Page 85 of All the Beautiful Things
Another tremor rocked me. Shook me to my core. Looking at him made bile rise in my throat, but I couldn’t look away from him.
Damn it. How long had it been since I requested that Uber ride?
“Back up,” Josiah said. His hand flew back toward Manny, keeping him back.
“What the hell, Josiah. You didn’t tell me you knew this bitch.”
Josiah wheeled and slammed both hands on Manny’s chest. My own heart stalled at the rage on Josiah’s face. “You. Shut the fuck up.” He glared at me over his shoulder and asked again, “This the guy who gave you that black eye? The one Angie came home crying about when she saw you hurt?”
“Josiah—” I couldn’t tell him. Tell them. Not with fire boiling from Manny’s look behind Josiah’s back.
“Stop,” I pleaded. “Just stop.”
Josiah’s chest heaved and Angie’s arm wrapped around me, pulling me away. I stumbled back two steps, unprepared for her strong pull. The exact moment I realized Josiah believed me happened in a snap.
His fist pulled back and without looking at Manny, his target, he flew it forward. Blood sprayed all over the place and Manny screamed, stumbled back to the brick building, covered his nose for a split second before he barreled back, flinging an answering punch at Josiah.
Josiah ducked, threw his punch into Manny’s ribs and in another blink of an eye, the sidewalk was overrun with punches and men flying in every which way, trying to pull the two guys apart who were going for blood, ready for the death.
I ran toward them, trying to stop Josiah.
This… this was not what I wanted. Not at all. Not after everything Angie had done for me.
“No!” Angie screamed. Her arm snaked around my stomach and yanked me back. “Stay back! These guys will handle it.”
A black car pulled up, a sticker in the windshield made my shoulders sag with relief.
“Go,” Angie said. She yanked open the back door and grabbed my phone. “Name?” she asked the driver and as she verified it was my ride, she shoved me in, tossing me my purse I’d dropped at some point.
Possibly when Josiah’s fist first crunched Manny’s nose. “Go home. I’ll deal with this.”
As she said it, guys were being yanked apart. Two men held back Josiah as he wrestled and fought in their hold. Manny screamed at him. His gaze slid my way, making Josiah lose his mind again.
“Why?” I asked.
Fighting over me. Why?
“Because my brother is a dick sometimes but he’s also normally pretty kick ass. No one fucks with women. Not around him.” Her eyes darkened. There was more to the story than she was telling.
That was okay.
I was learning we all had our secrets.
She stood from the car. “I’ll call you later. But don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine and maybe this is the push he needed to get away from those losers.”
“Glad I could help,” I deadpanned.
The door closed and the car pulled away. I was barely a block away when blue and white flashing lights appeared. Squealing tires and two police cars came to a stop and officers rushed out.
Shit.
This was all because of me, because I couldn’t be honest when I’d needed to be and ran and hid when someone else couldn’t.
25
Hudson
Ikicked the door to my condo closed and went immediately to the kitchen. The last place I wanted to be was alone with Nina in my home, but she and I needed to have a serious conversation and it wasn’t going to be in public.
