I Hate the Way...

Part 58: "Promise Me" 🔞

This chapter is kind of a lot...but I hope it's worth the wait;)

Also this serves as a warning for any mature content throughout the chapter!!!

—---------

Josie sits in the tub, the warm water flowing from the faucet, filling the bathtub. It should be comforting. She should be relaxing. Normally, it would be Hope preparing the bath for her, adding in bath salts and scented oils. It would relieve Josie of all of her tension and troubles.

But today, as she sits in the tub, the water only serves as a harsh reminder of Hope, willingly on the brink of death. The image haunts her, the fear and desperation she felt as she watched Raf pull Hope out of the water.

Josie clenches her teary eyes shut, trying to push away the memory.

She reaches for the faucet to turn off the water, but the silence that follows is deafening. It makes her thoughts race even more.

She brings her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly with one arm as her free hand reaches up to cover her mouth, muffling the soft sobs that threaten to escape.

"Fuck," she whispers to herself when she's unable to stop the events of the day from replaying in her head.

~~Earlier~~

"Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Josie shouts as she follows after Hope inside the beach house, a storm of emotions brewing inside. Hope might've managed to get Raf to leave, but Josie isn't planning on going anywhere without an explanation.

Hope stops in her tracks, her back still turned to Josie. Her posture is tense with frustration. She takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself before she turns to face Josie, her expression more guarded than Josie has ever seen.

"What do you want from me, Josie?" Hope's voice is strained with exhaustion, anger, and sadness, grieving a memory she doesn't even have.

Josie's frustration nearly doubles at that question. "What the hell were you thinking?!" Hope's shoulder's slump, her gaze flickering away for a moment, which somehow pisses Josie off even more, "And don't you dare give me some half version of the truth. Not this time. Not after what I just saw out there."

Hope's jaw tightens, hating how Josie has such a good read on her. She crosses her arms against her chest. "You wouldn't understand," she replies sharply, her voice laced with bitterness, a tone Josie hasn't heard in a very long time, maybe even ever from the Tribrid.

Josie takes a step closer, her own anger simmering. "Try me," her tone is daring Hope to open up to her. Her voice softens to a near whisper as she adds, "I promise you, whatever explanation you give can't be worse than the one I've come up with in my head."

Hope's resolve wavers as she looks up to meet Josie's gaze, seeing the raw emotion in Josie's expression. For a moment, she considers letting down the walls she's built up. But her own fear strangles her heart. She doesn't know the whole truth herself, let alone how to explain it to someone else.

Josie takes her silence as a bad sign, confirmation of her worst thoughts, and her heart sinks as she looks away from broken blue eyes, "Did I–Did I do something...?"

Hope's eyebrow furrow at the assumption, her heart clenching in her chest. "No," she shakes her head, "Josie, you didn't do anything. I've been doing this before I met you."

Relief washes over Josie, until Hope's words sink in, "Wait, what do you mean 'you've been doing this'? This is something you do?!"

Hope's jaw locks as she realizes her slip up, her shoulders becoming impossibly more tense as her gaze darts away. She pulls her lip between her teeth as guilt and sadness and fear take over.