Page 135 of Shamed
The pathetic, weak excuse of a man who didn’t like being told no.
I lean back against the brick wall and pocket my hands, keeping myself hidden in the shadows of the night, muscles tight, jaw locked.
I haven’t contacted Jayne at all. She said we couldn’t while she was in-patient, but I know she didn’t want to be in contact while she works on herself. If and when she’s ready to reach out, I’ll be here.
But it doesn’t mean I haven’t hated every minute of not talking to her.
These past few weeks without her has been dismal at best, miserable at worst, even though I’ve been keeping busy, and my mind has been mostly occupied.
It’s not knowing where she is and what she’s doing right now that’s been messing with my mind. Especially when I keep thinking about how I found her that night, bleeding out on the bathroom floor.
I don’t know how long she’ll need to figure things out. I don’t even know what she’s planning on doing to make things right.
But worst of all, I don’t even know if she’ll still want me when this is all over.
I shake away the thoughts.
More questions that I have to sit with.
Maybe I really should be working on myself as well, like she said.
A few more minutes pass, then finally, the reason I’m here appears.
He walks past where I’m standing, his steps a little uncoordinated from drinking too much at the private club.
I push off the wall, my body buzzing with unspent energy.
This isn’t just for Jayne. This is for Jacob and Jason as well, and for all the other women like my mom who have suffered at the hands of a man like this.
“Dylan.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Mase
Imet Jacob when I had just turned fourteen, shortly after finding out about the monster I came from, and right after we had moved away from everyone we ever knew.
I had gone into his parents’ furniture store to get a small dresser for Mom, and he was sitting behind the counter, playing on aGameboy.
My eyes had drifted to the device in his hands several times before he asked if I wanted to have a turn. After that, he asked if I wanted to come over and play video games with him and his friends.
That was the start of our friendship.
But after my experience with my old friends, I kept him and the others at a distance. I reinvented my personality to one they’d never really want to know too deeply, and never revealed my true self that was hidden underneath.
That was the best way I knew how to deal with it. To keep myself protected.
I stare at my phone screen, reading the only text I’ve sent Campbell in the past several years.
Me: I’m sorry.
Two fucking words.
They’re the only words I could think of to say without going into details about what really happened to Jayne. They’ll all know the truth about Jacob soon enough when she makes things right, as she said, but it didn’t feel right with me telling them anything just yet.
Not that they didn’t already believe he was innocent.
Sighing, I read the words again. So insignificant.
