Violet is Blue (Hothouse series) by Tawny Stokes, Vivi Anna Read Free Book Online Page B

jolted me and I opened my eyes. I peered into the foliage, but didn’t see anything. Must be a squirrel or other rodent.  I rolled my shoulders and settled back again. I closed my eyes and tried to stop my brain from thinking. I just wanted to feel the hot water on my skin, and not worry about anything else but how pink I might get.
    More noise in the bushes had me rising out of the water. I really looked into the shadows, searching for the source of the sound. My heart pounded and my pulse roared in my ears. My gaze scanned the yard, and it settled on the back gate which I had opened and closed earlier to throw out the flowers.
    It hung open.
    I scrambled out of the hot tub. The bushes beside the gazebo moved. A shadow crept toward me. I turned and ran for the back door. I tripped on the cobblestone and fell on my hands and knees.  Pain zinged up from my knee, but I couldn’t think of that now. I would deal with it later when I was safe inside my house.
    He was coming. I could feel him right behind me. I could feel his hot breath on the back of my wet neck.
    I scrambled back up to my feet and dashed for the door. I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw the shadows reaching for me.  As I reached for the door, it opened and someone came out and grabbed me. I screamed.
    “Don’t touch me!”
    “Violet!?”
    It was my mother. Her arms were around me. Not him. My mother.
    “Honey, what happened?”
    My teeth chattered. “He’s in the bushes.” I pointed toward the gazebo.
    “Who honey?”
    “I don’t know. Someone.”
    “Are you sure?”
    I nodded.
    “Wait here.” She set me aside and turned to go to the hot tub.
    “Mom, no.” I reached for her. “Don’t go over there.”
    My mom grabbed the rake leaning against the house and moved cautiously toward the gazebo.
    I held my breath as I watched her get closer and closer. Then the bushes moved again and I screamed.
    But it wasn’t a man that jumped out but a little dog.
    My mom visibly sagged and dropped the rake. “It’s Duchess from next door.”
    A large dark figure appeared in the mouth of the open gate, and I screamed again.
    Mrs. Webber, our next door neighbor, stepped into a pool of light. “Sorry, Hannah. I don’t know how she got out.”
    The little dog yapped several times then scurried over to its owner. Mrs. Webber scooped up the little yapping mutt.
    “Did you scare the nice ladies?”
    My mom smiled. “It’s all right, Irma. No harm done.”
    She looked at me. “I’m so sorry, Violet. I know how you feel about dogs.”
    “It’s all right. Just a bit of a scare.” My mom came over to me. I guess she had yet to see my bloddied and bruised knees.
    “Let’s go home, you naughty boy.” Mrs. Webber left with her dog and shut the gate behind her.
    “Are you all right?” She put an arm around me and steered me into the house.
    I nodded. “If I’d known it was that stupid dog...”
    “Don’t worry about it, hun. C’mon let’s get you fixed up.”
    She sat me down at the kitchen table and fetched the first aid kit. As she doctored up my knees, she asked, “What’s really going on, Vi? You’ve never been that jumpy not even around dogs.”
    “Nothing.  The dog just freaked me out, that’s all.”
    She eyed me, but didn’t press it further. I suspected she knew I was lying, or keeping something to myself.  Although I wanted to tell her, I appreciated the fact that she didn’t push. Over the years, she never has.  Not even when she knew I was grieving hard for Dad when he died. She’d always let me work out stuff myself. Because she knew I’d eventually come around and talk to her.
    After she bandaged my knees, she stood. “How about some hot chocolate?”
    “Marshmallows?” I asked hopefully.
    “Of course.”
    I glanced out the balcony windows at the yard as she made us the drinks.  The wind had picked up a little, and it made the leaves on the trees and bushes dance back and forth. But I swore I saw the shadows