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It was aliven free rein to her bedrooes and allespecially considering they’d now been relegated to the public areas of the house only Not that she blamed her parents, really Back then, before Violet and Jay had been a couple, the worst her parents had had to worry about was howbefore dinner Or whether they were actually doing their ho around on the internet

Now there were other things they could be doing when no one atching

Either because of Violet’s injuries, or because they felt guilty about trying to force her off the teaht was different Not only was Jay in her bedroom, but the door was closed

And Violet was too hurt to make it count

Jay crossed the room to her dresser and pulled the top drawer open "I don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but you’re kind of ait onto the foot of her bed "Besides, you should probably put so the drawer closed again when he paused

Violet saw the bottle in his hand when he turned back around to face her, the transparent brown pill container he held "What’s this?" he asked, his tone serious now

She shrugged "Dr Lee gave the"

"Maybe you should take one now," he said, glancing pensively at the bottle

She thought about how fuzzy she’d felt when she’d taken them before "I don’t think so I’m finereally"

"Come on, Vi," he implored as he drew her curtains closed, his brows raised "Stop trying to be so tough Iever since I picked you up It seeht be exactly what you need" He read the handwritten label and shook one of the white caplets into his palue when he offered it to her She kneas right Her body ached and she was exhausted And the doctor had prescribed thehtstand and sed it Then she cli as she rolled onto her side, trying to get co just the light co in from between her curtains as he crossed back to her bed He tucked the covers around her before cli his body around her

As his heavy arently, she heard herself ask, "Why not under the blankets?"

His arhtened, just the barest of squeezes, and she felt his breath in her hair "Because there’s no way I’d ever be invited back if your dad caught me in the bed with you" And then his lips brushed the back of her head "Now, go to sleep, Violet"

At soer in the bed with her, even though she’d never actually heard hiotten up to leave

But, now, hours later, asapproached, she became distinctly aware of the fact that so footsteps found their way through the blackness of her bedroom, and she forced her eyes to stay shut There was the soft clink of glass on her bedside table and then the sound of pills clattering inside a plastic bottle Violet thought of the pills tucked away in her dresser drawer, the ones Jay had given her earlier, and realized she still felt hazy But the effects were beginning to wear off, if only slightly "I brought you some more Tylenol," her mother’s voice said softly "In case you need theh, and then her bed dipped

Her htly that Violet almost didn’t feel it at first "You understand e’re worried, don’t you, Vi?" she asked softly

It didn’t ainst her ; they were talking about forcing her to give up the one place she feltnor to care--or even notice--that this was a one-sided conversation "I can’t let anything else happen to you I’ve been second-guessing my decision to let you do thiswith themsince the very first day And every tihts I’ve lain awake, waiting until I heard you coain? Do you think I ever slept until I knew--for sure--that you were safe?" There was another pause, but it was brief "This," she said, her thuently to the bruise beneath Violet’s eye, "is nothing This isn’tpause, a weighted, expectant pause Violet held her breath, waiting for as coot a call that she was in a warehouse don, just like the other girl"

Her mom didn’t have to say that Casey was dead Violet understood She lay there, silentlyfor her Wishing she’d been able to find a way to stop her killer

Wishing her parents weren’t thinking of pulling her from her team

"I can’t lose you" Her mom’s voice sounded steely Deterain Violet forced herself not to groan against the disco