Page 13 of Where the Wind Whispers

Raising his brow, he asked, “What look?”

“Where you’re about to do something reckless.”

“I won’t, not yet at least. But tell me,” he said as he sat up a little straighter. “What was your father doing here, and why didn’t you tell me?”

Violet refused to shrink under the hard stare Kaz was currently leveling her with, despite knowing she should have told him about her father’s appearance a week before.

“Well?” Kaz asked, his voice scratchy and higher than normal. “Are you going to stand there and say nothing?”

“You’re not supposed to be talking,” Violet settled on saying.

Kaz’s jaw clenched. “That is not what I asked, Violet.”

“I know what you asked. The fact remains that you’re not supposed to be talking. That’s why you have a goddamn pen and pad.”

If Kaz’s scowl could have gotten deeper, Violet was sure it would have at that moment. Silent, he leaned over and grabbed the pen and pad, marking on the lined paper with hard, fast strokes. Then he turned it around for her to see the one word he’d written in the large space.

TALK, it read.

Kaz tossed the pad aside, the pen following right after. “There I used the fucking things.”

Violet tampered the flare of annoyance at his show, knowing damn well it wouldn’t do either of them any good to get into an argument while he was like he was, and she was like she was. It certainly wouldn’t help them.

“Alberto did show up,” Violet said. “Cornered me in an elevator, actually.”

Kaz did not look pleased. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“You were in a coma, Kaz.”

“Rus—”

“Had people all over this hospital—inside and out—yet my father still managed to get in. He still found me. It happened, it’s over, and I handled it.”

Kaz let out a sound that resembled a scoff, but Violet couldn’t be sure what with his voice the way it was. “I’m sure.”

Violet let that comment roll off her shoulders, not willing to take the bait.

“Why not tell Rus after, then?” Kaz asked.

“What good would it have done?”

He threw his hands high, frustration writing heavy lines across his brow. “You do realize we’re not playing games, yes? The entire point is to keep your father away.”

“You’re being an asshole.”

“No, I’m being—”

“An asshole,” Violet interrupted softly.

Not saying another thing, Violet snatched one of the many unopened bottles of water sitting on a side table, cracked the top off, and took a long drink as she made herself comfortable in one of the chairs against the wall. For a long while, the two said nothing to one another, letting the thick tension hang in the air.

Kaz broke the silence first, speaking quieter than before. “I want to keep you safe.”

“All these people—all the men Rus had watching the place—and he still found me,” Violet repeated with a shrug. “Maybe you don’t want to admit it, Kaz, but your threats aren’t working where Alberto is concerned. If they were, he would have stopped by now.”

“Violet—”

“Let’s see if mine did, okay?”