Page 95 of Come Back to Me

“What? You’re freaking me out.”

“I had my shift at the store before I got here. I thought it was a normal day until Laura and I had a one-on-one conversation. She promoted me to assistant manager!”

“Holy shit! That’s amazing, Vi. I knew you’d be assistant manager one day. I can’t wait to see the things you do with and at the store. You’ve been working your ass off for years. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thank you. I was going to text you about it, but I wanted to tell you in-person. I hope it was okay that I told you in general. I missed being able to talk to you about these things.”

“Same here, and it’s more than okay.”

Violet and I stand up, facing each other.

She looks deep into my eyes as a big smile lights up her beautiful face. “Thank you for believing in me and supporting me, even when we weren’t on speaking terms.”

“Always.” I change the subject. “Thank you for keeping aneye on me through Noah. I know how angry I was when I found out about that, but I’m grateful that you still cared about me enough to ask my best friend how I was doing and what I was up to.”

“I never stopped caring about you, Gray.”

I never stopped caring about you, Angel.

“Thank you.”

That’s what came out of your mouth? This is why you’re captain of The Idiot Club.

A small smile appears on her face. “You’re welcome.”

“We should head over to the Stingray House. Noah, Xander, Dani, and Bella will most likely beat us there, which isn’t a big deal. Did you and Willow drive here together or separately?”

“Do you know where she went?”

“I’ll call her. One sec.” She picks up her phone, dialing a number and putting it on speaker.

Violet hangs up on Willow, sliding her phone back inside her purse and zipping it shut. “She followed our friends to the party at Stingray House, so off to the party we go!”

“There’s the enthusiasm I was looking for.”

Violet lightly shoves my shoulder with her own and gives me an annoyed look. “You’re a pain in my ass, Becker.”

We walk over to the entrance doors to the arena and make it to our vehicles.

“I don’t know if you know where the house is, so you can follow me!” I shout.

“Yeah, I’d get lost if I didn’t follow you there!” She shouts back.

Well, I guess we’re going to a party. Let’s see how shitfaced these guys get. Nobody has to worry about that with me because I’m going to be the only well-behaved one out of the team.

Oh, how I wish I could skip this thing and go home.

now

VIOLET

After I was promoted at Sweet & Salty, Grayson was the first person I told.

He was the first person I told everything to, whether it was good or bad. There’s this energy that surrounded him, which made him so easy to talk to. He still has that same energy today.

I follow Grayson to the Stingrays’ Basketball House, which is chaotic to say the least. Cars are flooding the streets, and people are hanging out in front of the house.

There’s a space in front of the garage where he pulls into.