Black & White (Picture Perfect #1) (16 page)

I sighed with relief when I heard Jude’s voice and it suddenly occurred to me that William had realized what was happening and he’d deliberately drawn us back towards the safety of our group. The extra support would be more than Mercedes could handle.

Even though we’d only managed to draw an unstable treaty between us, Jude could always be counted on to have my back. I didn't have to turn my attention away from Mercedes, to know that Jude had her own claws out. The look on Mercedes' face, and the quick removal of her hand spoke volumes.

My protective nature kicked into gear and I used William's body to catapult myself away from him and in front of Jude. Keeping her and Mercedes apart would be in everyone's best interest.

"So, Jude. I see you have your hunk of a man here, too," Mercedes spat out.

"Yeah, and as you can see, we were having a good time till the skank level of the club went off the chart," Jude snapped, pushing around me. It seemed Jude had decided I was the one in need of protection.

"I don't understand why you all have to be so evil towards me," Mercedes lowered both her voice and defenses. "I only wanted to introduce myself to your man, Beth."

I knew what the sudden change in attitude was about, without even having to turn around. "Jerry, do you want to get rid of the trash, or should I?" I didn't care whether Jerry was offended about my assessment of his sister at the moment or not.

"Mercedes, I think you've done enough damage for tonight. It's time to go," Jerry answered, sounding irritated.

"I don't get this. I try to be nice to Beth's boy-toy and this is how I get treated?" Mercedes laid it on thick, pouting her lips.

"Excuse me?" Anne asked innocently, as she pushed herself from the booth.

In any other scenario, I would've laughed as Anne stood toe-to-toe with Mercedes. Damn, and here I’d thought I was short. I was the Statue of Liberty compared to Anne.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We haven't been introduced." Mercedes pushed by me with her hand extended. "My name's..."

I turned as William's hands snaked around my waist, pulling me out of harm's way.

"I don't care what your name is. My name is Anne and I am the
boy-toy's
sister," Anne snarled.

The tone of her voice was stunning. I was more scared of Anne in that moment than I’d ever been of Jude in my whole life. I would never have expected Anne to behave like this - it was so out of character from what I’d seen up until now.

"Hello, Anne. I'm so sorry for my lack of respect for your brother. Being around people like Jude and Beth, it's always so infuriating and I tend to..."

Anne forced Mercedes to take a step backwards, shoving her finger in Mercedes' chest. "I don't care for your attitude towards my family
or
my friends. If you have any smarts in that artificially-dyed head of yours, you'll walk away now." She was practically seething. Anne could definitely be intimidating.

Mercedes was visibly shaking and Jerry slipped behind her, positioning himself for any more trouble. "Fuck, Beth, what lies have you been telling people about me?" Mercedes hissed.

"Enough, Mercedes, you've caused enough shit and I don't need any more, especially not in my bar," Jerry growled as he captured her by the arms, dragging her away.

I could hear her shrieking in protest, almost as much as her body was. Jerry was man-handling her, and I would normally want to protect any woman against that kind of behavior, but, in this case, I turned away from the view.

Mercedes, unfortunately, had to get the last word. And those words left a shiver of uncertainty running down my spine. "One day, Beth, you will lose everything you hold precious. I know shit about you and New York!" she screamed as Jerry dragged her through one of the back doors.

I stared at Jude with wide eyes. She shook her head slightly, keeping the movement from being seen by the others. Now wasn't the time or place to handle that subject.

"Well, Beth. Now, that she's gone, would you like to continue that tango you and William had going out there?" Wyatt asked, taking shots at me. As if having Jude interfering in my life wasn't bad enough, now my own brother was taking shots.

He wasn't happy and he was making sure I knew it. I could see the looks on everyone's faces and knew there would be multiple conversations I was going to have to listen to. I turned on one foot and pulled William away from the stares of everyone and I flipped Wyatt the bird as we walked away.

I think William and I needed to talk about what had happened on the dance floor, and why it would never happen again, for his sake.

~~~~~~~~~~

William

I followed Beth as she stomped away from the pointed stares of my family. I knew exactly what Wyatt was insinuating and from the look on Anne and Michael's faces, they also understood. I wasn't happy that Wyatt had put Beth on the spot and made her uncomfortable.

I wasn't worried about what they thought though. It was my life and I was going to do what I wanted. There was something between the two of us which was special enough to explore, and I wanted to try and figure it out. I knew my family wouldn't agree,
hell, should I really agree?
I’d only known Beth two weeks and I had just lost... no, I wasn't going to bring those emotions to the surface. Not now. I wasn't going to play on that see-saw tonight.

Angelina had made me promise to not close myself off from the world. I was still lost and suffering, but I had made a promise. I hadn't thought it would be this soon, but what if it was fate? I needed to figure this out.

Beth was beautiful in her own way, just like Angelina had been. Was there really ever a perfect time to find someone? I loved Angelina and I missed her - she was my wife for Christ’s sake. I’d never thought I would lose her so quickly, but she was gone and I had to get through this and go on with my life. Because of Angel, I would always have the reminder of the love we shared together, and if and when I found someone else, they would have to understand that love.

I needed to talk to Beth, who was busy dragging me into the tiny dining area which was secluded from the main area of the bar. The smells reminded me of Sunday supper at Mom and Dad's house.

We came to a stop, and we sat at a small diner-style booth against the back wall. The room was virtually deserted, since most of the patrons were at the bar or out on the dance floor. It was nice to have some real privacy for the first time this evening. It was more personal and I wanted to talk to her about what just happened.

A waitress was at our booth immediately, offering menus for us to peruse and I raised an eyebrow, silently asking Beth if she was interested. After she gave a negative response, I declined the menus and asked for a couple of JPs.

Once the waitress had left to get our drinks, I reached across the table, running my thumb over the back of Beth's folded hands. "I think we need to talk."

Beth kept her eyes trained on her hands, watching my thumb skim her skin. I could feel the current which connected us spark into life at the touch. It was incredible, I’d never experienced anything so remarkable and it fascinated me. I was becoming so attuned to it, I didn't want to let her go.

"William, I'm so sorry about all of this. I'm so sorry I dragged you into it," she said softly.

"I don't understand. Why are you apologizing?" Was she sorry about Mercedes? It certainly wasn't her fault.

"William, it just... it shouldn't have happened. It was wrong... I was wrong." She lapsed into silence for a moment, seeming to gather her thoughts. She seemed concerned and I didn't want her to over-think what had happened. "I should've handled the situation much better than that. I just wasn't thinking."

She still had me confused. "What do you mean ‘the situation’?"

"I saw her... Mercedes eying you up from across the room." So that’s what this was about. That woman. How the hell did Beth think it was her fault?

"She's got it out for me because of some photos I took of her." Beth fell silent. She seemed unsure how to explain.

"What photos?" I wanted to understand, although at the moment I didn’t have a clue what was going on.

"Look, William, she's complicated. She's been jealous of Jude for years. She wants what Jude has." Beth sighed, and it was almost a sigh of defeat. "She hired me to do a photo shoot for her, and it didn't end well."

As Beth continued her explanation, her voice held no emotion. She sounded like the bad narrator of a novel. She explained how she and Jude had known Mercedes since their teens. The jealousy on Mercedes' part wasn't over dramatized, it was for real.

I knew who Jude was, thanks to Anne. She had shown me the photo spreads in the magazines she’d collected over the last few years. Jude was famous and it would be unheard of, if there wasn't someone out there who was jealous of Jude or her success. I was a little shocked to find out Beth had been involved, but I sensed she was holding something back.

"Okay, Beth, I get it. I understand how this happened but there's more. Why did it happen?" I needed to get to the core of the issue. Mercedes was the cause, but the feelings had to be there in the first place. "There's something between us. Neither of us can deny it, and I know you feel it."

"No, William." She sighed in frustration. "It was wrong of me to do what I did on the dance floor, I wasn't thinking clearly. What I should've done was taken you straight back to the group."

I was floored. Was she really trying to say what had happened was wrong? She continued before I had a chance to get my bearings. "I shouldn't have encouraged something which isn't there."

"Why are you lying, Beth?" I challenged.

"What do you mean?" Now it was her turn to be confused.

"There's something there. I can feel it and I know you do too," I huffed, getting frustrated with her. She shook her head, so I continued before she could object. "Beth, there is something between us." We both felt it, I was absolutely sure of it.

I could see she was trying to make sense of something in her head. I also knew she would fight me about this. "You're a wonderful man, William. You'll make a wonderful husband again someday. You don't want this; you don't want the baggage which comes along with me. All I'm gonna do is hurt you."

She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than me. "How do you know? How can you be so sure? Have you tried?"

She pulled her hands out of mine and covered her face. "Yes." Her voice was barely above a whisper when she answered.

"This is the story you keep avoiding, isn't it?" The phone conversations we’d had over the last few days always steered clear of her past relationships.

Beth stiffened and became defensive. Her hand flew to her wrist cuff, which I noticed she fiddled with when stressed or frustrated. "William, please, I don't want to get into this. I don't want to ruin our friendship by talking about it. It's in the past, it's behind me and I'm done with it."

"Obviously you're not, Beth. All of the avoiding is not helping. You will never be over what happened, if you've never talked it through." I felt my anger rising. What on earth could have happened that was so bad?

Beth scooted, getting out of the booth in a hurry. "I don't want to talk, William, don't you get it? I'm not going to burden anyone with it again."

I moved quickly, slipping out of the booth and blocking her path. "Please, Beth." I could see her fighting an internal battle with herself. I pulled her into my arms, her body shaking as she fought whatever it was which frightened her so much. She put her hands on my waist stiffly as I waited. It was a shock to realize I felt complete with her in my arms.

She pushed away as I moved us back into the booth, refusing to let her go. "Beth, if we’re supposed to be friends, then let me
be
your friend. Lean on me, let me help." I took deep breath, enjoying the closeness of holding her against me, as well as the subtle perfume she was wearing.

"William, I don't want to complicate your life more than it already is," Beth argued. "Let's just be friends. I don't want to break your heart." I didn't know if she was trying to convince me or herself, but I could see it was all just smoke and mirrors, trying to get me off the subject.

"How are you gonna break my heart, Beth? Explain that to me." Maybe there was a way I could get answers.

"William, you only lost Angelina six months ago. I see how you look at Angel, she's your world, she's everything to you. I'm not gonna take that away from you." Even as wrong as she was, she sounded so confident about what she was saying.

"You wouldn't be taking anything away, Beth. No one could ever take her away from me."

She shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean! God, I would never think about that." She sounded completely mortified by the thought. "You're wrapped up in her world, everything you do is for her."

I was beginning to understand what she was trying to say. Angel was everything to me. She and I were a package deal. Was Beth was worried that being part of our life would divide my attention between her and Angel? I wanted to disagree, but she did have a point.

"Can I ask you a serious question?" The sound of her voice was stronger, but it still wavered with emotion.