Page 41 of Girl Violence

“I didn’t ask his name, and I’m not running a social club. If he’s not here about books, tell him to leave.”

Curious about who is asking for her, Josette makes her way to the front where the desk is. When she gets there, she stops when she sees Austin chatting with Vince, who is behind the front desk sorting through papers. Josette can’t hear what they’re saying, but she feels on edge as Vince’s eyes narrow at something he said.

Josette quickly walks over to them, clearing her throat to get Austin’s attention. He looks at her, once again, wearing nothing but black. “About time. Outside.”

Josette recoils in surprise. What now? Austin walks ahead, and she glances at Vince, who looks at her with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t have to do as he says.”

Josette’s heart skips a beat. “I know. It’s probably about Jenna.”

When she turns, she can still feel Vince’s eyes on her. She doesn’t know why, but it makes her feel weird. Like she’s betraying him. Quickly abandoning the thought, Josette goes outside, the sun scorching.

Austin leans against the building with his arms folded. She’s surprised to see him wearing a black T-shirt and shorts instead of his usual heavy clothes and chains. “What do you want?”

“Alyssa. She said you showed up at the party saying something that makes her believe you have some video of her.”

“Someone’s paranoid. I don’t have a video,” Josette says, trying to appear more relaxed than she feels on the inside. Crap—she shouldn’t have said anything. She just wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine. “Does Jenna know you do everything Alyssa asks you to do?”

“She’s family. You don’t just hurt one person when you fuck with family. You hurt us all. And don’t change the subject. If you have a video of her, I want it, and I want the name of the person you got it off.”

“I don’thavea video of her, Austin.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

Josette shrugs. “That’s your problem.”

Josette can’t say anything without bringing Jason into it. He’s out of the group and in Austin’s bad books, which is a recipe for disaster.

“Look, I have to get back to work, so tell Alyssa to come to me herself if she has an issue. You don’t scare me.”

“I’m not trying to scare you. I came to say thank you for giving me Jenna’s number. I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. And I’d appreciate it if you don’t mess it up for me again.”

“That goes both ways. Including whatever you have going on with Vince.”

“I wasn’t in your business, and I have nothing going on with Vince. He’s the one throwing a hissy fit.” He steps closer to her, which makes Josette’s spine straighten. “If you’re lying about the video and have something on my sister, then I promise our next conversation won’t be this pleasant.”

“This is pleasant?”

He smiles coldly. “I mean it.”

Rolling her eyes, Josette goes back inside the library. She’s about to return to the stacks when a hand touches her shoulder. Turning, she’s not really surprised to see Vince there. “You okay?”

“Yeah, all good.”

“That didn’t look all good.”

“It’s fine,” she says and then has a thought. “Actually, if anyone comes around asking about that video we watched, you don’t know anything.” He nods slowly. “Cool. Right. Better get back to work.”

“Oh, you mean to get back to reading?” he says, and Josette stops.

“I’m not reading. I’m checking the pages for bugs.”

“Shaking the book would be better.” Leaning against a shelf, he smirks.

“Didn’t think of that,” she mumbles, eyeing him warily. “Are you going to tell?”

“No? Why are you being weird?” he asks, eyebrow rising.

“I’m not being weird.”

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