“Welcome, ladies,” I say when I stop in front of them. I make eye contact with Violet’s turbulent gray ones. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Is this,” she begins in a hushed voice, her eyes shifting left and right before returning to me. “What is this?”
“It’s a bachelor party,” I say with a cringe. “One of my best friends from high school is getting married, and this isn’t something I could really say ‘no’ to, you know?”
She nods slowly, looking around the wildly decorated barn interior. Among the various sizes, shapes, and positions of blow-up dolls that are dotted throughout the room, there are balloons made from condoms, an ice sculpture of a busty naked woman, and a service staff of girls that look like Playboy bunnies. It’s any man’s waking fantasy.
I can see by the shock on her face that this is hardly what Violet, Sex Addict was expecting.
“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. I was afraid you wouldn’t come. And I really, really needed you to be here.”
Her eyes finally make their way back to mine, and she smiles tentatively. “No, it’s fine. I can see why this kind of thing would be hard for you. So I’m fine. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
She takes a deep breath and nods. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
I glance over her shoulder at the wide, exhilarated eyes of her friend. “Is she gonna be okay?”
Violet glances back as well, then shrugs at me. “I sure hope so.”
Just as I’m about to escort them to the bar, one of Jake’s friends whose name I can’t remember makes a lunge for Tia.
“Hey,” he slurs, righting himself and petting her arm like his favorite fur jacket, “are you one of the strippers? Holy shit, I hope so. There’s nothing that would make this night more perfect than seeing your luscious tits and those long—”
“Stop right there, man,” I say to him, tugging him back from Tia, “these are my guests. They’re not the entertainment. Take your drunken pawing somewhere else, all right?”
He turns bleary eyes on me. “Hey, who asked you? I was talking to the lllady.”
“No, you were about to get the piss slapped out of you. Do you really think she looks interested in talking to you?”
The guy slowly turns his head from me to Tia, back to me, and then back to Tia again.
“Damn, I’m sorry,” he says, stumbling forward as if to hug her.
“That’s enough, dude. Time for you to go find someone else to talk to,” I tell him, grabbing his upper arm.
He stumbles, knocking Violet, Sex Addict into my arms. The shock I feel at the contact ricochets through me, taking me by surprise. Inadvertently, I pause, giving the other guy just the edge he needs.
“Mind your own business, ass**le,” he mumbles, wheeling around and swinging his right arm in the wide arc of a backhand aimed at my head. I duck it easily, but I don’t move quickly enough to catch the left-handed follow-through. The one that catches Violet right in the side of the head.
A surge of violence rips through me when I feel her slam into me. I see red, and am all but ready to tear this guy’s throat out when Violet, Sex Addict straightens away from me and addresses the ass**le.
“What’s your name?” she asks loudly, moving out of the line of fire, yet close enough to be face-to-face with the drunken shit-for-brains.
At first, he doesn’t answer. I’m sure adrenaline is pumping through his veins, and this wasn’t what he was expecting after throwing the first punch. He watches Violet for several seconds with a confused expression before he finally answers, “Gary.”
“Gary,” Violet begins with a calm, reasonable voice. “While I’m sure Tia is flattered by your . . . compliments, she’s got a fiancé whom she loves very much. We came here to visit our friend, Jet, and that’s what we’d like to do now. I’d be forever grateful if you could point me in the direction of the bar so I could get some ice for this,” she says, smiling as she points to the side of her head.
Gary responds immediately. “Did I hit you? I swear to God I didn’t meant to hit you. I was aiming for this—”
Before he can get all belligerent again, Violet interrupts in her soothing way. “I know you didn’t, Gary. I’m fine. I’d just like to get a little ice. Now,” she says, gently taking his arm and turning him away from us to face into the room, “could you point it out to me, please?”
Wobbling unsteadily on his feet, Gary points in the direction of the bar that sits a few feet from the back wall. It’s impossible to miss as soon as you walk in, and I’m sure Violet didn’t miss it. It’s just serving her purpose very well right now to let Gary help her.
Violet smiles up at him, patting his arm like he’s a wayward child. “Thank you, Gary. Now, it looks like someone over there is trying to get your attention.” She nods toward a group of guys pointing at Gary and laughing.
“Heyyy, Todd!” Gary exclaims loudly, throwing his arm into the air in greeting. He lumbers off and, just like that, the crisis is averted.
When Violet turns back to me, she looks cool as a cucumber.
“Damn, that was impressive,” I observe.
She shrugs, but even in the low light, I can see the pink stain enter her cheeks. “It was no big deal.”
Before I can give it a second thought, I reach up to stroke one satiny side of her face. “Maybe not to you . . .”
She stares up into my eyes and, for a second, we’re just two people who are incredibly attracted to one another. We’re not addicts or posers, or liars or cheaters. We’re not people with issues or those who keep secrets. We’re just a guy and a girl who feel an undeniable chemistry.
But then, as I watch, her carefully constructed cool, unaffected exterior drops down like a protective blanket, reminding me of how I’m supposed to be behaving—like someone who’s not trying to get her into my bed.
“Sorry,” I whisper, not totally insincerely. I take a step back from Violet, giving her the space she needs before she asks for it, and I take her hand. “Come on. Let’s get you some ice.”
“Really, it’s not—” she begins, only to be interrupted by her lively friend.
“Holy shit, Vi! You took that punch like a champ!”
“Thanks, Tia. That’s something I’ve always wanted to hear.”
Someone calls out to Tia and she stops, looking around for the face that goes with the voice. It’s evident the moment she spots the owner that he is familiar to her. Her face lights up and she squeals, “Annndy!” and then takes off across the room toward yet another guy that I don’t know.