What was she supposed to do, just go on up to the door and fucking knock?
Violet eyed the quiet neighborhood and figured doing just that might be better than standing way out in the open where anyone might see and recognize her. She quickly crossed the driveway, and took the couple of wooden steps up to the front door. Rapping her knuckles to the glass twice, she took a step back so whoever was inside could get a decent view of her through the small clear slates in the design of the frosted glass.
She heard the footsteps approach from within, saw the light-colored shade move, and then waited another thirty seconds before the door was finally opened.
Familiar gray eyes greeted her.
For a second, Violet just took in the woman on the other side of the door. She was pretty, with her high cheekbones and her soft lines. There was a resemblance between the unknown woman and Kaz that Violet recognized almost instantly.
But where Kaz was the more masculine version, the woman was far more feminine in her features.
“Hello,” Violet said.
It felt stupid because she didn’t know what else to say.
The woman’s hand never left the doorknob, like she was thinking about closing the door on Violet if she moved even an inch. “Hello.”
“I’m—”
“I know who you are,” the woman interrupted sharply. “And I don’t know why you’ve found your way to my door, but I don’t need you here causing me any kind of trouble, Gallucci.”
Violet was stunned. The coldness of the woman’s tone rang out in each word she spoke.
“If you know who I am, then maybe you wouldn’t mind telling me who you are, or why Kaz gave me this address to come to.”
For just a brief second, almost quick enough to miss it, the woman’s stance softened. But just as fast, she straightened right back up like a rod had been shoved into her spine.
“Vera Markovic,” she said, her gaze never leaving Violet’s still form on the doorstep. “And Kazimir is my brother. But what exactly is he to you?”
Violet opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her.
She realized she didn’t have a clear, good answer to give back.
Kaz was a lot of things to Violet, and he had very quickly turned those things into even more without trying at all.
He was her safe place.
A friend.
Her lover.
A confidant.
Stolen moments.
Silent conversations.
Long nights and late mornings.
How was she supposed to sum that up?
What word was good enough?
Vera cleared her throat, still looking like she was trying to decide whether or not to close the door. “So … it’s like that, huh?”
Violet blinked, warier than ever. “I don’t understand what you mean by ‘like that’.”
“Really?”
“I—”
The roar of an engine and the scream of tires made Violet turn fast on the doorstep to find a familiar Porsche coming to a halt right in front of Vera’s driveway. He didn’t even cut the engine before he was getting out of the car.
Kaz rounded the front of the Porsche, his gaze zoning in on only Violet like she was the one thing he wanted to see, and just like that …
Just like that the fucking tears started again and the pain was back. All that anxiety she had been pushing down, and the realities she was pretending didn't exist were shoving their way forefront into her heart and thoughts like they didn’t have any plans to let go.
All she needed was the sight of Kaz—his fast steps, worried, angry eyes, and his hands outstretched for her.
Because he took, all the damn time.
From her, he took anything she didn’t want to hold anymore. Stress, worries, and petty shit that she didn’t have anyone to talk to about, he was the one who was there. When she had anxiety over upcoming tests for her classes, he had her books spread out over the bed. When she didn’t want to just be the Gallucci girl—Alberto’s daughter—she got to be just Violet with Kaz.
Violet’s foot had just hit the asphalt of the driveway and Kaz was already there. His arms swallowed her whole, tightening around her so goddamn hard, enough to hurt and take her breath away, but she found that for the first time in a good hour, she could actually breathe.
She caught him around the middle, hugging tight when his one hand splayed wide to her back, and his other wrapped up in her hair, holding her close.
“I got you,” he murmured into her hair before kissing the top of her head. “We’ll figure it out, Violet.”
All over again, time stopped.
There was nothing else that mattered when he was there, holding her like that.
Safe place.
Everybody had one person to be theirs. That one single person in the world that never asked for more than what was given, but always took what was too much to handle. The one person who made everything better, and made someone else better, too.
Kaz made her better, and she hadn’t really thought to look beyond it because she couldn’t. Not without maybe losing herself, him, or even them in the process.
She wanted to keep that safe place that he had become for her.