Then who is it for? Is there somebody else you were hoping to catch the attention of tonight?
She looked down at her phone again, but this time she didn’t look back my way. She was typing on her phone without a single look up.
I don’t know. I’m weighing my options. Olly is looking rather
handsome tonight.
My gaze snapped over to my friend, then back to her. She wouldn’t dare.
Sure. If you want to see me fight my friend tonight.
There was a small upturn of her lips, but that was all she gave me.
That could be kind of hot.
As soon as she sent the message, Lucas pulled out the chair next to her and took a seat. I couldn’t stop staring at her or how damn close he sat next to her. It was almost enough to make me forget how playful she was being in her text messages, that thrill of her flirting leaving me at the sight of him.
But she wasn’t paying one bit of attention to him or he to her. She had her elbow resting on the table, and her chin resting on her fist as she looked over at me.
She was waiting for my reply.
Is that what you want? The two of us?
The mere thought made my blood boil. I wouldn’t share her with anyone.
Regardless of if that was what she wanted.
I couldn’t do it.
I could feel insane jealousy taking over me just thinking about it.
Does it matter what I want?
Of course, it does.
My answer was immediate and honest. I knew that she thought I was some kind of monster, but I wasn’t. What she wanted was all that mattered to me at this point. I just hoped like hell that it was me.
I want you to take off that tux jacket.
I looked up at her, but her attention was back on the speaker just as food started being served at the tables. I paid no attention to the food that was laid in front of me. I simply pulled my arms from the jacket and let it fall against the back of my chair.
That better?
She looked back over at me and let her gaze run all over me. I could feel my cock stirring in my pants, and I prayed that she didn’t ask me to get up next because everyone here would know how turned on I was getting.
Yes.
But you should roll up your sleeves. You have incredible forearms.
I did what she said. I unhooked my cufflinks and slowly rolled the sleeves of my white shirt until they laid just beneath my elbows.
Okay. Is it my turn now?
That depends. What do you want?
I thought about her question, and there were a million different things I wanted from her. The presenter finished his speech and everyone clapped just as soft music began to play.
Everyone around us started diving into the exquisite food that was set before us, but not us. Neither one of us touched our food as I sent her my next message.
Dance with me.
It took her several minutes before her next text came through. So long that I felt like my heart was resting at the back of my throat.
I can’t.
Her words felt like a blow.
She couldn’t or she didn’t want to? Either way, I knew that I deserved that decision. I had been cruel to her, and now I just expected her to dance with me in front of everyone.
After everything I had done.
My dad will be pissed.
Her next text came through, and somehow it both soothed something inside me while pissing me off even further.
She wasn’t saying no because she didn’t want to, but because that asshole was sitting right there. And I was sure that he had tried to fill her head with everything he could about me.
He had hated me ever since the moment everything happened with Lucas, and I hated him. But I didn’t care if he didn’t want me with his daughter.
It wasn’t up to him.
I’ll find a way.
I sent that last text before I finally lifted my fork and dug into the food.
So many people in this town were scared of Joseph Vos, but I wasn’t one of them. There was nothing he had that I wanted with the exception of her, and I knew that he didn’t truly have her.
She wasn’t some fool like Lucas who worshipped the man due to his money and power.
And I knew that she wanted me regardless of what she knew was best for her. Some small part of her wanted me, and that was all I needed to know.
Because I could prove to her that I was worth it.
Even if I had shown her otherwise before. I wanted to be with Josie Vos regardless of who her family was, and I would do whatever it took to get her
back.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JOSIE
Icouldn’t stop my leg from shaking beneath the table.
I just wanted to get up and leave this damn table and go somewhere.
Anywhere, really.
I wanted to go straight over to Beck and take him up on his offer to spin me around the dance floor, but I knew my father would be furious.
That wasn’t specifically in his rules for today, but staying away from Beck was in his everyday rules.
Rules that I freaking hated but needed to listen to.
Because whether I liked it or not, my father was the key to my future, and I knew that I would have nothing if I didn’t listen to him. It didn’t matter that he was my dad. He was a businessman through and through, and he would hold up to what he said.
He would rip my mother’s house and the small amount of money she left me away without a second thought. It wouldn’t hurt him at all, but it would kill me.
"Would you like to dance?" My father held his hand out to Amelia who gladly accepted it with a genuine smile on her face. She had been far too excited about this event, and when I shot down the light yellow dress she had first picked out for me, I had actually felt a little guilty by the way her face fell.
I knew that it was unfair to be cruel to her just because I was starting to hate the two people that she loved most. Amelia had done nothing to me, but I still hated the way she looked at my father like he hung the moon. Like he hadn’t abandoned his first wife and kid before he chose her.
But I had still softened myself as I told her the kind of dress I liked. She had beamed at me like it was our first true bonding experience, and I may have even enjoyed it a bit once I tried to let go of how I felt about her with my dad. She brought out the red dress, and I knew that it was the one.
I loved it immediately, and she had agreed once I tried it on. I tried to not think about Lucas or my dad or my mom as I let her zip up the back of my dress and push my hair over my shoulder.
Amelia had almost nothing in common with my mother, but I knew that fact didn’t make her evil.
The two of them moved from the table and onto the dance floor, and I couldn’t stop my gaze from immediately going to Beck. He was laughing with his sister and his friends, and every part of me wanted to go over there and be a part of it.
I wanted to see this Beck. So carefree and fun.
Not the Beck who felt like he was constantly for show.
"Stop staring over there. You look desperate." Lucas snapped from beside me, and I quickly pulled my attention away from Beck to look at him.
I didn’t say a word as I stared. I didn’t have anything to say to Lucas after everything I found out. Neither of us had uttered a word to each other since the locker room.
"You do remember what he did to you, right? Do you need a reminder?"
He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I’m sure one of my boys still has the video if you need to watch it again."
"You’re such a prick." I said it under my breath, but I had no idea why I was showing him any courtesy in front of these people when he had absolutely no respect for me.