Free Violet is Blue (Hothouse series) by Tawny Stokes, Vivi Anna Page B

father was buried, turned left, then right again. My GPS system announced I had reached my destination. I parked in front of a neat little bungalow, with a flowerbed and a well-kept lawn. I hadn’t realized just how close Patrick lived to my house.
    I went up to the front door and rang the bell. I waited for a couple of minutes, but no one answered the door. So I knocked, and still there was no answer. I put my ear to the door, but couldn’t hear anyone inside. It was a nice day maybe he was in the back and couldn’t hear the doorbell.
    I went around the side of the house, and opened the gate on the fence. The yard was as immaculate as the front. Patrick must’ve done a lot of gardening. Although I just couldn’t picture it. He didn’t seem the type.
    He wasn’t in the yard, so I walked up to the back door intent on ringing the doorbell. But that’s when the dog door, which I hadn’t noticed, opened and a very large, very menacing dog came bounding out to bark at me.  I did the last thing I should’ve done, and ran.
    And of course the dog chased me.
    I ended up cowering against the back fence while the dog jumped at me and barked.
    “Max! Back off!”
    I looked past the giant black dog and saw Patrick on the back stoop, rushing toward me.
    The dog immediately sat on his backside and stopped barking. Instead his long tongue lolled out from his jaws of death, and it looked like he was smiling at me.
    Patrick grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.  “Are you all right?”
    I nodded, although I wasn’t sure I was all right. My body was shaking violently.
    “Go lie down,” he said to the dog.
    It did while Patrick led me into his house.  He sat me in a chair at the kitchen table. Then he opened a cupboard, took out a glass and poured alcohol into it. He put it in my hands.
    “Drink it.”
    I did, and nearly choked as it seared my throat.  “What the hell was that?”
    “Scotch. It should calm your nerves.”
    “It’s not working.” And I held out the glass.  He filled it half way and I drank it down.
    I didn’t choke this time, and my belly was getting warm.
    “Better?”
    I nodded.
    He sat down beside me. “You should’ve called first. I would’ve penned up Max.”
    “I didn’t know you had a dog.”
    “There is a lot you don’t know about me.”  He poured a scotch for himself and pounded it back. “Now, why are you here?”
    I stared him in the eyes. “Did you do it?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I want to know if it was you.”
    “You’ve lost me, darling.”
    “Jordan was beaten into a coma last night.”
    Patrick sat back in the chair. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “That’s horrible.”
    “Is it?”
    “Ah, I see, you think I did the beating.”
    “He trashed your car.”
    “It’s a car Violet. A piece of metal. It has little value compared to a life.”
    I looked into my cup. I felt ashamed for having thought he could do something like that. But I had to ask. Just as I had to ask even more.
    “I can’t believe you’d actually think I could do that.”
    “Have you been sending me gifts?”
    He gaped at my change in questions.  “You lost me again.”
    “My secret admirer? Are you him?”
    He rubbed a thumb over his lips. “However much I like you, I assure you that it’s not me. When I like a girl I take the direct approach.”
    I sighed.
    “This is about more than Jordan, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.”
    “Tell me about it. Maybe I can help. You can trust me.” He reached across the table and covered my hand with his.
    I looked at our joined hands. I wanted to trust him. I really did. But my gut told me he too was hiding something. He wasn’t who he pretended to be. It might’ve been something as simple as he was a bad boy underneath his suit and tie, but I couldn’t take that chance.
    I pulled my hand out from his. “Thanks. But I need to take care of this myself.”
    “You’re not having trouble at home are you?”
    I frowned. “What do you mean by