Page 62 of My Grumpy Billionaire Protector

“You won’t be laughing about it during a rousing game of cards with Pierce and Cory?”

Shane presses two fingers against the tender flesh, and I hiss. “Is that what you think we do with our time?”

“I don’t know what you do with your time.”

“For starters, we talk about other things. Not everything is about you.”

I flush and press my lips together.

“We don’t always talk about getting out of here or how fucked up this all is,” Shane adds, with a shake of his head. He stands, disappears into the bathroom, and emerges with a first-aid kit. “Sometimes, it’s good to just pretend like we’re a group of guys who are out for a night of fun.”

I hold my breath. “But you’re not just a group of guys out for a night of fun. And you all know that, so what’s the point of pretending?”

“Don’t you pretend too? Pretend like you’re just another struggling teacher?”

“Iama teacher,” I stress, a wave of pain traveling up my leg.

“But you’re not astrugglingteacher. You have a trust fund and a grandfather with connections.”

I frown and peer down at him. “Is that really what you think of me?”

Shane winds the bandage around my ankle. “It doesn’t matter what I think of you. What matters is what you think of yourself, and you don’t want to be defined by money or your grandfather.”

I blow out a breath. “I don’t.”

“I don’t want to be defined by what I do. It’s not who I am.”

I study his face, and my shoulders sag. “I guess I get what you mean.”

Shane lowers my leg onto the floor. “Try to put some pressure on that.”

Wordlessly, I do what he tells me, feeling a little better than I did a few minutes ago. “It does feel better.”

Shane nods and pushes himself up to his feet. “Basic first aid training does come in handy.”

I shuffle over to the window and glance back at him. “Ever considered that Isaiah wasn’t the right choice?”

“Right choice for what?”

“You know what I mean.” I make a vague hand gesture before lowering myself onto the chair. “You could’ve chosen someone else, someone who doesn’t have the same reputation or… questionable morals.”

“I know,” Shane replies after a brief pause. He unclenches his hands and glances around the room with a strange expression on his face. “Isaiah was one of the few people who believed in me when I was starting out. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for him. I guess I felt like I owed it to him to give him a chance.”

I stretch my leg out in front of me and stare at him. “How’s that going for you?”

“Not well,” Shane tells me, his eyes still dancing all over the room, unfocused and listless. “I’m a lot of things, Evie, but I’m not someone who turns his back on people, not easily at least.”

“What are you then?”

“Ambitious.” Shane looks at me then, his hazel eyes wide and appraising. “Driven. Loyal.”

“What really happened to you, Shane?”

Shane blows out a breath and rakes his fingers through his hair. “Does it matter?”

“You don’t have to tell me, but it’s pretty obvious that something did. I know we didn’t know each other well in high school, or at all really, but the guy I knew was confident and cool but he also wasn’t toeing the line between legal and illegal. Hell, sometimes, I remember you being kind.”

What the fuck happened to that guy?

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