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I was going to pass out if I didn’t get my head lower than my heart as soon as possible.
“Whoa there, baby. Let’s sit down right here on this bench,” he said in a new tone I’d never heard from the man. Could’ve also been my mind playing tricks on me without the requisite amount of blood supply. “You’re white as a sheet,” he continued to insist while guiding me down to the wrought-iron park bench.
Did he really just call me baby?
Basic first aid knowledge kicked in, and I widened my knees to make room for my head. I bent forward and hung there for a solid minute, willing the world to stop the tilt-a-whirl impression it was pulling. While in that position, my teacher gently stroked his hand down my spine. Over and over, and it was so kind and comforting.
Finally, I slowly sat upright and looked directly at the man beside me. He was worried and maybe a little pissed, if I read his expression correctly. Couldn’t say I blamed him, either.
Joel, the little dickhead, was nowhere to be seen. It was obvious I was looking around the grounds, and Andrew grew noticeably impatient.
“He drove off. The little shit drove away when you took off.” And I thought I heard him say, “I can’t believe you dated that idiot,” under his breath.
For some reason, that pissed me off. With a good amount of attitude, I thrust my hand to my hip to confront him, but the pain was unbearable.
I was really hurt. There was no denying it. If Shepperd had pulled up while we were here in the common, she would’ve driven off when I wasn’t there waiting in front of the office building. She was as impatient as she was irritable, and she never waited around for anyone.
“Did you see anyone else drive up?” I asked my attentive instructor. “My twin?” I added out of habit and to further explain what I was asking. “She was supposed to pick me up after our day was finished.”
Slowly, we started walking back toward the parking lot. I cradled my throbbing arm against my chest to immobilize the injury and measured every step before taking it. If I fell again, it would be ten times worse.
At first, he just shook his head. After we navigated around another root, he said, “No, there haven’t been any cars. In the lot or on the street since I first came out of the building.”
We slowly covered more ground, and he asked, “You have a twin?” It truly sounded like he was hearing the information for the first time.
When you were a twin, it seemed like everyone knew. Even before they knew your name or any other detail about you, they knew you were half of a whole.
If I weren’t already in miserable pain, I’d kick myself for mentioning it. I’d be shocked, though, if this man launched into the list of stupid questions we always got when people first made our acquaintance. He was so much better than that.
When he began speaking, I realized I’d given him too much credit.
“I didn’t realize,” he started, and I rolled my eyes, not caring if he saw the gesture or not. But he was undeterred. Of course, he was. However, he narrowed his gaze as he continued, “I didn’t realize you had siblings. And why are you rolling your eyes?”
While I was relieved he didn’t disappoint me and fall into the same routine everyone else did, making small talk with Andrew was unusual.
“Yes. I have four sisters,” I said and decided to leave it at that.
“You need medical attention. I’ll take you. That’s my car over there,” he announced as though he had a say in what I did next.
I stopped walking, feeling steadier now that we were on the blacktop of the parking lot, and looked at him. “That’s not necessary. It’s fine,” I said for the third time, knowing he didn’t believe it any more than I did.
“It’s really swelling. I think you broke something. You can’t drive, and I won’t allow you to get into a car with some random rideshare person while you’re defenseless. Please don’t continue arguing.”
“I’m not defenseless, and it’s very presumptuous of you to think you can decide what I need and what I don’t.” The agonizing pain in my arm was making me surly, and I didn’t care. This day had officially gone to shit, and I didn’t have it in me to fake being sweet for one more minute.
As though I never spoke, he guided me to the passenger side of his car and blocked me from going anywhere other than into the car.
“Get in, Maye. I’ll help you with the seat belt.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I said, and a deep, promising growl came from his chest.
And hit me bull’s-eye between the legs.
What the hell? Can’t say that ever happened before…over a tone of voice… Or was it the command behind it?
But I also never tolerated a man speaking to me the way he had. I knew my two older sisters liked a bossy kind of guy, and I always thought I didn’t. But I was also never involved with someone who was man enough to try.
CHAPTER SEVEN
