Now that he was awake, Maya felt a little uncomfortable around him. It was one thing to care for someone who was passed out or in and out of consciousness, but now that he was awake, things were different. The way he looked at her… Did he remember kissing her?

It had been such an unexpected kiss. But it had been wonderful. Soft and sweet, though brief. After the kiss, when he’d fallen back asleep, the questions had plagued her. Why had he done it? What did it mean? But now it seemed that he had just been confused. He probably thought she was his girlfriend or something. Surely someone like him was taken.

And now, when he looked at her. That stare. His dark eyes. It was like they spoke to her when he was saying nothing at all. She had to keep looking away from him. His stare was too intense. He was an intense sort of guy. Usually, that was something that she found highly attractive. But for Matt, she knew that behind that intensity was something dangerous.

She’d asked him what he’d done not so much because she was afraid. She wasn’t afraid of him now if she’d ever been. But she couldn’t get involved with someone who might be a criminal. Not that she wanted to get involved with him. No, she didn’t even know him. Yet, she kept hoping it wasn’t something bad that he had done. She wanted him to be good. To be someone she could be interested in.

“Are you still hungry?” she asked. “Something hot might be better.”

“I could eat more.”

She got up and went to the kitchen. There were a lot of frozen things that could be heated, but she wanted to do more than just throw a pizza in the oven. She checked and found the things to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Maya got the sandwich cooking, then took out a can of tomato soup and opened it. When the soup was heated, she put the food into bowls and on plates. She loaded everything onto a tray and took it back into the living room.

They ate the soup and sandwiches and when they were finished, she took the dishes into the kitchen, then returned to sit on the chair beside him.

“You feeling okay?” she asked. “Do you need anything?”

“Yes. I need to know why you’re doing this. Why you’re helping me. You didn’t call the cops, you didn’t take my money, and you won’t. People aren’t just nice to others for no reason. What are you getting out of it?”

She couldn’t admit that she was getting to stare at his gorgeous face and had an excuse to look at his body anytime she wanted to check his injuries. Her original reason would have to do. “It’s good practice. My clinicals start soon, but I figured a real-life experience would put me ahead of the others.”

He nodded. “Interesting. So, beating out your classmates for personal gain. I can get behind that.”

“Well, it’s not just about that. I wanted to help. I saw you lying there…” She had to close her eyes to shake away the image. “I guess if you’re looking for what I’m getting out of it, well, I’m getting peace from knowing I didn’t just leave you lying there to die.”

“I wouldn’t have died.”

“Maybe not. But I might have felt guilty thinking you did. I didn’t want to live with that. How could I be going to school, pledging my life to save people, then leave someone just lying there alone? I’d have to go into another field, and I’ve already put so much into this one, so, I helped.” She shrugged.

He tilted his head slightly. “Okay then. Answer this then. Why did you go into nursing?”

Maya hung her head, deciding how much detail to go into. “My parents died in a car crash. When I saw all the paramedics and nurses and doctors trying to save them, doing all they could… Something about it just seemed so… heroic to me. I wanted to be like them. To help people. Save lives.”

“Why?”

“Why do I want to save lives? Why not? I surely wouldn’t want to kill someone.” What a strange thing to ask. Unless… “Was that what you did? Did you kill someone?”

“No.” He lay back and closed his eyes.

“Not that I thought you would. I just… what did you do?”

“The less you know, the better.”

“Fine. But it’s the least you could do,” she said. “After all I did for you.”

“I didn’t ask you to do it.”

“Well, I did all the same. And I did what you wanted. I didn’t call an ambulance or the cops.”

“And good thing. You might have made yourself an accessory.”

“Did you steal something?”

“Nope.

She tried to think what else might have landed him there in that alley. “Did you attack someone? Hurt someone?”

“Nope.”

“Try to buy drugs and have it go bad?” He did have all that money on him…

“I wasn’t buying drugs, no. Do you live here alone? If your parents are dead?”

“I live with my aunt. She’s on vacation right now.”

“So, we’re alone.”

She swallowed hard and nodded.

“That doesn’t worry you? What with me being such a hardened criminal and all?”

“It would make me feel better to know what you’d done that you didn’t want to the cops involved in.”

“Well, don’t worry. Like I said, it’s safer for you this way. But if it makes you feel better, it’s nothing like what you said. I’m not… violent or anything. I didn’t really fight back.”

“Why not?” Why would anyone just be beaten like that and do nothing to try to stop it?

“It wasn’t for lack of trying. I’m just not a fighter.”

“So, were you attacked?”

“Uhh… it wasn’t like a mugging or anything if that’s what you mean.”

What was he not telling her? It seemed like he was carefully crafting his answers to not reveal too much. “And why did they come after you?”

“Not sure yet.”

Okay, he was definitely hiding something. Time to call him on it. “So, you were just walking along and boom, you get attacked. You don’t know why, but it wasn’t a mugging.”

“Basically.”

She let out a sigh. No sense trying to get him to talk more. The whole situation was odd and didn’t make much sense, but she didn’t fear he would attack her or steal from her. Why would he when he’d been trying to give her money for days now?

“I guess if you didn’t want the police involved, it makes sense you wouldn’t want some stranger off the street involved, either,” she said.

He put his hand on hers and looked at her. That intense gaze again. It made her heart speed.

“Maya, please trust me when I say that it’s better you don’t know. After all you’ve done for me, I wouldn’t want to get into some situation where you could be hurt or affected by something I’ve done. I’ve been stuck paying for my dad’s mistake most of my life. I don’t want to do that to someone else. Especially not someone so kindhearted and…”

She found herself leaning closer to him as he talked, waiting for him to say more. “And?”

“And beautiful. You’re special. I can see that. I don’t want to mess up your life in any way.”

“You couldn’t.” She said it sincerely, though she really didn’t know for sure. He could be into some sort of gang or group who did bad things. Maybe he was bad for her. But she still wanted him to kiss her again.

“I wish that were true,” he said.

He looked so sad that she almost kissed him. What could his life be like that would make him so unhappy with how things were?

“A person can change anytime they want,” she said. “You’re special, too. I can see that. Don’t sell yourself short getting into something you don’t want to be involved in.”

He held her gaze. For a tense second, she thought he was going to kiss her. Her heart sped and she leaned forward slightly even more. But he looked down, breaking their visual connection.

“I don’t have a choice in the matter,” he said. Again, there was that deep sadness in him. “But thank you for thinking that. It’s nice to know not everyone thinks I’m useless.”

“Useless? You’ve helped me plenty just by agreeing to come here and let me practice on you.”

He laughed. “You didn’t give me much choice. And I didn’t realize I was an experiment.”

“Still. You have helped me. So, thank you.”

He took a long breath and looked at a spot off in the distance. “It’s late. You need your sleep and so do I.”

She nodded. She was quite tired after getting up many times through the night to check on him. “Do you need anything else?”

She stood, disappointed that their moment had ended and there hadn’t been another kiss.

“I’m good. Thanks.”

She gave him a smile. “Just shout if you need anything.”

“I will, thanks.”

Maya woke many hours later. She intended to check on Matt through the night again, but it had been six hours. She must’ve really been tired. She yawned and walked into the living room.

The couch was empty. His shoes and jacket were gone. On the living room table, she found a stack of bills—the same money he’d tried to give her multiple times. And there was a piece of paper that said simply, “Thanks.”

She dashed to the window and looked out, but there was no sign of him. He must’ve called a cab and snuck out.

She stood there for a moment in the empty living room. Then, with a heavy sadness weighing on her, she went back to her bedroom and tried to sleep.