Page 86 of Dreamscape Therapies

Jay snorts quietly.

"He made it sound like you controlled everything,” Dany says softly.

"I only controlled the parts he specifically asked me to control." I pause, rubbing my thumb over Jay's knuckles. "That's what makes this so frustrating. He took something we both chose and turned it into evidence that I was abusive."

Dany is quiet for a long moment. “So the bruises weren’t from anger, but something you both agreed on and you never punished him unless he specifically asked for it. You didn’t hit him when you were angry? Not even once?”

"No," I answer firmly. "I've been angry with people before. I've wanted to punch people before. But I would never put my hands on anyone, especially a partner, outside of a scene."

The wind chimes above us sway gently in the breeze. Dany watches them for a moment. "I may never understand why someone would want that, but I can understand that wanting it doesn’t make someone a victim or an abuser," she says quietly.

Something in my chest loosens.

She looks down again. "And if he was telling me about the bruises without telling me any of this..."

"He was leaving out the part that mattered."

Dany winces. "I feel sick."

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm trying to explain why the story you heard doesn't make sense."

She nods again. "He showed me the bruises," she says quietly. "He cried. He told me you did it because you were angry with him. He said you were possessive and violent."

"He lied."

Dany's hands begin trembling again. "I can’t believe I didn’t ask more questions. I can’t believe I took his word for it so easily. I feel so dumb.” Her eyes fill with tears. "I thought I was protecting him from you."

"You were trying to."

She looks at me. "That doesn't make what I did okay."

"No." I don't soften my voice because, yeah, what she did wasn’t okay at all. "It doesn't."

"I tortured you for him." Her face crumples.

"You were being manipulated."

"I still did it."

"You didn't know the truth."

"I wove nightmares into your sleep," she whispers. "For months. I kept you from resting. I made you suffer because I thought..."

"You thought you were helping someone who needed it," I finish.

She wipes at her cheeks. "But I should have questioned it."

"Maybe.” I sigh heavily, trying to figure out how to word my thoughts. “I'm not going to tell you that you did everything right," I admit. "You didn't. But neither did I. I stayed in that relationship a lot longer than I should have."

Dany shakes her head and straightens in her chair. "I'll stop. I swear. Right now. I'll stop the dreams. I'll unweave everything I put in your subconscious. I'll give a statement to the police. I'll testify if you press charges. I'll do whatever you need me to do to make this right."

"I just want to sleep," I say honestly. "That's all I've wanted this entire time."

"You'll sleep," she promises, and there's a fierce determination in her voice now. "I swear to the gods, Vincent, you'll sleep. I'll make sure of it."

"We should go," Jay says gently. "Let you process everything."

Dany nods, wiping at her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't fix anything, but I'm so, so sorry."