“You didn’t push. You asked.”
Jared ran his hand over his face. “I should have made her wait.”
“And that might have just made her more nervous. You need to go speak to her.”
Jared knew that.
He just . . . the look on her face was going to haunt him. She’d looked so upset. So scared.
And he had caused that.
“It wasn’t you she was seeing,” North told him quietly.
“I know. But that doesn’t seem to make it any easier. What if I scare her again?”
North shrugged. “Don’t.”
“North,” he warned.
“Just don’t loom over her, don’t touch her without her permission. I need to go get something.” North disappeared.
Great. Some help he was. Jared guessed he was in this on his own.
After shaking off his anger at himself—it was still there he just managed to get it under control—he walked over to the closet and stepped in.
To find it empty.
What the hell? She’d definitely come in here. He took a deep breath and tried to think. Crouching, he glanced around and saw a couple of toes poking out from under a coat in the corner.
Then he looked down at himself. Fuck, he was still naked.
Grabbing some sweatpants from a drawer, he drew them on before sitting on the floor.
“Baby? Can you hear me?” He nearly slapped himself. Of course she could hear him. She wasn’t going deaf.
For fuck’s sake.
There was no reply, though.
“Baby girl, can you come out of there so I can talk to you?”
Still nothing.
He hung his head. Maybe she was scared of him now. Who could blame her if she was . . .
“Are you scared of me, baby? I’ll leave you alone if that’s the case. I don’t want to do anything to scare you more.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Jared,” North said from behind him.
Turning, Jared glared up at the other man. What the fuck?
“She might be scared, but not of you. She wasn’t thinking properly. It wasn’t you that she saw. It was him.”
There was a sniffle from the corner of the wardrobe.
“And right now she probably feels a bit worried, maybe a bit ashamed.”
“She should never be ashamed,” Jared said fiercely. “What happened wasn’t her fault.”
