Control Me

9

A/N: Emiko's outfit that's described in this chapter is posted in the next chapter. If y'all want to see it now just scroll to the next chapter and then come back to read.

"How much longer?" Violet sighs loudly from the back seat. She pops her gum for the umpteenth time in under two minutes before slouching back to kick her heeled boots up on the middle console. "My legs are killing me and my ass is numb."

Jamie glances back at her from the passenger seat and flicks the last of his cigarette out the window. "How many times are you going to ask that?"

"As many times as I want. You'd be doing the same if you didn't have to worry about this damn dog biting you." She juts her thumb over at Aja who begins to quietly growl.

Aja's never been fond of Violet and I don't fault her for it. Violet talks too much.

I shove her feet off the console and rest my arm there instead. My body feels abnormally heavy and my hand is twitching but it isn't from the anticipation of seeing my family. I need my fix and I need it now. Only thing is if I take it now then I'd crash out before we'd even make it to our destination. "We're almost there."

"Hey, watch it!" Violet snaps before leaning forward to stick her head between both me and Jamie. She tilts her head towards me with a sour look on her face. "No need to be a jerk."

"Then shut the fuck up."

She narrows her eyes and studies my profile hard, almost like she's trying to peer inside my head. "Are you still upset about Emil dying?" Violet asks, noticing the irritation in my voice. "You should be used to it by now. With our line of work we can't afford to get attached to each other."

That's far from the reason why my temper is short but her question still annoys me all the same. "He had a kid." I roll my jaw.

"Now he's dead." Violet grabs my arm, her head resting back against Jamie's shoulder and I fist my hand to hide my symptoms from her. "There was nothing we could do to save him. Emil made the decision to work for us-"

"Me." I cut her off. Everything that we did, legal or illegal was solely up to me.

"Whatever. He knew the risks and still decided to join."

I inhale deeply, trying my best to keep calm but fuck- between her talking and my twitching I wasn't sure which one would drive me off a cliff. These days my temper has been out of control and if I wanted this plan to go off without a hitch I had to reign it in.

"That's enough." Jamie glowers before looking over at me. "Are you sure your parents are going to be ok with us tagging along?"

I told my parents I would be coming home after four years of no contact. It was the first time I had spoken to them since I left. They were both happy to hear the news but mom was so ecstatic that I could barely hear my father tell me that they'd be staying in Amorite for a while and I almost missed it.

Apparently a storm has blown through and took out a large chunk of the castle in Unity. So instead of staying at the capital like initially planned we'd be staying in Amorite for the time being.

I did make sure to tell them I had some friends coming with me. They told me that it was fine, they just wanted me to come home even if I was bringing guests.

"They know."

"How long is this thing going to take?"

"For as long as we need it to." I roll my shoulders. "He never gave us a deadline but if it comes down to it. The plan comes first."

"You hear that V? That means laying low." Jamie reiterates to Violet.

"I'm not the one that's always stirring up trouble." She pouts, flipping her switchblade between her fingers fluidly. "It just comes to me and I welcome with it an open mouth, legs and arms."