Violet
BRAND NEW ME
“It took a long long time to get here,
It took a brave, brave girl to try.”
Performed by Alicia Keys
Written by Conway / Waters / Keys / Sande
Staring up at Dawson, my bodyburst into a mass of bubbles.Like I’d been sitting on a Bunsen burner that had been slowly brought to a boil. My brain swirled with the possible formulas to explain the response I’d always had to him. I couldn’t deny either of them. The formulas or the reaction.
For a while now, I’d told myself my response had just been teenage hormones and inexperience. But the simmering inside me as the early morning sunshine seemed to bend around him proved how wrong I’d been.
The light turned his dark-brown hair into a multitude of bronzes and deep embers, haloing him in a golden aura. His muscles rippled as he moved. Graceful and sure. Dawson was a thing of beauty. Molded by some unknown force who liked to play jokes on mere mortals.
An undefinable formula.
I wanted to scream at Truck and Jersey for not telling me he was coming. To send a stomping, temper-tantrum-throwing GIF to Leena and Mandy for not warning me. Because it was always better to be prepared to see Dawson. Then, I could tuck away every last strand of yearning I’d once had and lock it behind the door that was labeledPastso that it would never become myPresent.
And now I hadn’t had that chance.
We contemplated each other for a few painful seconds, his face an unreadable mask where I’d once known all his thoughts before he even spoke.
He’d brought upThe Saint. I’d wanted to be Elizabeth Shue for about a year after that, until I’d first met Raisa, and I’d realized she was the real-life version I would never become. Not because I couldn’t, but because I’d changed. I no longer wanted to be the woman hiding her genius and running from the Russian KGB. I didn’t have any desire to create free energy as Raisa did.
“Vi.” Dawson’s voice dropped, the warmth of it settling over my skin. He took a step closer to me and would have hugged me if the back door hadn’t banged open, jerking us apart.
Silas’s voice rang out over the distance. “What’s he doing here?”
As if he knew Dawson.
Even without touching, I was close enough to Dawson that the growl he let out vibrated over me. “I live here. What’s your excuse?”
I stiffened. He didn’t live here.
“You do not,” I objected, and it was breathier and more unsure than I’d wanted it to be. I stepped farther away from him.
“Yeah, I do, actually,” he said with a quirk of his lips I wanted to smack away as he waved a garage door clicker as if it were proof.
I glanced to the driveway where a sleek gray sports car sat. He must have tried to park in the garage. I’d disconnected the overhead door opener at the same time I’d loaded the plastic and tables inside.
Silas closed the distance as Dawson and I continued to stare at each other. When he got to us, Silas pulled me into him with a casual arm over my shoulders. I had to fight every urge in my body that told me to toss it off. Dawson took in the casual embrace with a slight furrow to his brow.
“Violet, want to tell me who this is?” Silas asked.
He was jealous, and it made me want to laugh for many reasons. Because we were broken up. Because Dawson was the one person I could never have.
“Silas, this is Truck’s brother, Dawson. Dawson, Silas.”
The two men eyed each other but did not shake hands. The negative energy drifting between them was tangible. Calculable. I wasn’t sure how they’d even met, but I did my best to lighten the mood by turning the conversation.
“Where have you been?” I asked Dawson.
“Tarifa,” he said.
My heart clenched even though it shouldn’t have. Just like Silas’s jealousy was so unnecessary, I had no right to mine either. I smiled. “Jada was just there too. At her family’s villa.”
