"Way to go, asshole." I smacked him in the back of the head just as the girls disappeared down the hallway.
"What did I do?" He rubbed a hand over the spot I had just smacked and stared at me.
I looked down at the girl who was now kissing his neck and completely oblivious to the conversation we were having. "Don’t act like an idiot. You know."
"They’ll get over it." He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal, and I had the urge to slap him again. Instead, I set Josie’s bags down at the back of the couch and walked into the large kitchen where Olly was making a sandwich.
I hiked my thumb over my shoulder as I pulled out a stool across from him at the island. "Who thought that was a good idea?"
"Don’t look at me." He shook his head as he spread mayonnaise across his bread. "I had no idea about her until she showed up with a bag."
"Who the fuck is she?"
He looked up at me like I was insane, and I already knew the answer. She was just some girl. Some girl that Carson used who was more than happy to use him back. "Her name is Carrie. That’s all I know."
"He’s such an idiot." All three of us knew this would piss Frankie off. I knew she had her own reasons due to her new loyalty to Allie and whatever the hell was going on between her and Carson, but this was also supposed to be just us. He knew it too.
And even if he was a bit of a manwhore, he normally never would have brought a girl here. I had a feeling he didn’t make the decision to do so until
he found out that Allie was coming.
When the girls didn’t come out of the room after a few minutes, I grabbed Josie’s bag and carried it down the hall to my room. All of the bedrooms here were basically all the same, but Frankie and I had claimed our own personal bedrooms when we were young.
The room still looked exactly the same as it always had, and I dropped both Josie’s and my bag in the middle of the bed before I went on a search for her.
All three girls were in Frankie’s room, only a couple doors down from mine, and they all sat at the head of the bed with their heads huddled together, talking.
"You’re not going to spend the entire weekend holed up in this room. Are you?" I laid across the foot of the bed and leaned up on my elbow to watch them.
"Who’s that girl?" Frankie nodded toward the main living area where we both knew Carson was still probably all over that chick.
"Her name is Carrie."
All three of them wrinkled their noses, and I couldn’t help but laugh. "I didn’t take you three for the mean girl type. You all don’t even know her."
"I didn’t say anything about her." Frankie crossed her arms. "It just would have been nice to give us a heads-up." Her eyes glanced toward Allie, and I actually felt bad for the girl. I had no idea what the hell was happening or had happened between her and Carson, but I knew that he wasn’t the kind of guy a girl like her should fall for.
Not that I could talk, but Carson had no interest in being with any one girl. It wasn’t his style.
"If I had known, I would have told you, but I didn’t. He sprung this on me too."
"It’s fine." Allie stood from the bed and shook her head gently. "What’s the plan for today?"
"Well, first." I grabbed ahold of Josie’s ankle and tugged her toward me as she squealed. "I need to have a little chat with this one. Then I say let’s head to the beach."
"Deal." Frankie hopped off the bed and started rummaging through her bag.
"I didn’t agree to this deal." Josie tried to pull away from me, but I quickly stood and tugged her along with me.
"You can walk with me or I’ll sling you over my shoulder and carry your ass." I stared down at her beautiful flushed face, and if my sister and Allie weren’t currently staring at us, I would have leaned forward and kissed the hell out of her.
"You wouldn’t dare." She sat up and attempted to push me away, but I gripped my hands around her waist and lifted her. "Beck, no." She laughed, and I swear it was the most relieving sound in the world.
She may have been mad at me for whatever reason, but she still liked me whether she would admit it or not.
She wrapped her legs around my waist before I could manage to lift her higher, and I pushed past Frankie and Allie and out of the room.
"Get ready. We’ll see you all in just a bit."
I left them before either of them could reply and kicked the door to my room closed behind me as soon as we entered. Josie rolled her eyes as I sat down on the bed with her still attached to me. She attempted to push away, a very weak attempt, but I held onto her.
I didn’t dare let her out of my grip.
I pressed my lips to her jaw, and her body softened against me.
"Are you going to tell me why you’re mad at me?" God, she smelled so good. Did she always smell this good?
"I’m not mad at you." She stretched her neck just slightly, but I smiled against her skin at the access she gave me.
"Irritated? Frustrated? Upset? Whatever you want to call it. You are something with me."
She rolled her eyes again, and this time, I did lean forward and catch her mouth with mine. Her lips were so damn soft, and I couldn’t stop myself as I wrapped my hand in her hair, holding her closer to me.
"I’m just confused." Her words were muffled against my lips, but she didn’t stop kissing me.
I leaned back, putting some space between us, and looked at her. "What are you confused about?"
"You."
"Can you be a little more specific?"
"Why didn’t you text me at all last night?" She looked down, but I lifted my hand and raised her chin until she was looking at me again. I couldn’t tell her that I had been with Cami. Nothing had happened between us. Not a damn thing.
But her father was more than ecstatic when he saw my car there. He put on a grand show of how perfect his little family was. There wasn’t a trace of the dad I knew he was when I wasn’t around.
And even though I felt guilty for not telling Josie, I didn’t regret staying with her. I didn’t regret giving her some reprieve from her horrible fucking father.
"I need to be honest with you." I took a deep breath. I knew that what I was about to say was probably going to piss her off, but I needed to be honest. If we were going to trust each other, I couldn’t lie to her about this.
"Okay?" She was watching me skeptically.
"I was with Cami last night." As soon as I said the words, I regretted the way they sounded. "Nothing happened," I rushed to clarify. "I was with her and her family."
She stood there for a moment, and I knew that she was trying to think through what she was about to say. If I were her, I would be pissed at me. I knew that she had every right, but I wanted her to understand. "Why?"
"I know that you don’t like Cami, and you have every reason not to. But Cami and I have been friends for a long time, and…" I hesitated because it wasn’t my place to tell all of Cami’s secrets. "Her home life isn’t good. She acts like she has everything together, but she doesn’t."
"And you’re the one she falls on when things are bad?" There was no judgment in her voice, and it killed me how understanding she was.
"I have been for a really long time."
She bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at me, and part of me thought that maybe she was going to tell me to go to hell, but she didn’t.
Instead, she took a deep breath and said the last thing I expected her to say.
"Don’t keep things like this from me. I don’t like Cami, and I probably never will. But I don’t expect you to hate her simply because I do. But you can’t keep things like this from me."