Page 59 of Shamed
After walking a block, I stop and spin around, waiting forhim to come closer since he’s been keeping a good distance between us.
“What are you doing?”
Slowing his steps, he shrugs and looks around like he’s gauging our surroundings. “Well, I figure you wouldn’t have accepted a ride from me.”
“A ride?” No, I wouldn’t have, but that doesn’t answer my question.
When I don’t say anything more, waiting for him to elaborate, he puffs his cheeks and releases them. “I wanted to make sure you got home safely.”
I stare at him. “You waited around for me to finish so you could walk me home?”
“I waited around to make sure you were safe,” he corrects.
“Well, you didn’t need to. I’ve been getting by on my own and getting myself home just fine for two years now.”
“And last night?” he asks with a curved brow and straight lips. “It wasn’t even late, not like this, and you were getting harassed.”
I fold my arms across my chest, my arm slightly stinging. “That was a one-off thing.” I try to sound casual, try to sound as if I wasn’t petrified the moment I saw those two men coming toward me.
“I guess this is, too. A one-off thing, I mean.” He sweeps his hand out in an “after you” gesture, then waits for me to start walking again.
God, why does he even care?
Feeling a little thrown off, as well as frustrated, I turn around and keep walking. I don’t need his protection. I don’tdeservehis protection.
Nevertheless, the sheer relief of having it makes me want to burst into tears as I walk.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Mase
My mind is distracted with thoughts of swirling gray eyes as I push Mom’s wheelchair down the hall toward her room after a short walk outside to get some fresh air.
I had planned to offer Jayne a ride home last night when I found myself outside the club she works at, thinking she might say yes after what had happened the nightbefore.
But one look at the stubborn set of her lips had told me she wasn’t going to accept the offer, so I didn’t bother asking. But there was no fucking way I was going to let her walk home by herself, especially not after what she told me about that balding loser.
I was already concerned about her safety when I thought it was just a random incident, but knowing he had targeted her and waited for her to arrive home sent my protective nature into overdrive.
Jayne is a fucking mystery to me, an enigma wrapped in a pretty exterior. I can’t understand why she’s choosing to work where she does, or why she insists on not accepting help when it’s offered.
What I do know is that there’s a tug, a pull that reaches deep inside my murky insides, like her broken soul is calling to mine.
We reach my mother’s room, and before I’m able to step around the wheelchair to open the door, one of the nurses who was just transferred to this floor quickly rushes over to open it for us. “Here, let me get that.”
I’ve seen her around a few times, and she’s always a little too eager and overly friendly. I prefer Tatiana.
“Thanks so much . . .”
“Heidi,” the nurse supplies, flipping her mahogany locks over her shoulder and smiling.
“Thanks, Heidi.” I push Mom’s wheelchair through her door, then go to shut it on a lingering Heidi.
“Let me know if you need anything else,” she says quickly, craning her head to see through the space in the door as I give her a polite smile and close it in front of her face.
Turning back to my mom, I lift the blanket off her lap and begin folding it.
“I think that one might have a crush on you.”
