Louder Than Words Read Online Free PDF Page B

for her as much as me. Silas looked over towards the counter and screwed his face up. ‘How can there be like ten types of chocolate muffin? Which one do you want?’
    ‘Triple choc,’ she said feelingly. ‘For this, the more chocolate the better.’
    ‘Rafi?’
    I got up and pointed to the white choc and raspberry. I’d never had one before, but it sounded good. I didn’t come into the city very often. Silas was no fun to shop with and there really wasn’t anyone else for me to go with. I certainly wasn’t brave enough to go on my own.
    Josie took a big, chocolaty bite of the muffin before she went on with the story. ‘It was the little things that broke us up and it started after he took those photos. I’d notice he’d be mean to me in front of his friends or that he wouldn’t call or text, like he wanted me to do all the work or his ego wouldn’t let him make an effort. And he’d put me down all the time. And you know, I thought I loved him, but I’m not a doormat. I’m not being treated like that by any guy.’
    Silas’s eyebrows quirked upwards and he hid a slight grin. He hadn’t expected that. Actually, me neither. There was more to Josie than met the eye.
    She sighed. ‘I tried talking to him about it, to let him know how I felt. But every time I did he brushed me off like I was some cheap dumb-ass who was lucky to have got him in the first place.’
    I could imagine the Lloyd I’d seen behaving just like that.
    But what she said next shocked me and Silas into open-mouthed mirror images of each other.
    ‘And when I thought carefully about it, I understood he didn’t love me at all. That was why he treated me badly. Not because he couldn’t express his true feelings or it was just the way he and his friends acted around each other, or any of the other stuff he tried to blag me with when I told him we were over.’
    She. Told. Him .
    So it was Josie who broke them up.
    Of course. That was why her ex had gone nuclear with the pictures online. She ditched him.
    Why had we assumed it was the other way round?
    ‘That’s when he got really nasty. He put those pictures I told you about up online and he linked them on Facebook, on all the sites he uses. He made a special website to put them on: www.josieisaho.com. Everyone knows about it.’ She fixed us with a look. ‘I bet you guys even heard about it, didn’t you? I keep getting bitchy messages left on my Facebook page and some of them are from your school.’
    I nodded, shamefaced. Silas shrugged. ‘People say a lot of stuff. It doesn’t mean we believe it.’
    ‘Have you ever been in love?’ Josie demanded.
    Silas looked frankly uncomfortable. ‘Er, no.’
    ‘You’re lucky,’ she said. ‘Because it isn’t always like it is in books. Sometimes it sucks. In fact, I’m beginning to think it’s never like it is in books. I learned something important from Lloyd though – what you want isn’t always good for you.’
    ‘Um, yes. I guess so,’ Silas replied. It was funny how out of his depth he looked discussing love with her. My brother was seldom uncomfortable and, let’s face it, that was my default condition, so I enjoyed the moment. Mean, yes, but hey, I’d spent my life being the poor, damaged one of the family so I don’t think Silas would have begrudged me a tiny moment of glee. He’s got more empathy in his little finger than the rest of my family put together.
    I sucked in my breath and typed
    Josie waited for the second it took for my message to come through on her phone, smiling despite her watery eyes giving away how hard she was finding this.
    ‘Yes. I asked him. And he laughed in my face and told me I was getting everything I deserved. And then made out that he’s such a name online that he’d get the pictures to go viral and then I’d see if any boy would touch me again.’
    Silas made a noise of disgust. ‘Yeah, well, I’ve never heard of him so he can’t be that big.’ He fixed