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I cleaned her up.
Turned her limp body onto the side.
Curled myself around her back and pressed my lips to the nape of her neck, breathing her name.
This.
This was happiness.
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Personal Preservation
Minty
Lucky drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel as he drove, tapping out the rhythm to Saving Abel’sMystify.
The summer sun was performing its level best to ensure it was too hot to even marginally cover up. I looked down at my sundress. A dainty floral with narrow straps, it fell straight to my ankles. I felt exposed. When did I start dressing to hide my sexuality?
1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5
1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5
1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5
The counting both soothed and irritated.
I wanted to stop but I itched to make it even.
1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5
I took a deep breath.
It started with Jace. He was maybe Brayleigh’s age. Ruby needed help and I took him for the day. I wasn’t sure why. The details were difficult to remember.
I looked down at my lap.
But I remembered the feeling of horror, shame, and revulsion.
Where Alex played with Amber’s hair, twirling it around his baby fingers, especially when he was drifting off to sleep, Jace stuffed his little fist into Ruby’s cleavage.
We used to laugh.
Say he was going to be a boob man.
It was innocent. Sweet. A leftover habit from his nursing days.
And then, that day when I had him alone, he did it to me.
You like that.
What?
The blood drained from my face so rapidly it was dizzying. It could not have been the first time he’d done it. He did it to everybody. Yiayia, Amber, Ruby, and me as well.
But something about that day struck me differently.
I removed his fist.
He put it back.
