Sinners ─ B. Watts

Tell me about that song you don't like

CHAPTER 8
Las Vegas, 1950

     Violet could feel her heart pounding in her throat, the music that surrendered to the pressure of her emotions slowly coming to an end. Her warm tears couldn't extinguish everything she'd been through, yet only carry her forward until a time would eventually come when that searing pain is distant enough to forget more than she remembered. 

          "Listen," Benny spoke smoothly, the baritone of his voice reverberating through Violet's bones, "It's getting late. We both have matches tomorrow," he explained.

     The brunette cut into his statement, "You're free to go, Benny, I never asked you to stay," she lifted her eyes up to meet his, her words coming out of her mouth quickly, taking him the opportunity to finish. 

     Their bodies were only a few inches apart since the stool wasn't made for two people to sit on, but neither did anything about it. There weren't many ways someone could use to brighten up Violet's mood and Benny was certainly not the right person to try, especially with what stupid thought of kissing her twisting his mind.  

     But he was the one standing there beside her. And the whole tough act she liked to pull on whenever she was in front of a crowd was something Benny had easily noticed, which somehow caused him to develop an inexplicable wish to comfort her. 

          "I actually wanted to ask if you want to join me in my room and maybe talk about it."

          "Talk about what?" Violet's voice trailed off.

          "I don't know, maybe that song you don't like." 

     The air was so brittle it could snap. Violet could feel the fear in her chest waiting to take over. Perhaps it only wanted to protect her but there really wasn't any danger, not at all. Benny's eyes showed the kind of gentle concern her father used to have. He laid his hand lightly on her shoulder, and instead of flinching as she would usually do, Violet was soothed by it. He left his hand there and spoke with such a soft voice she felt his words calming me more by the way they were said than the actual words. It felt as if she was wrapped in a blanket of his caring. 

✩

     The young woman found herself following Benny, struck by a sense of deja vu. She remembered how two days ago she was wandering around the halls, completely lost, hoping to get some sense in his head for what he'd said in that interview and now she was willingly going with him to his room. 

          "Here we go," he said, mostly to himself, putting the keys in the hole and twisting them so the door would open. 

     Everything looked just the same as before — except for a few chess pieces and some of his black shirts laying on the ground. Violet was greeted by a pleasant sweet vanilla perfume, which reminded her of the French woman that knew Townes. It even made her question herself if she'd been there earlier, but she wasn't going to ask him. Benny let her walk in first and took care of her tiny bag and his own leather jacket.