COLE’S P.O.V

There standing in the doorway, with a massive oversized hoodie, that looked suspiciously like the one I had lent her when we were leaving the club the other night, she had been really cold and having had just gone out clubbing she hadn't thought to bring a jacket. It was my little Violet.

She stepped out onto the front porch her nose already red with the cold and her cheeks flushed. I could see the remnants of smudged mascara under her eyes and it broke my heart to think I had made her cry.

“Cole, um- what um are you doing here?” She shivered slightly and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, before turning half away from me. I'm assumed that she thought I couldn't see, so she tried to subtly reach up and wipe away a tear.

My heart clenched with sorrow, I couldn’t help myself when my hand reached out to her, “Baby, no please don’t cry. It breaks my heart to see you cry.” I tried to softly touch her face, to wipe away the stray tear that escaped the corner of her eye, she flinched at my touch and stepped back out of my reach.

I took a deep breath of the bitter cold air, willing it to give me strength. My head hung in shame as I ran my hand through my hair in frustration, “Please just let me explain my side of the story…”

I could see the internal debate she was having with herself. Hurt, curiosity, anger, sadness all flitted across her face, trying to figure out what she wanted. She shuffled around, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, trying to keep herself warm.

I could see she made her decision when she turned to me and raised her eyebrows as if she was saying, continue. When my eyes met her eyes, I faltered. Gone was the softness she used to hold in her eyes for me. I could feel my resolution crumble a little bit.

I have to explain to her, I want to look into her eyes again and see the softness, the genuine kindness shines through.

I took a deep breath, “I promise you I’m not engaged and that the media has it all wrong. Sophia is my psycho ex-girlfriend who is just jealous, I'm not dating her anymore, she's trying to use me.”

She scoffed at what I had to say, “Yeah, Cole. I may be younger than you, but that doesn’t mean I daft. I have dealt with liars in my life, I just didn’t pin you as a liar.”

I would be lying if I said her harsh words didn’t hurt. I tried to keep my emotions in check, trying to remind myself of what has happened over the past 24 hours. She was very shaken up about what has happened. Having her life go from private one day and then the next day having her face splashed across the tabloids. She was forced into a corner, forced to run off to this cabin in Canada for no good reason, except for the fact of my psycho ex.

“Violet, I swear to you that I am not lying. I’ve got a whole bunch of people all working on this to try to figure it out. I have my legal team working on creating a case against Sophia for defamation of you. Once everything is drafted, I will give it to you, and it is everything you need to sue her. You can even go as far as getting a restraining order against her. My PR team is working on getting a story out, the true story.”

I could see that she was about to say something else, but I cut her off, “Look into my eyes if you don’t believe me. Look into my eyes as I tell you that I broke it off with her a good few weeks ago. Look into my eyes and see the truth ring through them as I tell you, that I..”

I took a deep breath, stressed, because she was one hard ass cookie to crack, “I really, really like you, Violet. I have never come across someone like you in my whole life. Why would I want to put what we have at risk?”

I could see that the tough exterior she was trying to show the world, trying to show me, started to fade and crack. Her lower lip trembled as she tore her eyes away from me. She looked out at the snow swirling viciously around the cabin, thinking about everything I have said so far.

I had to continue with telling her my side of the story, I was finally getting through to her and I didn’t want to give her time to build her guard back up again.

I softly reached for her again and this time she didn’t pull away. Okay… That’s progress. “Please, baby. Let me explain” I pleaded.

Violet nodded her head. “ You have five minutes but were sitting out here. You're not coming inside” she said while wagging her finger in my face disapprovingly.

“Yes, baby. Of course.” I agreed with her as I went and sat down on the bench. I gently grabbed her arm and pulled her down to sit right next to me so I could wrap my arms around her. I knew she wouldn’t say it, but she was freezing. I would have sat her on my lap but I figured that was too much considering she was still upset with me. The spark in the back of her eye told me she was pissed off as well, there was just something there keeping her from acting on that anger.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Your five minutes are ticking,” Violet huffed out.

There she was my sassy girl. God, I loved it when that part of her came out. Something was keeping it from coming out more often, and I was determined to figure out what it was exactly. Before I get too ahead of myself, my main focus was to explain everything to VIolet and hope she forgives me.

With a sigh I started, “It all started a few years ago. Sophia was one of the models I selected to walk in one of my very first shows, there kept being issues with her outfits and we ended up spending a lot of time together. One night I asked her out for dinner and from there we continued having little dates until the show was over and I eventually asked her out. We had been dating for a yea-”

“A year? You were seriously dating that crazy narcissistic girl for a year.” Violet didn’t try to sugarcoat the sarcasm laced in her voice.

I huffed out a laugh, “Yeah, yeah. I know. When I noticed that things weren't the same anymore. She was rather secretive about what she was doing but then would be very territorial if I was ever seen with another girl, which happened a lot due to my job. The paparazzi would photograph me coming out with meetings with models or even just at my club talking to valued customers and make it seem like I was cheating. I’m not going to paint myself as a saint either. I have had my fair share of women.”

I looked at Violet to make sure she was following. I didn’t miss the face she made, indicating that she wasn’t surprised I had my fair share of women.

I chose not to say anything because she was different and I didn’t want to just give her pretty words. I wanted to show her how much she meant to me. “No matter how many times that I told her it had just been work and nothing was going on she still didn't believe me. The final straw was when some of my models quit right before a massive show because she had threatened them. She pulled stuff like this from time to time, but it was never for something this big or to this extent. It was then that I officially broke things off with her. Only she didn't seem to get the message and continued to hang around.

There was a lull in my explanation as I allowed everything to sink in with her. She subconsciously shivered, I couldn’t help myself but to wrap my arm around her to try and keep her warm in the angry storm that blew around us. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when she didn’t pull away and leaned into my arms instead.

“Okay so she continued to hang around, why is that such a big deal? Surely she wasn’t able to get too involved in your life,” Violet probed. Hanging on to every word that I have said so far.

“Well you would think so, but she stalked me and continued to threaten the people in my life, even my sister! It’s one thing if she is doing it to me, I don’t have an issue handling it. The issue was that she was threatening those around me and it started to affect their health. After having enough of her crap I filed a restraining order and that was over a year ago.”

I could feel Violet relax even more into me, finding comfort in the words I spoke as the story unfolded.

“Unfortunately, she just didn’t seem to get the message, so she decided to tell the press that we've gotten back together and are apparently engaged. Baby none of that is true, I promise you, please believe me...” I pleaded. I really like this girl and I'm hoping that all of this didn't scare her off too much.

We sat in silence together. Comfortable in each others presence. After some time Violet sniffed quietly; I wasn't sure if it was the cold or if she had started to cry. I didn’t dare to move, I wanted her to come to me for comfort. There was a long beat before she looked up at me, coughing lightly to clear her throat. Her words were covered in steel and heeding a very heavy warning, “I don't want to be made a fool of in front of the media like that ever again. I am going to give you another chance, but if a story like this ever comes out again, that is it. I will not be with you to be the world’s morning entertainment at the cost of my dignity..”

I tried not to fumble over my words like some sort of excited schoolboy talking to their crush, “Of course baby, I've got people working on suing Sophia as we speak and then from there I will see what my lawyers say about suing the actual media companies for going along with her slander. I'm going to make this right, please just let me prove that and myself to you.”

She nodded her head, accepting the plea in my case. There was a shimmer of mischief in her eyes as she turned her attention back to me, “You're going to have to explain all of this to Georgie, she's really pissed off at you, you know.” Violet giggled just at the thought of Georgie ripping into me. I'll never admit it out loud but that giggle lit up my whole world.

I noticed that Violet's lips were turning blue and purple and her small shivers were starting to get a lot worse. “Pet, you're freezing you should probably go inside and warm up. I don't want you getting sick.”

“I- I - I'm fine.” she stuttered out as her teeth started to chatter.

“Violet,” She looked at me, not used to me calling her by her actual name, “Please just go inside, we can't do any of the things I've had planned, for when we get back to the city if you're sick.”

“Fine I'll go inside but you're coming with me and tell your pilot he's coming too, we don't need either of you getting hypothermia. Okay?”

We both started to stand up from the stiff frozen bench. I rubbed my hands together, gesturing back to where the helicopter was, “Yeah baby we’ll come inside, let's get you warm but please don't let Georgie murder me. People don't normally scare me but she is frightening. I’m glad shes protective over you.”

I quickly jogged back to the helicopter, the footsteps I originally made were long gone. Steve, my pilot, looked almost as rough as Violet but has managed to keep warm from the emergency heating packs. Steve, Violet and I all hurried inside after we had grabbed out bags out the helicopter. Violet had insisted on helping to carry our bags but I refused.

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Walking inside was like hitting a wall of hot air. The cabin despite its size felt like home. It didn't just feel like some barely used holiday house, it felt like someone loved living her and took care of the place. It had this special atmosphere to it that felt like hot chocolate on a Christmas morning. The fireplace was roaring and seemed to be the main source of heat. Any source of heat at this point is welcome, it was freezing outside.

I turned around trying to take in my surroundings, but taking in my surroundings was cut very short when I saw a flying shoe headed directly towards my head.