The Touch of a Villain: An Enemies to Lovers High School Romance (The Boys of Clermont Bay Book 1) by Holly Renee (best book recommendations TXT) 📕

School had only been back for two days, but already I felt like it had been forever since I had seen her.

Same. Will you go to a party with me Friday night?

Her response was instant. Duh.

I smiled and finally clicked over to Beck’s messages.

Are you ignoring me?

Josie.

I can’t stop thinking about you.

That last message was the sole reason I should have never looked. One little text message, and my chest tightened. Beck had plenty of things to think about other than me, and I needed to remember that.

It didn’t matter what he said.

All that mattered was what he did.

And I couldn’t trust him.

I tucked my phone back in my pocket and tried my hardest to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. But as every minute of the class ticked on, my heart began to race, and my headache worsened. I was going to have to deal with Beck in my next class.

I was going to have to deal with him over and over again, and I was going to have to figure out how to not be affected by him.

But I wasn’t sure if I could do that.

When the bell rang, I stuffed my things in my bag and shuffled out of the classroom before Cami could catch me. I moved to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror of the packed room.

“You’re Josie, right?” Some girl I had never seen before asked as she applied lipstick to her lips.

“That’s me.”

She smirked before slowly placing the lid on her lipstick and turning toward me. “I heard about you and Beck. Ouch.”

I narrowed my eyes and tried to calm the urge to run.

“What are you talking about?”

“Him and Cami. You and him.” Her gaze flicked over me, and I knew that she was watching for any sort of reaction. “The rest of us already knew the score when we’d been with Beck, but I heard that you looked shocked.”

Nausea rolled in my stomach, and I swallowed the heavy saliva in my mouth. “I haven’t been with Beck.”

“Oh.” She acted genuinely shocked. “Then it’s a good thing you found out now.”

There were other girls moving around the bathroom, in and out of the stalls, vying for a fraction of the mirrors, and I could tell they were all listening to our conversation.

“Thank you for the heads-up, but there’s nothing going on between us.” And there never would be.

“Good.” She nodded. “I think Cami knows about most of us.” She winced as if she was actually ashamed, and my nausea threatened to boil over. Beck had been with this girl? She had known him intimately, and I was… I had no idea what I was. “They are on again, off again all the time, but he always goes back to her.”

He always goes back to her.

I had no idea if her sole intention was to wound me, but she had. No matter what I thought I did or didn’t feel for Beck, her words had sliced through me and my breath caught in my throat.

The warning bell rang, indicating that we were going to be late for class, and she quickly grabbed her things. I didn’t look at her again as I moved. I barely saw anyone.

All I could see was him with her, with Cami, with me.

Beck could have any girl he wanted, and apparently, he did.

I shouldn’t have been shocked by that fact. He was who he was, and there was nothing that would happen to change that.

I moved into the classroom and as soon as I looked up, I saw him. He was staring at me, watching the doorway for when I arrived, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe as I stared at him.

I avoided his side of the room altogether and quickly claimed a seat as far away from him as I could.

I could still feel him staring at me, but I didn’t dare look up.

Beck was bad for me. He was bad, and I knew it.

It was right there in front of my face, and I couldn’t be an idiot about that fact anymore.

Whatever game he was playing, I was done.

Chapter Sixteen

Josie

“My friend Allie is going to meet us here if that’s okay.” I sat on Cami’s bed and looked around her room.

“That’s fine.” She came out of the closet holding a dress that looked tiny. “There will be a ton of people here tonight.”

“Everyone from school?” I hadn’t really gotten to know anyone yet. Not other than the nosy questions and the uninvited stories about Beck. And there had been plenty. The girl in the bathroom had only been the first.

Apparently, people thought it was their place to keep me informed.

It didn’t matter that Cami liked me, or at least she was acting like she did. Every trip to the bathroom, a girl stopped me to tell me about how heartbroken Cami was when she heard that Beck had something going on with me. I assured them all that there was nothing going on.

Because there wasn’t.

Not anymore.

“Yeah. The whole school will be here, a few people from Clermont High, and a few guys that have already graduated.” She held the dress up to her body and looked at herself in the mirror as she turned this way and that. “I’m going to set you up with someone.”

She looked giddy, as if the thought had just come to her, but I knew better. I knew this was her way of telling me that Beck was off-limits to me, and she was going to try her best to make me off-limits to him.

“I don’t know about that.” I laughed and pulled a pair of jeans out of my bag. I hadn’t realized the attire for her party was going to be so dressy. I hadn’t brought anything that even compared to her dress.

“It will be good for you. There’s some real eye candy coming tonight.” She winked at me in the mirror