Violet Chain (7 page)

The last time I saw Violet it was Thursday and I was as happy as a lark. Then Friday came and I was miserable. By Saturday, I was a complete mess.  I had become obsessed with staring at her pictures on my cell, obsessed with thinking about her. I had never had a woman completely take over my thoughts, my mind—my complete existence.

Saturdays were not normal work days, but we had the grand opening of the new mall tonight downtown, so I was busy tying up loose ends.

“Chain,” David said as he walked into my office.

“What are you doing here on a Saturday,” I responded as I slid my thumb across the screen of my cell, staring at the pictures of Violet. One flashed across the screen of her and me and I couldn’t help but smile. We sure made a nice-looking couple!

David exhaled loudly as he plopped down on the chair in front of my desk. I could tell by his expression something was bothering him, so I put my cell down and leaned forward, giving him my complete attention.

He cleared his throat, before saying, “I need to talk to you about something.”

“About what?”

“Phillip.”

I leaned back on my chair. “What about Phillip?”

“Last night, he attacked Violet,” he blurted out.

The anger began to rise inside of me. “What the fuck do you mean he attacked Violet?”

“Callie and I were dancing and when we walked back to the table, Violet and Phillip were gone. We figured they stepped out to get some air or something. When I walked outside, Phillip had her pinned against the wall, his hands were under her dress and I could tell he was forcing himself on her,” David mumbled.

“What was Phillip doing with Violet anyways?”

“Callie invited her out with us.”

My body was trembling, the anger raging deep inside.  I slowly inhaled, closing my eyes, trying to calm myself.  I heard David’s chair creak and opened my eyes. I could see disappointment and frustration in his eyes. “Fuck, Chain, I can’t believe Phillip did that.”

“I can. Phillip is a spoiled man child, he wants what he wants and does not care how he gets it; I hope you were able to talk some sense into him.”

“Talk? I knocked him on his ass,” David said fervently. “I really don’t want to be associated with a man like him. I’m cutting him out of my life. Do you think I’m wrong?”

“Hell no. I don’t want anything to do with him either.” I blinked my eyes as I thought about Violet. “Is Violet okay? He didn’t seriously hurt her did he?”

“She’s shaken, but seems okay. She cried the whole way home, I felt so bad.”

His comment gripped at my heart, knowing that Violet was suffering from what Phillip had done. I clenched my fists and pounded them hard on my desk. “You should have beat him till he couldn’t walk. Men like that need to be taught a lesson!”  I had the urge to strangle David for putting her in that position and what I was thinking of doing to Phillip would be deemed as homicide in the court of law.

Seeing David’s expression, he looked almost frightened by my reaction.

I snarled as I leaned across the desk. “You were yelling at me to stay away from her and you set her up with Phillip? How could you? Him of all people? If something had happened to her, it would have been your fault. I can’t believe you set her up with fucking Phillip!”

I was humiliated by the very idea that he thought that Phillip, a rapist, would be a better match for Violet than me.

“Jeez, Chain, can you give me a damn break? I feel shitty enough for what happened. I never thought Phillip would do something like that. Besides, this is Phillip’s fault, not mine, so stop blaming me.” Phillip, just his name from David’s lips made me shudder.

“Fuck you, David. This is all your fault. You didn’t protect her,” I snapped.

I was really upset. I didn’t know if it was because David had set Violet up, what Phillip did, or if it was the idea of her being with another man, all I knew was that I was really pissed off.

“Come on, Chain, don’t be an asshole, it wasn’t on purpose. I was hanging out with Phillip and Callie felt like a third wheel—” He stopped mid-sentence as a suspicious look filled his eyes. He leaned forward. “Wait, why are you so fucking worried about who Violet dates?” he asked suspiciously.
Because I like her!

“I’m not, it’s the point that you were so adamant about me staying away from her, yet you freely offered her up to Phillip. Like he’s better than me,” I retorted.

“I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?” David asked. Oh dear God, here it comes. “Chain, if I hurt your feelings, I apologize. I would never intentionally hurt you, you know that, man,” he sniffled, all misty-eyed. Are you kidding me? David, Christ!

“Let’s just talk about something else, as long as Violet is okay that’s all that matters.” I was ready to put the Phillip and Violet talk behind me. I wasn’t happy about it, but there was nothing I could do about it, was there? Besides rip Phillip’s head off his shoulders!

David leaned forward, the corners of his mouth turning up into a smile. “I was hoping you would let me bring Violet to the mall opening. Callie and I feel so bad about last night, so we wanted to make it up by taking her to the grand opening,” he said. The thought of seeing Violet again made me instantly perk up.

“I don’t mind, in fact, I think it would be a great idea for you to bring her,” I responded. I really wanted to see Violet again, I had been thinking about how I would make that possible, as I had no phone number, no address, no way of contacting her. I could go to her work, it was a public place, but I thought that might be over the top. Even being as obsessed as I had come to be with her, I was not willing to do that. Or was I? Okay, I thought about it. But the word ‘stalker’ came to mind. And the last thing I wanted Violet to think was that I was some psycho stalking her, even though in my mind I was. I had to admit I really liked this woman and since she came on to me so strong the two times we were together, I would like to believe she liked me to.

“So who is the great Chain Alexander taking?” David asked me. That was a good question. Between work and my obsession with Violet, I had completely forgotten to get a date. But I needed one, Chain Alexander never showed up to an event without a date! I picked up my cell phone and slid through my contacts. When I found the number I needed, I pressed talk, placing my cell on speaker as I placed it down on my desk. The caller answered on the first ring.

“Chain?” the woman answered, surprised.

“Sara, how are you?” I responded.

“Tara, my name is Tara!” she answered angrily. Ooh! What was with me and remembering women’s names! David burst out in laughter; I grabbed a notepad from my desk and whipped it at him. Why was this bastard always laughing at me? I cleared my throat.

“I apologize, I’m sorry, I have been working so hard lately, I’m a bit out of sorts,” I murmured, attempting to calm the conversation.

“So why are you calling?”

“I am having a grand opening for the new mall downtown and I was hoping if you weren’t busy that you could accompany me to it.”

“I would love to, what time?”

“I can pick you up at 6 sharp.”

“Okay, I will be ready and waiting,” she answered.

“I will see you tonight.” 

“Can’t wait.”

I hung up the phone and leaned back on my chair. “I’m taking Tara,” I said unenthusiastically.

Tara Micknel, supermodel, daughter of Percy Micknel, infamous retired hall of famer football player turned motivation speaker. Tara was easy on the eyes, your natural blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty. She was very charming but lacked any good sense and was a complete media whore, wanting to have her picture taken by as many paparazzi as possible. It was the only reason why she agreed to attend, because the media feasted on me. I didn’t understand why, I did nothing more interesting than the average guy. I supposed it was because I was a young millionaire who had a tendency to be surrounded by very beautiful women.

“Only you, Chain Alexander, could get a date with Tara Micknel at the last minute.” David beamed proudly.

“Yeah,” I mumbled with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” David asked.

“Oh nothing, just tired,” I told him. But that wasn’t what was bothering me, it was something entirely different and it came in the beautiful form of one Violet Townsend. I felt strange taking another woman to the event, knowing Violet would be there. I really didn’t want her to think I was interested in Tara, because I really wasn’t. The only woman I was interested in at the moment was her.

David patted my shoulder. “Okay, buddy, I’m going to go. I’ll see you tonight at the event.”

“Alright, see you there.” He waved at me and left.

I sat at my desk and of course thought of Violet, then Phillip interrupted my mind and scenarios of them together began to flash right before my eyes. I saw Phillip standing near the balcony of my apartment, and Violet walking out. They shared a passionate kiss before ripping each other’s clothes to shreds. He lifted her up, bending her the way I had when I had taken her.

Fuck! I placed my head between my hands, yanking at my hair, attempting to dismiss the sick fantasy that was beginning to overtake every sane emotion in my body.

An angry jealousy raged within me as the thought of Phillip taking Violet in a position that had been branded between us two only, in our special place, the balcony, infuriated me. I needed to release the anger that was starting to seize me. So I grabbed the first thing I saw, my cell, and hurled it in the air, watching it hit the wall, smashing into a thousand pieces.

As my temper began to simmer and I regained my calm, the harsh reality hit me. This woman was making me insane, filling every thought I had, good and bad. I stared at the shattered remains of my cell and then at the clock. If I hurried I would have time to stop by the cell store and purchase a new one. I stood up and made my way to the door; I glanced back at the remains of my cell and couldn’t help but snicker to myself. This woman Violet Townsend was turning my life upside down, bringing out emotions in me I never thought I possessed. I should be trying to get as far away from her as possible, that would be the logical and sane thing to do. But the more she made me feel, the more I wanted to be closer to her.

***

The cell phone store was pretty busy.  I took a number from the red machine near the counter then took a seat in a chair in the front.

“Chain—Chain Alexander.” I turned to the voice and walking up was Vince Townsend. He smiled before saying, “I’m Vince Townsend. We have some mutual friends.” He held out his hand. Mutual? The only friends we shared were of the female persuasion if you catch my drift.

I stood up and shook his hand. “Yeah, Vince, I know who you are. How’s it going?”

He grinned. “It’s all good, how are things going with you?”

“Can’t complain,” I said to him with a light smile.

We both sat down on the chairs next to each other. “So what are you doing here?” he asked, making conversation.

“Getting a new phone, mine went on the blink,” I murmured, letting out a light breath.

I couldn’t necessarily tell him I smashed my cell against a wall when I went into a jealous rage over his sister.

“Same. These smart phones are so fragile, real pain in the ass.” I nodded. “I’m kind of glad I ran into you, I have been wanting to ask you something,” he continued.

“What’s that?” I queried.

His eyes thinned. “How long have you been sleeping with my sister?”

Holy shit! Where the hell did that come from?

When backed up against a wall, what did I do? Deny, deny, deny.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mumbled.

“Don’t play games with me, Chain, I saw you two in the parking lot at Curtsey.”

Well wasn’t this a fine mess I had gotten myself into. This woman was proving to be more trouble than she was worth. It was one thing to have casual sex, smash my cell phone, but it was totally another to have her big brother staring at me like he was ready to smash my face in.

“Vince, I met your sister through Callie, we are just friends. She was drunk and it was raining so I took her to my car to get her out of the rain. I can assure you that we did not have sex in the parking lot.”

Technically, I was right, we didn’t. I mean, I pleasured her with my fingers but he didn’t say anything about that being off limits!

He nodded his head. “Chain, I’m not trying to bust your balls here, trust me on this. I just wanted to talk, that’s all. She’s my sister and I worry about her. Harrison really fucked her up and all I want to do is make sure you don’t do the same to her.”

“I have no intention of
fucking
your sister up, like I said, we’re friends, that’s all.” The lady at the counter called out a number; Vince and I both looked down at our slips.

Vince stood. “That’s my number. Chain, can you do me a favor and not mention this little convo between you and me to Violet?”

“I won’t tell her.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later, Chain.”

“Take it easy, man,” I responded as he walked away.

That was a close call. I leaned back in my chair with relief and thought of none other than Violet as I waited for my number to be called.