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Back Violet Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. VIOLET
  3. VIOLET
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Prologue
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgements
  49. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  50. Copyright

‘Me, neither,’ I say, into her neck. She flinches, and I blow gently on her ear, then give her a series of tiny, soft, butterfly kisses. ‘You don’t need to worry about it, Carrie. You don’t need to make it anything more than it is.’

She unlocks her arms and pulls back. We’re exactly the same height, I realise now, and she stares right into my eyes. ‘And what is it?’ she says. She sounds scared. Vulnerable. And for the first time in my life, I want to protect someone. I want to protect her. Maybe I’ve been wrong all these years. About what’s right for me. I keep looking for men to look after me, but all they do is use me. Maybe I’m supposed to be the protector. Maybe it’s not a man I should be looking for.

But I can’t push too far right now. I don’t think she’s ready.

I lift my hand and move a lock of her hair away from her face, pushing it behind her ear. She has small, dainty ears, pierced three times on each side and decorated with different coloured gemstones. Everything about her is beautiful and exotic. I want to lick her, taste her sweet, salty skin. I want to drink her up, just like that cocktail I craved on the night we met.

‘Let’s go down to the lounge,’ I say. ‘I think we could both use a drink.’

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Choo-Choo(n)!

Hiya!

Bloody hell – Mongolia was MENTAL! I had a load of emails in draft but I deleted them off my phone. Total rambling shite – count yourself lucky there was no wifi or phone reception or you’d have been sending out a UN rescue mission to find me. Is Mongolia in the UN? You might still get some of them, they might be floating around in the cloud or something. Anyhoo … I’m feeling OK now (ish), but it was touch and go for a while – I’m trying to be positive but I keep having these little flashes of stuff that I’m not sure I actually want to remember.

I’m in the first-class lounge, writing this on the laptop. It’s nice to just sit here and chill out, actually. I wanted to play cards but I can’t find the bloody things, and Violet’s planning to read up on Moscow, because apparently I know all about the place where we’re stopping off next, so she’s not going to bother researching that. I thought we were on the herbal tea but V’s at the bar and I don’t think it’s tea that the soor-faced cow behind the bar is making!