But my pride has already set up camp in that gap, rendering it difficult to admit all those feelings to her.
“Then you probably shouldn’t have done what you did,”
I mutter.
“I’m really sorry, Si.” She rushes toward me wearing those sad eyes. “I can’t help it. I just . . .” She braves a shaky hand through her hair. “I love him. I know it’s senseless and stupid to love him but I do. And he loves me too.”
Oh God, not this again.
“I assure you, he does not,” I tell her sharply. “He’s a vindictive, manipulative asshole and he’ll ruin you. Just like he ruined me.”
Beth shakes her head timidly. “He’s kind to me.”
“They always are. In the beginning.”
“He’s different,” she insists.
Why is she so stubborn about him?
Though I guess it makes sense—I was the same with Jax all those years ago too. To me, everything he said was pure witchcraft. He could have told me he was a serial killer and I probably would have been fully committed to a murder spree with him.
“What kind of spell does he have you under, Beth?”
I ask, and she looks away, mashing her lips together in annoyance. I grasp both her arms and force her gaze to meet mine. “Listen to me: Jax is not who you think he is. He’s just using you. I saw him at a fight and he admitted it to me. Right after he declared his love for me and begged for a second chance. He might have you believing that he loves you and wants to be with you, but they’re all lies. That’s all he’s capable of doing: lying.”
Beth wrenches my hands from her and covers her body with her arms, shielding it from me. “That’s not true.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. Your loss,” I say dryly. “I’m just trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need your protection.” She snaps back.
“Oh real y?” I say with loud huff. “I haven’t seen you around campus for a while now. I’m guessing you’ve been skipping classes? What’s Dad going to think about that when he finds out?”
“Like you said before. Dad doesn’t care about us,” Beth says quietly.
“He only cares about me when it’s convenient,” I correct her. “But he cares about you. And he wants you to do well in school.”
“I haven’t been going because I’ve been busy.”
“With Jax no doubt,” I mutter.
Hurt crosses her eyes.
“Stop it, Si.”
“No, I won’t,” I say, wrought with determination. “I’m not going to stop because you aren’t seeing past him and his lies.”
“Well, that’s for me to decide, isn’t it?” Beth counters.
“Oh, for the love of—” I tear my hands through my hair, frustrated. I just can’t get through to her.
I don’t even think there’s a way to get through to her.
She’s going through the same thing I did years ago, and I know there was no way anyone could have talked me out of loving Jax then. Not even my friends or family. I held on because I was so sure that nobody else could see what I saw—that they were the ones who were blind, not me.
“It’s useless trying to convince you,” I say, spinning away from her and toward the full-length mirror. “Please go.”
This time, Beth doesn’t put up a fight. I watch her in the reflection as she lets out an aggravated huff and retreats from the changing room.