Page 76 of Shamed
“He’snotmy boyfriend,” I inform him. “And I didn’t know he was going to come down there.”
“Yeah, well, he did.” Clint gestures to the ceiling. “And that doesn’t look like nothing. Let me see it.” I step back, not bothering to argue when he’s already pissed.
Clint isn’t a bad guy, but truth be told, even if I had told him about the leak, it may have taken him weeks before he came to check it out. Him being here now speaks more about the fear Mase must have put into him.
Standing under the brown stain, he inspects the newly forming cracks, and my setup underneath. It rained two days ago, and it has been slowly leaking ever since.
“You’re going to have to leave for a few days while I have people come and cut this open.”
“Leave? Wh-where am I supposed to go?”
“I don’t know,” he replies distractedly while pulling out his phone and typing something. “But figure it out quickly. By tomorrow if you can.” Lifting his phone to his ear, he walksback to the door and opens it, glancing back at me. “And maybe next time just talk to me instead of siccing your guy on me.”
“I didn—” The door closes, cutting me off, and I let out an annoyed huff. “Ididn’t.”
Heart pounding and fists clenched, I march into my bedroom to get dressed.
*~*~*~*~*
I approach the gym; my chaotic thoughts and emotions no more under control than they were when Clint left my apartment. I thought getting off the bus two stops earlier and walking the extra blocks in the cool air would simmer down some of my annoyance, but it didn’t.
Mase is near the entrance, talking to a teenage boy with dirty blond hair, when I enter.
Surprise, then the start of a smile curls his lips when he first notices me, but it quickly dissolves when he observes the barely contained irritation on my face.
“I’ll catch you next week, Zach,” he tells the boy, clapping him on his arm, his attention quickly switching to me.
I watch as Zach leaves with a woman I didn’t even notice, who I’m guessing is his mother.
“I didn’t think you’d end up coming again.”
Does he actually think I’m here for his class after what he did?
“You had no right,” I say through gritted teeth, quietly, so as not to draw attention.
Mase has the nerve to look perplexed at first, but he must realize exactly what I’m talking about a moment later, because he gestures for me to follow him into the gym.
We end up in a small room that looks like an office, with a coffee-colored desk sitting on one side, a matching-colored cabinet beside it, and chairs on either side of the desk.
Closing the door behind me, he walks to the desk, takes a drink from the water bottle sitting on top of it, then faces me again, perching on the edge. “Is this about your landlord? Who, by the way, didn’t seem to know you had a leak.”
Emotions bubble to the surface. “Yes, it’s about my landlord. How dare you go and speak to him.”
“I was trying to help.”
His voice, so calm and quiet, only heightens my irrational bubbling anger.
“I didn’t ask for your fucking help!”
Nostrils flaring, he grips the edge of the desk. “No, Jayne, you didn’t. You never seem to askanyonefor help, and that’s part of the problem. You let yourself be treated like shit and just sit there, taking it. I don’t understand it, but I just wanted to make sure this one thing could be done for you.”
“Did you ever think that maybe I’m okay with the way things are?”
Lies.
And he obviously knows it because he scoffs. “You’re okay with things as they are?”
“Yes! And now I have to find somewhere to stay while he gets it fixed.”
