Page 21 of Girl Violence

Vince had reported the picture and called someone he knew to get it taken down. Hopefully, it will be gone before her family sees it, but that might be wishful thinking. And it doesn’t change that there might be copies and people forever using it against her. Fuck, maybe she should dye her hair? Live somewhere else?

Before she knows it, they’re at the bowl, and Josette’s nerves kick in even worse. Vince walks beside her with his hood up, his eyes dulling to that inky shade. She already agreed to let him do the talking, but she’s anxious, not wanting him to fight because of her. Again.

They walk through the gate, and she spots Tyler on his BMX a few feet away. He’s surrounded by girls with an arrogant grin on his face. Josette is too busy staring that she doesn’t see Vince move. He charges at Tyler, pulling him off his bike and slamming him against a nearby wall.

“Delete the fucking picture off your phone!” he yells at him, slamming his back into the wall again; Josette watches with wide eyes. The girls move away, full of fear.

“Get off!” Tyler tries to push him away, but Vince’s grip is too secure and keeps him pinned. He sees Josette there and hate surges through her when he slyly smirks in her direction.

“Delete the picture,” Vince repeats.

“No,” he says, and her mouth drops open. “I won’t.”

“You took it then?”

“No,” he tells him. “Ian took the picture. He’s obsessed with her.”

“And you just let him take a picture of me naked?” Josette asks with disgust. How could Ian do that? How could Tyler let him? No wonder he’s been creeping on her—he’s seen her naked.

“It wasn’t like we were anything serious. Why would I care who takes your picture?” Josette’s blood boils.

“How did the picture end up online?” Vince asks.

“Alyssa,” he says, turning back to Josette. “Though, I wish I did it. You’ve been a bitch and acting like you’re better than us ever since you returned to the group.”

“Sheisbetter than you.” Without expecting it, Vince draws his fist back and punches Tyler in the face and stomach. Tyler crumbles to the floor, his arms clutching his waist, groaning with agony. With a thunderous expression, Vince turns and makes his way back, taking hold of Josette’s wrist and pulling her away.

* * *

“Why did you do that?”

Josette and Vince decide to get a coffee at Finnegan’s, a small café in Graycott. They sit near the back, and she can’t take her eyes off his red knuckles. The waitress couldn’t either. She eyed Vince like he was about to slit her throat.

“Do what?” His hood is down now, and he pushes his hand through his messy hair.

Josette’s heart sinks. “Never mind.”

He stares at her for a moment and goes to say something when his phone beeps, cutting him off. Josette’s stomach twists into knots when his knees brush hers under the table as he stretches to reach into his pocket. He seems completely unaffected, which just makes her feel worse. “The picture was taken down.”

Josette can’t help breathing out with relief. “Thanks...”

He nods, taking a sip of coffee, while Josette has the strong urge to hug him like old times when he let her. She always felt safe when he wrapped his arms around her and held her. But there’s a wall between them now. A reminder tapping her shoulder that he’s untouchable.

Taking a sip of the hot chocolate she ordered, silence falls between them. Josette is left to her thoughts, everything Tyler said playing in her head. Ian must have come into Tyler’s room after she’d fallen asleep. They must’ve thought it was funny, a joke, while Ian was being a pervert. How does she know that’s not the only other photo he has? What if he has different ones?

Josette is nauseous at the thought.

After her shouting match with Austin the other night, Alyssa probably thought it her sisterly duty to do something against her. Tyler must have gotten the image from Ian to give to Alyssa. All because Josette wasn’t begging for his attention, and he got his ass handed to him by Vince—

“You look in serious concentration over there.”

She blinks, focusing back on Vince. “Yeah, I’m thinking over things. Trying to figure out people’s motives,” she says, and his eyebrow rises.

“What for?”

“To get back at them.”

He sighs, shaking his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

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