"I won’t share it as long as Mr. Vos holds up to his end of the bargain." I
pulled my hand away from hers and looked between the two of them.
"You barely know her." Her desperate voice stopped me in my tracks.
"I’ve been your friend for as long as I can remember, and you barely know her. How can you choose her over me?"
My heart was thundering in my chest, and I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t know how she could even ask such a question after the way she had betrayed me.
I didn’t know how she could expect anything out of me.
"I love her, and I will do whatever I have to, to protect her."
The door opened, and Mr. Vos let out a deep curse.
"What the hell is going on?"
My gaze snapped to Josie's, and from the way she was looking around the room, I knew that she had just overheard far too much.
"Dad?" Josie looked to her father, and I swear I had never seen so much hurt cross her face. I had never seen her look at him the way she was looking at him now. Like she was desperate for him to me, more than he was.
"Nothing's happening." He reached out for her hand, and she quickly jerked it out of his touch. "I think it's time the two of us head home."
"You're sleeping with Cami?" She looked back and forth between them, and I couldn't imagine what was going through her head. After everything she had been through, that was the last thing she needed. This was the last thing she could take.
"Don't be absurd." Mr. Vos's face was filled with rage, and I knew that he hated this. He hated that he couldn't talk his way out of this situation that he had put himself in.
"I heard you." She glanced over at me before looking back at her father.
"I heard what Beck said."
"This isn't the place to have this conversation." His gaze bounced to the door, and I knew that he was unraveling. Whatever plan he had with Cami was backfiring on him. For such a smart businessman, he was acting like a complete and total idiot.
"Where exactly do you think we should have this conversation?" Josie's voice was rising. "Should we talk about it with your wife, or maybe Cami's dad? Would those be better options?"
I moved closer to Josie and her gaze snapped to mine.
"We are not doing this." He shook his head, but I didn't care what he had to say.
"The video is yours." I nodded to Josie. "Make him sign over your mother's house and money."
"And what about you?" She looked so hurt, so full of questions. "You finally have the power to destroy him and you're just going to hand it over?"
"Yes."
There was an instant relief in her eyes at my answer as if she hadn't believed it before that moment. As if she actually thought I would choose revenge over her, and I hated that I ever made her believe that. I had caused that doubt in her, and I would do whatever it took to take it back.
"Josephine, let's go. We can talk about this in the car."
But Josie wasn't looking at him. She was still looking at me. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Josie."
She jerked her head around in his direction, and I stepped closer to her still. I felt so overprotective of her, so eager to get her behind me where he couldn't touch her even if he tried, but I knew that she was capable of protecting herself.
And she needed this.
"I am not going anywhere with you," she repeated herself. "If I were you, I would leave."
"I am your father."
"You are nothing more than a man who thinks he's entitled to whatever he wants." She balled her fists up at her sides. "Now leave."
He stared at his daughter, but he didn't say another word. He ran his hand through his hair before looking back at Cami. He didn't say a word to her as he pushed through the door and left.
Josie let out a shaky breath, and I knew that Cami was about to say something. And I didn't know if Josie could handle anything else. Not today.
Not after what she had just witnessed.
And I knew she probably didn't want to talk to me either, but I couldn't walk away from her. Even if that was what she wanted.
"I need to get out of here." She looked back at me, and I didn't give her a moment to second-guess what she was saying. I reached out and grabbed her hand in mine, and I pulled her away without a backward glance at Cami.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
JOSIE
Ifelt like I was numb.
I couldn't wrap my head around what just happened or what I should be doing or saying. All I could think about was Beck and the words I heard him say over and over in my head.
"I love her, and I will do whatever I have to, to protect her."
None of it made sense. Not anything that he said or did. His push and pull. It gave me whiplash, and I didn’t think I could survive another round of it.
Because despite everything, I was in love with Beck Clermont.
But he was responsible for so much. Even though Lucas had told me that he was the one who had given Cami the video, Beck was the one who gave him access to it. If I had never met him, it never would have happened. I wouldn’t be in this situation where my dad was fucking a girl from my school who I hated.
But it wasn’t fair to blame Beck for that.
Because he didn’t know.
He thought he knew Cami. She was his friend, and I had to believe that he didn’t know. If he did, I would never be able to forgive him. But I saw the look on his face when I walked in that room, he was as shocked as I was.
Because who would believe a man like my father would do something like this? I knew the man wasn’t the best father, and I had my own built-up hate for him, but this was beyond what I thought he was capable of.
But I knew he was guilty.
If I hadn’t heard it with my own ears, that fact would be laminated by the
fact that I received a large sum of money in my bank account this morning. A sum that was the exact same amount that my mother had left me.
But there were no calls or texts from him. No I’m sorrys or checking to see where I was.
My dad handled his business in money, and I guess I was no different.
And if the deed to my mother’s house was waiting on me when I finally went back to his house, then I would be glad.
He could do whatever he wanted, and I would have nothing else to do with him.
Even if that meant that I had to leave Clermont Bay.
Even if I had to leave Allie and Frankie and Beck.
My chest tightened just at the thought.
Beck had held to his word when we arrived at his house last night. I walked behind him as he led me up to Frankie’s bedroom, and once she opened the door, I didn’t see him again.
I knew that was what I should have wanted, but I couldn’t lie and say that I wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t come back for me. That he didn’t demand I talk to him.
Because as much as I wanted to be nowhere near him, there was an even bigger part of me that wanted him to make me listen. I wanted him to make me understand.
Now, the whole house was asleep, and I was sitting by their pool wrapped in a blanket I stole from Frankie’s room. And I was just replaying everything that happened yesterday over and over in my head.
I wondered if Lucas knew. If he was aware that his stepfather, who he worshipped so much, was cheating on his mom with someone his age. I doubted it would matter to him.
And that thought made me sick.
It probably wouldn’t matter to most people because they feared the power that my father held.
But I was just disgusted by him.
He was nothing that he should have been, and I couldn’t understand how my mother could have ever loved a man like him. Because she did, even when they were no longer together she had loved him.
And he wasn’t worthy of her love. Not one moment of it.