Page 84 of Grumpy Sunshine

Twenty

Unfortunately, I often find out without getting to fuck around.

—Chevy’s secret thoughts

CHEVY

I was waiting for her at the end of the hallway when we got off of work.

She’d been needed much longer than I had, yet I’d waited for her to get done since I’d been the one to bring her with me this morning.

She had her head down, and she was texting furiously on her phone.

She came to a stop next to the elevator and still had yet to look up and see that I was there.

Which, of course, irritated me.

Her complete lack of spatial awareness was concerning to say the least.

The elevator doors opened, and she walked inside, still typing furiously.

I joined her in the elevator and waited for the doors to close before saying, “Are you ignoring me, or are you just that unaware?”

She startled, validating my fears.

I almost wished she had been ignoring me.

Women could never be too careful, and the thought of her being hurt because she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings made me inwardly furious.

“Shit, you scared me.”She placed her hand holding her phone over her heart.“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” I said, crowding into her until she was pressed against the back corner of the elevator.“I’d be more worried about yourself.You can’t be too careful, Aella.”

“Wh-why?”she asked.

“Because I’d be really fuckin’ upset if you got yourself hurt,” I replied, skimming my nose down the length of her cheek.

She shivered, her fingers clutching onto the pockets of my scrub top.

Ding.

I pulled back at the sound of the doors opening and caught her hand in mine, pulling her with me.

“Who were you texting so furiously?”I wondered as I guided her out of the elevator.

When three people started to push inside before we were even off, I barked, “You know, it’s customary to let the passengers disembark the elevator before you start shoving onto it.”

The pissed off man and the worried looking woman and child frowned.

“Maybe you shouldn’t take so long,” the man grumbled.

I ignored him and kept walking but waited until I was off before reaching back inside the elevator before the doors closed.

“Maybe you could learn some manners so that the next time this happens, your child won’t think it’s okay to be an asshole because you are.”

I let the doors close on his startled face.

“You’re going to get into trouble,” Aella gave my hand a little tug.

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