Josie’s voice was soft and fierce when she answered him. “Beau, I’ve put up with a lot from you, mostly because I thought if I tried hard enough I could help you to change, that the good in you would win out over the bad. But I can’t put up with you anymore. You’ve have got to apologize.”
And even though he couldn’t see, he felt his eyes reflexively narrow. “What?”
“You heard me. Apologize for what you just said, for talking to me like that. Right now.”
“Josie…”
“And don’t you tell me Prescotts don’t apologize again. You don’t get to talk like that to me. Not anymore. Apologize right now.”
“The deal was—”
“I know what the deal was, and I’m telling you it’s off if you don’t apologize like a decent human being.”
“Apologize for what?” he yelled at her. “For using you the way you agreed to be used. Then pointing out that was the agreement?”
Her voice had a thread of iron going through it when she said, “Humiliating me was not part of the agreement.”
“That’s bullshit. Humiliating you was the cornerstone of the agreement, and suddenly you’re choosing now to get upset. Not when you made the agreement in the first place. Not last night when I showed up in your room. Now you decide to grow a backbone? Hmm, I wonder what changed.” He pretended to think about it. “Oh, yeah, I know. Another rich guy came along. One who still has his eyesight.”
“No, Beau. This isn’t about Colin. It’s about you. You treating me like crap, just so you can feel better about yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
For the first time since the argument had started, it sounded like she was hesitating, but she eventually answered. “It means you’re pissed off that you can’t see anymore, that you probably won’t ever be able to see again, and you’re taking it out on me when really, you should be working on accepting that you’re football career is over and learning to live without your sight.”
Her voice was soft as she said this. It reminded him of how Loretta used to talk him down from temper tantrums. When he was a child.
“Have you already asked Fairgood to pay you for sleeping with him, or are you just assuming he’s going to offer?” he asked, fury vibrating through his entire body.
He actually heard her sharp intake of breath after he said that. But after a long silence she said, “I remember when we were teenagers, back when we were still friends, before all the bullshit. You said your number one fear was turning into your father. Well, I’m sorry to say, that’s exactly who I see when I look at you right now, somebody who cares more about getting his way than all the folks he’s stepping on to get it. He never knew anything about the help, and you know what, even after what we went through this afternoon, neither do you.”#p#分页标题#e#
He knew more about her than she thought. He knew he loved her more than any other woman on the face of the earth. He knew she was stronger than she thought. But most of all, he knew, “If I had my sight, you’d pick me.” It felt like he was choking on the words as they fell out of his mouth.
“No, I wouldn’t,” she yelled back. “Because I was right about you in high school. You’re still a rich asshole and you still don’t deserve me. I quit, Mr. Prescott,” she said. “I quit this job and I quit you.”
“What’s going on here?” someone said to the right of them.
Beau bared his teeth. “Walk away, Fairgood.”
“Is he bothering you, Josie?” Colin asked, ignoring him. “Because if he is—”
That was a mistake. Beau made a quick calculation, before treating Colin to an uppercut. He’d been aiming for his jaw, but was just as satisfied, when his fist landed in the singer’s solar plexus. And even more so when Colin let out a thick, “Oooomphh!” and Beau felt him hunch over, setting himself up for one of Beau’s knees straight to the face.
“Colin!” Josie screamed behind Beau. He heard her quick steps as she pushed past him, to tend to Colin, who was probably laid out on the floor. Proving once and for all where her loyalty lied.
“Now you can quit,” he said.
CHAPTER 20
“I CAN’T BELIEVE HE DID THIS TO YOU,” Josie said, dabbing at the blood still issuing from Colin’s nose with the hotel suite’s tissue. They were now in his room at the top of the luxury hotel, tending to his wounds in an over-the-top room tricked out with an actual baby grand, heavy brocaded curtains, and beautiful white couches, which Josie was trying hard to keep free of Colin’s blood.