The Certainty of Violet & Luke (The Coincidence, #5)

It’s really fucking late and all I want to do is go home. I thought I had Violet with the whole baby remark, but then something I said made her panic and suddenly she’s headed to get more drinks. It’s killing me to watch her drown her pain in alcohol – I understand the need way too well. Watching her go through this has made staying sober easier, though, because I have to have a clear head for her. It’s not a fucking cakewalk, though. My mind still does drift toward the blissful taste of alcohol whenever I’m near it. But what gets me through it, stops me from taking a sip, is reminding myself that I care for Violet; that I owe her everything after what my mother took from her.

I’ve been keeping an eye on her for most of the party. It’s kind of become a routine for the last couple of weeks. She gets drunk and I’m there to take care of her. But I messed up tonight when I got sidetracked by a conversation with Drey Filtphermen about this year’s season and how we’re going to ‘kick ass.’

I nod as, half listening, I scan the crowd for Violet. ‘Yeah, we should do good.’ The last thing on my mind right now is football.

Drey nods and then throws back a shot. ‘What? You not drinking tonight?’

I shake my head. ‘Nah, I’m DD.’ Huh. Never thought that sentence would ever come out of my mouth.

He looks at me like I just said gravity doesn’t exist or something. ‘Really?’

I shrug. I don’t blame him for wondering what’s up. I’m infamous for my ability to get trashed and scare. But I don’t do that anymore, and I wish people would stop defining me as the intense, angry, manwhore drinker. ‘I gotta find someone,’ I say, barely paying attention when Drey yells out something else. I maneuver my way through the crowd of people smelling a lot like tequila shots, sweat and need, and finally find Seth chatting it up with Greyson in the corner of the room.

‘Hey, have you seen Violet?’ I interrupt their conversation, but I know them well enough that it doesn’t matter. Seth and Greyson are Violet and my roommates and both are people I consider friends. They know what’s going on in Violet’s life enough to understand that not being able to find her is probably not the best thing.

Seth points toward the hallway. ‘The last time I saw her she was going to the bathroom.’

I head in that direction while Greyson calls out, ‘Everything okay?’

I glance over my shoulder and nod, but it feels like I’m the biggest fucking liar in the world. ‘Yeah, just need to find her. That’s all.’

‘Well, if you need any help, just let me know,’ he says, taking a swig from his bottle of water.

I nod then hurry down the hallway to the bathroom area. There’s a line forming outside it and I get a lot of curses thrown at me as I walk right up to the bathroom door and knock on it. ‘Violet, are you in there?’

There’s a pause and then I hear a muffled, ‘Yeah.’

Relief washes over me. I didn’t even realize how nervous I’d been for losing track of her until now. I try the doorknob, but it’s locked, so I knock again and call out, but this time she doesn’t respond. Thankfully the lock’s fairly simple and I’m able to unlock it with a quarter. I get yelled at by some guy as I step inside the bathroom, but when I give the culprit my go fuck yourself look, he cowers back and I slam the door shut behind me. The bathroom is small, so I shouldn’t have trouble finding her, but at first glance I can’t see her in there anywhere.

‘Violet?’ I step past the sink area toward the bathtub. ‘Are you in here?’

‘In here.’ Her voice is small and sounds like it’s coming from the shower/tub area.

I pull back the curtain and there she is in the bathtub, her knees pulled to her chest, hugging herself so tight it looks like she’s trying to curl into herself. I crouch down beside her, cup her chin in my hand, angling her face back so I can see how drunk she is. Her enlarged pupils and inability to focus on anything lets me know it’s time to get her out of her.

‘I’m ready to go.’ Her speech is slurred and tears start slipping out of her eyes. This has happened many times so I know exactly what to do. I scoop her up and carry her out of the house, taking her home like she asked.


It’s two o’clock in the morning when I pull up to our apartment complex, in a decent area of town and walking distance to the University when it’s warm enough. Violet passed out in the truck on the way home after puking in the bushes so I have to carry her upstairs, something I don’t mind doing. She’s never been a big drinker and it shows every time she attempts to drink. I hate that it does. I want my Violet back.

My Violet? What the hell? Like she belongs to me. She doesn’t. Although, looking down at her, her green eyes shut, full lips slightly parted, black and red wavy hair hanging over my arm, her body curled up against me, trusting me to carry her inside, she feels like she’s mine.

‘If she fucking heard what you were thinking, she’d fucking castrate you,’ I mutter to myself. Violet has never been the kind of girl who likes to be owned by anyone. She’s always strong willed and independent and that is part of the reason why I fell in love with her. I’ve done the whole needy women thing and it bugs the shit out of me, hooking up with women who not only want direction but also want to cling to me. I didn’t hate it at the time. I loved having the control – needed it after spending most of my childhood being controlled by my overbearing, psychotic mother. But once I met Violet Hayes and saw a different side, felt the challenge, the connection, the desire to actually want someone on a more passionate level, I knew there was no going back. And I don’t ever want to go back to my life before Violet. I just wish we were on more stable ground; wished she could get over the thing with my mother, that my mother was in prison so Violet had a reason to try and heal herself; wished I could help her bring that wild, independent, strength back out. I don’t blame her for being angry, or for struggling, for being confused. She has every right and all I can do is help her until she’s ready to move on.