Chapter 19
After dropping Joey off at his house, Danni and Violet took off down the road.
Suddenly one very important question popped into Violet’s head and she
turned to look at Danni.
“Where am I going to stay? I cannot believe I overlooked something as
important as that.”
“Vi, relax. Do you honestly think I’d let you come back here with
no place to stay?”
“So, then where are you taking me? Where am I staying?”
Danni just looked at Violet and smiled. “Home.”
Pulling up to the large brick building, a smile formed on Violet’s face.
“home.” She whispered, and for the first time in two years, it actually
felt like it. Going up to the apartment, Violet glanced around the place. “I
can’t believe you still live here.”
“Of course I do, Vi. This was a big part of my life, and you were a bigger
part. I couldn’t let that go. Although, when they took you away, it was
so empty. But you’re home now. And I wasn’t expecting a baby, so
there isn’t anything here for her, besides what you brought I mean.”
“Well the truck will be here in a few days. I’m sure we can manage
until then.” Walking down the short hallway, Violet took a deep breath
then entered her old bedroom, one filled with so many memories. Laying down
the sleeping toddler on the bed, Violet walked over to the window on the left
of the bedroom. Visions of her last night in this room clouded her mind, and
it all came back to her.
~Flashback~
“What are you doing here?” Violet asked wearily. She knew that at
any moment her life could be in jeopardy yet again, if it wasn’t since
the moment she opened the door.
“Don’t you remember, Vi?” Slowly walking towards her, Ben’s
voice became very low as he spoke those two lines that gave her nightmares for
years. “You can run all you want, but I will always find you.”
“How?” Her voice was a mere whisper. Never had she thought he would
actually find her again. Yes, she had feared for two years he would look for
her until he had found her and made her life a living hell, but she didn’t
think it would actually come to be.
“You forget Violet. I’m very disappointed in you. Don’t you
remember that I have my connections? You’ve hidden yourself pretty well
this time, I must admit though. And for that I give you credit. But that gets
thrown right out the fucking window when I stop to think about how you made
me search for your ass for six years, all the while running from the goddamn
police!” He yelling caused Violet to jump. She could feel the tears threatening
to fall and prayed he would just get this over with as fast as possible. But
nothing ever goes the way you wish it to, does it?
“No one made you come after me! You did that all by yourself and you’ll
be wishing they had caught you back then when I get through with you now.”
“No!” Running up to Violet, Ben grabbed a hold of her arm, squeezing
it tight causing her more pain than she could ever remember, both physical and
mental. The last thing she had ever wanted, or needed was for him to touch her
again. And with the touch, brought back millions of memories of the times he
felt her, he hit her, he tried raping her when she begged him to stop. “You
made me come after you when I didn’t finish putting you through the hell
I was put through!”
“You put yourself through that hell!” Suddenly getting a rush of
courage, Violet finally stood up to him. “I never asked to meet you! I
never asked to be tortured the way you had tortured me! And I certainly did
not ask to be put in the fucking hospital for 3 weeks because you weren’t
enough of a man to know I would never cheat on you! Everything that we have
been through is all your fucking fault!”
Reaching back, Ben slapped violet across the face, and hard. Not once could
he remember her being so outspoken, so strongly will-powered. But her running
mouth was going to get her in more trouble than she could possibly ever dream
of. Grabbing her again and pulling her close to him, Ben pulled out his gun.
Showing it to her, he growled, “You ever raise your voice to me again
and this will be put to your head.”
Violet knew he wasn’t joking. He had taken a gun to her before. But Violet
had been lucky then. This time, she wasn’t so sure if she was to have
the same luck.
Hearing a knock at the door, Ben told Violet to be quiet if she knew what was
good for her, and then he threw her against the wall, causing her to hit the
end table as she landed.
“Not one sound!” He pointed the gun at her, and left it pointed
as he opened the door a tiny bit to see one of violet’s nosy neighbors.
As violet nursed her cut head from him throwing her against the wall and hitting
the end table, she listened to what they were speaking about. She could recognize
the voice as Mrs. Evans. The nicest old lady you could know, but if you made
too much noise at night, you were doomed.
Knowing that if she were caught she would more than likely be shot, Violet stood
up, as best as she could, and ran to her bedroom. As quietly as possible, she
shut the door and locked it. Looking around the bedroom in a rush, she tried
to find anything that could help her get out of there. But there was nothing.
She didn’t even have a phone hooked up In there and her cell phone was
out in the living room in her purse. All that was there were a bathroom door
and a window.
A window.
Running over to the window, Violet looked down. It was a two story drop. Could
she make it? She didn’t know. But as soon as she heard Ben banging on
the door and screaming for her to “open the fucking door,” she knew
she had no choice. Opening the window just in time, she jumped and plummeted
to the ground, breaking her ankle in the process.
“What the hell?” Ben said to himself, not understanding the amount
of pain this girl was going to go through just to be rid of him. But in his
mind, she was never going to be rid of him. He would always be there. There
to make her pay for all the things he had endured over the years. Raising his
gun, Ben pointed it at the figure limping away from the apartment building.
“Violet! Stop, Violet or I'm gonna shoot!” Seeing that she was in
fact getting closer to running faster than slowing down, he fired a shot at
her. Seeing that he had hit her in the arm as she rounded the corner, Ben smiled
to himself. She wouldn’t get too far with a broken ankle and a gun wound
to the shoulder. Running out of the apartment and down to outside, Ben began
chasing Violet
~End Flashback~
Shuddering as the memory faded away, Violet wasn’t so sure she could stay
here. But then she realized, Ben was dead now, he couldn’t come back to
finish what he had started so long ago. Violet was safe, and she was home with
the people she loved the most. None of that mattered anymore.
“Hey, Vi.” Danni said, coming into the room.
Turning to look at her old friend, she said, “Yeah?”
“Just wanted to let you know that I’m going to bed. It’s late
and I gotta get back to work tomorrow afternoon.”
“Ok.”
Before leaving, Danni smiled at her. “By the way, welcome home.”
“Thanks, D.” Violet gave her a warm smile before turning back to
the window and looking down at the grass below her. She saw herself lying there,
two years ago with a broken ankle. Closing her eyes and shaking the vision out
of her head, Violet got ready for bed and lay down next to the sleeping baby.
“We’re gonna make it Blaire.” Violet whispered to her baby
girl before drifting off to sleep herself.
~*~
A week later, Violet was all settled back into the apartment. She had decided
to go for a run and found herself somehow in downtown Los Angeles. Walking down
the street, she came face to face with her old business. Seeing the windows
and the front door boarded up brought tears to her eyes. She loved that place.
At least they hadn’t sold it to anyone, which would have been much worse.
Shaking her head at her lost past, Violet turned around and ran back the other
way. Deciding to make a stop before returning to the apartment, Violet turned
down a side street and began jogging again. She felt bad for leaving Blaire
with Danni, but she had assured Violet it was alright, take as long as she needed.
She needed to get out. She needed to get a feel for LA again after being gone
for two years, two years too long. Although, she still wasn’t sure how
she felt about being back yet.
Sure, violet missed LA a lot, along with everything she’d had to leave
behind. Her club, her friends, a man she cared about more than anything, and
someone she was pretty sure was the love of her life. How do you just go back
to that so easily? They all though she was dead, she wished she were dead. How
could Violet exactly show up on her best friend’s doorstep a little over
two years later, and just say, “surprise, I’m alive!”? Not
to mention the fact that he could very well be the father of her child. Oh this
was going to be a nightmare in hell.
~*~
“Blaire.” Danni said in a soft tone. She was feeding her some breakfast
while Violet was out for her run. She had felt bad for leaving Danni with her
responsibility, but she had assured her it was no trouble. Blaire was a great
kid. Quiet, cute, and didn’t get into what she wasn’t suppose to,
well, most of the time. Taking a good look at the girl’s face, Danni could
see why Violet was having trouble depicting who the father was. Although she
was almost positive Blaire could not be Justin’s, Danni had to admit she
did have some of the boy’s features. His light blue eyes, his chin, and
over the past week Danni could swear her hair was lightening. But that could
also just be the sun, plus too, Violet’s mother is blonde. These features
could be from them. At the same time, a the ones Danni thought may have come
from JC could have also come from Violet’s side. The dark hair that was
a little curly, the jaw line. Just by looking at the little girl would not get
them anywhere. But Danni didn’t want to bring it up with Violet. They’d
all wait until the time came for Violet to take the paternity test.
After washing Blaire’s face, Danni set her down in Violet’s bedroom
to play with her toys. Going back to the kitchen, Danni finished cleaning up
the mess she made while making breakfast. After putting the last dish in the
dishwasher, Danni went back to the bedroom to check on the quiet youngster.
Blaire was just sitting there on the floor playing with some building blocks,
and having a great time by the looks of it. Deciding to join her, Danni sat
next to her on the floor, building up the blocks with her. While playing with
the giggling girl, Danni couldn’t help but to think of how badly she wanted
a family. Her last serious boyfriend, Mark, had left her because she couldn’t
get over her best friend’s death. Danni didn’t really care though.
Violet was the closest thing to a family member she’d had, and if he couldn’t
accept the fact that it was hard on her, then he wasn’t worth her time.
Hearing a knock on the door, Danni left Blaire with her toys once again and
went to see who would actually be up this early. It was probably one of the
neighbors. Danni was very surprised when she looked through the peep hole and,
instead of seeing one of the old lady neighbors as she planned, she saw JC standing
there, fidgeting with his feet.
Opening the door, she gave him a funny look. “You sick or something?”
Laughing, JC shook his head and walked into the apartment. “I’m
fine thanks, how are you doing?”
“I’m sorry it’s just, it’s before eleven a.m. and you’re
up, and you don’t have to work. It’s a tad bit shocking.”
JC gave Danni a disbelieving look and she laughed. “What? It’s true.”
“No, that’s not it.” He said, his eyes piercing through hers.
“OK, what is it then?”
“I cannot believe you forgot.” His voice was full of hurt as he
shook his head at the woman.
“Forgot what?” she felt completely horrible. It looked like she
just broke JC’s heart, and yet she didn’t know why. Did they have
plans or something?
“Since you and Joey were gone last weekend, we agreed to do the breakfast
thing this weekend, today.”
“Oh my god, I cannot believe I forgot that. It’s just, a lot has
happened the past couple of weeks and this breakfast was the last thing on my
mind.”
“How can you say that? She was like a sister to you.”
Just as Danni opened her mouth to speak, they heard a loud crash in the other
room, followed by a long cry. Danni immediately ran to the bedroom where the
baby was playing while JC just stood there in the living room saying, “what
the hell was that?” Curiosity got the better of him so he followed Danni
back to Violet’s old bedroom, not even thinking anything of it, just wanting
to know what was making so much noise. But as soon as he entered the room, everything
came rushing back to him like a tidal wave. He felt as though he were suffocating.
Her smell intoxicated him, he could feel her touch once again, and he felt her
presence all around him as though she were right there next to him again. All
of her possessions surrounded him and he couldn’t take it anymore, he
felt like he was going to pass out. Running out of the room, JC closed his once
he reached the living room. Taking a few deep breaths, JC tried to calm himself
as well as the churning feeling he now had in his stomach. How could just barely
stepping into her old bedroom have such an affect on him?
“JC, you alright?” Danni asked, concern hanging all over her words,
as she carried the one year old into the room.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It was just…being in that room again. It
brought back too many memories.” JC said truthfully as he looked at Danni.
“Well, that makes sense. I mean, it was your first time being in there
since she…left.” JC gave her a strange look. “Left?”
She said it like Violet had just moved away or went on vacation or something.
Oh well, JC thought. Maybe she still just couldn’t say she had died.
Shrugging it off, JC turned his attention to the little girl on the floor. “So,
since when are you a mommy?”
“What?” Danni’s face scrunched up in confusion. Laughing,
JC pointed to the girl. “Oh, that’s Blaire. I’m watching her
while her mommy takes a run.”
“Oh. ‘Cause from the looks of the bedroom, I’d say someone
moved in.” JC laughed at how preposterous that sounded. There was no way
Danni would let someone move into her, basically, sister’s old room and
kick all her stuff to the curb. But JC’s laughter stopped abruptly when
he saw the look on Danni’s face. “D, please tell me you did not
let someone move into Violet’s old room?”
“Uh, well, it’s more…moved back in.” Danni said wearily,
afraid of how JC was going to react.
“What are you talking about? It was always just you and Violet? She moved
you in.”
“Right, and now its Jasmine Chase.” Danni closed her eyes, praying
JC would catch on sooner than later.
“I don’t care if she’s the fuckin’ crown Princess of
England! You can’t let her just waltz in here and throw Violet’s
stuff to the damn curb!” Then it sunk in through all the rage JC was feeling.
“Wait; did you just say Jasmine Chase?”
Danni nodded slowly, and JC felt dizzy once again. But there was no possible
way…No. It had to be a coincidence. But then, why was Danni looking at
him that way?
Leaving Danni’s side, JC moved to sit on the floor with Blaire and began
playing with her little toys, making her laugh more.
“D?” JC said, still playing with the little girl.
“Yeah, Jace?”
“Does Blaire remind you of anyone?”
“Actually, yeah. She does.”
Sighing, JC looked straight into Danni’s eyes, making her feel like she
was about to break down at any given moment. “Danni, who is Jasmine Chase?”
It took everything in Danni to not cave in and tell JC everything that had been
going on. But it didn’t work, if the door hadn’t opened at that
exact moment, JC would know everything.
“Speak of the devil.”