Hidden Truths (Violet Chain Book 2) by J Kahele

I’m going to hit the sack, are you coming?”
    I shook my head. “No.” The air grew silent and thick with tension as it always did when I refused to go to bed with him, which during the past three months, I had done every time. I flickered my eyes up at him and I could see the sadness and disappointment in his eyes.
    Since the incident with Phillip, I had become quite trained in the way I approached bedtime with Chain. I knew him like a book. The minute he hit that bed, he was out within fifteen minutes, so I waited twenty before I slid into bed next to him. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to lie with Chain, cuddle up next to him. I did more than anything, it’s just I couldn’t. I didn’t want to start anything I couldn’t finish and cuddling with us always led to more and more was not something I was ready to give right now.
    He bent and placed a quick kiss on my cheek. “Night.”
    “Night.” I watched as he disappeared behind the bedroom door and a cloud of depression surrounded me. I stood up and walked out to the balcony, leaning my arms on the rail.
    This was getting out of hand. Chain didn’t deserve this, I didn’t deserve this. I had to stop letting what Phillip did to me control every aspect of my life. The only way I was ever going to get past this was to make a stand and take my control back.
    But how could I do that? How could I reprogram my brain to forget about Phillip, to forget about what he had done? Then Harrison entered my mind. I remembered thinking my world was over, that I would never get through what Harrison had done, but I did. I think every memory you have, good or bad, stays with you, it’s just learning how to live with it and move on. I had to find a way to live with what Phillip did and move on.
    A scuffling noise caught my attention and I turned to see Chain standing near the balcony door. Our eyes locked and we stood staring at each other for what seemed like forever. His eyes said it all.
    He missed me.
    He needed me.
    He wanted me.
    I couldn’t look at him any longer, I was afraid of failing him, of rejecting him, of hurting him.
    I felt his hands press against my shoulders as he stood behind me and I was nervous, really nervous. The touch of his lips against my skin sent a shivering tingle through my body as he kissed his way across the back of my neck. “You’re so beautiful.”
    I closed my eyes, embracing his touch as his lips dipped to the top of my shoulder. “I love your skin, it’s so soft.”
    His hands slipped under my skirt and up the bare skin of my hips. As his lips sucked on the side of my neck I was suddenly thrown back in time and all I saw was Phillip.
    I froze.
    My heart dropped.
    My breath faltered.
    Thoughts of Phillip coursed through my head, his words blistering through my mind. Fuck you’re beautiful. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as his words continued. ‘Your skin is so fucking soft.’  I jumped when I felt hands caress my arms. Chain turned me to face him and I opened my eyes, tears falling down my face, to see him staring down at me worriedly.
    “Violet, it’s me,” Chain whispered as he placed his hands on my cheeks, brushing away the tears with his thumbs. “I hate Phillip for doing this to you,” he continued.
    I placed my hands over his and smiled. “I’m okay.” The flashbacks didn’t come often but when they did, they seemed to engulf me completely. My therapist said it was normal, that what Phillip had done to me was something I would never forget, that it would forever be burned into my memory. The way I saw it, I had two choices. I could live in that memory and let Phillip victimize me over and over in my mind. Or I could stand strong and realize that this was just something bad that happened to me and I had to learn to live with it. I most definitely didn’t want to spend my life thinking about Phillip. I had to take control.
    I dropped to my knees.
    Unzipped his pants.
    Yanked them down.
    A groan rumbled from