My stomach twisted further into knots just thinking about it.
I didn’t tell Jae about the nightmares. I didn’t tell anyone. Which was why I was sounding like a stalker for wanting to show up at her building with an elaborate plan to find her apartment unit and not leave until she came back to my house.
I shouldn’t have been so worried because if Shiloh was in danger, my dad would have stepped in. He was a mandated reporter for Christ’s sake. But something in my gut told me I needed to be persistent in making sure she was safe. I couldn’t explain it, but I wasn’t going to ignore it any longer.
I didn’t care what Jae thought, if I was being stalkerish. As soon as work was over, I was going to her apartment building and knocking on every door until I found out which unit she lived in.
Someone called my name, and my eyes bounced around until they landed on Cassy at the front desk waving me over. Itwasn’t until I had walked closer that I could see Shiloh standing in front of the desk.
“Hey!” I quickly pulled her into a hug, not even thinking about the fact that I was shirtless and sweaty.
When she didn’t reciprocate the hug, I pulled back and led us over to the empty hallway.
“You okay?”
Getting a better look at her she seemed pale and then I realized she was cradling her hand.
“Woah,” I mumbled, holding her hand in mine and sizing up the red and puffy knuckles. I scanned her body again but nothing else looked physically out of sorts.
“Tell me what happened.”
She rolled her eyes, waving her free hand dismissively.
“Nothing. Someone tripped and landed face first into my fist.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And nothing else is hurt?”
“No, I’m good. I, um, I punched a wall, actually, and fucked my hand up in the process.”
Several people passed us on their way to the locker rooms, so I pulled us into the staff room and closed the door. Not a moment later, the door was thrown open by Jae.
“There you are! Oh!” He stopped in his tracks, bouncing his eyes between Shiloh, her busted hand and me. “Damn. Am I interrupting some kinky shit or…”
Shiloh rolled her eyes.
“No. I was just asking Shiloh about how her hand ended up like this.” I held up her puffy hand as proof to Jae. “Can you grab her an ice pack?”
Jae nodded and with urgency cracked an ice bag mixing the chemicals to make it cold before handing it to her.
“So? The suspense is killing me. Whose ass did you beat?” he asked.
“No one’s. I punched a wall. Am I interrupting a workout or something?”
She tried to move the conversation away from herself, typical Shiloh behavior, but neither Jae nor I were going to budge.
“Shy. It does matter because you could’ve broken your hand. Did something happen with your dad?”
“I didn’t come here to get the third degree from y’all.”
“No. Look, we’re just worried. That’s all,” I said.
“Well, I didn’t ask you to be worried about me. I don’t want you to be. I just thought if you weren’t busy, you’d want to hang out.” Shiloh chewed her lip painfully and I reached for her waist.
“I’m always going to worry about you. So, you’ve got to get used to it. It comes with the territory of caring about someone deeply. I’ll drop the issue of the hand drama and go get dressed. Then I’ll meet you at the front desk.” I held her chin in my palm so her eyes would meet mine and she sighed with a soft nod.
I couldn’t resist kissing her forehead before I ushered Jae from the room and across the hall to the locker rooms.
“I thought you weren’t gonna let her keep any more secrets after the whole drugs shitshow?” Jae gave me an amused look, and I shoved him over, allowing me to walk into the locker room first.
