“This is Violet by the way,” I say nodding my head at her. “Violet, this is my Uncle Cole.”
“Is this your girlfriend?” he questions with an arch of his brows as he slants against the doorframe with his arms folded across his cheat. The last time he met me, I’d made it pretty clear how I felt about women and that I’d never actually had one as a girlfriend, only f**ked them. So showing up with Violet is confusing him. Plus, he’s not the most trusting person to strangers, considering what he does for a living.
“Just a friend,” Violet tells him, being very blasé about the whole thing. That stings, even though I already knew it was true. “And his partner in crime.”
He seems amused by her, which I don’t blame him for—she can be very charming when she wants to be. With a faint smile, Cole stands up straight and sticks out his fist. “Well, it’s a pleasure Violet, aka Luke’s partner in crime.”
“Likewise.” She pounds fists with him, then my uncle steps aside and motions for us to come inside. It’s cooler on the inside—thank God—the fans going, air conditioning blasting and circulating the cigarette smoke lacing the air. The curtains are all drawn shut too, so hardly any sunlight can get in. There’s some music playing in the kitchen and I can hear some voices, which means he has company. And probably not the family kind.
“I have some people over,” Cole tells us as he leads the way through the foyer and into the kitchen, kicking a bag to the side that’s blocking the doorway. “And my son’s staying with me for a while. You remember Ryler, right?”
I nod, but honestly I don’t really remember him that well. I think I met the guy once when I was staying here and all I can recollect is that he’s around my age (my uncle knocked up a girl when he was sixteen and pretty much bailed on his family until recently—guess it’s a family thing) and that he doesn’t speak. The details why he’s mute where never divulge clearly, other than there was some kind of incident when he was about eight.
“He turned into one hell of a card player,” my uncle comments, all proud papa, as we step into the small kitchen area filled with smoke from the four guys sitting around the table, puffing on cigarettes. The sound of chips clinking together, the taste of nicotine in the air, the alcohol in the cups, the intensity surrounding the table gets my pulse soaring like an drug addict eyeing crack.
“Ryler,” he shouts at one of the guys over the music then walks over to an iPod in a dock and turns it off. “Your cousin Luke’s here.” He points a finger at Violet and me.
A guy around my age glances up from his cards and then takes a sip of his drink. He looks just as intense as when I saw him almost two years ago. Jeans with holes in them, eyebrow and lip piercings, a sleeve of skulls and crosses on his arms. His hair is jet black and it looks like he’s wearing black eyeliner, but I don’t think he is—his eyes just look that way. And he’s wearing an I’ve-been-through-tough-shit expression.
He gives me a chin nod before his gaze drifts to Violet then he turns to his uncle and signs something.
“Is he deaf?” Violet asks in a low voice as she steps up beside me.
I shake my head as Ryler glances over at Violet, clearly hearing her, and my uncle chimes in. “No, he just can’t speak,” he tells Violet. “But his hearing works just fine.”
Violet doesn’t ask questions, which isn’t surprising, but what she does next shocks the shit out of me. She lifts up her hand and makes these movements with her hand, clearly signing something to Ryler.
This makes him smile, the darkness in his expression briefly lights up as he signs something back, causing Violet to laugh softly then shrug.
“I don’t know everything,” she says to him. “But some.”
I want to ask her how she knows sign language but Violet has had a very different upbringing from most, living with God knows how many families so I’m guessing she picked it up somewhere along the line. What I don’t like though is how Ryler is looking at Violet, like how I used to look at women when they showed up at games, with the intention of getting them on my lap and getting inside them later.
“This is Violet,” I say, not even sure if they made introduction already. I casually put my hand on her back, hoping she doesn’t shove me away, so uncomfortable in my own skin it’s making me fidgety. I want to add, ‘my girlfriend,” but that would probably result in me getting kicked in the balls from Violet.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ryler,” Violet says and I relax at the lack of interest in her tone. She’s just being friendly.
Ryler signs something to his dad and my uncle replies, “Actually we’re going to take Luke down to The Warehouse tonight.” He goes over to the fridge, gets three beers out, and offers Violet and I one.
I oblige because I’m never one to turn down a drink, but I’m shocked when Violet takes the drink she’s offered. She was also drinking at Geraldson’s and it has be worried that maybe she’s starting to get into the habit, but mentioning it would be like the pot calling the kettle black, so I keep my lips shut, wondering how long the avoidance between us can go on.
Violet
His cousin Ryler was totally eye f**king me in the kitchen but I have no interest in him. The guy’s hot and everything, in a gothic kind of way. Tattoos covering his arms, piercings, black hair that hangs in his eyes, and his eyelashes are so thick it almost looks like he’s wearing eyeliner. But the last thing I need is some random hookup where I feel like crap afterward. Not to mention the drama that would come between Luke and I. And I hate soap opera drama.
Then I found out he’s mute and I couldn’t help myself. As much as I love keeping my past to myself, I couldn’t help but use what little sign language I picked up when I stayed with one of the somewhat normal families who had a son that was deaf. During the four months that I stayed with him, he taught me a little bit when we were hanging out and I still remember pretty much all of it.
After introductions, Luke’s uncle takes us up to a guest bedroom, which of course only has one queen size bed, because destiny’s been on such a roll lately. Then Cole leaves us to get settled, shutting the door behind him.
As I’m trying to figure out the sleeping arrangement and if I even care, Luke turns to me with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. “So… where did you learn how to sign?” he asks.