Page 17 of Pulse
Josie walked over, said something to the girl and pointed at me. Not liking being pulled out of a set midway, I scowled and walked over as Josie patted me on the shoulder on her way past.
“Ren?” the girl asked.
“Yeah.” I took her outstretched hand and shook, just to be polite.
“I’m Violet Fuller.”
My heart stopped beating and I jerked my hand from hers.
She flinched slightly. “I’m here about Ash.”
“I bet you are,” I said a little too bitterly.
“I’m his little sister,” she explained. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Ash had a fucking sister? I looked her up and down and didn’t quite get the resemblance. She was tiny, and compared to Ash, she was a dwarf.
“I don’t really want to hear it,” I said. “It’s been months and he hasn’t bothered trying to contact me. Why the hell should I listen to you?”
“Because I care for him and so do you.”
“He left me,” I said through gritted teeth as all the feelings I’d been trying to bury came straight to the surface.I don’t love you Ren. I can’t love you. I’m already lost. Get the fuck out and don’t come back.
“He left to protect you from them.”
My hands started to shake as a hot flush of anger crept up my spine. I turned to walk away from her lies, but Violet grabbed my arm, forcing me to look at her.
“Don’t walk away from him,” she said. “Don’t walk away when he needs you the most.”
I shook her hand away. “He needs me? He was meant to come back.” He abandoned me like everyone else.
“He has a very good reason he can’t come and see you himself.” She glanced over her shoulder at the Twins, who were going through their drills like machines. They were too busy to listen to us. “I’ll be truthful with you, Ren. He doesn’t even know I’ve come to see you.”
“Then why would I listen to you when he doesn’t even want to explain?”
“Please,” she said, her eyes full of something I couldn’t quite place. Desperation? “Five minutes.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. “Five minutes. That’s all.”
I led Violet up the stairs and ushered her into the office. I closed the door behind me, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Talk,” I snapped.
She flinched slightly, but didn’t back down. “Ash said he told you he went to prison, but he never told you why. It’s the why that’s the important part.”
“He said he was protecting someone. He said-” I glanced away. He said he didn’t love me.
Violet sighed, her face beginning to show signs of stress. “He was protecting me.”
I blinked hard. “You?”
“It’s difficult to talk about, even now,” she said. “Can I trust you? I mean, Ash…he pretty much declared that he loved you when-” She bit her lip.
My heart split open again at the mention of the word love. He’d never told me. I didn’t believe. He told me he didn’t. “I’m jilted Violet, but I’m not like them.”
She nodded, smiling thinly. “He said you were strong.”
I narrowed my eyes.
