They had gone into this whole thing so stupidly. Together, sure, but dumb all the same. The innocence of it was quickly wiped away by the fact it had always been hidden, quiet, and secret. That alone was enough to say it was wrong, and they knew it was.
And yet, here they were.
Violet lifted her cup for another sip as Kaz strolled back into the kitchen, his expression a blank slate. He stopped at the table, and one by one, dropped the pictures down as he looked through them. She wasn’t quite sure what to say, so she let him do whatever it was he was doing.
Finally, when he came to the last one—the most revealing of them all—Kaz scowled and tossed it down, too. “These were not included in the one Vasily showed me.”
Her heart stopped. “What?”
“The one photograph he showed me was innocent, and he alluded to more, but nothing to this …” Kaz’s jaw clenched before he finished with, “Extent.”
Anger and betrayal swirled fast in Violet’s emotions, warring with one another for attention. “You knew he—”
Kaz spun around, a hand raising slowly. “Don’t do that with me right now.”
Violet dropped her unfinished tea into the sink, the cup clanging loudly against the metal. She took a step forward, hurt and so angry. “Don’t do this? Like what, like I shouldn’t be angry with you that you already knew?”
“You’re assuming. Don’t assume.”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, Kaz.”
“I’m not. You’re angry, and you’re worried. You’re lashing out at me instead of listening to me.”
Violet had all she could do to stay where she was, knowing he had a point. It didn’t help her fury a great deal. “Go ahead, then, explain to me how you knew he had pictures of us, and you couldn’t be bothered to pick up a phone and at least tell me that he had them!”
“Have you thought … Oh, I don’t know, in the last fifteen or so minutes—maybe since you got the pictures—that this was exactly why I didn’t call you?”
How was he so calm when she was clearly pissed?
“You’re doing it again. Patronizing me. Stop it.”
Kaz sighed, and raked a hand down his face. “I knew he had the pictures, yes, but he also made it clear that if he caught me running around with you again, that he would send them to your father. I was waiting for his attention to cool down enough that I might be able to get away with meeting up with you. This wasn’t something I wanted to do over the phone, Violet. But let’s not forget how he had someone following me for weeks.”
Violet snapped back at the sudden heat in Kaz’s tone. “I—”
“Weeks,” he repeated sharply. “And obviously, by the looks of those last few, we can safely fucking assume I get so entirely distracted by you that I don’t even notice when someone is photographing me from outside my goddamn home!”
“Don’t blame me. It wasn’t just me.”
Kaz let out a short, dry laugh. “Oh, Violet. I don’t blame you for very damn much. Some things, yes, but not this mess.”
Violet wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but his posture softened and that calm mask fell away. He was in no better shape than her, and that left her lost.
Because she was okay to panic.
Kaz would stay calm.
She could rage.
He wouldn’t.
This wasn’t right at all.
“I’m sorry,” Violet said.
“God, for what?” Kaz asked.
“I don’t know. Assuming, I guess.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Violet wrapped an arm around her middle, feeling like she just needed to hold herself together in a different way or she was going to fall apart all over the fucking floor. “But you do blame me for something.”
Kaz shook his head, letting out a hard breath. “Don’t do that, either.”
“Well, you said it.”
“You’re looking into something that’s not there—seeing it all wrong.”
“You said it!”
Kaz crossed the space between them in a flash, grabbing her waist with one hand, her jaw with the other, and pulling her close. With no warning, he closed that little bit of distance too, kissing her hard and fast, letting her find that familiar heat of his and how it soothed her like nothing else.
Violet sucked in a ragged breath when Kaz finally pulled away, rested his forehead to hers, and stroked her cheek with his thumb.
“I don’t blame you for this mess,” he said again, his tone much softer than she’d heard him speak before.
And maybe she knew it then …
What Vera had meant on the doorstep.
It was … like that for them.
“I blame you for being you,” Kaz murmured. “And who you are made it so easy for me to love you. And I blame you entirely for that.”
Violet felt a sliver of wetness escape from the corner of her eye, but Kaz quickly swiped it away with the next stroke of his thumb.
“You shouldn’t cry when someone tells you they love you,” he said.
“Should you cry if you’re just figuring out that you love them, too?”
Kaz smiled. “I don’t know. I’ve never been here before.”
“Yeah, me either.”
She still wasn’t sure if it was going to end well for them.
And that colored everything that should have been beautiful a little black.