Shattered

Chapter 7: Surreal

Kaden's POV

"You write so beautifully, the inside of your mind must be a terrible place." – Arya Adatya

From the moment I saw Violet the only thing at the forefront of my mind was keeping her alive. I couldn't even consider anything else after that night on the cliff. Doing that left me blinded to everything else she was. Yes, she was suicidal, but there were so many other parts of her I completely missed because I was so worried about that. I felt like an asshole for it because there was so much more to her.

Looking her up online showed she had endless amounts of accomplishments and awards to her name, including one in mathematics when she was fourteen years old. There weren't any recent pictures of her, all were from when she was younger.

Words like 'prodigy' and 'child genius' were thrown around for years until there was drastically nothing. Not one article for three years, not one picture, not anything at all. I looked into it as deep as I could but there was absolutely nothing. For three years it was as if she wasn't even on the planet anymore and then she popped up again, getting a couple short stories published before her book came out. I was more than a little desperate to know what happened in those three years she was off the grid.

Then I found out about the neighbor. Mrs. Fletcher. It actually was an accident that I bumped into Violet on my run. As worried as I was, I still didn't want to start a relationship with her and have to tell her I constantly stalked her until it happened. Yeah, that wasn't creepy. The incident with Chase was different because I was worried he would hurt her, but after that I backed off.

Backing off kept me awake because I was constantly worried what she was up to, she seemed to be a magnet for danger and it was terrifying. Then I bumped into her and even just walking around the grocery store with her was nice. I walked her home and we took everything but the whiskey to the woman who wasn't actually her direct neighbor, she was two floors down on the ground floor. She was sweet and gave us cookies while sending me curious glances and nudging Vi when she thought I wasn't looking. I liked Mrs. Fletcher.

Violet gave me a copy of her book then quickly hid inside her apartment. She was adorable. I'd spent the whole day and the next reading her book and couldn't help but feel intimidated. She was an amazing writer, clearly a genius, how the hell could I keep up with someone like her? I'd have to find a way. She was too special to let slip away. If only her walls weren't so iron-clad. My heart ached at that, wondering what made her put up those walls.

Tess and Xander decided I needed to not sit in the hotel all day reading so they forced me out for dinner. I brought the book with me but Tess snatched it away after we got sat in a restaurant, shaking her head.

"You need to focus on something else for any amount of time," she said, stuffing the book in her purse.

"How can I?" I frowned, annoyed with myself for letting her get it from me.

"She can't be your sole focus all the time, Kay. She seems like the kind of girl that likes her space and alone time," Tess pointed out.

"I can give space," I shrugged, grabbing the menu.

Xander was quiet. He never talked as much as Tess and I did but he'd been uncharacteristically quiet ever since Violet put Chase's gun to her head and told him to go ahead and shoot her. Thinking about that almost caused a shudder but I shook it off. I looked up at him and he had his arms crossed, eyes on the table.

"What's wrong, Xander?" I asked.

His eyes snapped up to mine and he sighed, shaking his head. "I'm just worried."

"About what?" I asked.

"You," he said, meeting my gaze. "And Violet. She's..." He trailed off and he didn't need to say more. We knew each other well enough at this point.