He leans over with a fiercely intense look on his face. “Nice to formally meet you too, Juliette.”
I get a good whiff of him. He smells subtly of cologne, strength, confidence, and freakin’ wedding bells.
Oh my God, I’m losing it.
“Did you by chance have anything to do with David’s busted eye?”
“David.”
He repeats the name in a tone filled with malice and venom.
“Yes, the guy on the ground.”
“I had everything to fucking do with it.”
“So you heard everything that was said between us,” I whisper.
“Yes, I heard everything.”
Ground. Swallow. Me. Now.
I hang my head down.
“Oh.”
Joseph leans forward and uses his hand to lift my chin up to meet his stone faced gaze.
“Don’t ever look away from me or anybody else like you’re ashamed, Juliette. You make decisions in this life, you own ‘em. You slept with that dicktard once, but you won’t make that mistake again.”
My eyes get glassy.
“But you don’t even know the worst part,” I say.
“He let a couple of his creepy ass friends watch.”
“Oh my God, you know about that too?!”
“People are stupid. They run their mouths about all types of unimportant shit to make their pathetic little lives seem better. It doesn’t matter. Ain’t shit you can do about it now but move on.”
“You’re right,” I nod my head in agreement. “And I know what he did to me was awful, but I guess what I don’t understand is why you took it upon yourself to get involved?”
“Because you’re worth it.”
I swallow nervously.
“What?”
“I’m a grown man, on a high school campus, and I assaulted a student. Anything could have happened to me out there, anything could still happen when we leave this building, but I don’t give a damn because you are worth it to me, Juliette. You are worth fighting for. Always remember that.”
I don’t know what to say to those powerful words. Words that I want to cling to like plastic wrap and keep fresh inside of me forever. Words that I know don’t make a lot of sense considering that he is a complete stranger to me. Words that I should probably run from and not revel in.
“You don’t know me,” I practically whisper.
“You keep saying that, but I know all that I need to know. I know that you didn’t deserve what happened to you, and I know that you’re better than him. I can tell. I’m good at reading people. Although a blind man could tell that you are better than that asshat.”
“Sometimes you speak like you’re a thirty year old man.”
“Do I?” He chuckles.
