SAVIOR

Short Story

Violet heard Christian’s motorcycle pull into her driveway and sighed. She hoped Christian would have forgotten her half-hearted agreement to accompany him to a party. After a long hard week, she just wanted to settle in for a quiet night with a glass of wine and a good movie and wondered if there was any point in telling Christian she had changed her mind about going to the party. She glanced out her front window and heard him whistle as he sauntered up her walkway, shrugging out of his jacket as he walked up with that confident swagger that was all Christian. Her heart gave a flutter as she admired his physique; those arms in that tight-fitting black shirt were yummy. “Stop it, Violet,” she scolded herself, “he’s your best friend and nothing else. Only heartache and pain lived down that road.”

Christian gave his customary knock and when she didn’t immediately answer, he shrugged impatiently. He proceeded to use his key, one she had given him months ago when he occasionally crashed at her place after one of their nights of wine, pizza, preparing for presentations, and the occasional back rub or two.

“Hey, Violet, you ready to go?” Christian asked, all the while bouncing on the balls of his feet and trying, unsuccessfully, to contain his excitement. “Motorcycle’s all gassed up and your carriage awaits milady.”

“Christian, all I really want to do is stay home tonight. It’s been a very long week finishing up that mid-season finale. Why don’t you head on over to George’s and I’ll take a rain check?”

“Come on, you promised!” Christian answered, and put on his best-kicked puppy pout. “Let’s go over for a few drinks and a little socializing, and I promise we’ll have an early night and come back here and I’ll give you one of my back rubs you love so much, my Christian McKinsey special.”

Christian knew he had her at back rub. He gave the best back rubs, he thought with a smirk.

Violet contemplated protesting a bit more, but knew she was fighting a losing battle. “Alright, but it’ll be an early night okay? “ she bartered.

“I promise, love,” Violet said with a happy punch to the air.

Violet shook her head in amusement, “Why does it matter if I go or not, why can’t you call Alan or Jack?”

“Voi, you know I hate going to anything alone and Alan is taking Mira and Lana is going with Jack,” Christian replied.

Violet shook her head “you’re impossible, you know that. It’s not like we are a couple, Christian. Just go stag, I’m sure you’ll hook up with some pretty young thing tonight.” she drawled, but her words made her heart clench and for some odd reason she wanted to take them back and put a claim on Christian herself. “Stop it, Voilet,” she told herself for the second time in less than ten minutes.

“No worries, my Voi,” Christian replied with a wink, “there’s no other girl that could ever hold a candle to you, sweetheart.”

With a heavy sigh, Violet conceded it another win to Team McKinsey and left to go get dressed.

Violet came out of her bedroom several minutes later and Christian turned around and whistled, “Hot stuff tonight Violet, guess you are in the party mood after all,” he commented, taking in her sexy outfit of tight fitting black jeans and a sparkly red tank top and her favorite bold jewelry. It was a nice change from her usual loose comfort clothes. His libido gave a wave as he continued to admire her and he had to rein in his wandering thoughts, with a “knock it off, McKinsey,” to himself, lest he embarrass himself by saying or doing something that crossed the line of their wonderful friendship. Violet was his best friend, his closest, dearest friend in the world. He didn’t want to ruin it by giving her any unwanted advances, but his heart gave a sad flutter.

Violet, blushed at his compliment, “thanks, honey, you sure know how to make a girl feel pretty.”

“You are beautiful, Christian, inside and out, and don’t you ever forget it,” and Christian walked over and gave Violet a quick crushing hug.

With a light smack to his arm, and a little bummed out that the hug wasn’t longer, those arms were a beauty to behold, after all, Violet replied, “stop McKinsey, come on, let’s go already, before I change my mind.”

“Ah Watson, admit it, you only want me for my bike, you just can’t wait to ride my motorcycle all night long,” laughed Christian as he walked over and held open the door.

“Damn straight, McKinsey, and don’t you forget it!” Violet replied, sashaying out the door.

They arrived at George’s party fifteen minutes later, which was in full swing. They made their way in through the house, saying hello to everyone along the way.

“Hang tight love, while I go get us a couple of drinks,” Christian said and Violet stopped to talk to some of the other guests.

A few minutes later with no sign of Christian, Violet excused herself and went in search of her wayward friend. When she got to the bar, Christian, with a drink in either hand, was talking to one of George’s regular guests, a tall, beautiful, blond girl, who was wearing a very revealing short red dress. With a slight frown, Violet walked over and grabbed one of the drinks.

“Hope I’m not interrupting,” Violet remarked as she looked over at the girl, “Hello! Misty, right?”

“It’s Missy,” the young girl replied with a look of irritation, “ Hi Ms. Watson. No, not at all, I’m just telling Christian how great he looks today.”

Christian blushed, “Sorry Violet, come on, let’s find Alan and Jack, goodbye Missy.”

“Christian?” Violet said with a smirk, “She’s easy on the eyes Christian, you sure you want to look for Alan and Jack?”

Christian’s fading blush came back with a vengeance, “Stop. I’m sorry okay, she stopped me at the bar and it seemed rude not to say hello.”

“Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me, McKinsey,” Violet replied with a small laugh, “We’re not exclusive, hell we’re not even a couple.”

Christian, for some strange reason, wanted to object to that. “Violet, we may not be a couple in the strictest sense of the word, but we came to this party together, so that means we’re together tonight, and I promised you a back rub remember?”

Christian linked arms with Violet and they headed off in search of their closest friends and co-workers. The place was packed and it took forever to get through the crowd. Thirty minutes later they were relieved to finally find their friends sitting in the living room.

“Violet, you look gorgeous tonight,” said Alan’s wife Mira, and Alan, Jack and Lana, all nodded in agreement, and Jack let out a wolf whistle. Now it was Violet’s turn to blush.

Christian grabbed Violet around her waist and with a tight squeeze and a scowl said, “Knock it off Jack, this here’s my gal tonight and I don’t share.”

Jack, held up his hands in defeat, “Chill, I got all I can handle right here?” and Jack leaned over and gave Lana a quick peck on the lips.

Violet was a little shocked at Christian’s behavior. He was always very touchy-feely, but tonight he was acting very territorial, almost like she was his real date. Alan gave Christian a calculated look, and sensing Violet was getting uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation and everyone seemed to forget all about Christian’s odd behavior.

A little while later, Christian left for the kitchen to refresh their drinks, so Violet excused herself to go to the washroom. When she came back, she chatted a bit longer with Lana and Mira, but after a while noticed Christian had not returned. Thinking that sending him to the kitchen for the drinks had probably been a mistake, and since she was getting quite thirsty, she reluctantly headed out to see what the hold-up was.

When she arrived in the kitchen, she saw Christian chatting with three walker extras, including Missy. Violet sighed, and walked over to Christian.

“Christian, my drink please,” Violet was starting to get a little annoyed at having to rescue Christian every time he went for drinks.

Christian, sheepishly, passed over her drink, “Sorry Violet, I ran into Missy again with Tammy and Lisa.”

Violet nodded to the girls and turned and started to walk back out, “Christian, are you coming?”

“In a minute Christian,” Why don’t you catch back up with Mira and Lana. Tammy and Lisa were just asking me about my jacket.”

With a sigh and an eye roll, Violet left Christian surrounded by his posse.

“Suck it up Violet,” she admonished herself, “He’s not yours and he can do as he pleases. You’re just his friend and not his type anyway, so move on.” But the thought of Christian hitting it off with those girls made her feel depressed. She chugged back most of her drink and headed back to her friends.

Twenty minutes later, with no sign of Christian, Violet reluctantly decided it was time to go home. Lana, Jack, Alan and Mira were great company, but it didn’t look like she would be seeing Christian anytime soon or getting her back rub tonight. Rather than fight through the mob to the kitchen again, Violet sent a text.

Where are you?

Hey, Voi, still chatting. Be right there.

Violet read his text and waited. She gave him five more minutes grace, shrugged her shoulders in defeat and growing irritation and texted back.

Goodnight Christian, enjoy your chat.

There was no response from Christian, and with that nail in the proverbial coffin, Violet stood up and bid goodnight to Lana and Jack. Mira and Alan had already left, knocking her annoyance with Christian up another notch. Because of her last-ditch attempt to get Christian’s attention, she had missed a ride home with her friends.

A scowling Jack hugged Violet and whispered in her ear, “You want me to go and kick Christian’s a*s for you?”

“Thanks, but don’t bother Jack, Christain and I are just friends” Violet replied, “he has every right to talk to whomever he wants. I’ll just call a cab and be home before he even notices I’m gone.”

***

Violet was sitting in the backseat of the cab a few minutes later, vacillating between annoyance that she wasn’t going to get her promised back rub and relief that Christian didn’t come home with her. Tonight had been a very strange night. Violet felt like the line of their friendship was starting to blur, and that scared her. Lately, she had been thinking about Christian in a way that went beyond friendship. He meant everything to her, and she didn’t know if he had it in him to be in a long-term monogamous relationship. Violet couldn’t settle for anything less and knew that if they crossed that line, there was no going back. And besides, Christian hadn’t given her any strong indication that he wanted a romantic relationship.

Just as her thoughts started getting more morose and depressing, she looked up as they rounded a sharp turn in the road and saw headlights headed straight for them. Her last thoughts were of regret that she didn’t take a risk and take things further with Christian, when she had the chance, and she knew no more.

Meanwhile, Christian was regaling his crowd of admirers (which had doubled in size) with yet another funny story. Out of nowhere, a cold shiver went through him and Violet popped into his mind. “Oh no, Violet’s gonna kill me.” Christian glanced down at his phone to see Violet’s last text. “Oh crap, I’m so dead.” He immediately cut off his story, mid-sentence and without a word, rushed off to see if he could catch Violet before she left. He texted her as he ran,

Violet, honey, I’m so sorry, they got me talking, you know how some of these people are

You still here? Please be still here! Violet?

Violet?

Christian stopped short in the living room, Jack and Lana were just getting up and they turned to Christian with twin frowns.

“Well, well, well, look who finally came back from the bar. I ought to put you on your a*s McKinsey!” shouted an irate Lana, waving her finger under Christian’s nose.

“Dude, that was so not cool, how you treated Violet tonight,” Jack piped up.

Christian hung his head in shame. “I know, I know, number one crazy here. Do you think she’ll forgive me anytime soon? I need to go catch up to her, how long ago did she leave?” Christian asked.

“Violet caught a cab about twenty minutes ago, so she should be home by now,” Jack replied. “McKinsey, you better be prepared to do some major groveling tonight, assuming she’ll even let you in the door.”

Christian tried texting Violet again, but no response. He tried phoning her cell and her home number, but just got voicemail. “She’s probably ignoring me now,” Christian thought, although he knew he deserved every bit of Violet’s cold shoulder. He needed ask her forgiveness in person, and turn on that McKinsey charm. He tried to remember how much he had to drink and realized he’d been too caught up with storytelling and only had one drink hours ago. Good, his bike would get him there the quickest.

Fifteen minutes later, ten, if truth be told, Christian pulled into Violet’s driveway, but something seemed off. There were no inside lights on. Christian knocked and waited, but no response. He debated whether to just go home and let Violet cool off and come back tomorrow, but that cold shiver from earlier went through him again. He decided, even if he had to incur the wrath of Violet, he had to check that she was here. She was probably gone to bed and ignoring him. He gave silent thanks that he had a key and quietly let himself in.

“Violet, honey, are you here? I’m so, so sorry about tonight. I promise to make it up to you with two-foot rubs and a dozen back rubs. Please, sweetheart, just answer me so I know you’re here,” Christian entered Violet’s bedroom, but it was empty, just like the rest of her house. Violet wasn’t here. Christian’s feeling of dread intensified, so he tried calling Violet’s cell again, and got her voicemail.

Violet, sweetheart, please text me back, even if it’s to tell me to piss off. I’m at your house and you should have gotten home ahead of me. I’m starting to get really worried. I know I was a complete jerk tonight and I have a world of making it up to you.

Christian was starting to really freak out, so he called Jack.

“Jack, where did Violet say she was going, did you see her get in the taxi, she’s not here, I’m at her house, there’s no one here, where the hell is she, Jack?” Christian was in full panic mode now.

“Dude, calm down, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. I saw her get into the taxi myself, maybe it took a longer route to Violet’s house,” Jack wondered.

“No d****t, there isn’t another route between George and Voi’s. I’ve driven out to Voi’s enough times to know, where is she, Jack?”

“Wait!” Lana exclaimed, “Voilet’s not pissed at me or you, Jack. We’ll text her, she’ll answer, I’m sure.”

“That’s a great idea,” Jack remarked, “you text her and I’ll put McKinsey on speaker.”

Violet, it’s me, Lana, just checking to see where you are. McKinsey is here freaking out that you haven’t made it home yet, and to be frank, Jack and I are starting to worry too. Can you text me back please, just for mine and Jack’s piece of mind. I figure McKinsey can stew a little longer.

Christian wanted to object to Lana’s cruel sense of humor, but didn’t say anything. He knew he deserved it, so he just kept chewing his thumb and waited.

After about a minute with no response from Violet, Lana tried calling her cell but got her voicemail.

“Maybe she’s out of service range right now,” Lana said.

“D****t, something’s wrong with Violet, I can feel it in my gut,” Christain shouted into the phone. I’m driving back there, see if we can figure out where she might be.”

Back in the taxi, Violet woke up and blinked her eyes to clear the fogginess. She tried looking around to figure out where she was. She remembered the party, Christian being an inconsiderate asshat, and calling a taxi to go home. Then she recalled those headlights heading straight for them, then nothing. She could see the taxi was wedged in between some trees and the front windshield was smashed out. Thank goodness she had put on her seatbelt, but the driver’s seat was squished back on top of her and she was pinned in place. She tried unhooking her seatbelt, but it wouldn’t give. When she moved, pain radiated from her chest. She looked around and was overcome by dizziness and realized there was blood dripping down her face. Reaching up, she tentatively touched her forehead and her hand came away covered in blood. She looked to the front, but the driver’s seat was empty. The car’s dimming headlights filtered through the trees, and she could vaguely see an outline of a body in front of the taxi, but the driver wasn’t moving. She prayed that he was okay.

Just then, she heard her phone go off, a text, then another and another, then a call. She looked around slowly and noticed her purse peeking out from under the passenger seat, but it was too far away to reach. She tried to stretch down and grab her purse, but a vicious jolt of pain went across her chest and suddenly she had trouble breathing. She stopped and simply tried to stay still and take short breaths. The pain was so intense she couldn’t stop the tears from forming and falling.

She looked back towards the road, and could see that they had crashed down over an embankment. It was obvious that whoever had pushed them off the road, hadn’t stopped to help. Violet hoped they had left some evidence of the crash and that someone would find them soon. She had no way to gauge how much time had passed, and with a combination of pain from her head injury, blood loss from the said head wound, and the pain in her chest, Violet blissfully passed out, praying that she’d see her family, friends and especially her Christian again.

***

Christian made it back to George’s without incident and arrived to see Lana, Jack and George out in the driveway.

“Any luck contacting Violet?” Christian anxiously asked, hopping off his bike.

“Nope, and we called the taxi company and they haven’t been able to reach the cab by radio either,” Jack replied, with a growing look of worry. “We’ve called the police.”

Christian sunk to the ground in dismay, “This is all my fault, Violet’s out there God knows where….”

“Christian, stop your pity party right now. We need to wait for the police and start a search,” interjected Lana.

“I’m not waiting for the police,” Christian said, and jumped back on his bike.

“You should wait until we can set up an organized search party,” George added.

“Screw that, Violet might be hurt bad, I’m going now, not waiting,” Christain shouted over the roar of his bike. He threw on his helmet and screeched off down the road.

Christain drove down the road at a snail’s pace, hoping and praying that he’d find Violet and the taxi around the next corner, right as rain, and that this was all some giant misunderstanding. But he knew in his gut that something was very wrong. “Oh Violet where are you, come on, give me a sign, show me where you are.” Just then, as he approached one of the sharpest turns on the stretch of road, his headlight flickered off into the woods and reflected back, like it had hit something metal. Christian pulled over and shut off his bike’s motor, but kept the headlight shining off into the woods. He rummaged around in his pack until he found a small emergency flashlight and walked towards the embankment. There were car tire tracks veering off the road and down over the hill.

He sent Jack a short text,

Come find me, 5 miles from Violet’s house, on a turn. Something in the woods. Look for my bike

Christian, picked his way down the bank and walked deeper into the brush. He walked a few hundred feet further, when suddenly his flashlight reflected off of something metal. As he got closer, he could see it was a car, and raced over and shined the light into the car.

“Oh my gosh, love!”

Christian grabbed the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. He paused long enough to reach for his phone and quickly texted Jack.

I found her. I think she’s in critical condition. Her car crashed. Send help.

Christian went around to the other rear door and managed to open it enough to squeeze in. He felt for a pulse, and sighed with relief when he found one.

“honey! please open your eyes for me! Help will be here soon, Jack’s bringing help!”

Christian looked around and saw out the front window what looked to be the driver lying in the grass, not moving. An intense moment of déjà view washed over Christian when he flashed back to his own accident years ago. Shaking off the morbid memories, Christian looked back at Violet and gently touched her face, “Sweetheart, please wake up, it’s me, Christian.”

Just then, he felt her stir and she slowly opened her eyes.

“Christian?” Violet whispered slowly and raggedly, her chest on fire with every breath.

“Yes, it’s me, I’m here now, I got you love,” and he gently rubbed some of the blood away from her eyes with his sleeve. “Help will be here soon,” and as he spoke, Christian could hear the faint sounds of emergency vehicles.

“Christian, I’m glad you found me.”

“Me too Love, me too,” Christian answered, tearing up at the thought of how close he had come to losing her tonight.

Violet’s eyes started to close and Christian tried desperately to keep her awake.
“Stay awake please. I’m so sorry about ignoring you at the party. I’m such an idiot.”

Violet chuckled at his self-deprecating remarks, but unfortunately, that caused a coughing fit, and she clutched her chest and grimaced in pain. “Yes, yes you are, but you’re my idiot.”

And so softly, Christian thought he might have imagined it, he heard Violet say “I thought I wouldn’t see again, I love you, honey!” She reached out and slowly touched his lips with her fingers, but grimaced in pain, and with that she fell unconscious.

“Babe! Stay awake! Please!”

Before Christian could begin to process Violet’s confession and acknowledge that he reciprocated her feelings, he heard the sirens louder now and some shouting.
He leaned out of the car, “Help, down here, we’re down here!”

All at once, emergency personnel were everywhere. They told Christian to get out of the way while they worked at getting Violet out of the wreck and asked him what happened.

“Not sure, I found them here a few minutes ago. The driver’s up front, looks like he got thrown. This is Violet Watson, a good friend of mine, and I’m Christian McKinsey. I think there’s something wrong with her breathing. She looked in a lot of pain when she coughed. She woke up for a minute, talked to me and seemed pretty lucid and remembered our evening together, but passed out just now.”

Christian stood by helplessly while they worked to get Violet out of the wreck. He saw them working on the driver, but it didn’t look good. He was just thankful that Violet was holding her own, he hoped.

Just then Jack came down over the embankment. “Christian, how is she?” Jack frantically asked.

“Not sure, but she did wake up and talk to me. Come on, they’ve got her out, I want to see if they’ll let me ride to the hospital with her,” and with that, Christian chased after them to the ambulance.

“Please, can I ride with her?” Christian begged the emergency responders.

“You are her husband or boyfriend?” replied the attendant.

Christian, thought for a second, “Sure, her boyfriend,” anything to get him in that ambulance and he shouted to Jack, “Can you get my bike back to Violet’s place for me?”

“No problem, Lana and I will meet you at the hospital shortly.”

Violet didn’t wake up again during the ride to the hospital, but Christian was glad just to sit there by her side holding her hand. It felt like the longest ride ever for Christian, and then Violet was gone, whisked away to emergency and Christian had no choice but to wait. He paced and paced and chewed his ragged thumbnail raw. What felt like an eternity later, but was probably only twenty to thirty minutes, Lana, Jack and George arrived.

“Any news? asked Lana, who looked worried to death about her friend.

“Nothing, not a damn thing yet, what’s taking so long?” Christian raged.

“I’ll go see if I can find out anything,” George responded, rushing off to the nurses’ station.

He came back five minutes later, looking worried.

“She’s gone into surgery, she’s got a collapsed lung and concussion”

Christian’s legs gave way and Jack and Lana led him over to the nearest chair.

“This is all my fault,” and Christian broke down sobbing.

“Christian! Violet needs you to be strong right now. I’m sure we can all kick your sorry a*s after she’s okay. Come on, snap out of it,” and Jack gave Christian a soft smack on the shoulder.

Christian stared at Jack and slowly calmed down and started chewing on his thumb again as the minutes dragged on. After about the longest hour and a half of Christian’s life, the surgeon stepped out of the OR.

“Are you family of Violet Watson?” asked the surgeon.

“As good as,” replied Christian, as they all rushed over, “How is she?” “Can we see her?”

“She’s in recovery. She had a collapsed lung and three broken ribs. She has an ugly concussion and some bruising on her legs, but I expect a full recovery. You can go in one at a time, but no guarantees that she’ll be awake,” added the surgeon and he left.

Christian started to head towards the recovery room when he felt a hand grab him, it was Lana, “Tell Violet we love her and we’ll see her tomorrow. Something tells me that once you get in there Christian, nothing sort of an earthquake is gonna root you out of that room,” Lana said as she gave Christian a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. She leaned in and whispered, “I think you should confess to her how you truly feel about her. Don’t waste any more time,” and with a wink, Lana released him and pushed Christian towards the recovery room.

Christian slowly walked towards the bed and when he saw Violet, it took every bit of willpower not to break down again. Violet’s whole left side of her face was one giant bruise. Her forehead was bandaged and he could see bandages peeking out of the top of her hospital gown. He sunk into the chair next to her bed and grabbed her hand. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He leaned over and rested his head on the side of the bed. Now that the adrenaline rush was gone, he fell into an exhausted and fitful sleep, never once letting go of her hand.

A few hours later, a groggy Violet opened her eyes and after a moment of disorientation looked around and realized she was in a hospital. Her hand, however, was stuck by something. She looked down and there he was, her Christian, sleeping with her hand grasped tightly and little worry lines creasing his forehead as he slept. She slowly tried to extricate her hand from his, but Christian wouldn’t let go and awoke and jumped up with a start and then it was teary blue eyes meeting teary blue eyes.

“Oh love! My gosh, how are you? Are you in any pain? Should I get the nurse? Doctor? I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! I was a total jerk tonight! I ……”

“Stop Christian, please, stop beating yourself up. Maybe you were a little, but I chose to go home early and the accident was the fault of some little a*s who lost control of their vehicle and didn’t stop to help us. How is the cab driver? He was thrown out of the car? Did he make it?”

“He’s in bad shape, but I think he’s gonna pull through,” Christian replied sadly.

“Oh Christian, If I hadn’t of called for a cab…..”

Christian cut her off “Now stop right there Violet, if I’m not to blame for that accident then neither are you and don’t let me hear another word about it.”

“What about Jack and Lana? George? Do they know what happened ? How did you find me?” Violet fired off questions to him before Christian could even formulate a reply to the first one.

“Jack, Lana, and George were here earlier. They went home because you were only allowed one visitor and they knew I wouldn’t be going anywhere. They said they’d be back to check on you first thing this morning. I don’t exactly know where to start. I was still at the bar when I got this weird shiver go through me. I saw your texts and when I couldn’t reach you by phone, I just assumed you were ignoring me and I totally deserved that if you had been, by the way. But when Lana’s texts and calls went unanswered, I knew something was very wrong. There was no way you would ignore all those frantic messages, just to get back at my sorry a*s. I only had one drink, so I rushed to your place, but it was empty. I called Jack when there was no sign of you and rushed back to George’s. Jack had called the cab company, but they couldn’t reach their driver. I took off before the police could get there and I found you in the woods. I called Jack, who had called for help, and here we are.”

Violet gave his hand a squeeze and before she could make a comment Christian started again.

“Oh honey, I was terrified when I saw you stuck in that car, not moving,” Christian admitted, and he bent his head onto her stomach.

“Shush, sweetheart, stop, Christian, look at me, I’m fine, a little banged up, but I’ll be as good as new in no time.”

Christian looked up and swiped at his eyes, “Violet, I need you to know something. When I thought I’d lost you tonight, I realized something. I’d been in denial for, for a long time now. I think everybody else knew it but me, and I guess maybe you. I love you, Violet. You mean the world to me, but I want you in my life, always. I just hope you feel a little bit of romantic feelings towards me and that you might want to put up with my sorry a*s.”

Violet stared at Christian in shock, not expecting him to return her feelings, “Christian, I-”

“Violet, it’s okay, I understand, it doesn’t matter, we can stick to just being friends.” Christian dejectedly dropped his head, breaking eye contact with her, “Let’s just get you well and back on your feet and there’ll be a dozen back rubs and foot rubs waiting for you, just say the word.”

“Christian, for goodness’s sake, let me speak, before you jump to a thousand wrong conclusions. Didn’t you hear me confess my feelings to you in the cab. I liked you first remember.” Violet jerked his head up. “I love you and nobody is going to kick your sorry a*s but me, are we clear?” Violet added with a smirk.

Christian jumped up ecstatically and attempted to hug Violet, but when she gasped in pain, Christian started apologizing once again. Violet gave him a gentle smack upside of the head and with another smirk, drew Christian down and gave him a gentle kiss on the mouth and whispered, “Watch it, I got stitches.”