Violet Sumner has a stalker.
Between her largely dysfunctional family of two and the friends she doesn’t feel particularly close to, Violet thinks he’s the least of her problems. What she fails to understand is that the guy is no prankster and soon people turn up dead or missing. Because of her.
Things change when Violet’s best friend disappears and realization sinks in that the stalker means business. Denial put aside, Violet has no other option but to accept the help of police Sergeant Willard Kelley and his rather sweet protégé, to come to terms with the seriousness of the situation.
Yet nothing could’ve prepared her for her close up with the psycho.
Who will survive in this tale of obsession and misplaced devotion?
"Can I get a tall black coffee to go, please?" he asked as he whisked past me to the counter.
Jordan nodded and grabbed the cup, casting a worried look in my direction. She hadn't missed that I wasn't comfortable with Colton. Her movements were swift, but for some reason they seemed like slow motion to me. It took everything I had to glance up at Colton's face. Since when was he a fan of coffee?
Colton's posture was relaxed as he leaned on the counter, smirking in my direction. "Fancy meeting you here, Vi," he fired off cockily. He chuckled as he handed Jordan money with one hand and took the coffee with the other.
"Well, I'm here every morning. What's your excuse?" I rolled my eyes as I put my hand on my hip, my spine straightening to my full height of five-foot-four.
"Decided I needed a little 'pick me up’. What's better than a nice steaming cup of coffee?" He held up his cup like he was going to cheers with mine. I clutched my cup a little closer to my chest.
"Didn't you have to drive out of your way to get here?" I refused to meet his gaze.
"Yeah, so?" He challenged.
"So? Coffee isn't even your thing." I stepped back and held my chin up defiantly.
"I wanted to come and see a friend. Is that OK?" He flashed his notorious megawatt smile.
"Colton, we're not friends. Shelby and I are friends. You and Blake are friends. But you and I, we're not friends." I gestured between us, emphasizing my point.
"Yeah, because you are the only reason in the world that I would come here." He licked his lips as he pushed himself into a standing position. A predatory smile emerged. "Aren't we a little full of ourselves this morning?"
I could feel all of the blood draining out of my face and into my feet. Feet that refused to move toward the door. Silently, I tried to will Jordan to say something, anything, but she had made herself busy behind the counter. My dry mouth couldn't form any words to rebut what Colton had said. All that was missing was for me to be standing there in my underwear like one of those nightmares where you go to school naked, only I was standing in the middle of Starbucks.
"It doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to be such a bitch to me. I'm your best friend's boyfriend. Maybe it's time you come to terms with that." A slow, smug smile spread across his face.
"Whatever. I'm going to be late." I tossed my hair over my shoulder, turned to wave at Jordan, and fled the store like he was chasing me.
Insights into Violet Sumner….
Violet is a
very pragmatic girl. She lives in the real world and reacts accordingly. She’s
got her priorities and she sort of knows where she’s going. Or at least she did
until her father died in a tragic accident. That accident not only changed her
life, it changed her values. She’s now the responsible party in her family of
two.
Brenna
Sumner doesn’t mean to be irresponsible. She’s coping the best way that she
knows how. In the accident that killed Steven Sumner Brenna’s spine was broken.
After a lengthy stay in the hospital and ongoing physical therapy, she’s
regained most of her function and she wasn’t paralyzed. Unfortunately, this
left Brenna dependent on prescription pain killers. Her doctors noticed this
and backed her access way off. Brenna turned to booze to help with the constant
pain. Now Violet is left to not only grieve for her father, but she’s got to
baby sit an adult woman. Thankfully our Violet doesn’t feel sorry for herself,
too often.
You’d think
that Violet would be “Woe is me” and it sort of seems like that at first, but
she truly isn’t. She’s simply handling things the best way that she knows how. Sure,
she’ll throw herself a little pity party now and again, but who doesn’t?
Violet
talks about being a “daddy’s girl”. Now, this isn’t in the Princess way. Violet
and Steve bonded over his 80’s music collection. Depeche Mode soothed their sad
and frustrated moods and the Sisters of Mercy helped them to air drum out their
angry feelings. This is why Violet keeps his extensive 80’s music collection,
it’s all that she has left of that special bond her and her father had. We may
have seen her listen to Depeche Mode a lot, but with everything that was
happening, she didn’t have a chance to get to the Sisters Of Mercy.
Violet’s
addiction to coffee though, that’s all her. She tried some of her dad’s coffee
one morning and it was like a light bulb went off. She started drinking it as
often as she could. (While her dad was still alive, he tried to curb it a little. Our Violet though has a stubborn streak
and wouldn’t conform.) Her signature triple shot latte is something you won’t
find on any Starbucks menu, but it’s available if you ask for it.
Violet
might be half Native American, but she has no clue about her heritage. It’s
simply a part of her, much in the way a lot of people say “I’m Irish and
Scottish”, that’s how Violet feels about being half Native American. It’s a
part of her, but she doesn’t feel the need to dive any deeper than the
knowledge that it’s there.
Violet’s
snark? Yeah, she might have been a “daddy’s girl” but she’s got a lot of Brenna
in her. She learned how to give and receive affection from her father, but she
learned how to stand her ground and be snarktastic from her mother. It’s what
makes Vi…Vi.
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