My father’s voice was practically vibrating off the walls. He was angry. That much was perfectly clear.
I pushed out of bed and looked at the time. It was seven o’clock in the morning, and I had only been asleep for about five hours. I couldn’t sleep after I got back to the house last night.
A run-in with Beck on the beach was the last thing I expected, and it kept replaying over and over in my head every time I tried to sleep. His annoyingly handsome face kept appearing no matter how much I told myself that I needed to hate him.
The yelling was getting louder, and I opened my door to see what the hell was going on. I saw no one in the hall, so I took hesitant steps toward the staircase.
“I don’t give a shit what you think, Lucas. It’s not your place to think anything.”
Lucas’s mom, Amelia, said something back to my father, but it was too quiet for me to hear. I leaned over the stairwell and there they all stood in the foyer. Lucas looked like he had just got home, and I was almost certain he was drunk.
“So what, you got your daughter home and now you don’t give a shit about me anymore?” His voice was sharp and full of venom, and my heart skipped when he mentioned me.
“My daughter isn’t your concern.” My father stepped toward him, and if I was Lucas, I would have cowered away. I may have hated my father, but even I wasn’t stupid enough to not see how intimidating he was.
“But she is.” Lucas stumbled slightly on his feet. “She’s been hanging out with Beck Clermont. Did you know that?”
My breath caught in my throat. What the hell?
I hadn’t really talked to Lucas since the night we ran into him in the hallway, but I had thought we were closer than him talking about me to my father behind my back.
“He brought her home the night before last.”
“You knew she would be around him. She’s working there.” My father’s voice was even lower than before. I had no idea what their problem was with Beck, but it was clear that there was one.
“Since when does the boss’s son carry girls home drunk from work?”
That fucking traitor.
“What’s the issue with Beck Clermont?” All three of their eyes snapped up to me as my heart raced. I knew what my issue was, but I wanted to know theirs. I needed to know.
“Oh, Josephine, you’re awake,” Amelia said as calm and nice as could be, but I didn’t care what she had to say.
“There is clearly an issue.”
My father straightened himself, becoming the perfect image of put together, and attempted a small smile. “There is no issue.”
“I’m not an idiot.” I waved toward his drunk son. “Lucas hates Beck, and Beck clearly hates Lucas.”
“What the hell did he say now?” Lucas bit out, he had never spoken to me that way before.
“He didn’t say anything.” I crossed my arms over my chest and made my way down the stairs. It was a lie, but it wasn’t. He had admitted how much he hated Lucas, but none of them had told me anything. “He didn’t have to.”
“He’s trash,” Lucas spit. “That entire family is trash.”
“You’re drunk,” I said out loud what everyone else was thinking. “I think you may need to sober up.”
“Fuck you.”
My heart ached as I looked into his blue eyes that were so full of venom and anguish.
“Hey.” My father jerked him by the arm and forced him to face him. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
I hated that he was defending me. He had never defended me before, and I didn’t need his help now. “It’s fine. He doesn’t mean it.”
I hoped he didn’t mean it.
My father stared at me, his eyes were the perfect twins to mine. I could see the storm brewing beneath the surface, and I knew he was probably looking at the same thing in mine.
“Why don’t we eat breakfast?” Amelia was still trying to calm the situation, and I felt sorry for her. Here she was with her asshole husband and drunk son who was acting like an even bigger asshole, and I wondered if this is what her life had been like.
She was beautiful, but there was an edge of sorrow in her eyes.
“I’m not hungry.” Lucas pushed past me, his shoulder brushing against mine, and I could smell the liquor on him. Whatever Lucas did last night, he went hard.
“Get your shit together, Lucas.” My father’s booming voice stopped him in his tracks. “Senior year starts in just a few short days, and I expect you to act like a Vos.”
I knew he was talking to him, but I felt like he was directing that at both of us. Like he expected me to act like that name was supposed to mean something to me.
Lucas didn’t reply. He forced himself up the stairs, his anger still radiating off him, and I actually felt bad for him even if he was being a jerk.
Joseph was my father, but I hadn’t had to deal with him like Lucas had. I hadn’t had to live up to any of his expectations because he didn’t have any for me.
When Lucas was out of view, my father’s attention turned to me. “I gave you my permission for you to work at that country club, but I don’t want you to hang out with Beck Clermont.”
I could have told him that I wasn’t. That Beck hated me as much as they hated him, but I refused to.
He may have been my father, but he wasn’t my parent. He didn’t get to slip into my life and suddenly tell me what to do.
“I’ll hang out with whoever I choose.”
“No. You won’t.” He grabbed his suit jacket off the table and slipped his arms inside. “This year is important for
