Page 34 of Petals of Blue, Part One (Wilted Duet #1)

Twenty-Nine

VIOLET

“Sorry. Where was I?"

I really want to tease Blue for zoning out when it's obvious she's daydreaming about those men, but I don't. This is hard for her to talk about, and making fun of her would not be helpful.

"You hung out with them. Two are brothers. One lived in a different county. What happened to make you all separate?" I know it's going to be bad, especially seeing how Ma has been acting the past month or two.

Mama Blue has been acting like her old self. Lost in her thoughts, trying to get through each day like it's a hardship, watching her surroundings more. She's behaving as if we still live with my bio mom.

Stressed, worried, anxious, avoidant...

I may have been gone for a bit on my trip, but even over the phone she was acting strange. I shouldn't have left.

"Honestly, V...It's a stupid ass reason I'm trying to come to terms with." Oh, this should be good. "Roman told me what happened. Or at least some of it."

"And?" I'm literally buzzing, needing to know like yesterday.

Ma sighs, looking freaking exhausted. "Small backstory. Roman and Declan's parents are very wealthy. Same as Felix's parents. The four of them are the best of toxic friends."

"And I'm assuming even before I came to live with you and Linda, she was poor?"

"You assume correctly," Blue confirms. "So what I gathered, their parents—not Jared's because they were always wonderful—didn't like me or Linda.

They started whispering in their ears saying I would drag them down.

Plus, they were going to move away for college, so what was the point in keeping me around, right? "

What the hell?

She takes a sip of her latte, but the caffeine doesn't lift her slumped posture.

"They started pulling away when I was in senior year.

It was easier for Roman and Felix to cut me out because they were touring colleges and planning their lives.

Jared and Declan though." Blue shakes her head.

"They got short with me. Started leaving me out of plans. "

"Assholes!" I shout, pissed they could do that to her.

"It gets worse," Ma cuts off my impending rampage. "Your mom moved us from Seattle to Tacoma during my senior year."

"Let me guess," I spit bitterly, "new boyfriend?" Fucking Linda.

"Yep. And it was the perfect opportunity for them to ghost me. I moved an hour away and thought they'd still make the effort to see me like they did with Felix. Nope. They didn't answer my calls or texts for months."

I gasp, unable to control my reaction. "What the hell?! You never heard from them again until they moved here to Chicago?!"

How is she so calm right now? Blue deserves everything good in this world! She has raised me since I moved in with her when I was seven years old. Ma is the best person I know. She deserves to be cherished and flaunted. Most of my videos online are with her, or me gushing over how amazing she is.

I don't think Blue knows she is my main content, but it doesn't matter. My followers love my Ma, and I have many.

She eyes me warily. "Not exactly...Declan told me to leave him alone and move on. Felix..."

"Felix what?" I demand, ready to kick some ass.

Studying me for a moment longer, Blue thinks through something, then she seems to come to a conclusion. "Linda's Tacoma boyfriend scared me. He got rough a few times, pushed me around. Tried to get into my room at night."

"WHAT?! How come you never told me about this?!"

I'm going to be sick. Tears spring to my eyes, and my chest feels heavy under the pressure of this new information. No wonder Blue always has a pained look in her eyes. You just have to look past her flawless makeup, amazing outfits, and outgoing personality to see how deeply she hurts.

I just can't believe I'm only finding out about this now. How selfish am I that I don't know about this?!

"Violet, stop. I can see the guilt trying to eat you alive over there. I didn't tell you about any of this for that exact reason." Ma's tone is hard and unwavering.

"Please continue," I plead, needing to know the rest.

Her lips twist, and I don't think she's going to tell me anything else, but she does. "I asked Felix for help once. He said he couldn't help and reminded me I knew how to throw a punch. That was it."

"And then?" There's more, I know it.

"Then I finished high school and planned on moving out when I turned eighteen.

You came to live with us, I saw the look on Linda's face and swore I wouldn't let you grow up the same as I did.

So I stayed. We moved to Minnesota when her Tacoma boyfriend ditched her.

I got my bartending license. Dodged Linda's one-night stands, saved money, got a boyfriend—"

"Oh! I remember your boyfriend! Josh right? Why did you guys break up?" He was around a lot and was nice to me, unlike Linda's random hookups Blue tried to hide me from.

Blue snorts. "He was a tattoo artist and got wildly offended when I wouldn't let him tattoo me but had someone else give me one behind my ear. He lost his shit, so I ended it. Then Linda got into some trouble with one of her fuck buddies, and we moved to Chicago when I was twenty-one."

Then my bio mom dipped when I turned eighteen, six months ago. Haven't seen her since. Blue got us out of that nasty house four months ago and moved us in here. We've been happy ever since.

"Then they showed up," Blue whispers. "Roman told me they didn't realize how manipulative their parents were being until a long while later. They want me to listen to them. Hear them out because they were kids back then."

In her silence, I wonder what she's thinking. Clearly, she's struggling with what to do. "And now what?"

"And now?" She sighs. "I'm confused. Confused because I can understand they were too young to think maturely before and after. Confused because they're everywhere and I'm too tired to fight the pull to them."

"But they left you to be hurt, Ma..."

"That they did..." she mutters.

The doorbell rings, and I cringe so fucking hard. "So, speaking of them being everywhere..."

"Violet," she grits out in a warning tone.

"Roman was in the lobby with flowers looking sad. I gave him our apartment number and told him to come up in twenty minutes."

"Why would you do that?"

Shit, she's mad. "Uh, I didn't think the story behind him and the others would be that deep. But I was obviously wrong..."

"Obviously!" she snaps. Blue stands and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry. It's okay. I was planning on giving them a small chance of being friends again. That conversation just brought up a lot of emotion."

"I'm sorry," I mutter, feeling really bad for putting her in this position right after unloading her trauma on me.

These guys left her to fend for herself and a depressed eight-year-old girl.

I don't like the sound of them. I shouldn't have invited Roman up to see Blue without knowing the story first.

"Hey, Violet." Ma tucks some of my hair behind my ear. "This isn't yours to carry, alright?"

I shake my head a little. "What they did wasn't right. They hurt you. So many people hurt you."

"That's true. But I grew into who I am now because of those experiences. And who am I?"

Smirking, I answer, "A badass."

"Yup!" She kisses my forehead. "So let me deal with this, okay?"

"Okay." I trust her with my life and hopefully now that I'm older she can put more focus on herself.

And maybe four men?