Page 159 of Shamed
His conversation continues with him tellingSunflowerhow much he’ll miss her and how he wishes she was coming with him.
I try to focus my attention elsewhere to give him privacy, but it’s not as if I can leave, so I just keep tapping the handle.Tap, tap. Tap.
“Don’t be surprised if Remi and Jasmine end up flying out here to see you instead.”
My hand freezes.
Remi.
“. . . Jacob is in prison again for attempted sexual assault on another woman named Remi.”
The man said he’s going to a race with Campbell, then fly somewhere to see Jacob, and Remi . . .
My heart picks up speed, even though I know it’s all coincidence.
Of course it is.
The line moves and I shuffle forward, the man behind me doing the same, then slowly, I turn my head to peek over my shoulder.
All the color drains from my face, and I jerk my head forward again, my heart in my throat while it thunders.
Neil Adams.
Another one of Jacob’s friends.
Jacob, Campbell, Jason, Neil, and Mase.
The names of that friend group will forever be ingrained in my brain.
He was glancing down when I looked, so he didn’t see my face, but I still remain frozen as if he’ll somehow know it’s me if I move a muscle.
He’s still chatting away, none-the-wiser to the storm brewing in my head.
Meanwhile, my brain is stuttering, my mind searching for an explanation as to what I heard.
Neil was talking as if Jacob wasn’t in prison right now, and if that’s the case, then something very twisted happened three years ago.
And if he was somehow released early, why would they be going to visit him if he was convicted and sent to prison twice? And why would the woman he attempted to rape be there with him? It doesn’t make sense.
Maybe thesearen’tthe same Campbell, Jacob, and Remi he’s talking about.
Apprehension fills me, my stomach turning with unease, but the boulder in my throat keeps everything down.
What the fuck is going on?
And how is it that of all the places in this city of almost three million people, Neil has ended up right behind me?
I guess the same way Mase ended up in that club.
Maybe it’s the universe still taking matters into its own hands, seeking justice where there has been none so far.
What else could explain his presence right here, right now, saying names that are etched into my soul?
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be going out much.” Neil is speaking a little quieter now, though I can still hear him as if he’s yelling in my ear. “It’s that fucking list. It doesn’t matter if you’re innocent or the nicest guy in the world. They find out you’re on it, and they turn on you in an instant.”
The world around me freezes while the ground is ripped out from beneath me.
Hehasto be talking about Jacob. And if he is, then he doesn’t believe anything Jacob has been accused of.
