Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3)(41)

“Screw you,” Violet said good-naturedly as she elbowed Annette in the side.

“Vi, don’t hate me for spilling the truth.”



***



Two hours into bottomless mimosas, Violet’s head felt heavy and her lips tingled, but she had barely thought of Alec and his sexy arms wrapped in even sexier tattoos as they held her in bed last night.

She waved her hand in front of her and she thought her hand blurred in the air. Not a good sign. “No more,” she said as her hand hit her water glass, sending water flying across the table.

Annette jumped up from her seat, narrowly escaping a tidal wave of ice cubes. “Holy shit. You’re wrecked.”

Violet giggled. “You think?”

“Yeah. I should probably take your drunk ass home before you throw up your egg white omelet.” Annette mock shivered. “I can’t even imagine what that crap tastes like a second time.”

Violet tossed her napkin over the mess on the table. “It’s not bad. Besides, I don’t need more calories with the number of drinks I’ve consumed and it’s only…” she lifted her wrist to study her watch. Telling time when her eyes wouldn’t stop bouncing around the room was a monumental task. “One thirty.”

“You’re a toothpick. I don’t think you need to worry about calories.”

“Where are we going next?” she said slapping some money on the table from her purse.

“I’m bringing you home. Did you already forget?”

“No way.” Wide-eyed, she shook her head back and forth in a big, exaggerated sweep of her head that made her dizzy. “Alec might be there and I can’t see him yet. I need to be armed and on guard the next time I see him.”

“Huh?” Annette said through a chuckle.

“He has these eyes,” Violet said, leaning forward. “They’re dark blue like twilight, hooded and sensual, and every time I look at him, I feel like I’m falling into him. I think he might be a snake charmer or something.” Then laughter erupted from her mouth as if she’d just said the funniest thing in the world.

“Yeah, right,” Annette said with her eyebrows raised. “I don’t think that makes any sense.”

“You’d have to see him to understand it.”

Annette exhaled loudly. “So, no going home right now. Any ideas where you want to go?”

“A bar,” she said, jumping out of her seat, clapping her hands excitedly. She needed a bar. What better way to forget her idiocy than to douse the burning flames of regret in her chest with a truckload of alcohol? “Remember when we graduated from college and we danced on tables at that bar near campus? Let’s go there.”

Annette shook her head, looking a little apprehensive. “I don’t know, Vi, that doesn’t sound so smart. Maybe we could hang out at my house and make those margaritas.”

“Can we invite some people to come over? We could have a party.” With a bunch of people around, she didn’t think she’d fall back into a state of deep emotional self-pity and margaritas sounded really delicious right now.

Annette wrapped her arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the parking lot. “I have some new cute neighbors. If they’re home, I’ll ask them to join us.”

“Okay. Let’s do it. I’m all for cute neighbors and I haven’t been to a party in so long,” she said, swinging her arm out in front of her to emphasize how long it had been.

Annette barked out a laugh and shook her head. “Yes, I know exactly how much you like cute neighbors.”

“I stepped right into that, didn’t I?” Violet said, swatting Annette’s arm. Acid burned her stomach as reality crashed into her slice of drunken happiness. She groaned. “Don’t remind me of him. I was having so much fun.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Annette said, squeezing her shoulder. “I’m just glad we’re spending the day together. We can deal with the rest later. Today we’re going to have fun…lot’s of it.”

“Yes, fun,” Violet said with a touch of whimsy. Fun was the perfect antidote to a one-night stand that had gone badly, really badly. Well, not all bad. The sex part was nice. Better than nice. It rocked. It was the stuff afterwards that sucked.





Chapter Fifteen





Alec had been sitting on Violet’s front porch for the last two hours. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t been home all day. Now, it was nearly nine o’clock at night and he was worried something had happened to her after she ran out of his apartment this morning. When she left, she was upset, but he convinced himself that she’d be fine in a couple days and it’d be better if he let her go thinking the worst about him instead of entangling her in his life, especially when he lived in another state. As the hours ticked by without any sign of her, remorse seized hold of him and refused to let go.