Page 34 of One Lucky Hero (Men in Uniform 1)

Maybe because despite the reality that had crashed and burned all around her, she wasn’t quite ready to let go of the beautiful night they’d had.

Oh, God, do you hear yourself? Get your mind out of the cornball fantasy clouds and back to the problems at hand.

“Besides, you gotta wonder what’s wrong with him that he still wants to talk to me after I turned into a complete basket case.”

“Maybe he dug it. Some guys get off on crazy,” Tracy said, earning a dark look from Violet. “Just saying, the dude seemed into you. I pretty much pulled my crazy overprotective best friend gig, and he didn’t even bat an eyelash. And you know how scary I can be.”

Violet could just imagine Dean smirking down at Tracy while she threatened him, and the image almost made her laugh. “Yes, I’m sure you had all two hundred and fifty pounds of him quaking in his boots.”

“I didn’t notice any boots, but I gotta say, those boxers showed off a hell of a lot of sexy man cake. Mmmm . . . You have to tell me about his slice. Is he packing a full sheet?”

Violet choked at Tracy’s crude euphemism.

“God, you are disgusting. I’m not telling you about his dick.”

“Why not? You told me how Joe Vance never trimmed his fingernails and—”

Just the mention of Joe Vance and his Freddy Krueger nails inside her body made her cringe. “He was nothing like Joe.”

“Ah, see, now we’re getting somewhere,” Tracy said.

Violet slipped Dean’s number into her tote bag and tried once again to get Tracy to take a hint. “In case you forgot, I’ve got more important things to stress about than your need for a play-by-play of my sex life.”

“So there was definitely sex going on?”

If Tracy wasn’t driving a car at sixty-five miles per hour, she would have strangled her. “Trace, I swear—”

“Will you chillax? I am trying to get your mind off of all this shit with Casey.” Tracy exited the freeway and made a hard right, turning Violet’s stomach. She really needed to eat something.

Violet leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. “I know.”

But nothing would ever make her forget about Casey and Daisy. By the time she was eighteen, her siblings had become her world. Since then, she’d gotten a better-paying job, sometimes two, and taken classes when she could. But above all, Daisy and Casey still came first.

“I need to call Daisy and make sure she stays at Madison’s until all of this is done,” Violet said as she pulled out her phone, which had been hooked to Tracy’s portable charger for a bit, and waited for it to boot up.

“What you need to do is move those kids out of that neighborhood. I don’t understand why you don’t get an apartment and just take them with you. Why the hell do you stay in that creepy house?” Tracy asked for the thousandth time.

“Because I can’t afford rent, school, and the kids.”

Besides, even though they couldn’t afford all the updates the house needed, it was the only constant in their lives. Despite all the bad shit that had happened in that place, it was familiar.

So they stayed in the house. All she had to do was keep the lights on and food on the table—the rest she saved for their schooling and hers.

And in a month, Daisy would be going to college, and Violet would have only Casey to worry about. With the financial aid and scholarship Oregon State University had offered Daisy, she wouldn’t owe a dime when she graduated. It was more than Violet could have hoped for. The most important thing was making sure Daisy and Casey would have a future.

Yeah, you’ve done one hell of a job, Ace. Your sister’s dating a punk who is just like your dad, and your little brother is in juvie.

Violet dialed Daisy’s cell and pressed her phone to her ear while it rang. Daisy’s groggy voice came over the line. “Hello?”

“Hey, Dais. Do you think you could hang at Maddy’s a little longer? I have to take care of a few things—”

“Whatever.”

The call ended, and Violet sighed.

“Little sis is a real charmer, huh? Makes me glad it was just me growing up, sometimes,” Tracy said.

Tracy turned into the juvenile center, and Violet got out before the car was in park with her wallet in hand. She knew that she probably looked like a mess, but she didn’t want to leave Casey inside longer than she had to.