Page 22 of Girl Violence

“Why not?” she says louder than she meant to, annoyed that he’s not on her side with this one.

“You said so yourself—they have no lives. What are you going to do exactly?”

“I can find something on them.”

“And stoop to their level?”

Josette laughs begrudgingly. “They put a naked picture of me online, Vince. Why the hell should they get away with it?”

“It’s not about them getting away with it. It’s you against them. Leave it alone,” he argues. Josette glowers with frustration, not wanting to.

“What? Because I’m a girl, I don’t get to be angry? If you were in my shoes, you’d be doing the same thing.”

“I’m not saying that—”

“What if it was Elizabeth?” she blurts. “Would you be telling her to leave it alone if it happened to her?”

It’s like the air changes around them, and if possible, his features harden to a block of ice. “Why are you talking about Elizabeth?”

“Answer the question.”

“If she wanted to go on a rampage, I’d tell her the same fucking thing I’m telling you. Don’t go there.” He pauses. “You’ve been stalking my profile then?”

“No,” she lies, feeling pathetic for even mentioning Elizabeth. “It’s just so easy for someone to say leave it when it’s not happening to them, isn’t it?”

“Only bad can come from this. Trust me.”

“That’s the thing, Vince. Idon’ttrust you. I saw the way you punched Tyler. You wanted to do more, so don’t sit there and act like you didn’t. And I don’t know why you think you have any right to ask me to leave it. You said so yourself—we’re not kids. I don’t do everything you say anymore.”

He leans back in the booth and glares angrily at her. Josette’s heart skitters inside her chest, her palms beginning to dampen with moisture. But then he shakes his head, the expression leaving his face, and stands. “Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.”

“You never did,” she mumbles, swallowing thickly.

He grabs his phone off the table and walks away. The door slams shut, and the waitress yells out at him. He walks past the window, expression thunderous, eyes black as night.

Once he’s out of sight, Josette rubs her face with her hand. She’s angry that he expects her to forget about this when old Vince wouldn’t have let her.

Sitting back, Josette decides to focus on ways to get back at Tyler, Ian, and Alyssa. It’s not long before a person comes to mind, and she smiles, knowing exactly who to see.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Jason Meade. The name alone causes shivers to roll down Josette’s spine. And not the hot ones Vince gives her. He’s someone you don’t want to mix with, but desperate times call for desperate measures. He’s the only person who might be able to help, seeing as his ex-girlfriend is Alyssa. You can’t be with someone for almost three years and not know a dirty secret or two about them.

Alyssa didn’t just break his heart either. She annihilated it so that no one else could ever have it. Josette isn’t sure of the whole story, but she knows Jason went off the rails and almost died from an overdose because of her. The last time she heard about him was before Christmas when someone mentioned he was getting better in rehab.

When she first met him, he was part of Austin’s group but was friendly and funny, whereas the others weren’t. Though, the longer he stayed shackled to Alyssa, the more he changed. He started getting withdrawn and having loads of fights, so whenever Josette saw him, he was covered in cuts and bruises.

Pressing the buzzer to his apartment, she cautiously glances left and right. He lives in one of the two tall apartment buildings next to each other. They shield the sun, so it’s dark and cold here. And dangerous. This part of town is terrible for gang crime. Josette pulls her leather jacket around her body, hoping no one mistakes her for a prostitute.

The buzzer finally stops.

“Pizza?” Jason’s crackly, robotic voice comes from the other end.

“Uh...yeah,” Josette says in a deep male voice, trying not to laugh when he buzzes her in. What an idiot.

Slipping inside, she takes the jerky elevator up to the tenth floor. She’s been to Jason’s place once before for a party, so she knows where it is. Still, it’s not a welcome sight as she enters the narrow hallway and goes to his apartment. Fluorescent lights flicker above her head, and a baby wails in the distance over the loud murmur of someone’s TV. Reaching his door, her nose wrinkles from the pungent stench of weed coming from his place.

Lifting her hand, Josette knocks on the door, standing to the side so he can’t look out of the peephole and see her.

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