Violet’s P.O.V.

At that moment the sky broke open, rain pelted down from the sky. A million, tiny little bullets of icy water ricocheting off the cab.

It could not have been any more cliché even if I tried. A girl running away from a guy, in New York, in the typical cab when they sky breaks open and he's left standing in the pouring rain while she drives off… almost on cue, the radio in the cab starts playing, ‘Falling’ by Harry Styles. The first bars of the very sad melody drifting through the car barely heard over the sound of the rain.

Georgie clutched my hand tighter, squeezing it before opening and closing her mouth. Finally managing to find the words, “What the hell was that? I thought he was really into you, but the bastard is engaged?” her voice escalating as she processed everything that had just happened and I could see her become angrier and angrier.

“I- I just don't know…” I trailed off, the words drying in my throat.

What was that?? What the hell was I thinking, going out and spending all day with a guy I had only just met. I knew better than that. I knew better than to get involved with guys until I was positive there were no girlfriends, wives, fiances or crazy exes who were still in love and possessive as fudge. You learn your lesson the hard way.

I had one friend who used me as revenge against his girlfriend, but in the end, to have everything blamed on me. It wasn’t a mess, it was a catastrophic mess, with the only person who ended up getting hurt was me. The innocent bystander somehow getting in the middle of an immature relationship, where they purposely went out of their way to teach the other one a “lesson”.

Since then, I have stayed far far away from any guy that is in a relationship. The first time, shame on you. The second time, shame on me.

I bit my lip trying to keep the tears at bay. Shame on me, shame on me. I should have known better. He was always too good to be true.

“How did the paparazzi even know who you were, never mind where you were? Like what is going on!” Georgie exclaimed her obvious frustration clearly growing, snapping me out of my major downward spiraling. “I’m taking you away from all this craziness until we know what the hell is going on. Were going away to my house just outside the city for a while”

With that, Georgie leaned over and told the cab driver the address of her apartment.

I felt like I was in a fishbowl... Everything was garbled. Buildings all blurred together, the rain mixing with whatever song was now quietly playing from the radio. My entire world was just one big blur. The paparazzi encouraging random strangers to stare into my life. Having them poking at the glass, trying to scare me and trying to get a reaction... My life is now on display for the world to see and to criticize and I am more than sure that people that I don’t even know will have their two cents about the situation.

This wasn't supposed to happen. I didn't mean for any of this to happen, How do I always manage to get myself into these situations. I am a whirlwind of emotions and I can feel the frustration bubbling up inside of me. I felt like there was a world war between my heart and my head. I just tried to ignore them both, because that is the only way I can cope with all of this right now… Maybe if I just lean my head against the window, I can just rest my eyes for a few minutes…

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around trying to figure out where I was. My mind was still super groggy but I started to recognize my surroundings and figured out I was at Georgie's house outside of the city.

Cole’s P.O.V

I woke up with a pounding headache, tangled in my grey sheets and the curtains wide open, the light streaming in from the floor to ceiling windows right into my eyes. I ran my hands roughly across my face, trying to clear the fog that had built up in my head. My head pounded as I sat up, thinking about last night. I swear, I really shouldn’t make it a habit going out with Violet and Georgie… Put those two together and they fuel my irresponsible side. The side that I typically don’t get to show, especially since I have taken on so many responsibilities at a young age.

Those two. Together. Now that is what trouble looks like.

I am a pretty big, well-muscled guy and those two girls almost drank me under my table and they are half my size. I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh. My laugh was soon cut off as it made my head pound even more. I slowly got to my feet, steadying myself when I swayed a little. I need black charcoal in the system since 8 hours ago, so now would be a good time to pop 3 of those tablets and a tall glass of water. I shielded my eyes as I walked through my apartment, cursing myself that I thought getting a place with a 360 view of New York was a good idea.

I grabbed a cold bottle of Voss water from the fridge to help me down the tablets and to quench my thirst. I grabbed the small remote that was lying on my kitchen island, and pressed the button for my automated blinds, hoping that with the sun not blaring at me constantly would help. I then turned to the other remote on the kitchen island to turn on the tv to the morning stocks. I leaned against the kitchen counter and as weird as it sounds, just hearing them talk about the morning stocks calmed me. I went through my typical morning routine, listening to the morning stocks while I made an omelet and ate some fresh fruit that had been cut up and left in my fridge by Martha, the caretaker of my apartment.

I shoveled the omelet in my mouth, allowing it to soothe my upset stomach. Once I had mustered up the energy to return to my bathroom to wash off the stench of cigarettes and alcohol that seemed to linger in my pores.

I stepped into my shower and allowed the steaming hot water to stream down my washboard abs. Getting this ceiling rain shower head was the best decision I made while designing the bathroom. I would say that I am pretty laid back buy but when it comes to showers, I have a thing about decent pressure and not having the water barely trickles out, hence the massive high powered rain shower head. I stood under the water, allowing it to relax my stiff neck. Typically, but this point I would be feeling somewhat refreshed and my stomach settled, but there was something in the back of my mind that was nagging at me. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It was right there, just on the tip of my tongue, I just couldn't place it.

I turned the handle for the shower, turning it off and wrapping the large white fluffy towel around my hips so it hung low, just where I liked it. I grabbed another towel and ruffled my hair with it so that it dried ever so slightly. I sauntered over to my walk-in closet to pull on a long pair of loose gray sweatpants, that made many women stare at my body with hunger. Not that I was complaining when we went for round 4 and then me asking them to leave shortly after.

I padded over to my office that had a large dark oak desk in the center of the room that was surrounded by bookshelves, packed with books about economics, business, wars, politics, and the stock market. Two plush, black leather seats faced my desk.

It wasn’t common for me to hold meetings here, but I typically did like to hold interviews for those that would be deeply involved in my personal life here. I could tell when someone would fit into the high tempo of my life and it was a decent place to be able to interview them away from my massive office block. It just so happened to also be rather useful when I had to work at home, which was almost always.

I took a seat and pulled out a stack of files I had Nancy send over yesterday, that I was supposed to finish last night before the whole issue with the alcohol stock hit. Switching on the TV in my office and turning to peaceful background noise so I could hear the news as I worked. I flipped through the channel, finally landing on the local New York daily news. I settled down in my chair with a soft cush. Oh yeah, I could sit in this chair for days and never get uncomfortable, it felt like I was sitting in the most comfortable cloud. I opened the first file and reviewed the paperwork, inputting all the new information and changes I was making into my computer. I couldn’t tell you how long I was working for but the blare of my phone snapped me out of my focus. I looked at the name flashing across the screen.

Nancy.

I slid the answer button over, “Nancy, good morning. I hope you have a good reason to be calling me on a Sunday morning. You know this is my time to knuckle down and tackle some big projects.” I didn’t mean to be short with her, I really didn’t, but I was tired and annoyed and now all the energy I was using to focus was gone. I leaned back again the swivel chair, kicking my bare feet up on the desk.

“Sir, you told me to call if it was an emergency…” I waited for her to continue but she didn’t.

“Okay… and what type of emergency are you calling me about” I inquired?

There was a brief silence on the other end before her voice came out in a whisper, “Sir, I think you need to turn to channel 9.”

My curiosity got the best of me as I picked up the remote, that was lying in the corner of my desk and turned to channel 9. My heart skipped.

There she was, videos and photos of Violet walking into the club with me, us dancing around, one that looked like we were kissing when in fact I was just leaning in closer so I could hear what she was telling me, leaving the club with Georgie and I. There even looked to be photos of her and Georgie this morning leaving, to what looked like a very beaten up and old apartment building. Please tell me that's not where she lived? That place definitely did not look safe. My precious girl did not deserve to live there. My precious girl? Really? Still? I mean apparently, I spend one night with this girl and her best friend and she has me wrapped around her pinky finger.

Then, another face flashed across the screen. The face of a psycho that is the bane of my existence. I turned the volume up. There she was with a perfectly put together outfit and what used to look like flawless makeup. Crying on the steps of her luxurious townhome steps on the upper east side.

“I just know that Cole is not the type of man to cheat on me. He adores me and would do anything for me. I mean, for heaven sakes, he proposed to me a couple of days ago. A man that doesn’t love you wouldn’t buy you a ring like this…” and she used that moment to shove her perfectly manicured fingers into the cameras of the reporters, flaunting the 10-carat heart-shaped cut diamond ring. It truly was an ugly ring. I hated the heart-shaped cut and I would never get Violet something so gaudy. What the hell? Since when did I start thinking about settling down with someone.

She carried on with her blubbering swearing that the girl, Violet, had spiked my drink last night to try and get me drunk enough to cheat on her and so that Violet could get her 10 minutes of fame. She carried on to say that Violet would fade out because she is a trashy girl that doesn’t know how to respect relationships.

I turned off the TV, my veins boiling with anger. I could faintly in the background of Nancy calling out “Sir!” before I ended the call. I growled into the phone as I called my head of security, barking out for him to find out where Violet and Georgie were at this exact moment. I didn’t wait for any type of confirmation from him before I hung up and stormed to my closet, to change once more. I aggressively shoved my legs into my dark wash jeans and a classic skin-tight white t-shirt, as well as my favorite black leather jacket. Throwing on some boots I ran out the door, having yelled for Martha to tell my driver to be ready.

As I stepped into the elevator, my head of security called. My phone didn’t even have a chance to fully ring because I had that phone to my ear in a flash.

There were no pleasantries exchanged, “Where are they?” I bark into the phone.

“The security cameras on the streets have been tracking them and from what I gather, they are most likely headed to the cafe you met Violet yesterday. I closed my phone and slipped it into my front pocket. I slipped my sunglasses on and strode past the flashing cameras that were waiting for me at the front of my building. I didn’t skip a beat as I opened the back door of my Rolls Royce, casually slipped in and not a moment later, we were roaring down the streets of New York.

My leg bounced as I impatiently waited in the back of the car to get to our final destination.

I felt the car slowing down as Jackson started muttering, “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

My eyes snapped up from my phone screen, as I was trying to track this story as it unfolded. My ex was already trying to set up interviews with me with the tabloids so that we could prove that we were still going strong. The only reason I knew this is because my publicist and legal team were working around the clock to tame this psycho. We were planning on charging her with defamation of character.

I could see the crowd of paparazzi, surrounding Georgie and my Violet. The car didn’t even come to a full stop as I leaped out of the car, ready to go save my girl.

It was at that moment that Violet turned around and saw me standing there with wild eyes. Her eyes were full of fright, her nose, and cheeks a slight pink from the freezing rain that began to fall heavily from the sky. I couldn’t tell if it was a raindrop that was sliding her cheek or a tear.

Georgie saw me at that exact moment as well but instead of freezing like my girl she just gave me this ice-cold death glare. It sent a shiver down my spine and that's saying something considering the people I deal with every day, nothing frightens me. Her glare hardened even more if that was possible.

She shoved all of the paparazzi out of the way before pushing Violet inside a car I'm assuming she must have called when she saw the chaos. My eyes locked with Violet as the cab sped away and my heart just dropped, I felt like throwing up everything I've ever eaten. For whatever reason watching her drive away just broke something inside of me.