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Following her lead, I stand, and grasp her elbow “Why don’t you let me help you?”

“Don’t touch me!” She smacks my hand away “I don’t want your help”

Butterson puts his conversation with the bottle-blonde on hold He takes in the scene, assessing it the sa near her arm “Vi? Are you okay?”

I don’t care if he’s suspicious This is the first time I’ve seen Violet since I stopped by her house last week Butterson fucked it up fornow I need to talk to her without an audience There’s never been a Waters Hat Trick It’s a farce—an unsubstantiated, overblown rumor—much like the majority of what the media says about me None of what she’s seen and heard is accurate Not really If I don’t clear things up, it’s going to blow my chances with her—if it hasn’t already

Violet clears her throat and speaks carefully “I don’t feel well Ithis close to Waters”

So to kick my ass if he finds out what happened That’s cool I’ll take the beating I did sleep with his stepsister If I can set the record straight with Violet, it’ll be totally worth it

“If you’ll excuse me—” Violet shoves her way past me

Taking opportunity where I can get it, I follow, hoping to explain Violet is much smaller, and fast, so she slips between people in a way I can’t without bowling them over

Butterson grabs my arm “What the hell did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything Kirk was running his ood”

“I don’t knohat’s going on or why you’re so damn interested in my sister, but you need to leave her the fuck alone” Butterson goes after her

Violet’s halfway across the bar, heading for the door If I’d pulled her aside earlier we could have avoided this whole thing

Darren hands me my jacket “I’ll catch a ride with you”

I’ured it out what happened with Violet, even withouthim

We head for the exit “Do you think he knows?”

“What are youabout?”

It’s too loud in the bar; Darren can’t hearOutside the bar, Butterson is on the sideith his phone to his ear “Don’t puke in the cab Call et home”

“Is everything okay?” Darren savesquestions

“Fuck no Everything’s not okay What was Kirk saying to her, anyway?”