Page 34 of Theirs for the Holidays

“What? Why?”

“So Rhett and Sawyer can drive your car home.”

She nods, digging them out of her bag and handing them to me. I pass them to Rhett. “Follow us?”

“Yeah, of course.”

I get in the driver’s seat and adjust the mirror so I can see Violet in the back. She looks pale but like she’s trying to rally, and I start the car, pulling out of the parking spot.

Violet groans, curling up around herself with a new wave of pain, and I reach back, offering her my hand.

She grabs it, squeezing it hard as she rides out the agony.

She looks miserable, a sheen of sweat on her face that makes her hair stick to it. “It’s always like this,” she mumbles. “My periods have been bad for most of my adult life.”

“Like this? Making you hurt this bad?”

Violet nods. “Yeah. I usually try to make sure there’s no one around when this happens, but this one caught me by surprise.”

I frown, glancing into the rearview mirror to meet her eyes. “Why don’t you want people around? For privacy?”

She laughs, and there’s no real humor in it. “Would you want to be stuck with me right now if we weren’t fake dating? It’s not fun for anyone.”

My frown just gets deeper. I don’t like the way she seems to think that something like this would scare people off or make her high maintenance or something.

But I don’t say anything. It’s not the time to argue. Not when she’s practically doubled over in pain already.

I take the turn for her neighborhood, maybe pushing the speed limit a bit as I get us to her house. “We’re almost there,” I assure her. “Just hang on a bit longer.”

Once I pull in, I waste no time hopping out of the car and helping Violet out and then into the house. Rhett and Sawyer pull up a moment later and grab Violet’s coat and purse, bringing them in with us.

Violet leans on me as I help her into her bed, and I fluff the pillows in case that does anything to help right now.

“What do you need?” I ask her, sure that she knows best what will help her body in times like this.

And I’m right. Violet has a list of several things, from her hot water bottle to two different kinds of painkillers and tea, rattling them off like she does this every month—because she probably does. I guess since she’s been having periods since sometime in her teens, she’s developed a solid system for how to deal with the bad cramps.

“Oh wait. Shit. I don’t think I have any of the tea that helps,” she says, making a face as she flops back against the pillows. “Or my painkillers. I think I used the last ones last month. Fuck, I also need more tampons. I thought I had more time to buy them, and I’ve been so busy.”

“We can go get them,” I offer.

“No, that’s okay. I don’t want to put you out or anything. You didn’t sign up to deal with my period bullshit when we agreed on the fake dating thing.”

“It’s fine, Violet,” Rhett says, and Sawyer nods. Both of their faces are creased in concern as they look at her.

“We’d do it for a friend, so we’ll definitely do it for you,” Sawyer adds.

She chews on her lip, looking unsure. “It’s just that… well, Andrew always got weird about period stuff. Like he thought it was gross or something. I guess it just squicked him out. The one time I managed to get him to pick stuff up for me, he came back with all the wrong stuff, and I had to go out again myself.”

I scowl, imagining the lack of care my youngest brother probably put toward the task. He’s always been self-centered when he wants to be, but that’s a whole new level of selfish.

I haven’t had a serious girlfriend in years, but I still know that you should treat the person you’re dating better than that. You should treat anyone you claim to care about better than that.

“Well, I’m not Andrew,” I tell Violet. “So hang tight and we’ll take care of it. Anything else you need?”

Violet seems unsure still, but she rattles off a few more things. Tampons, panty liners, sizes and brands. I make a note in my phone just to be sure I don’t fuck it up and then I glance at Sawyer, who nods, knowing what I’m asking without me having to say it.

“I’ll stay with her,” he says.