down the row in front of them. Ever since my confrontation in The Grind with the breathy-voiced one, I’d moved to an empty desk at the very end of the row. I didn’t need her taking scissors to my hair in the middle of class or something equally malicious.
Not that I would totally blame her. Talking my boss into banning her from the coffee shop had been surprisingly easy, and it seemed that the story was circulating campus. From what my co-worker Levi had told me, the tale made me sound like an avenging angel, while it made the gossiper sound like a catty bitch.
Which, of course, she was.
Once Dr. Humphrey dismissed us almost an hour later, I made a beeline for Violet. She was still sitting at her desk, waiting for the rest of the students to file out before making her way down the stairs and out of the lecture hall, as was her habit. Her head was bowed, her crazy long blonde hair falling across her face as she highlighted passages in a textbook.
Leaning against the empty desk next to hers, I said, “I’m glad to see you’re all right.” Her head shot up and her cheeks immediately brightened. “I was starting to get worried.”
Violet tugged her curtain of hair over her shoulder and twisted it in her hands. “Oh, yeah. I’m good. Just a silly cold.”
So, she was sticking with her being sick story. Okay.
“I’m glad to hear it. How is your brother?” Though I didn’t feel particularly concerned about Bodie one way or the other, I figured asking was the polite thing to do.
“He’s okay. None of his injuries were serious, thankfully. He’s more concerned about whether he’s going to end up in jail.”
I couldn’t say I was sorry to hear that. He’d procured GHB and convinced his friend Mark to slip an innocent girl the drug in an attempt to set Tristin up. He would have succeeded, too, if I—with the help of Leo and several of his football buddies—hadn’t figured out what really happened.
“For the record, none of the Sharpe brothers were responsible for his accident.” I didn’t care about her brother, but I did care about Violet. After her history with the Sharpes, she shouldn’t have to worry about them trying to cause her even more pain.
“Oh, I know,” she replied quickly. “There’s no mistaking any of those guys for a woman.”
“What do you mean?”
“A business across the street from the Backwoods Tavern has video from that night showing it was a woman. She was wearing a hoodie, so they can’t identify her, but I guess the form was definitely female.” She tilted her head. “You didn’t know?”
“No.” I couldn’t believe Leo hadn’t told me. “Do you have any idea who it could be?”
“Not really. My brother is a bit of a player, so my first guess was a woman scorned. But, who knows? As you’ve already gathered, he’s fairly adept at pissing people off.”
She had a point. He’d come after Tristin in public twice before changing tactics. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to discover he’d made a few other enemies along the way.
Still, the timing felt a little too convenient. Maybe Hadley, the girl who had been drugged, had gone after him. Or one of her sorority sisters. I wouldn’t blame them.
“Well, I should get going. Are you still up for a girls’ night at Petra’s?” We’d discussed it at the football game before everything went to hell but had never made definitive plans.
Violet dipped her head and began twisting the cap of her highlighter. “I don’t think that’s such a great idea. I think I need to, um, take a step back.”
“From me?”
She nodded before seeming to force herself to lift her head. “I’m sorry. It’s just, this has all gotten even more complicated. And with Bodie now facing jail time for what he did, I don’t want it to look like I’m taking sides.”
Huh. First Tristin. Now Violet. I was going to have to start wearing a protective mask, if rejection continued to slap me across the face.
But if she needed space, I could give it to her. I understood the need to withdraw better than most. I’d done it for eight years, after all. And she was right about our budding friendship being complicated—it had been from the beginning.
“Okay. I get it.” I pushed up from the desk I was leaning against. “You should still go to study group, though. I don’t mind skipping it. I prefer