Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3)(42)

He didn’t know what he’d say to her when she finally returned home, but he needed to say something. Yesterday, he had several chances to send her away and do the right thing, but in a moment of weakness, he couldn’t stop himself from touching her and taking what he wanted. Asshole, he chided himself.

Headlights lit up Violet’s street, and he stood up, staying in the shadows of the front porch, trying to get a better look. When he noticed it wasn’t Violet’s car, he started to sit back down, but the car stopped in front of her house and he froze in place.

The driver’s side door opened and he heard laughter.

“You’re home,” a woman he didn’t know said as she walked toward the passenger door.

The passenger door flew open, springing back so hard it almost slammed shut again. “And you said I was a bad driver. We nearly hit that lamp post and you were driving so fast I could barely see.” It was Violet’s voice and she sounded like she fell inside a bottle of booze for the better part of the day.

“That’s because your head is spinning.”

Violet cradled her head with both hands. “Annette, you’re lying. I think you’re the one who had too much to drink. My head is just fine, see?”

Shaking her head, Annette leaned against the open door, one hand on her hip. “Do you need help?”

“I’m perfectly wonderful,” Violet shouted. “Stop asking me if I need help. I’m more than capable of walking, talking, and driving by myself.”

“Riiight says the girl who hasn’t stopped drinking since this morning.”

“You’re no fun,” Violet said, standing up. “Ouch. Crap that hurt,” she yelled, rubbing her head. “I hit my head.”

“I can’t imagine why.” Annette wrapped her arm around Violet’s waist. “You need to get in bed and sleep this off. You’re trashed.”

“But I had fun,” Violet said in a singsong voice, or at least he thought that’s what she said because fun came out as a hiccup.

“And you’ll probably be kicking yourself when you wake up tomorrow.”

“Nah, I didn’t drink that much. One or two at the most,” Violet said, tripping over a raised lip on the sidewalk in front of her.

Before Alec could consider his actions, he stalked forward and grabbed Violet by her shoulders and pulled her toward him. “I can get her inside.”

Annette yanked Violet by her waist, boomeranging her backwards, but Alec refused to let go, tightening his grip on Violet’s shoulders.

“And who are you?” she asked, her eyes narrowed into slits.

“Alec, her neighbor.”

Annette’s eyes swept over him contemptuously. “No, thank you. You’ve helped enough for one day.”

Shit. Violet spilled the story and he came out looking like a complete jerk. Not that he was surprised. He was a jerk. “Let me carry her inside and then I’ll leave,” he said, his voice urgent but soft. He tugged her back toward him ever so slightly. He didn’t know why he was fighting to take care of her. It seemed ridiculous when she had a very protective friend offering to do it. He needed to pull his head out of his ass and mind his own business. After the way he treated Violet this morning, he was lucky Violet hadn’t hit him or worse.

“Ugh,” Violet moaned. “I don’t feel so good. Stop playing tug of war with me.”

“You’ll be okay,” Annette cooed in her ear, a sympathetic smile on her lips, but when she focused all of her disdain on him, her eyes hardened and her lips thinned. “Just tell this asshole to back off and I’ll take you inside.”

Violet lifted her head and opened her mouth, but no words of dismissal exited. Instead, she lurched forward, violently hurling all over his shoes, and it didn’t stop with one eruption. Before he could move away, her body jerked toward him again and vomit hit him squarely on the front of his shirt.

Paralyzed, he didn’t say anything for a few prolonged beats of silence and then Annette started laughing, and it wasn’t a small chuckle. Her entire body shook and she dropped her hands from Violet, bending at the waist. “That was fucking awesome,” she said between gasping breaths. “In fact, it was the best thing I’ve seen in…oh…years.”

“Oh my God,” Violet said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, her eyes wide and unblinking. “I’m so sorry, Alec. I didn’t do that on purpose. I promise.”

“Vi, don’t be sorry,” Annette said, reprimanding her, between bursts of laughter that kept rolling one after another. “I haven’t laughed this hard in so long.”