Page 24 of Girl Violence

“Yeah. We all used to hang out back in the day. Don’t you remember? We went to school together. I know you were his before he moved away.”

His?

“We were just friends.”

“You want to be more, though, right?” Josette pauses, mulling over his question. Does she?

Her pause says enough and Jason laughs, seeing a blush creep over her face.

He holds up the stick. “I have some good shit on here for your big, pretty eyes to soak up.” Josette gasps when his arm goes around her waist, pulling her flush against his damp body that smells of sweat, smoke, and the slightest hint of aftershave that cloys under her nostrils. “Come on. Just one kiss.”

“No—” Bending his head, he puts his mouth on hers before she even gets the word out. His kiss is hard and rough, his tongue invading her mouth. But it’s not spearmint like Vince. It’s weed and beer and...

Josette pulls away, and he shoves the stick into her hand.

“You better go before it gets dark.” He glances down at her skirt, eyebrow arching. Wanting to get out of there, Josette turns to leave, and as she does, she wonders what he meant about playing along. But then her head shakes. It doesn’t matter. He’s clearly crazy and high.

Josette leaves Jason’s apartment feeling dirty. Kissing him for a USB stick certainly isn’t one of her greatest moments, but hopefully, there’s something on here she can use. At least to make someone feel a shred of humiliation that she had.

There’s no way she can put it on her dad’s computer, and she broke her laptop. She thought of using Vince’s laptop, but after their argument, she’s unsure if she should go over and ask him—if he even has one.

Nibbling on her bottom lip, Josette feels weary as she walks home. She’s had a rollercoaster of a day, but the worst part was arguing with Vince. She hadn’t wanted to, given what he did for her. Now, she wants more than anything to crawl into bed and stay there.

She arrives home just before it turns dark. Opening the front door, she’s about to rush straight to her bedroom when her dad steps out of his study, his face like stone. Josette freezes with one foot on the stairs, her heart picking up the pace when she sees his lips pushed into a straight line. “Get in here. Now.”

Oh, hell. This doesn’t sound good.

Swallowing down a lump, Josette stalks after him into his study. When she walks inside, he’s sitting down in his chair, avoiding direct eye contact. Another indicator that nothing good is going to come from their encounter. “What is it?”

“Your mother called,” he says, tone strained. “I’m sure you know exactly what she told me.”

Josette’s heart slams against her ribcage, and she suddenly feels sick. She hopes this isn’t what she thinks it is. “What?”

“The picture, Jo! What else?” he snaps, losing his patience.

“It was taken down, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay! Who put it up?”

“I don’t know,” she mumbles. Even though she does, she just doesn’t want to tell him. He will probably march her down to the police station and have her make a total fool of herself reporting it, knowing there’s nothing the police can do.

“What do you mean, you don’t know? You’re the one in the picture in that state.” Josette winces. “Thank God I didn’t see it, but your mum was descriptive. So, you better tell me why you’re posing in a picture like that?”

“I wasn’t posing!” she splutters in outrage. Did her mother say she was posing? “It happened last summer. I was asleep, and someone took a picture of me without me knowing. They put it up on a fake account earlier today. It’s not my fault!”

“Not your fault?You were naked in someone’s bed, Josette. Why?” Josette goes quiet, and he stills, putting two and two together. Rubbing a hand over his face, he groans. “This can’t get any worse.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and she actually means it.

“What else can I do? All you’ve done is cause trouble since your mother left,” he says with concern. “I’m sorry she’s gone, and I’m sorry you two don’t have much of a relationship because of it, but this is not how you act.”

“You think I wanted this?” she questions, unable to shift the weight crushing her chest. “Jesus Christ, I was with someone I thought I trusted, and he fucked me over, okay?”

He stands and slams his hands on the desk. The noise rattles her. “It’s not okay when your fucking mother calls me up to tell me my daughter’s naked picture is on the damn internet for anyone to see! I’m not having it anymore—I want you out. You’re going to live with her.”

Josette stumbles back. “Wha...what?”

“You want to do shit like this, then go do it elsewhere. Have her deal with it. You don’t respect me as your father.”

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