My dad knew that I wanted to smash his face in every time I saw him.
When I had told them that I hadn’t posted the video, I saw the doubt in their eyes. It only deepened when I had blamed Lucas.
It didn’t matter that I showed my dad where I sent the text. He thought I was trying to set up Lucas to take the fall.
I guess that was what Josie had thought too.
Everyone on the baseball team had access to that Instagram account. I couldn’t lie and say that I didn’t. I had no proof that it wasn’t me. The video was on my phone, and I was obviously the one who had recorded it.
My plan had been fucking stupid. I had been a fucking idiot, but I hadn’t thought out everything when I sent it to him.
I was furious with him, and I had her. That was all that mattered. That was all that I could see.
I should have known that Lucas would have never stopped. He would never just let me send him a video like that and get away with it.
I don’t know why I had expected anything different from him.
I knew exactly who Lucas Vos was. He had proven that to me.
I was never going to be able to get to him through Josie. It didn’t matter that their dad would be disappointed in him for not taking care of her. That would never be enough.
He didn’t care about her or anyone else.
"You do realize that he could press charges if he wanted to, correct?
Something like this could ruin your life."
"After what Lucas did to Frankie, I’d think he’d be a fool to even try." I hated saying that out loud in front of her, and I saw Frankie’s posture change just slightly at my words.
"This isn’t the place." My mom’s words reached me just before Allie stepped outside with Josie on her tail.
My body went perfectly still. I hadn’t expected to see her, let alone come out here carrying my parents’ food while Allie carried drinks and condiments.
She didn’t look at me as she made her way to the table. She smiled kindly at my dad, and I wondered how hard that was for her. She probably thought he was as cruel as I was.
She probably thought my whole family was.
"Hi there, Josie." My dad looked like he felt as awkward in this situation as I did.
"Hi, Mr. Clermont." Josie’s eyes flicked across the table to me before settling on my sister. "Hey, Frankie."
"Josie, this is my wife, Ella."
Josie set her plate down in front of my mom and smiled. It was tight and uncomfortable, and I knew she wanted to be anywhere but here. I had no idea how Allie had convinced her to help her in the first place.
"It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Clermont."
"You too." My mom’s smile was genuine and sad, and I knew she wanted to apologize to her for my behavior. She was ashamed of what I did, of what she thought I did, and I didn’t blame her.
Josie didn’t look at me again before she started to walk away. I knew that I shouldn’t have, but the urge to follow her was overwhelming. The urge to scream her name and demand she listen to me was all I could think of.
She was so damn close to me, perfectly within reach, and I couldn’t touch her.
I pushed out of my chair, and my mom put her hand on mine. "Beck."
I knew I should have listened to her. Not only had I just ruined Josie’s life, but she was at work. I had no business talking to her here. I had no business doing anything with her.
But I couldn’t stop myself.
I followed her into the dining room, and I knew she saw me. Her steps were sure and fast, and she didn’t dare turn around to look at me. Allie did, though. She looked at me like she thought I had lost my damn mind, and maybe I had.
Josie pushed through the kitchen doors as if she thought that would stop me. She was insane. I wasn’t scared of walking into that kitchen and making
a fool of myself.
I didn’t care what any of these people thought of me. It didn’t matter that they could all potentially be my employees one day. Nothing mattered at that moment except for her.
"Josie, please stop."
She didn’t answer me. She set down the tray far rougher than necessary and grabbed a glass from the shelf. She moved around the station as if I wasn’t even there, but her movements were sharp and frustrated.
Allie was looking around at anything but me and pretending like I didn’t exist.
"What do you want me to say?" I huffed out the question in frustration.
"I’m sorry. Okay? But I did not post that video."
Her hand tightened around the glass she had just filled and her back went rigid. She turned to face me, and I swear I could see the fire flickering in her eyes as she stared at me.
This girl wanted nothing to do with me. Her anger was the only thing she felt when it came to me. Everything she had felt before was gone.
It didn’t matter that she had kissed me back in the hallway earlier today.
Nothing mattered.
I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I had ruined Josie Vos’s life, and she fucking hated me for it.
"Get out." Her voice was calm, but it felt like a threat.
"I’m not leaving until you talk to me." I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter. She could be pissed all she wanted, but she had to talk to me. She had to listen.
"Beck, I think you should go." This came from Allie, but I wasn’t listening to her. I was too busy staring at Josie, and her beautiful damn eyes that looked like they wanted to kill me.
When I had first met her she looked so much like her father, but I could barely see him when I looked at her now. She was nothing like him.
It didn’t matter that she had his eyes or the exact shade of dark brown hair.
Everything about her was different.
"Did you even hear what I said about Lucas at my house?" I knew that other people could hear us, but I didn’t care.
"Don’t bring Lucas into this." She was still staring at me. "Man the fuck up and take responsibility for what you did."
"You’re right." I held up my hands. "I made a fucking mistake. I would take it all back if I could. If I could just go back to what we were—"
"We were nothing." There was so much fire in her voice when she cut me off.
"We were." I felt just as angry. "We still are."
She laughed, and I knew that she was on the verge of losing it in front of all these people. These were her coworkers. She was going to have to face them every single day, and I saw the way they all looked at us. They knew what had happened.
Everyone knew.
"You are out of your fucking mind, Clermont." She grabbed a small tray and placed the glass on it.
"Then why did you kiss me today?" I knew I shouldn’t have said it. I should have walked away and let her calm down, but I couldn’t think rationally around her.
"You kissed me." She pointed her finger in my direction. "And I think it’s perfectly clear that I have made some stupid fucking mistakes lately."
"I’m a mistake?" Rationally, I knew that I was. How in the world could she see me as anything other than a mistake?
Trusting me was a mistake.
Letting me touch her was a mistake.
Letting myself fall for the girl who was only supposed to be part of a plan was a giant fucking mistake.
"Lucas warned me not to trust you."
I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
"You claim Lucas is a monster and yet, even he knew that you were toxic.
What does that say about you?"
She started to walk by me, but I reached out and grabbed her arm. She was so close to me, the smell of her perfume sweet and intoxicating, and I hated what I had done to her. What I had done to us.
"Lucas doesn’t know shit about me." Not anymore.
"But I do." The fire in her eyes died for a moment, and she looked so damn sad. I wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to make her see that she was worth more than what any of us gave her.