40. Sawyer

Chapter 40

Sawyer

My jaw tightens as I listen to Violet explain. The stress and pain on her face makes me feel like a taut wire, ready to snap. I hate that anyone hurt her. Ever. But most of all, that Elijah prick.

I hold her until she finally runs out of gas and dissolves into tears in my arms. I brush them away gently with my thumbs and look her directly in the eyes. “I’ll take care of it,” I tell her as gently as I can manage, despite the fury swirling inside me like a brewing storm.

When I’m sure she’s okay, I let Violet go and step over to the doors. Unsurprisingly, the entire staff I just dismissed is milling around outside the room, so I make eye contact with Desiree, who doesn’t look very happy with me.

“I’d like to speak to the Beaumont representative and the creative team,” I tell her. “The marketing firm that Beaumont hired to handle this commercial has sent a few of their people into town for the shoot, right?”

Desiree furrows her brows at me. “Yes. You want to meet with them… right now?”

“Yes. All of them. We’ll wait. Just make it happen.”

The agency staff members all look very confused at my request, but Desiree doesn’t hesitate. She pulls her phone from her pocket and starts making calls. After speaking to at least two different people in hushed tones for several minutes, she hangs up and nods at me.

“Robert, the Beaumont representative, is on his way with the marketing team now. Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”

“Perfect. Thank you.” I step back to Violet and ease her down into one of the chairs at the table. She’s chewing her nails nervously, and she looks like she might go to pieces all over again, but I’m not going to let that happen. I’m not going to let anything at all happen to her.

It’s time to put this shit to bed.

“Are you okay?” I ask her quietly with my hands on her shoulders, and she nods.

“I’m sorry to ruin your meeting like this. I didn’t know who else to talk to.”

“Don’t apologize, you didn’t ruin anything. You did the right thing,” I tell her and squeeze her shoulders affectionately. “I’m glad you came.”

I mean it too. I don’t know what I would’ve done if she’d kept the fact that Elijah called her from me. Or that he was going to be in her vicinity again. After what she told me about what this slimeball did to her and how he almost destroyed her career, he has no business ever talking to her again, let alone being anywhere near her.

And I’m going to make sure that message gets through loud and clear—to Elijah and the people who hired his firm to work on this project.

“Thank you,” Violet says and leans her head back against me. Desiree and her staff seem uncomfortable, but I don’t give a damn. If this is what my heartbreaker needs to feel safe, I’ll give it to her. I’d give her anything to make her feel okay.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long. Just like Desiree said, the Beaumont rep arrives a few minutes later, accompanied by several people from Affinity Marketing, the firm that’s been hired to handle the creative side of the commercial.

Desiree guides them all to the conference room where Violet and I are waiting for them, and even without having ever seen him before, I can guess which one is Elijah. He’s tall and thin but in good shape, a fact that shows even through the crisp, expensive looking suit he’s wearing. He might be a shitbag on the inside, but on the outside, he’s got an easy-going, charming demeanor that’s probably opened a lot of doors for him.

It only makes me hate him more.

He visibly reacts when he spots Violet, a smug, surprised smile crossing his face. He starts to say something to her, but I cut him off.

“Don’t speak to her,” I say firmly.

Elijah scoffs, his gaze darting in my direction. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I won’t say it again, and you won’t try it again.”

He raises his perfectly manicured eyebrows at me, but he gets the message, so I turn to Robert, who’s lingering beside Desiree and looking just as bewildered as she does.

“I’m sorry we had to meet like this, Robert,” I tell him and offer him my hand to shake. He takes it tentatively. “But with all due respect, as long as that man”—I point to Elijah—“is working on this marketing campaign, I refuse to take part in it.”

The other members of the team from Affinity Marketing all react to that, quiet murmurs breaking out amongst the group.

Robert trades looks with Desiree before he turns back to me. “With all due respect, Mr. Townsend, I’m sure you understand that I’m going to need an explanation here.”

I hesitate. Part of me wants to lay all the cards on the table and expose Elijah for the total piece of shit that he is, but I don’t want to hurt Violet by telling this room full of people she doesn’t know all the worst parts of what he did to her, so I need to thread the needle.

“Because he’s a manipulative liar and sexual harasser, and I don’t want to be associated with someone like that. So either he goes, or I do.”

The atmosphere in the room shifts, and all of the people from Affinity go silent, glancing at each other before shifting their focus to Elijah. Robert frowns, and Desiree’s eyes bounce back and forth between him and me. I hold Robert’s gaze, standing firm. Technically, Elijah works for Affinity, not Beaumont, but I know that Robert is still the one with the power to do what I need done right now.

“What? This is ridiculous!” Elijah shouts, shattering the silence that’s fallen in the room. “Are you serious?”

My jaw tightens along with my fists. I have to keep my cool, have to stay levelheaded about this. As much as I want to knock Elijah’s teeth out, acting that way isn’t going to do me any favors with Robert and Desiree. I need them to believe me, and that’s going to take putting everything on the line.

But I’d do that for Violet. And so much more.

“Deadly serious,” I say, sweeping my gaze over Robert and the team from Affinity. “In fact, unless Elijah is fired right now, I’m going to have to back out of the commercial deal.”

Desiree’s eyes widen, her jaw falling open. Her commission is on the line here too, and I’m sure she’s not used to clients of hers acting like this. I know I’m vastly overstepping here, but I’m willing to risk it. Beaumont seemed thrilled to have me on board for this campaign, but this demand I’m making is a big one, so Robert might decide to just walk away rather than push for the marketing firm they’ve hired to let one of their team members go. And Desiree will probably drop me as a client if that happens, because I’m sure it’ll cost her a pretty penny to lose out on this deal too.

But I don’t care about any of that. I only care about Violet and doing what’s right for her.

“Can we talk for a second?” Robert asks Desiree and one of the Affinity reps—an older woman who must be in charge of the marketing team. They both nod, and Desiree leads them out of the office so they can have some privacy.

As soon as they’re gone, Elijah tries to step closer to Violet, but I stand in his way and cross my arms over my chest. I’ve got at least seventy pounds of muscle on him, and he knows I sometimes fight for a living, so he’s not stupid enough to try anything. But he does lean around me.

“Violet, let’s talk this out,” he begs her as if he already knows how fucked he is, and I move to block his view of her again, making sure his eyes meet mine.

“I warned you. If you try to talk to her again, you’ll be doing it through a broken jaw. Understood?”

Elijah blanches, swallows hard, and nods before he steps back from me.

Desiree, Robert, and the Affinity rep walk back in a few minutes later, their expressions fixed and serious. The Affinity rep gestures for Elijah to come over to her as the rest of the creative team watches with wide eyes, clearly curious to see what will happen. Elijah looks like he doesn’t want to move, but he reluctantly strides over to join the older woman near the doorway.

She speaks to him in a voice too low for me to overhear, but when all the color drains from Elijah’s face, a feeling of satisfaction swells in my chest.

“Cindy, you can’t be serious,” Elijah mutters in disbelief to the older woman. “That’s it? You’re firing me?” He gestures to me, his lip curling. “Just because this hockey player doesn’t like me?”

“This hockey player has a very good reason not to like you,” I interject, unable to hold back. “And your boss has plenty of reasons to fire you.”

Cindy clears her throat. “I’ll be calling HR to handle your termination. You can see yourself out.”

Elijah goes completely still for a moment, his jaw working. Then he mutters a string of curse words under his breath and stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind him and making Violet jump in her chair. I move closer to her, my hand instinctively reaching for her shoulder, and I feel some of the tension in her muscles drain away as I give her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you,” I say, glancing from Cindy to Robert.

Robert nods, pursing his lips. “So, we’re all good here? You’re still on board for the commercial?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He turns to Cindy. “And the rest of your marketing team can pick up the slack now that you’re down a member?”

Her spine straightens a little as if daring anyone to question her capabilities. “Of course.”

“Wonderful.” The Beaumont rep blows out a breath, looking relieved.

They spend a few minutes talking, hammering out some last-minute details for the commercial and occasionally throwing questions my way. Since I’m the one who called them all here, I’m happy to let them talk, but I’m only half paying attention to any of it. My focus is mostly on Violet, and on making sure that she’s truly okay. I got rid of Elijah and ensured that he should stay out of her life for good this time, but I know that the ghosts that haunt us take longer to banish than that.

I nod along and speak when needed, and once the impromptu creative meeting is over, I extend a hand to Violet, helping her up from her chair. She glances over at the door Elijah bolted out through as if she’s in some sort of daze, and I catch her chin between my fingers, tilting her face up toward mine.

“Hey,” I murmur. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” she whispers. Then she shakes her head. “I just can’t believe you did that.”

“Did what?”

“You gambled your entire promotional career just now. For me.”

I tuck a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, trailing my fingers along her jaw. “Of course I did, heartbreaker. And even if I’d lost that gamble, it still would’ve been worth it.”

She draws in a shaky breath, but before she can say anything, her phone buzzes, and she reaches for it automatically. An alarm is going off to remind her that she needs to go pick Jake up from school.

“Oh.” She shakes her head as if to clear it. “I should get going, I don’t want to be late for Jake.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get him. Just head home and take it easy, okay?”

She looks up at me, her hazel eyes pensive. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Thank you, for everything,” she says and although she looks like she wants to kiss me, she doesn’t.

“Will you be okay to drive?” I ask her, and she nods.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. I’ll see you at home.”

After nodding goodbye to my agent, as well as the Beaumont and Affinity people, I walk her to the door and out through the lobby so I can make sure Elijah isn’t waiting to ambush her. She’ll be fine, and I know that, but it doesn’t stop me from watching from the lobby window until she’s in her car and pulling out of the parking lot.

I’m just about to head out to my own car when Cindy enters the lobby, accompanied by the remainder of the Affinity team. She says something to them and then steps away from the group, hurrying over to me.

“Is everything alright?” I ask, my brows drawing together.

“Yes, it’s fine.” She glances around and then leans closer to me, keeping her voice low. “Listen, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’m glad you did what you did.”

“Oh?” I ask, frowning. “Why?”

She sighs. “To be honest, Elijah was on thin ice at our firm already. There have been rumors about bad behavior, and when I saw Violet in the meeting room today, I… well, I have a feeling that she’s the reason you didn’t want to work with Elijah. I don’t know exactly what happened between them, but I hate that she didn’t feel like she could come forward about it. Either way, I think it’s admirable what you did for her.”

Anger curls in my gut at the reminder of how long Elijah got away with acting like an entitled shit stain, hiding the worst of his behavior just like he did when he gaslit and tormented Violet. It’s a good fucking thing he’s gone. Otherwise, he’d be leaving here in pieces, and I’d be leaving in handcuffs.

I nod stiffly at Cindy, giving her a small smile. “She deserves it.”

The older woman rejoins her team, and I head out to my car, knowing Jake will be waiting for me soon.

I take a few shortcuts and arrive at his school just in time for pickup, joining the line of other parents waiting for their kids. Jake emerges less than a minute later, looking confused but happy to see me.

“Did you have a good day at school, buddy?” I ask as I’m buckling him into his booster seat.

“Yeah! We did a bunch of crafts today. I made a surprise for Ms. Violet.”

Judging from the macaroni necklace he’s wearing, I’m betting it’s something along those lines.

“I’m sure she’ll love it,” I tell him, and he squirms in his seat excitedly.

And she needs something nice like this more than you know.

Traffic is lighter than expected, so we make good time getting home, and Jake barrels through the front door.

“Ms. Violet!” he calls, and she appears from the living room.

“Hey, buddy! Welcome home,” she says with a big smile, back to her normal, bubbly self. Jake runs to her and pulls out a matching macaroni necklace from the backpack bouncing on his shoulders.

“Surprise! I made you a necklace. Look, it’s just like mine!”

Violet smiles, and although Jake misses it, I notice the glistening of tears in the corners of her eyes as she kneels so that he can drape the necklace around her neck. When he’s finished, she gives him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, bud. This was really nice of you,” she says, her voice wavering. She sniffles and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, and just like that, she’s back to her sunny self. “Are you hungry? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“Macaroni! Macaroni! Macaroni!” Jake chants, and Violet laughs at him.

“Haven’t you had enough macaroni today?”

“No such thing as too much macaroni!”

“Sawyer?” Violet asks, looking to me for approval, so I nod.

“I think we could all use a little comfort food tonight. I’m thinking a side of dinosaur chicken nuggets is in order too.”

“Yeah!” Jake lights up at that.

Violet smiles at me and goes into the kitchen with Jake to get everything started. I’d offer to cook for us, but I have a feeling she wants the time with him to help her calm down and take her mind off what happened with Elijah.

I sit at the table and watch the two of them cook together, still amazed at how good she is with Jake. She’s as patient as a saint with him, even while he’s imitating a T-Rex and screeching. It’s saying something because the kid really does have a lot of energy. But it doesn’t seem like a burden to her, or like she really has to try at all. She genuinely enjoys spending time with him, and him with her.

It shows.

I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly, but there’s been something swirling between me and Violet all night. Every time she looks over her shoulder at me or looks up from her plate while we eat and smiles, I feel it spark. I don’t know if there’s something she wants to say, or maybe she doesn’t have the words to verbalize it, but she doesn’t need words. Her smile says so much.

After dinner, Violet puts Jake to bed. I’m going to get cleaned up for bed myself when I hear her reading him a story in his room. The door is cracked open, so I stop on my way by and peer inside. The two of them are cuddled up together in Jake’s bed, Violet sitting against the headboard with Jake’s back to her chest. Her arms are around him, holding the book she’s reading from, but when she lifts one of them to give him a squeeze, the sight of it makes my chest clench.

I stay rooted to the spot, watching them until Violet finishes reading the story. I miss all the words, and I get the sense Jake isn’t listening to most of them either, but it doesn’t matter. He’s out cold by the time she reads the final line. She smiles down at him and carefully slips out from under him, somehow managing not to wake him up.

She kneels on the floor beside his bed and tugs the covers up over him, then runs her hand through his hair and kisses his forehead sweetly. Then she flips the light off, leaving the room dark except for the night light by the door, and pads quietly toward me.

When she pulls the door open, I’m there waiting for her.

Before she can say anything, I pull her into my arms and kiss her, letting it say everything I want to but can’t.