Violet was Going to Jail
She pulled into her driveway close to midnight. Pissed that she’d told Gio she’d be home hours ago, but like with his job, what they planned wasn’t always what happened. She narrowed her eyes as a massive shadow stepped off her porch. Once the figure was close enough to catch in her headlights, she felt the rage prickling beneath her skin.
Motherfucker knew better. She reached into the back and pulled the wooden bat from the floorboard. She kicked off her high heels and jumped out of her car. Ronald Canne stood in front of her car with his thick arms crossed over his chest. His belly rounder than the last time she saw him.
“I know you better have a damn good excuse for being on my doorstep.” She pointed the bat in his direction.
“Now, is that any way to greet your father, half-pint?”
“My so-called father would know I’d beat his ass down on my lawn if he showed up without calling.”
“Lettie, I need a place to crash.”
She snarled at the use of the stupid nickname.
“Plenty of shelters around, fucking find one.”
He moved closer, and she took the bat in both hands, not too tight, just enough of a grip to get a nice arc on it.
“Need to find my daughter-in-law. She knew how a man needed to be treated.”
“You ain’t finding her, old man, I made sure none of y’all could get your hands on her, especially Clem.” There was no way she’d let them anywhere near Peggy. Peggy had been so beaten down by the time she’d helped the woman escape that Peggy barely knew if she could use the bathroom without asking permission. Peggy wouldn’t even look her in the eyes for fear of getting hit. That wasn’t going to happen again on her watch. “You want to get off my property in one piece, or I’ll kneecap you and drag you to the curb.”
“You think you have it in you? Think you can take me and him?” Ronald pointed to her left, and another mass stepped out of the darkness.
“We ain’t been around to keep you tough. Got soft, girl.” Clem spoke from where he stood about six feet from her.
Fucking great. She rolled her eyes.
Clem looked her up and down in her silky dress, and she knew what he saw when he looked at her. Women were useless outside the bedroom or taking care of the men. It was one of the reasons she’d fought them so hard growing up. She’d even worked to be tougher than her mom who she knew had a body count to go along with her vicious reputation.
She’d taken on all four of her brothers at once and walked away, two on one were way better odds. She took a step back.
Rule one: keep them off her back.
They liked to go for the throat. She darted a glance at Gio’s and saw all the lights were off. On her own, at least the odds were in her favor.
Ronald lunged in her direction, and she ran around the back of her car. The empty yard to her back. She swung the bat, and it came across the side of Ronald’s left knee. He went down with a shout, but she’d been too distracted by him. Clem’s thick arms came around her, trapping her’s against her chest, and she threw her head back, connected with his nose. She felt a sense of satisfaction when she heard the crunch and knew she’d broken it.
“What the fuck is going on here,” Gio’s voice boomed. “You better put her down right now.”
Clem surprisingly did what was ordered, and she slammed the end of the bat into his gut, bending him in half. She turned to find Gio, Renz, Sal, and Montes seething in the porch light.
“Why are you having a brawl on our front lawn?”
“What brawl?” she asked sweetly and elbowed her oldest brother in the face, listening to the satisfying crunch.
“Violet,” he shouted her name sharply.
Oh, how she loved that tone of his voice. It meant rage sex. She loved rage sex.
“This bitch tried to kneecap me,” Ronald complained from the ground.
“Violet, please, come here.”
“Yes, Gio,” she answered sweetly, and as she passed her father, she kicked the fucker in the face.
“Violet.”
“I don’t know why you yell at her, Gio, your girl does whatever the fuck she wants.”
She snorted at Sal as the man rolled his eyes, then the big man winked at her.
“Now, explain.”
“Ronald, male contributor to my DNA thought he’d crash at my place. Sibling thought he’d probably get his punching bag of an ex-wife back. Two against one are a lot better odds than I had as a kid. Normally all four of my brothers stomped me into the ground.”
There was an echoing of deep, dangerous rumbles coming from Gio and his brothers. “Oh shit, I took care of it. See, they’re down. No need to get in trouble.” They all loved their jobs. No way in hell she would ruin something they’d wanted to do their entire lives.
Montes spoke up, “They did get their asses kicked by a cute little munchkin.”
“Fuck you, man, I’m short, but I’m vicious.”
“Renz, take Violet inside while we take care of the trash.”
“Aw, Gio, come on, I was looking forward to taking the trash broken and bloody to the curb.”
“You’ll go inside and get comfortable. You had a late night.”
She couldn’t believe she was agreeing after he hugged her to his side and kissed the top of her head. “Fine, I’m keeping my bat though.”
“I wouldn’t even dream of taking it away. You did look awful sexy using that damn thing.”
“You watched?”
“As much as I wanted to step in, I trust you to protect yourself, and I had a feeling about who they were. If I thought for a second, they’d hurt you in anyway—”
“Thanks for letting me handle it.”
She loved that he let her take care of her own shit. He didn’t try to step in and take over. If she wanted to be alone at her place, he gave her the space she needed. Same with him, if he wanted to go out with his brothers and friends, she never stopped him. They were dating, but they weren’t each other’s parole officers.
“Violet, you were taking care of yourself a helluva lot longer than I’ve been around. I love you and trust you to know what you can and can’t handle.”
She leaned into his side and stroked her fingertips down his cotton covered abs, lower until they danced over the fly of his jeans.
“You’re awful sexy when you let me kick some ass. I’ll reward you later.”
All the brothers snorted, and she let Renz take her inside.
“That fucking bitch, she won’t always have you watching her fat—”
“You’re talking about my future wife and their future sister-in-law, you really want to take us on, old man? Especially after you already got your ass kicked by my baby girl?”
She felt that strange heating of her cheeks again, and she couldn’t help the big smile that stretched her lips.
“He must really like me.” She looked up at a smiling Renz.
“You could say that, Violet.”
“No one has ever liked me before.”
“Too bad, because we all love you. You’re family.”
“I’ve never had one of those either.”
“Go on upstairs and take a shower, get into your comfortable clothes. Your man will want to make sure you’re all right when he comes in.”
She nodded and didn’t know how to respond. She’d been alone most of her life. Barely tolerated. She walked upstairs to Gio’s, well, their bedroom. It had been hers for the last month. Everything at her place was pretty much moved over since all she owned were her clothes and her sex toys. Even some of those had made it to Gio’s place.
Entering the bathroom, she didn’t bother turning on the lights. A nightlight glowed over the sink, and she turned on the shower and stripped. She let out a long sigh as she stepped beneath the scalding water. Her thoughts turned chaotic, and for the first time in months, the doubts assailed her with what ifs. She knew Gio wanted her. Told her plenty of times, but would that still be the case months down the road—years? The secret she was keeping from him didn’t help. She hadn’t been scared about much, if anything in her life, but what she needed to tell him would probably end them.
She scrubbed herself down and then stepped out of the stall. As she dried herself, she heard Gio and his brothers talking downstairs. She did owe her knight in turnout gear a reward. She grinned to herself as she went to prepare. If all she got was one more night, she was going to make sure she made the best of it.