’t just met. I know all about that. I know you’re happy. But there’s something bugging you. Is it Jack?”
I glance at him as I pull my hair back in a sleek ponytail. “I don’t want him back.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long time.
“If I thought that you even thought it might be a possibility, I wouldn’t have made a move on you.
And if you changed your mind, I would think about giving you up.
I’d fail, but I’d think about it.” He sighs.
“I feel fucking bad he saw us, as I’m assuming do you. ”
“Are you spying on me?”
He smiles. “Always.”
“I just…I feel guilty.”
“Because he was hurt?”
I nod again. “I wish it hadn’t been that way, is all. I knew it was over before the cheating photos appeared, and I felt like shit, so Jack…”
“You’re a good person, Vi.”
“I’m a pervert.”
Cade laughs. “You’re a good, perverted person.” And he comes to me, kisses me on the cheek. “But I get it. His brother and you. It’s a lot. And suddenly, Jack’s feeling outside it all.”
My heart twists.
Cade steps back and gets his laptop, sliding his glasses case in. “Jack… Look, I love Jack. He’s my little brother. I’m meant to be watching out for him, protecting him, but having him coasting and not living and being on my sofa isn’t the way.”
“You have to go?” I drag in a breath. “Of course, you do. So do I.”
“And I’m going with you. Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready. As for Jack? He got mad and left, I think he wants to come back or wants help.” He frowns as I apply a little gloss.
Then I get my bag.
“Or maybe… Jack just missed you.”
“Maybe. I’m sure it’s part of it, but Jack needs to grow up. I’m always there for him. Even if he doesn’t know it.”
I suddenly look at him as we make out way to the door. “Aren’t you worried I might ask you to distance yourself from him, or choose between us if—”
“Nope.” Suddenly, Cade’s dark eyes flash, and he grabs me and pushes me up against the new door, his thigh sliding between mine as he kisses me.
It’s a claiming kiss, a hot one. It’s a wide-open future and passion. And it’s over almost before it has begun.
He lifts his head.
“You kissed off my gloss.”
“You don’t need it.” He kisses me again, this time a brush of lips against lips. “And I’m not worried at all by shit like that. You wouldn’t do that, and Jack wouldn’t either, not really. He might spit fire and smoke but underneath all his douche of the year surface, he’s a good guy.”
It both settles something in me and makes my heart throb. I smile. “We should go, or we’ll be late. Not that you need to come with me.”
“Hell, yeah, I do. Let’s go, Vi. I’ll concoct your punishment for tonight during the day.”
“Punishment? For what?”
And Cade laughs. “Do I need a reason?”
Cade walks me up to the fancy office door, and he kisses my cheek. “You’ll be great.”
I watch as he walks away, disappearing around the corner of the busy street in the financial district to the train.
Congressman Walsh has another office in Brooklyn, but this is the one I’m assigned to, for now.
Nerves bite me.
I’m early because I want to make a good impression.
I shouldn’t be this nervous, since sure, the internship’s real enough to help me finish my requirements for my degree, it’s not nearly going to be long enough to be a full-on internship.
But this is to help find Gianna, not win points. And I have to remind myself of that even if I know my degree is the kind where, once done, I’d be working hard to get an internship with an actual congressman, especially one like Walsh.
Isaac had been building grass roots to approach bigger and better things down the line, and while that will count to my degree, it really isn’t anything for a CV. This is.
Or would be.
If it were longer.
Because a proper internship like at Walsh’s offices would open all the doors.
I push open the door and step into the world of politics, and the buzz hits me.
With it comes a churning of my stomach.
It’s not Isaac, or what happened with him.
It wasn’t fun, but it’s something that I could have gotten through on my own without interference, I think. No, it’s the pure need for this world that beats in my veins, along with how things, like an Isaac, could ruin my career that make me queasy.
I want this.
No mistakes.
No uncertainty.
This world is my lifeblood for work, it’s a love of mine, and I desperately want it to work. Joseph Walsh, like Isaac, could end my career if he chose.
What if Joseph is just like Isaac and ruins the lives and careers of the girls he wants?
He’s supposedly upstanding. I know that. But Isaac was meant to be, too.
And while there’s not a thing to say Walsh has anything to do with his daughter, what if he catches me poking around about Gianna, and he blackballs me over that?
I need to investigate him as best I can because he might know something Cade can use. But being caught…
“So, don’t get caught,” I mutter under my breath.
“Did you say something?” the receptionist says as she puts a call on hold and finishes making a note. She glances at me, a harried air about her.
“I asked where the bathroom is.” I don’t know where the words come from, but I need to say something, and they’re the first words that leap into my head.
She hits another button on her phone, putting another call on hold, as she takes me in, clearly putting my outfit together. “Are you the intern?”
“Yes. Violet.”
She nods, pointing to the doors just to her left.. “Allie. It’s through there to the right. You’re early. You have time. Good luck.” Then she dismisses me and hits answer on her phone. “Congressman Walsh’s office, sorry for making you wait. We have Wednesday at five…”
I stop listening and go through, making a beeline for the bathrooms. I need to gather myself. This is important, and I don’t want to make my first day my last.
I use the facilities and then take my time after washing my hands to splash a little water on my face and then pat it dry.
The door to the other cubicle opens, and I silently thank the bathroom gods I didn’t decide to just talk to myself in here and really get a reputation going as the crazy one.
The girl joins me at the sink and offers me a sympathetic smile as she dries her hands and adjusts her striking red hair in the mirror.
I’m not sure why she feels the need. Every strand is in place and behaving.
“You’re new, right? First day?”
I smile. “Yep.”
She turns to face me completely. “First day jitters?”
“Something like that. I’m interning.”
“With Walsh?”
My eyes widen.
She shrugs at my surprised looks. “We sometimes have interns for other jobs. You’d be surprised. This is congress, so while there’s Walsh, he has speech writers, social media designers, analysts who work for the senior analysts, and so on. It’s a machine.”
I suck in a breath.
I’m definitely working for Walsh, and stupid me, I was thinking it’d be a larger scale version of Isaac’s office, but this is the real deal. Here we have designated people for designated jobs, whereas back with Isaac, we had to do a bit of everything.
This is the big league. What actual strings did Cade pull?
“I’m Macy. I work for the press secretary, in PR, which can be a slog. There are always spins. Sometimes, I dream of taking a break and working PR for a celebrity, something nice and easy.”
I laugh. “I’m Violet. And that would be easy?”
“Compared to a politician? It doesn’t matter how clean or how saintly they are. There will be always an angle, something to be spun, damage control, instant playbooks against dirty moves from the opposition. With a celebrity, they’re their own worst enemy. Piece of cake.”
I nod, laughing. “Well, you make a good point.”
“So, are you interning to be Chief of Staff?” She shudders. “I’d hate that job. You have the congress members’ ear. You’re their favorite limb and most hated one, and you need a background in a variety of things. What’s yours?”
“Political analysis.” I suddenly see how good Isaac’s place was for me, if you took the man out of the equation. It gave me the opportunity to learn in all arenas, and I think that I’d like to be a chief of staff one day. It slides into ultimate goal spot in my dream list.