Page 9 of Forever Your Touch

He shushed her again. “Nope, FIBB, remember? It’s a requirement to come eat with me when I ask you to.”

She wanted to say no. She should say no, but there was something about the hopeful way he grinned. “Fine. Where?”

“Mae’s Diner. Best breakfast place around. It’s across the street from the admin office at school.”

“What time?”

“What time is your first class?”

“Eight.”

He looked so horrified, she laughed. “What the fuck you getting up that early for?”

“Because it’s the time my class starts?”

He blanched. “My first class doesn’t start before ten. You trying to kill me, getting me up at the butt crack of dawn?”

“We don’t have to go to breakfast.”

He scrunched his nose. “Fine. I’ll be waiting for you at seven.”

“I’ll check the bus route to make sure there’s one that runs by here at that time or grab a cab.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why would you do that? Don’t you have a car?”

“No. That’s Ray’s. He has to work.”

“He can drop you off, then.”

She shook her head. Ray would not drop her off. “The school is in the opposite direction he goes.”

“I don’t give a fuck. You don’t put your woman on a public bus or cab in a city as dangerous as NYC.” Now he looked beyond pissed.

“Mason…”

“You planning on always taking the bus or a cab to and from school?”

“Well, yeah.” That only pissed him off more.

“No, you’re not. I’ll swing by and pick you up. Take you to and from school too.”

“You don’t have to…”

“Yeah, Josephine, I do.” His eyes hardened. “You ain’t getting raped or killed on my watch. So just say ‘thank you, Mason.’”

Arguing wasn’t going to get her out of this. He’d made up his mind. “Thank you, Mason.”

He walked her up the front porch and kept a watchful eye on her. Probably scared she’d fall again. He put her bags down beside the door. “Pick you up at six-thirty on Monday.”

She watched him walk back down the drive, get in the truck, and pull away.

What had she just gotten herself into?

Chapter Three

Mason had his phone out before he’d even left the driveway.

“Yo.” Keith answered on the first ring.

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