across town and to the outskirts.
‘Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.’ He reached over and gave her knee a teasing squeeze. ‘I won’t tell them you like sending people racy pictures of yourself.’
She managed a light laugh but her discomfort mushroomed as she realised he was going to see the worst.
‘Are you embarrassed?’ he asked quietly. ‘You don’t want me to see your home?’
‘No,’ she argued instantly. ‘But you wouldn’t be the first person to look down your nose at my neighbourhood. We come from totally different worlds, so don’t act like you’re all understanding and down with it. You can’t ever relate.’
‘Your shoulders aren’t broad enough for a chip this big.’
‘Oh, it’s a chip, is it? It’s just me being oversensitive?’ She twisted in her seat to face him. ‘What would you know? Have you ever faced the judgments and expectations from each side of the economic divide? Girls from the wrong side of the tracks like me are only good for a fling.’ Never marriage material. That was how James had treated her. At first he hadn’t known. He’d been attracted to her academic success, but when he’d found out about her background, he’d run a mile. ‘All you ‘ve ever wanted from women like me is sex.’
‘All I’ve ever wanted from any woman is sex,’ he pointed out lazily. ‘It has nothing to do with your family background.’
About to launch into more of a rant, she stopped and mentally replayed what he’d said. And then she laughed.
‘I mean really—’ he winked ‘—you don’t think you’re taking this too seriously? We’re in the twenty-first century, not feudal England.’
She shook her head. ‘Twenty-first century or not, the class system operates. There’s an underclass you know nothing about.’
‘Don’t patronise me,’ he said. ‘I’m not ignorant. I’m aware of the unemployment figures and I’ve dealt with worse in my work. You’ve got no idea of the dysfunction I see. I can tell you it crosses all socioeconomic boundaries. Sometimes the worst are the ones who have the most.’
‘Yeah, but you don’t know the stress financial problems can bring.’
‘That’s true. I don’t have personal experience of that. But I’m not totally without empathy.’
‘And salary doesn’t necessarily equate with effort,’ she grumped. Her mother worked so hard and still earned a pittance. That was why she’d insisted Mya study so hard at school, so she’d end up with a job that actually paid well. And Mya wanted to work to help her parents.
‘Mya.’ He silenced her. ‘I know this might amaze you, but I’m not that stupid or that insensitive.’
She put her head in her hands. Of course he wasn’t. ‘Sorry.’
She heard his chuckle and let his hand rub her shoulder gently—too briefly.
‘I’ll let you away with it because I know how tired you are,’ he said.
But her discomfort grew as they neared. He’d been right—she didn’t want him seeing it. She was embarrassed. Embarrassed she hadn’t done something sooner to get her parents out of there. She should have done so much more already. ‘You can just drop me, okay?’
‘Sure,’ he answered calmly. ‘They must be impressed with how hard you’re working at the moment.’
Mya chewed her lower lip. ‘They don’t know.’
‘Don’t know what?’
‘Don’t know anything.’
‘That you work at the bar, the café or that you’re not at uni full-time?’
She shook her head. ‘They don’t know I lost the scholarships. They don’t know I’m at summer school. They can’t know. Can’t ever.’ She felt tears sting. Stupid tears—only because she was tired.
He took his eyes from the road for too long to stare at her. ‘And you’re that stressed about them finding out?’
‘Of course I am. Watch the traffic, will you?’
He turned back to stare at the road, a frown pulling his brows. ‘I think you should tell them.’
Her breath failed. ‘I can’t tell them. They’re so proud of me. It’s … everything.’
‘They’d understand.’
They wouldn’t. She’d be a failure. She didn’t ever want to let them down. She didn’t want disappointment to stamp out the light in their eyes when they looked at her. ‘You don’t get it. I’m the only one to have even finished school. They’re so proud of me, they tell everyone. I can’t let them down now. This is what I am to them.’ It was all she was.
‘Everyone stuffs up sometimes, Mya. I think they’d understand.’
‘They wouldn’t. And I couldn’t bear for them to know. It alienated me from the others. My cousins, the other neighbourhood kids … They gave me a hard time then. I don’t